Chapter 2
"But mom, why do we have to take her in? I know that you should help people in need and I'm all for that, but why now? I've got a lot on my plate in school right now and I just don't have the time to show her the ropes." A red headed girl with bright blue eyes was pacing in the kitchen and arguing with her mother.
"Chloe, this isn't your responsibility. Beca is 16 and old enough to take care of herself. We're here to give her a roof over her head and maybe give her a family if she wants one. We've talked about this a few weeks ago and you agreed. What has changed your mind?" Claire Beale, a tall blonde woman with crystal clear blue eyes, asked her daughter.
Chloe stopped for a moment and plopped down into a chair next to her mom. She sighed deeply.
"I just don't have the time for something like that right now. And who knows what kind of person she is. We don't know her and you'll let her sleep here? She could just get up one night to steal from us and be gone in the morning. Aubrey said she had a neighbor once, who…"
Claire interrupted her daughter with a raised hand. "So that's it? Aubrey said something and now you're completely against the idea? You know I love Aubrey like another daughter but I don't necessarily agree with her world view. Not everyone is bad. In fact most people are good, they just don't show that to most people. What did she say to make you change your mind? You are usually such a friendly and open person, Chloe."
Chloe put her head into her hands and leaned over the table in a way that made her beautiful red hair fall around her shoulders and obscured Claire's view of her daughter's face.
Claire scooted her chair closer to her daughter and wrapped her arms around the red head. "Talk to me sweetie."
Chloe leaned back a little so her mother could hug her properly. "It's just… Bree said that I am too trusting and that people would exploit me. That I have to be careful with people I don't know, especially after what happened with Justin…" Before Chloe could shut her mouth to keep that little detail from escaping, it was too late and Claire had already heard.
The older woman moved back from the hug and made Chloe look into her eyes. "Baby, what do you mean? What happened?"
Chloe tried to look in another direction but her mothers hand quickly found Chloe's chin and made her look her in the eyes. "Nothing…" she mumbled.
Claire let her daughter's chin go but pulled her into another hug. "You can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?"
"I know, mom. But it's nothing. He was drunk and nothing happened. It just scared me a little but Bree was there and scared him off."
"Can you maybe begin at the beginning?" Claire was starting to get worried. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let a stranger in the house when her daughter was having such problems with it.
Chloe tried to think of something to distract her mom, but couldn't think of anything. She knew her mother was like a dog with a bone when she thought something was up. Chloe had never managed to keep a secret from her mom for long, the older woman just had a way of convincing the red headed girl that telling her everything was a good idea. And Chloe accepted that when she was a child, but found it quite annoying in recent years. Sadly, that resulted in Chloe not being able to lie because she never tried it before. Her shoulders dropped a little as she prepared herself for telling her mom what happened almost two weeks ago. She sat back in her chair and looked at her mom.
"It's nothing, but if you must know I'll tell you. You know how Bree and Stacie took me to a party two weeks ago?"
Claire just hummed affirmatively. She had noticed that her daughter had acted a little strange the next morning but blamed the alcohol her daughter had surely consumed.
"Well, we were dancing and the music was pretty awesome. After dancing for a while we got thirsty and Bree offered to get us some water. I hung out with Stacie for a few minutes but then an old friend of hers called her over and she told me that she would be right back. Bree was taking so long and it was hot in the house so I decided to get some air. I went to the garden and leaned at the house wall. I just wanted to cool down a bit. I noticed that no one was around and wondered where everybody was, but before I could question it anymore, Justin turned up. He's in my pre-calculus class and I thought it would be impolite to ignore him, so I said hi."
Claire was listening closely as her daughter talked and became more and more worried as the story continued.
"Well, he said hi back but I noticed that he was pretty drunk by the way he was staggering. He came over to me and started telling me that he always liked me and that I should just give him a chance. He pushed me against the wall and wanted to kiss me, but I slapped him. He paused for a moment but tried to grab me again just as Bree came out of the house to look for me. You should have seen her, mom, I have never seen her that furious. She threw our drinks in his face and screamed at him until nearly every person at the party came outside to see what was going on. She ran over to me in the confusion and got me out of there. She brought me home and comforted me, but not before giving me a lecture about being too trusting to strangers. She told me I had to be more careful and that she was worried about your decision to register as foster parents. I tried to tell her that we had decided this together and I don't have a problem with it, but then she told me about her neighbor and I got a little worried."
When Chloe didn't say anything else, Claire moved forward and hugged her daughter tightly.
"Why didn't you tell me about this, sweetie? I'm glad that you're okay, but even if nothing serious happened, I'm sure you were scared. Did you talk to him again after that?"
Chloe shook her head. "No, I've been avoiding him so far. Stacie and Aubrey are in the same class I have with him and they make sure to never leave me alone with him. I think he wanted to apologize a few times but Bree glared him into submission before he got the guts to come over. I'm not scared of him, but I don't really want to talk to him either."
"That's understandable. Be sure to keep the girls with you the next few weeks."
Chloe smiled, glad that she had told her mom. Even if she couldn't help her with the situation, just talking about it helped her a lot.
Claire gave Chloe a final squeeze and stood up to go over to the fridge.
"So now that we got that out of the way, how about you tell me what Aubrey said about her neighbor and why that worries you in regards to Beca."
