Zuri ran upstairs to her room as soon as she got home and flunked herself down on her bed. She was glad that it was Friday - she had a whole weekend to think the project over until having to start it on Monday. Zuri decided she wouldn't tell her parents or Jessie about the project until she figured out what to do. She grabbed her sketchpad from her desk and decided to doodle as she thought.

She could make up the family stories. No one would know...

"Zuri!" It was Jessie calling from downstairs. "How was school? Come down and have a snack!" Zuri groaned as she trudged down the stairs. Before she even stepped in the kitchen, she knew that her family was having Ugandan food later tonight. Even though Zuri couldn't remember living in Uganda, as she was adopted when she was a baby, the smell of food was sweet and familiar. It soothed her, but at the same time, filled her with anxiety - another thing to remind her of her adoption and that dumb project!
Stepping in the kitchen, Zuri saw her mother, the famous Christina Ross, cooking posho and beans. Zuri saw packages of uncooked beef, peanuts, and banana leaves on the counter, too. That meant luwombo, Zuri's favorite Ugandan food, would also be made tonight!

Every month, the Ross family had a special family dinner of either Ugandan (to celebrate Zuri's home country) or Indian (to celebrate Ravi's home country) food. Luke was also adopted, but from here in the USA, so he had always been used to eating American food.
The fact that the whole family would be having dinner tonight was an occasion, too. Because Christina and Morgan Ross were famous, they were often very busy traveling around the world or shooting movies and such. So, family dinners were very special.

Zuri sat down with her 3 siblings at the table to have a snack of fruit salad. Jessie was always trying to feed them healthy snacks, which the Ross parents liked. Zuri would have liked to have something like ice cream or cookies for snack, but she couldn't deny that the fruit salad was delicious.

"What were doing all alone in your room, sweetie?" Mom asked. Zuri shrugged. "Just thinking over some stuff. I have a school project coming soon and it's pretty hard."
"What is it? You're only 8, it can't be that bad!" Zuri's sister, Emma, questioned.
"Uh...something about...animal...families...and trees." Zuri thought she could disguise the project without actually having to lie. But Emma caught the words.
"Oh, the big family tree project for 3rd grade! I loved that!"

The project was exposed! "Yeah..." Zuri mumbled.
Mom looked up from her cooking. "I have so many interesting stories about the Ross family, Zuri. Everyone loved them when Emma did her project!"

"But..." Zuri stopped. Maybe she could just ignore the fact she was adopted. Emma and Mom didn't seem to acknowledge it. But Zuri had been bullied before, and she knew some smart-aleck kid would make a mean comment or laugh at her. They would say, "You aren't actually related to them, Zuri! Why don't you talk about your real family?"

"I'm not very hungry anymore," Zuri said, excusing herself from the table.

Thanks for all the kind reviews for Chapter 1. Please review this one for Chapter 3!