No P.O.V
"Fuck Syd!" Jason said, running to where Sydney had crashed and burned trying to perform a skateboarding trick, "Man you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, stop sympathising!" Sydney replied, getting up and grabbing her skateboard, "Seriously, I hate it when people try to be sympathetic, I don't need it! Never had, never will!"
"Ok! Ok!" Jason said, while he and Sydney made their way over to the benches, "So big 1-8 is coming up… What you doing for it?"
"I dunno, nothing probably, considering those stuck up twats in the foster home" Sydney replied sitting down, "Got a fag on ya?"
"Yeah" Jason said, pulling a cigarette from the box and passing it to Sydney, "So… Say you staying at a mate's house… Get drunk, wahlah!"
"It's not that simple with them…" Sydney began, taking a drag from her newly light fag, before exhaling and coughing, "They have rules to live by, so I aint allowed out past 10 pm, I miss my tea… I don't get any, they don't let anyone stay over or you stay anywhere! It's a shit whole man! Be thankful your mum still has you!"
"Man, and I thought my life was hard… so what time you gotta be back?"
"5" Sydney said, taking another long drag, "for tea, then I either stay in, or come back out"
"What you gunna do?"
"Dunno, depends on whether Carla wants me to play with her" Syd replied,
"Those girls look up to you, your their role model aren't ya?" Jason said,
"Yeah, it's gunna be hard to leave them, their like my family"
"Hmmm" Jason said, before taking a drag of his fag,
"Well, I'm off" Sydney said, before standing up and putting out her fag, "Meet you later Jay"
"Ok, later" Jason shouted back, watching Sydney ride off into the distance.
Sydney Leah was a 17 year old girl, stuck in a children's home thanks to her mother's boyfriend...
Sydney had no luck with foster parents, because her 'I don't care' reckless, attitude pissed them all off. She was an ordinary teenager, graduated high school, went to college – before dropping out. She was an athletic girl, standing at around 5 ft. 5, weighing about 123 lbs. She had long brown hair that stopped at around the middle of her back and she had brown eyes.
Sydney wasn't your ordinary, loves make-up and clothes, type of girl... she was more of the creative, reckless, athletic type of girl, one that loves to draw and take risks.
Sydney had 7 tattoo's around her body, stars going down her left hip, a peace sign on her left wrist, the word faith along the side of her right hand, the Chinese symbols for love, strength and happiness on her right wrist and the words 'Trust No One' going down her right side. She also has 5 piercings… 2 in her ears, one on her right eyebrow, one on the left side of her nose and the top, right side of her lip.
She had only seen her mother a handful of times and had never met her biological father, although she wished for the day her dad would come and whisk her away from her shit whole of a life, it never happened and she gave up on ever meeting him, as for her mother, she was glad she wasn't living with her and her boyfriend, as her mother did all types of drugs – ranging from weed to cocaine – and her mother's boyfriend was an alcohol dependant man, with anger issues, and he would usually take out his frustrations by beating down on Sydney and as a result, ended up getting Sydney put in a children's home at the age of 5.
Sydney's P.O.V
"Sydney! You're late, hurry up! Tea has already started, go take a seat and I'll bring your plate over!" Mrs. McIntyre, the head woman at the foster home said, "Sydney, have you been smoking again? I can smell it on your clothes!"
"Mrs. M! Seriously! I'm turning 18 in a week! Can you please cut me some slack!" Sydney replied, before walking off towards the dinner hall…
"SYDNEY…" a 7 year old called Carla shouted, "SIT NEXT TO ME!"
"Ok, Ok…" I said, placing myself between Carla and Cheyenne, "So what did you two do today?"
"We played with My Little Ponies!" Cheyenne answered, "Then we watched some TV"
"Yeah, we had fun!" Carla said, before my food arrived,
"Cool, so what colour pony where you Carla?" I asked,
"Here you are Sydney" Mrs. McIntyre said, placing the plate in front of me,
"I was the pink pony" Carla answered, smiling at Mrs. McIntyre,
"Cool" I replied, taking a bite from my sausage
"Sydney!" Mrs. McIntyre said in stern voice, that scared all the young children, but no longer worked on me,
"What?" I said,
"Thank you!" Mrs. M said, in an angered voice,
"You're welcome" I said, cockily, earning laughs from the older girls at the end of the table,
"No Sydney! It's 'Thank you Mrs. McIntyre for my tea'" Mrs. M started, I rolled my eyes, before glancing at the cocky bitches at the end of the table, "Don't roll your eyes at me Missy! It's called having manners! No wonder no one wanted you!"
