{Stella's PoV}
"Back to school." I say wearily as I throw away my covers and stretch my arms. I look at the clock and see the number five. Five am. "

"Thank You Lord for this day. I know I'm not in the best condition right now, but I know You have a plan for me. One that's better than I could ever imagine." After praying, I use my arms to swing my legs over the bed and get into my wheelchair.

I wheel myself to the bathroom and gently pull myself up and into the shower. It's really hard to move. It's actually hard to do anything. Sometimes I even cry myself to sleep or cry in the shower because I can't take it anymore. But I know God is with me. Sometimes it's hard to believe, but I have to keep the faith.

After about an hour of preparing myself for school, I get myself onto the wheelchair and wheel myself to the hallway. "Mom!" I call out. She comes out of their room, dressed and ready for work. She gets my bag and calls for Gabe. He comes out, also ready for work, and he carries me downstairs with mom following. He lets me sit down at the dining table and he goes back up to get my wheelchair. Soon, we're all complete at the table. Christmas was surprisingly amazing. Although it was quite hard for me to get around and it wasn't exactly the best, we did have fun. And the presents were amazing. We were supposed to open them on Christmas Eve, but we decided to open them when everyone was together.

"Are you guys okay with this? Like, you know, first, having to watch over me everyday, and second, me and Jonathan?" I ask.

They all look at me and smile. "First, of course we don't mind. You're my sister. And they're your parents. We care for you. And after seeing you get hurt like that, twice, I'm not going to let my little sister down." Gabe says.

"As for your second question, your dad will answer that." Mom says with a knowing smile. Dad nods his head and starts.

"Jonathan said he didn't know what got into him when he yelled at you the other day. He felt quite bad. And when he was praying and asking for forgiveness the other day, God told Him you were the one. He opened His Bible and it opened up to Proverbs 31:30 and your name was written in the margin. He prayed and asked God what it meant and after knowing the answer, he came to me and your mom and asked us permission to ask you out. He promised to be good to you and never be hesitant to protect you or stand with you. Since he nearly lost your friendship even if it was for a short while. So obviously, since God allowed it, and He eveb answered your prayer with butterflies, we allowed him to. So it's okay. As long as you keep the limits and restrict yourselves from things that aren't needed to be done yet." Dad says.

I quiet down. "How come you didn't tell me? How come he didn't tell me?" I ask.

They laugh, sharing an inside joke I'm guessing. "You never asked." Gabe says shrugging.

After breakfast, Gabe drives me to school. "So what about you? You find a girl a yet?" I ask teasingly.

"Nope. God hasn't given me the right one. Hasn't shown me yet." He says matter of factly. "Oh come on. You're good looking, good at basketball, good at being a big brother, good friend and an awesome man of God. Who wouldn't like you?" I ask.

He laughs and shakes his head. "Work, mom and dad, and you are enough for me. Whenever God wants to show her to me, that's when. I'm not rushing." He says. "And did I hear you right? Like, you were complimenting me?"

I smile. "Well what did you want me to say? Negative comments?" I ask raising an eyebrow playfully.

"No. Just saying. It's really nice to hear you say kind things no matter how many times you do it. Well, here we are." He says as we arrive at school. He gets my wheelchair and then picks me up and helps me. He hangs my bag on the handles. "Be careful. Stay strong. Love you." He says.

I give him a kiss on the cheek. "I know. Love you too." He wheels me inside the doors and I take care of myself from there.

I wheel myself down the hall and into the classroom. Thankfully, our room is on the first floor so it's not too hard for me to move around. Jon comes up to me and helps me tell the story to my teacher. She thanks him and he leaves to go to his classroom.

The morning goes on with nothing exciting going on. Thankfully. People do ask why I'm in a wheelchair and what happened and I explain. That's it though. I haven't seen Sheila and the gang and, no offense, but I sure hope she transferred school.

"Oh, my. Miss Paralyzed is here!" Okay, too late. I wheel myself towards the cafeteria but the sound heels clicking against the ground gets closer. I feel someone beside me and behind me.

"The poor thing has a hard time getting around. Why don't we help her?" Sheila's high pitched voice reaches my ears and it takes a few seconds before I realize what she means. I can't do anything though. I can't run away from this.

Someone pushes me into the cafeteria and wheels me to the line. After a few minutes of waiting, the person pushes hard and then yanks the wheelchair back and I land on my side. I groan in pain. I hear Sheila laughing. Soon, her friends join her. I look up and around the cafeteria and see everybody else is just stunned or upset. Some boys help me up. But without my wheelchair, I can't stand. One of Sheila's friends had thrown the wheelchair down the stairs outside. The cafeteria was near the front doors of the school and there was a window where you could see it outside.

