13
This story differs a little from the other stories I've been doing lately. It follows the AU where Callie and Jude have been with the Adams Fosters since they were little. I wanted to explore the idea of Callie being on the brink of her teen years and trying to figure out where she belongs as the usual 7th grader does (God knows my path to self-discovery was filled with countless embarrassing blunders.) In this particular story, Callie is starting 7th grade and is 13, making Jude 9, the twins 12, and Brandon 14.
Callie zipped up the purse her moms got her for her birthday and walked to the bathroom. She put on light touches of makeup: some light lip gloss, a bit of mascara… She practiced smiling at her reflection, trying her best to look cool, confident, and casual, before swiftly pivoting away from the mirror and heading to the hallway. She could barely contain her excitement. She had been invited to a party by a cute guy in her math class: Wyatt. He had asked her specifically, and she had gushed over him to Mariana for days leading up to this night. She had begged to come, but Callie denied her requests, stating that the very idea of bringing her twelve year old sister would be too embarrassing for her to even consider it.
Stef exited her bedroom on her way downstairs. The Padres game was on and she and Jesus were expecting a victory. Carrying the new jersey that she had gone upstairs to retrieve, she crossed the hallway, before seeing Callie strut by.
"Hey, hey. You look awfully nice." Stef said, glancing at her daughter's face, smiling at Callie's poor attempt to hide her makeup.
"Thanks." Callie said, trying to stride past her mother. Stef stuck out an arm, now holding Callie's waist and blocking her from escaping the house without an explanation.
"Where are you going, who are you going with, when will you be back?" Stef asked as Callie squirmed in her grip.
"I'm just going out with some friends… we'll be out for a while." Callie said, shrugging.
"Uh uh. I'd like an itinerary, Cal." Callie grumbled under her breath.
"I'm going to the pool on 2nd with a couple of people from my class… Wyatt planned it." Stef thought about what she was just told. Wyatt seemed like a nice kid… Lena said he'd rarely been in trouble, and Callie constantly raved about him. The thing that concerned her were the feelings she knew Callie had for him, as she remembered clearly an evening where, in true little sister fashion, Mariana had skipped around the house yelling: "Callie loves Wyatt!" and Callie cried angry tears in her pillow, plotting her revenge.
However, Stef certainly trusted her daughter, as she had been quite the angel recently. She let Callie escape from her grasp, but called out to her as she neared the staircase.
"What time are you going to be home?"
Callie stopped momentarily, but continued forwards to maintain her casual air- she'd need to be stealthy to pull her next move off.
"Uh… not too late. Like 12." She mumbled the last sentence, praying her mother wouldn't catch it.
"Callie Adams Foster."
She stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Stef's voice.
"12 o'clock? Let's try 9." Stef crossed her arms. Callie whipped around. "But mom! I'll get there at 7! That only gives me— "
"Care to make it 8?" Stef asked, raising an eyebrow at her daughter.
"No…" Callie grumbled under her breath.
"Have fun!" Stef called out before Callie shut the front door behind her.
Callie walked the three blocks to the pool where the party was. She walked through the lobby and to the back where she was greeted with a few bundles of balloons and table with snacks and drinks. Glancing at the crowd of people around her, she spotted a few familiar faces: Mat, a kid that was in Honors band with Brandon, her sort-of-friend Sally Benton, a snooty seeming girl named Talya, Wyatt, and a couple of people she shared classes or small talk with. It was then that she made an observation: no parents. Mom wouldn't like this... She thought, before smiling to herself and walking over to Wyatt to say hello.
"Callie! You made it!" He said brightly, handing her a can of soda.
"Like I would miss your party. This place looks seriously awesome."
"Thanks. You want to head into the water?" Callie smiled. Just as she was about to answer with a cheerful "Yes," Talya walked up to the pair in her bikini. Callie seethed with envy over the girl's fashionable swimwear; her moms would never let her get away with wearing something so skimpy.
"Wyatt, can I borrow you for a sec?" She asked before glancing over to Callie. "Oh, hey Callie." She said, looking past her rather than at her.
Callie tried not to be jealous of her crush and Talya giggling in the corner, instead opting to snack on some chips and mill around the party casually. She was opening another can of soda when Sally walked up to her and ladled some juice into her cup from the nearby punch bowl.
"Callie! Has he done it yet?" Sally asked excitedly.
Callie gave her a look. "Has who done what?"
"Wyatt! Rumor is he's gonna ask you to the spring dance. I'm surprised you hadn't heard."
Callie blushed. "Well, what do I do? You know… to make him ask or something."
"Go talk to him! Good luck!" She strolled back to her group of friends, undoubtedly to inform them of their conversation, proven by them all raising thumbs-ups in her direction.
She waited until Wyatt walked back to the food table before making her move.
