EETT! EETT! EETT!
Sara sleepily reached for her alarm but beeps. Shifting in her sheets she grabbed the noisy box and chucked it across the room with all the strength she could muster at this ungodly hour of the morning. With a loud crash, her alarm's reign of terror ended. Relived Sara retreated into the warmth of her blankets. Her eyes gently closing, her brain fading into the quiet peace of sleep. But it was ripped away from her by a small stirring of a warm body beside her. missed. It responded with a barrage of even louder
"I think you broke it," a small voice yawned. Moving to an upright position, Sara turned to the small boy. Wally laid next to her, in his bright yellow race car pajamas. Brown hair ruffled, still clutching his bear.
"Hey honey, forgot you snuck in last night," She said with a lazy smile. Even though Wally had only been part of her chaotic family for a few months, Sara could hardly even imagine a world without her little guy. She softly straitened his messy hair causing him to squirm.
"I couldn't sleep I was too excited!" Wally piped up. He had been raving about his first day of kindergarten for some time now. It seemed like the only thing that five-year-old would ever talk about. Much to the disapproval of her nerves, Sara swung her feet to the cold floor.
"I guess we better go wake up the others," said Sara as he placed the small boy on her hip. In a zombie like state she made her way to the first door in the hallway. Loudly she knocked on the wood. And to no one's surprise there was no answer. Sara gave a drawn-out sigh, sometimes it felt like Mick's only goal in life was to make hers harder. The now freshman never got up without a fight (which he was very good at starting). Puls the fact that things 'accidently' got set on fire around him was always such a joy to Sara's day.
"Mick, if you are not up and dressed in ten minutes you are eating a knuckle sandwich for breakfast!" Sara warned much to Wally's amusement. This time a low guttural sound came from the other side. Satisfied with her work Sara moved to the next door.
"Time to get up for school, you two," She whispered. But to her surprise she only saw Amaya sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes.
"Where's Zari?"
"No idea, she got up a while ago," the thirteen-year-old shrugged hoping over a pile of Zari's stuff. The girls' room was a clash of two worlds, cute animal posters next to punk rock bands. One half pristine and color coded, the other looked like it was hit by hurricane Katrina. Amaya grabbed a leopard print shirt and rushed past Sara to the bathroom before anyone could take her first shower.
With a roll of her eyes Sara strolled to the last room in the hallway. She gave a quick knock in-between the Camelot sign and the Lost Temple one. Hearing a mumbled response Sara pushed open the door to the boys' room. Toys were scattered across the carpet, a pile of books accumulated in a far corner, and a box of unattended crayons sat next to some doodles on the desk. Settling Wally down, Sara reached up to the top bunk and shook Ray's shoulder.
"Time to get ready for your big day,"
Slowly his bight brown eyes opened, quickly followed by his goofy smile. She smiled lightly back and ruffled her little man's hair.
"Good morning, Sara!" Ray said under his Star Trek blankets. Bellow her Sara head Nate untangle himself from his cowboy sheets.
"Hey, Wally," he yawned before tripping over an Han Solo action figure with a loud crash. Surprised by the loud noise Sara leaped to Nate's side. She pulled him to his feet, looking franticly for any cuts or bruises.
"Sara, I'm fine," he said annoyed. Even though Nate was only a year younger than Ray, Sara couldn't stop herself from babying him. She just kept worrying about how fragile his hemiopia made him. Sara tried to treat him like the others, but she had no idea how to be the 'mom' of a kid like him. Regaining herself Sara stood back up.
"Well, breakfast is in a few, so get ready and downstairs," she ordered. With a grin Nate rushed to the closet and grabbed his new Indiana Jones backpack. Ray jumped off the top bunk and began to gather his things from the floor. Seeing that Wally was content playing with one of the boys' foam swords, Sara headed to the kitchen.
"I don't believe this are free-range organic eggs, Sara," accused Zari as Sara stepped down the stairs. Zari seemed to always be going through a new phase. First it was heavy metal, then it was gothic clothing, now it was some sort of health kick. Sara usually just went with it, but this was getting ridiculous.
"No, they're not, we don't have the money to buy that hippie crap,"
Like the sixteen-year-old she was Zari groaned then engrossed herself in her phone. With the false belief that a warm cup of coffee would fix all her problems, Sara poured herself a cup of liquid energy. The bold taste and heavenly aroma stirred her brain from its slumber.
"Can you pass me the milk?"
Amaya made herself a bowl of cheerios and sat down at the table crunching quietly. Zari looked up from her phone.
"Do you know how many artificial sweeteners are in those?"
"Seriously Z, who cares?" Amaya scoffed.
"Well, don't come crying to me when you start growing a third eye!"