The boys, Vince and Jeff, help me sit down at a table where my friends are and Vanessa gets my tray and hands me the food. "You okay?" She asks. I nod slowly.

"Hey. Don't worry. Everyone here knows it's not an accident, so you don't need to feel ashamed or embarrassed." Lesley says putting an arm around my shoulder. "It hurts." I say quietly.

"What hurts?" Candy asks with concern and worry written all over her face. "My rib cage and neck aren't in best condition either you know. And when I fell-" I didn't need to finish the sentence. They knew exactly what I meant when I said 'it hurts'.

The girls become silent. "I told you, I never want to see you again." I hear her whisper in my ear. She may be whispering, but the entire cafeteria grew silent so a lot of people could hear what she said. "Well, then maybe you should transfer." I say calmly. She growls. She sure does acting like an animal.

"I think you should be the one to move. So you won't distract me." She says with a sly smile.

"What am I distracting you from?" I ask matching my smile to hers. "My Jonathan." She says sweetly. A group of boys enter the room. Jonathan being one of them. "Ooh. And there he is now!" She exclaims. I roll my eyes. This is going to be fun to watch.

"Hi Jonathan." Sheila says sweetly as he and his friends approach our table. He gives her a little nod then sits beside me. He looks me up and down. "Where's your wheelchair?" He asks.

"Sheila's friend threw it outside and you know, there was a little scene." I say shrugging my shoulders like it was no big deal. Jon turns to Sheila. "How dare you." He says. The cafeteria is still quiet. Even the lunch ladies are.

"Excuse me. She was in the way. She always has been." Sheila says getting closer to Jon. "She's always been in the way between us." She says scooting in next to Jon. He pushes her off and she stumbles. "Jon!" She squeals. "Why did you do that?"

Jon smirks. "Uh, hello? I'm taken." He says looking at me. He turn back to Sheila. "Not by you. But by her."

Sheila looks at me with her eyes full of hatred. "I hate you." She says clenching her fists. I look down and play with my hands. Jon wraps an arm around my shoulder. "I'm not gonna let her hurt you." He whispers. I nod but still don't look up.

"You're going to regret this, Jon."

She walks over to my side. "And you, my dear, are gonna wish you never met me." She stands up straight and walks away. I look after her. "I won't ever regret this, Sheila." Jon says loud enough for everyone to hear. Sheila stops. Her friends turn to look back at us as well. "God told me Astella's the one. I will never regret this because He told me it's her. And I will not disobey my God. He knows what's best." Jon says.

Sheila keeps her straight face on. "Well, then. That's alright, Jon. But Stella, hmm. I'm not done with you yet." She turns on her heels and walks out.

I lean my head on Jon's shoulder. "I'm sorry to get you into this." I say.

"No, Aster. Don't apologize. I didn't stand up very well for you before. And now that we're tackling life together, I'm making it up to you and I'm helping you go through this. If God wants us to be together, then together we shall go."

I smile. Everyone else smiles around us too. "Don't worry Stella! We got your back." Someone yells from across the cafeteria. Others join in. "Thanks everyone! Thank you so much!" I say so everyone can hear. Someone brings my wheelchair in and Jon helps me in. I thank Jeff and we go back to class.

Days pass into weeks and weeks into months. Soon, it's time for graduation and nothing went wrong. The last year of college ended up pretty fun and amazing.

Jon and I have gotten closer than before. And I'm happy and thankful. Our group of friends have gotten closer too.

Today, Vanessa, Candy, Lesley and I are at the salon getting ourselves fixed up. I had facetimed Reagan the other day and she's graduating too along with James. They don't live together at the moment, but they're planning to move here after graduation. Can't wait to see them.

After the process of graduation, we all say goodbye. "I'm going to miss you so much." Vanessa says. I hug her, Lesley and Candy. "Thank you guys for being there for me." I say.

We take pictures with all our friends. "Yeah, I'm gonna miss hurting you and squeezing you till you pop." Sheila says coming up to us. "You're not gonna have an easy life out there, Stella. And I for one, am gonna make sure of it." She says.

"Go ahead, Sheila. As I said before, you don't scare me. Do whatever you want. I'm going to conquer it and overcome the challenge you give me. Because when God is on my side, no one can stand against me." I say.

My family waits for me as do my friends, watching what I would do.

"Excuse me?" She says quite surprised. Seriously, she should get used to my comebacks. "You're excused." I say walking towards my family. We get into the car and we drive to Pizza Hut for our celebration.

Thank You, Lord.

---Hi everyone! One chapter left! I sure hope you guys like the story... Comments are encouraged:) thanks for staying and bearing with me. God bless!
~Reychelle