"Hey Wyatt. Sally just reminded me about the spring dance. Are you gonna go?" She asked, trying and failing to seem cool and confident.
"Yeah, totally. I wouldn't miss it." Wyatt took a sip of punch. Callie frowned. She was going to have to try harder when fishing for her invitation.
"Soooo… Yeah, I'm planning to go. Maybe just with some friends or something."
"Would you rather go with me?" He said in a surprising twist, flashing her an irresistible smile.
Callie grinned. "Totally! Can't wait! Now come on, neither of us has really been in the water at all." They both jumped into the pool and swam with everyone else, enjoying the night.
As an hour passed by, Callie joined Sally and her group by some picnic benches as they gushed about their dates. Callie found the conversation enjoyable until one of the girls pulled her aside and motioned towards Wyatt, who was once again talking to Talya.
"Uh oh. Maybe she's flirting with him…" The girl said, planting a seed of worry in Callie's mind.
"Don't look now! He's coming this way!" Another said, with Callie gulping and trying to regain her composure.
"Callie, can I talk to you for a minute?" Wyatt said cautiously. Callie did her best to smile and followed him to a quieter corner.
"What's up?" She said, trying to ease her fears and convince herself that something bad wasn't about to happen.
"Um… so… I kinda have to cancel our plans."
"What? Why?" Callie asked, hoping the problem was small enough that he'd change his mind.
"It's just, Talya reminded me of something. She said that I promised I'd take her. Like I asked last month or something. I… I don't really remember doing that… but I believe her." Callie's heart sunk as he continued to speak. "So… um… I think I'm going to go with her… I'm really sorry, Callie." Callie's painful demeanor changed to one of anger as she saw Talya lurking nearby.
She walked away from Wyatt confidently and strode to Talya.
"What's your problem? Wyatt asked me. Why are you saying that he already asked you?" Callie asked in the calmest way she knew how.
"Because that's what happened." Talya said, feigning an honest pose.
"No it isn't! You're just mad because he wanted to go to the dance with me!" Talya glared, then laughed.
"You really think he'd want to go to the dance with you, street girl? With the ugly foster girl that gets thrown out like trash by every family she stays with? Ha." She said, spitting in Callie's face before walking back to the party.
Callie ran back to her things, wiping off her face and grabbing her bag, running for the door before the tears could run down her cheeks.
She ran outside to catch her breath, the cool air and solitude calming her momentarily. She then saw the door of a dark grey SUV open, and her mother walking towards the sidewalk.
"Do you know what time it is?" Stef asked, angrily crossing her arms. Callie gulped. There was no way to keep her emotions in check now, not with Stef approaching her and a huge chance that she was going to get grounded. She haphazardly tried to make a run for it, but this effort proved useless against the cop, as she grabbed Callie by the waist and held her firmly in place.
At the first moment of physical contact, Callie began breaking down.
"Get off of me! Stop! Leave me alone!" She tried to yell, as hot tears poured down her cheeks like dams exploding and she collapsed, sobbing, in her mother's arms.
"What's going on, Callie?" Stef asked calmly, holding on to her daughter with all of her might.
"I'm trash. That's what you think, don't you?" Callie asked, looking up at her mother with bloodshot eyes. Stef felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach.
"Now why would you ever think something like that, baby?" She gave her daughter sad look.
"Wyatt doesn't want to go the dance with me anymore. It's because I'm ugly. I'm an ugly foster girl that nobody wants." Callie said, sniffling.
"Callie. Let me make something very clear. You are my beautiful daughter inside and out. We want you, we love you, and we adopted you, so you can always be ours." Stef exhaled. "Did someone say something to make you feel badly about yourself?"
"Talya. Before she spit in my face." Callie said, leaning on Stef as they sat side by side on the curb.
"She what?" Stef said, standing up abruptly. "Where is she? I'm going to give her a piece of mind! She can't do that or talk to you like that! I swear…" Stef walked down the block towards the pool.
"No, mom, don't!" Callie said, jumping up and wiping her tears.
"She's not going to get away with making you feel this bad, honey!" Stef said, stopping to turn to Callie.
"But if you go in there and yell at her, they'll just make fun of me more!" Callie almost yelled.
"Fine." Stef said calmly before getting riled up again. "Then I'll call Lena, right now! Or the police! Did she threaten you or anything?"
"Mom…" Callie said, trying to get her mother's attention.
"Where are her parents? If I can—"
"Mom!" Callie yelled, tugging Stef's hand.
"What?" Stef whipped around. She softened her intense expression as she saw Callie's face. Her daughter's eyes were swimming with tears again, and the way Callie gripped her hand broke Stef's heart.
"Can we just go home? I wanna go home." Stef smiled sadly at her beautiful daughter. She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they began walking to the car.
"Yes, baby. Let's go home." Stef said, holding her daughter close and they walked in the moonlight.