I finally wrote a second chapter that I am happy with. It's much better than the previous attempts. Translations are at the bottom.
She missed mamă and tată and Dickie and Danni. She missed Pop Haly and the circus. She missed Elinore* and flying with mamă and tată. She missed the fericire (1) and music of her home. O femeie care era nepoliticoasă (2) took them away. Dickie was left in a scary building with a big fence. The lady left her here and took sora mare (3) with her.
They made a promise to find each other. "Vom zbura din nou (4)," they whispered to each other. 'When?' she had wanted to ask, 'When is again?"
She didn't like it here. The others were mean; they called her 'freak' and 'gypsy scum.' They told her to 'go back to the other freaks.' they pushed her and took her mamă's favorite red ribbons. Sister Agatha never did anything to stop them. She was a mean woman with the voice like a maimuță țipând (5). Sister Agatha hated her. Sister Agatha got mad when she woke up crying for her mamă and tată or when she spoke in her limba materna (6). She wished she was still with her familie (7), back at the circus.
"Marinette, we have visitors," Sister Liliana said through the closed door. "You need to come out, bambina (8)."
Marinette liked Sister Liliana. She was really nice. Sister Liliana tried to stop the others when they were mean, and helped her exersa (9) English, and told her stories, and sang her an Italian cântec de leagăn (10) when she cried.
Marinette opened the door and followed Sister Liliana to the 'visitor room' where a happy-looking man and a pretty, dark-haired woman stood. This was the fourth time. A cuplu (11) would come, and talk with each person. Sometimes they would talk with one more than the others. The cuplu (11) would come back again and they would leave with one of the others. Sister Liliana said they were 'adopted.'
None of the cupluri (12) talked to her for long. They wore încordat (13) smiles, asked boring questions and got agitat (14) with her accent or her problem using English. They didn't want her, they wanted an easy child. She didn't expect this time to be any diferit (15).
They were French. They had been surprised when she started vorbind franceza (16). She couldn't find the word she wanted in English and got frustrat (17). Marinette liked them, but they wouldn't want her.
They talked with her for a long time — longer than any of the other couples. Marinette could not stop the puțin bule de speranță (18) inside her that maybe, they like her, too. Maybe they would take her away from here.
*That's the name of the elephant according to the wiki page.
Translations:
1 joy/happiness
2 A woman who was rude
3 big sister
4 We'll fly again
5 monkey screaming
6 mother tongue
7 family
8 child
9 practice
10 lullaby
11 couple
12 couples
13 tense/ strained
14 irritated
15 different
16 speaking French
17 frustrated
18 little bubbles of hope