I sat and stared as Mrs. M walked off in the other direction muttering to herself, "THANK GOD I WILL BE LEAVING IN A WEEK!" I shouted to her "I WON'T HAVE TO WAKE UP TO YOUR FACE EVERY MORNING!"
FFW a week
I was awoken by Carla and Cheyenne jumping on my bed,
"SYDNEY GET UP IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!" they both shouted,
"Thanks guys" I said in a tired, croaky voice while sitting up in bed,
"Here you go" Carla said, passing me a small box, wrapped with a gold bow,
"Aww, girls you didn't have to get me anything!" I said, un-wrapping the gift,
"We wanted to get you something to remember us with" Cheyenne said, as I pulled out a gold chain, with a golden love heart locket on the end, I opened the love heart and a piece of paper fell out revealing a picture of me, Cheyenne and Carla that was taken a couple of weeks ago by the park. I picked up the piece of paper that had fallen out and opened it up to see what it said…
To Sydney,
We will miss you when you leave and we wanted to give you this necklace so you won't forget us later on in life…
We have had lots of fun with you over the years, and we don't want you to leave…
You're like the older sister we never had and we want to be able to visit you when we're older…
Well, Happy Birthday Sydney, have a happy day, and never forget us...
The picture inside the locket is our favourite one with you, and there is writing on the back of the heart, it's something you would always tell us when someone would make fun of us or we doubted ourselves…
You're probably going to ask why we picked a love heart and not just something like a normal circle, well because we love you and we always will…
Love now and forever, Carla and Cheyenne xxxxxx
I folded the paper back up and placed it inside the locket and closed it, before turning it over and reading the writing on the back,
"Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things..."
"I told you she wouldn't like it! We should have got her something else!" Cheyenne said,
"You wanted to get her it too!" Carla shouted back,
"NO NO NO! Girls, I love it! No one has ever gotten me anything so special before, I'm gunna wear it every day, and I will never forget you two! You're my favourite girls in the world! And yes, you can come visit me when you're old enough, but until then, I'll come over when I have time" I said, placing the locket around my neck, before receiving hugs off them both.
FFW to end of day
The "party" was going pretty well, everyone was having a good time and no one was fighting like they usually do in the foster home...
"SYDNEY!" Mrs. McIntyre called, making her way over to me, "There's someone here to see you!"
"What?" I asked, confused to who would be visiting me, "Who is it?"
"Come take a look" Mrs. M replied, pulling me towards the hallway by the front door,
"M-M-Mum!" I asked, wide eyed and surprised,
"Hey, baby girl, happy 18th" Jessie, my mum, replied, "How ya been?"
"I-I've been good…" I said, still wide eyed, before my expression changed to a frown, "Considering you ditched me here!"
"Oh, please, don't start with this now! Not on your birthday, I'm here to give you a present and say happy birthday" my mother said, in a cocky tone that made Mrs. M give her an evil look,
"Oh, ok then" I replied, giving Mrs. M the 'you can go now' look,
"Well, basically, now that your 18… I think you should know who your biological father is… and maybe spend some time with him, now I know you don't know who he is or what he looks like, but he's a nice guy, that was willing to give up his career for you, and you're the spitting image of him, from your eyes, to your hair colour, to the shape of your nose and chin" my mum said, explaining all she thought I should know, "So here's a picture of him, a plane ticket to Tampa, Florida and the address off his current house… So happy birthday, come visit me when you can, and have a great life, I love you, always have and always will hunny!"
"Thanks mum, when do I leave?" I asked, staring at the plane ticket in my hand,
"Tomorrow afternoon, at 12 o'clock, so you gotta be at the airport for 9 o'clock, the flight will be about 10 hours, so take something to keep you occupied, you'll have to stay in a hotel for the first night, but you don't have to worry about that, I've organised that too, here's the address, be careful... please!" she said, passing me a piece of paper before pulling me in for a hug, "If you need me, I'm a phone call away, and remember, your dad didn't choose to not see you, I told him he couldn't because I thought he'd be a bad role model, boy do I regret that decision" she carried on, with a genuine smile on her face,
"Thank you mum, you don't know how much this means to me!" I said, hugging my mum again, before stepping back and speaking, "well, I better get going, I got an early morning ahead of me and a busy day, and I still gotta pack, thanks again mum, it means a lot to me, believe me" I finished, before waving and beginning to walk towards the stairs,
"Goodbye hunny, good luck with your new life" I heard my mum murmur, before she left the foster home,
FFW to next day
I was awoken by the sound of my alarm clock buzzing on my side table, I turned over to check the time, 6:30am, "URGHHH!" I screamed into my pillow, "Boy do I hate mornings!"
