Callie stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, taking in her battered appearance. A shower with no time limit would be the best thing she'd felt in a while, especially because of the comfort that emitted from inside the Fosters home. She turned on the water and undressed, climbing in and allowing the hot water to engulf her body. Callie felt felt immediately relaxed and closed her eyes for a few moments before beginning to wash her hair and body. She didn't take too long, not wanting to seem to comfortable in this unfamiliar place; although it was almost impossible not to be. Their family felt incredibly normal and strong, despite the obvious that they weren't all related by blood. Callie put on a girly pair of Marianas pajamas and left the bathroom, heading back downstairs to the couch that she'd be sleeping on.
"Oh, hey." Brandon said to her, and Callie began feeling extremely self concious around him in the ridiculous pajamas that she had on.
"Hey." she replied, sitting down.
"Did you know Lena wants you to start at our school?" he asked, looking at her, admiring the look of vulnerability that she so clearly wore on her face.
"Does she?" Callie asked, laughing slightly, "Why?"
Lena and Stef walked in the room, sitting down too. "We don't want you to feel temporary here. It could take up to a year to find a family looking to adopt, and we want you to have a stable routine while you're here. Is that okay?" Lena asked, "I'm the vice principal at Anchor Beach charter school. It's where all the kids go."
Callie looked at Stef and Lena, and then at Brandon. "Whatever, sure." she responded.
"You can ride with Brandon in the morning, alright? He can take you to the office to get a schedule and then show you around the school a bit." Stef said, standing up to exit the room, "Try to get some rest tonight, love, and we're just upstairs if you need us." she finished, disappearing through the doorway and followed closely behind by Lena. Callie thought about the next day and felt nervousness ensue.
"I'll be upstairs too, if you need me." Brandon said awkwardly as he too, left the room and headed upstairs for bed. Callie was doing her absolute best not to acknowledge that he was good looking, this was a problem she'd run into in a previous foster home and not something she wanted to deal with again, and so she ignored the feeling inside her stomach and laid down, pulling the comforter on the couch over her body.
Callie only finally succeeded in falling asleep after she'd tossed and turned for hours on the couch, thinking about the day ahead of her and attempting not to stress too much about it. It had only been two or three hours by the time the sun else and the rest of the house was stirring as they got ready for their days. "We got you a few things to wear for school." Lena said, snapping Callie back into reality as she was handed a shopping bag.
"Wow, guys," she said bashfully, "You really didn't need to do this... Thank you." Callie responded, trying to muster up a believable smile.
Callie entered the bathroom and shut the door all except for a crack, and pulled her pajama shirt over her head and pulled the pants from her legs. She looked in the mirror for a brief second, believing that she caught a glimpse of Brandon watching her through the ajar door. "Just my imagination." Callie muttered to herself as she finished getting dressed and brushing her teeth, leaving her mess of hair the way it was. Somewhat to her surprise, Brandon was outside the bathroom, waiting for his turn.
"Morning." Brandon greeted as he went in and closed the door behind him, trying to pretend he hasn't previously noticed Callie changing her clothes.
Callie joined the family downstairs and poured herself a cup of coffee, drinking it black instead of adding any cream or sugar. This earned stares from everyone else in the kitchen, but she ignored it and drank on anyway as she waited for Brandon to be ready to head out. After a few minutes had passed, everyone slowly left and Brandon entered the room, car keys in hand.
"Ready?" he asked Callie, and she simply nodded in response as they walked out of the door together and headed off towards the school. It was a good start to the day, being able to stare at Brandon the entire way there.