"That's not how it works, Zari!" Exclaimed Amaya throwing her hands in the air. Zari was about to reply when feet rumbled down the stairs.
"Captain America is way better than Ironman!" Nate said enthusiastically. Much to his best friend's disapproval.
"How so?" Ray said rolling his eyes.
"He has superpowers!"
"Ironman's so cool, he doesn't need superpowers. He made his own awesome supersuit!"
Sara gave the two of them a stern glare. Which quickly ended the discussion. The two boys gave a shrug and moved to fighting over who ate the last of the frosted flakes. With another sip of her coffee Sara gave up trying. Suddenly she felt a sharp whack on her thigh, causing her to almost spill her coffee. Wally gave her a sheepish grin, still holding the foam sword.
"We're done with that," said Sara unamused. She took the toy from his hands and placed it on a high shelf. Wally just gave her a pout and climbed into a chair. Ray poured himself and Wally a bowl of Applejacks then asked,
"Where's Mick?"
"I'm up," He grumbled coming down the stairs. His red hair was sticking up everywhere, shirt was wrinkly, and was only wearing one sock, but at least he was up. Last year Sara had to literally drag him out of bed, so this was a win in her book. Checking her watch Zari started head for the door,
"Come on guys we gott-" She started up.
"Let me drive you this time," Sara interrupted. She received confused looks from across the room. The kids had always ridden the bus, because they only own one car.
"Won't you be late to work?" Asked a concerned Amaya.
"It's no big deal I already called in late because I have to drop off Wally later,"
"Or we could stay home?" Mick suggested hopefully.
"Not a chance, get in car," replied their driver. With a few complaints and more than a few calls for shotgun they filed toward the Van. Mick headed for the passenger seat but was cut off by Zari.
"Sorry, but I called shotgun fair and square, hothead,"
"Bite me," Mick growled getting into the middle row. Sara watched as Amaya booted Ray to the back seat to sit with Nate. Between herself and Mick, Amaya buckled Wally into his car seat. Now fully awake Sara turned back in the driver's seat.
"Everyone ready?"
A few excited cheers came from the backmost seat, and a loud no from Mick. Pulling the van out of the driveway Sara turned on the radio. Which for once was the only sound in the unusually quiet car. But that ended when she pulled into the elementary school drop off.
"Wait! Nate do you have your doctor's note?" Sara asked as the boys got out of the car. Nate didn't hear her and headed inside. A mom gave Sara a judging look from across the parking lot. She got that often, many of the parents didn't understand how a nineteen-year-old became a mother of six almost overnight. And most of them thought of her as an irrespirable parent. And maybe she was, Sara had no idea how to be a Mom, especially troubled kids like these.
She thought about this as she dropped off Mick and Zari at the high school. Ever since Rip disappeared two years ago, Sara was left in charge of a family she never asked for. But she couldn't let them go back into the foster system. But was this really the best place for them. There would always be something missing from their lives, something that she couldn't give them. And no matter how hard she tried Sara would never be their Mom.
"You really don't have to walk in inside," Amaya broke Sara's train of thought.
"I have to talk to the principal anyway, so I decided why not," Sara admitted as they walked toward the middle school. Around her kids were meeting with their friends and goofing off. A lanky nerdy looking boy waved to Amaya. He had bright eyes like Ray's and curly black hair. And to her surprise he was talking to a woman about her age.
"Who's that?" Sara asked.
"It's just Garry one of my classmates," She shrugged, "I got to go the bell gonna ring soon,"
And just like that Amaya disappeared into the crowd chatting with that Garry kid. Sara was about to head back to the car when she almost ran into the woman with Garry.
"Sorry I wasn't looking were I was going," The woman said blushing. Sara gave a chuckle and outstretched her arm.
"No big deal, I'm Sara. Amaya's guardian,"
"I'm Ava," She said shaking Sara's hand.
"So, you're Garry's mom, I think he's friends with Amaya, but I can never be sure. She never tells me anything," Sara said trying to make small talk. Ava turned red again.
"No, I'm not his Mom, he's my cousin. He couldn't live with his parents, so I took him in," She explained quickly. That was a coincidence. But it also explained why she looked so young.
"I know how you fell, I have six. And none of them are mine,"
"Really?"
"It's a long story. And sometimes I wonder if I can really give them the home they need," Sara admitted.
"Well, if your family thinks of you as highly as Amaya does I don't think you'll have to worry," Ava laughed.
"What do you mean?"
"Amaya talks about you all the time, or at least that's what Garry tells me," Said Ava, "And from what I heard you have quite the family to be thankful of,"
"Ya, I guess they're quite something," Sara said mostly to herself a smile lingering on her lips.
Thank you for reading my first ever Fic! If you have any suggestions for a story you would want to see with these characters just leave it in a review and I will write it! :D