I pulled myself out of my bed and grabbed my clothes, before making my way to the bathroom...
FFW 15 MINUTES
As I grabbed my bag and suitcase from the end of my bed, I made my way downstairs, I placed the suitcase and bag by the front door, before making my way over to the dining hall to grab some toast and to say goodbye to the cooks...
I grabbed my toast and sat down to begin eating it, I took a big bite out of the side before Mrs. M made her way over to me,
"Well Sydney, your cab will be here in 10 minutes, you might wanna hurry up" she began, "Have you said goodbye to the kids?"
"Yeah Mrs. M, I told them goodbye last night before bed" I said, taking another bite out of my buttered up toast,
"Ok, well, I'll meet you by the door in 10" Mrs. M said, making her way towards the kitchen,
FFW 10 MINUTES
As I said goodbye to the staff working this morning, I made my way towards the front door to get my cab, as I grabbed my bags Mrs. M pulled me over to say a final goodbye,
"Well, Syd, this is the final goodbye... All these years, and I still haven't been able to prepare for this day" she said, as tears slid down her cheek,
"Aww, Mrs. M, please don't cry, you'll start me off!" I said, looking away,
"Well, what do you expect me to do? I've looked after you since you were 5! Cut me some slack" she said, beginning to laugh, "I got you something" she continued, handing me a box, "It's just something small, but I thought you'd like it"
I opened the box to find a gold bracelet lying inside with the number 18 inside a love heart hanging from the golden chain, "OOO MRS. M! I LOVE IT!" I squealed in delight before pulling her in for a hug, "Thank-you! I'll wear it all the time" I continued, while putting the bracelet on my right wrist,
"Well, you better get going, that taxi driver aint gunna wait forever!" Mrs. M said, leading me outside, "I'll pay for the ride hun, the least I can do after the years of tourcher I put you through" she said, smiling before giving me a cheeky wink,
"Thanks Mrs. M, I'll come visit whenever I can" I replied, beginning to tear up, "Thank-you for taking me in when no one else wanted me! I will NEVER forget you... or the girls I've grown up with... tell Carla and Cheyenne I'll miss them! And I'll come see them whenever I can"
"Ok I will hunny, good luck with your new life, I hope it turns out great" She said, before I wheeled the window up and the cab took off down the road, I turned round to wave, grabbing my necklace at the same time,
"I'll never forget!"
FFW TO TAMPA, FLORIDA
As everyone reached the baggage place in the airport, I pulled my New York Yankees hat on and placed my pink sunglasses over my eyes, as I waited for my bag to come through I felt my phone vibrate, I took it out of my pocket and looked at the caller iD on my phone, an unknown number,
"Hello?"
"Hey hunny! It's your mother... Did you get to Tampa ok?"
"OO, hey mum, yeah I'm just waiting for my bags, the flight was uncomfortable"
"What did you expect? A first class seat that turned into a bed?"
"No, but I didn't expect the flight to be that uncomfortable, it didn't help I had a stupid ten year old kicking my seat"
"Oh, well, kids these days init hun!"
"Yeah mum, well here come my bags, I'll speak to you later k?"
"Ok hun, I'll phone you in a couple of hours, good luck, love you"
"Love you too"
As I ended the call, I walked over to the carousel and grabbed my bags before making my way over to customs, wondering if I could get to my 'dads' house before late this evening, i checked my watch, 8:05... I could probably get there before half 9 – 10 ish...
FFW TO CAB RIDE
"Well, here we are missy, 4510 Cheval Dr. Tampa, Florida" the taxi driver said, with a smile on his face, "that'll be 25 dollars"
"Ok, thanks man" I said, handing him the 25 dollars and stepping out of the cab with my bags, I stood on the pavement for a couple of minutes staring at the house before making my way up the drive way... Well, time to meet my biological dad! FUN! I thought to myself...