Chloe stood up as well and went over to her mother to help preparing the dinner. It was already 5 pm and her dad would be home soon. Beca would arrive sometime in the evening as well. She grabbed some carrots to chop as she noticed her mother getting the ingredients for her famous lasagna out of the fridge. She sat down at the table again and began chopping while her mom prepared the meat and sauce.
"Well, she told me that her neighbor's parents registered as foster parents as well and the first foster child they got was a kleptomaniac fourteen year old dude. He's been nice and all but after living with them for two weeks, they noticed that things were disappearing slowly. They thought they were just misplacing them at first but when money started vanishing, they had a talk with the boy and he admitted to stealing. He wasn't even sorry and said that they had so much stuff, they wouldn't miss the small things. After that their relationship began to drop and they eventually sent him back. They tried again a few months after that but the boy they got that time was very violent if provoked and hurt Aubrey's neighbor."
Claire hummed, deep in thought.
"That's unfortunate and I'm sorry about what happened to them, but I don't think this applies to Beca. I've been talking to her social worker Marie a few times and she said that Beca was silent and closed off, but that she was a great girl in general. She's apparently been through a lot and she just needs a quiet home to finish her high school years. She can't do that in a group home, where there are so many other kids. And since she was also 16, I thought you two would become friends."
Chloe finished chopping the carrots and walked over to her mom to slide them slowly into the sauce that was cooking on the oven.
"It's not that I think that this Beca will be a bad person, but I'm just a little worried about a stranger in our house. I'm not sure she will listen to anything we say. She's a teenager after all."
Claire chuckled and winked at her daughter. "I know all about that. And she can't be worse than you, little princess."
Chloe took offense to that and was about to defend herself when both women heard the lock turn in the front door. A deep but friendly voice shouted a short "I'm home! Are you here girls?"
Claire shouted a short "In the kitchen" and continued stirring the sauce. She turned around to her daughter for a moment to look her in the eyes. "If you really are uncomfortable with Beca living with us, I'm sure we can come up with something."
Chloe scrunched up her nose. "No, it's fine. I don't want to be rude and I don't know her yet. I shouldn't judge her before meeting her. We'll see how it goes, okay?"
The older Beale woman smiled. "That's my girl. Thanks for agreeing to try this. Now, go along and look where your father has disappeared to. He promised to help with dinner and I'm already nearly done. Go get him for me, would you?"
Chloe nodded and went in search of her father. She found him in the living room, just sitting down and quietly starting the TV. He was a tall man, with short red hair and kind brown eyes. Chloe had gotten her beautiful red tresses from him. She crossed her arms in front of her body and scowled at him. "No." She said and glared at her dad.
Andrew looked up at his daughter guiltily. "But Chloe-bear! The game!" he whined quietly so his wife wouldn't hear him.
Chloe wasn't having any of it and shook her head slowly. "Mom said you promised to help her in the kitchen. Go and do that, you can always watch the game later."
Andrew drew out the big guns and began pouting. Chloe knew that it was an effective weapon because she used it regularly herself. The red headed girl avoided eye contact with her dad, as that was the only way to avoid the famous Beale pouting technique.
"No dad. You promised and you always told me that you had to keep your promises." Wanting a little payback on her dad because he used the secret weapon of the Beale family against his own daughter, she began pouting herself and let her bright blue eyes fill with tears. "Or did you lie to me daddy?"
Andrew groaned loudly and fell back into the couch. He had his eyes closed with one hand on his head. "Don't do this to me Babygirl. I'm sorry, I'll go and help your mother."
Chloe grinned triumphantly as she watched her father's slow and sluggish walk into the kitchen. She decided to use the time before dinner was ready to take a quick shower and ran upstairs.
Fifteen minutes later she came downstairs again, as the aroma of the lasagna spread throughout the house. She was wearing a pale blue sweater which was two sizes too big for her, some short dark blue jeans and had her still wet hair in a bun at the top of her head. She wasn't wearing any make-up and didn't bother to put on socks.
Just as she was walking into the kitchen to start setting the table, she heard the ringing of their door bell.
All three of them stood up to open the door, but Claire motioned for the other two to sit down again and went to open the door herself.
Chloe would be lying if she said she wasn't curios about this girl. Her parents hadn't told her much about her except for her name and age. She waited anxiously for her mother to come back into the room.
She did two minutes later with a woman who looked to be in her thirty's, who had long brown hair and wore a stylish black blouse and jeans. Chloe really liked the sneakers the woman was wearing. They were white with awesome blue highlights.
Walking in behind her mother and the woman who could only be Marie the social worker, was a short brunette girl with long auburn tresses and a blank expression on her face. She was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and some skinny jeans. When the girl looked around a little, Chloe noticed the millions of ear-rings in the other girls ears. She had to admit that the smaller girl rocked the alternative bad girl look.
Before Chloe could muster the other girl a little more, her mother decided it was time to end the awkward silence and introduced everyone.
"Andrew, Chloe? This is Beca and her social worker Marie. Beca, Marie, this is my husband Andrew and my daughter Chloe."
Marie smiled and went over to the other two Beales to shake their hands. Beca stayed put where she was but gave a short wave in their direction.
Andrew, being a very friendly and open person, came over to Beca and gave her a big hug. Chloe noticed the other girl stiffen up and saw the wide-eyed and panicked look on Beca's face. As soon as her father let the girl go, Chloe noticed that Beca's hands were trembling.
Mr. Beale didn't seem to notice the girls reaction and just smiled brightly at Beca. "It's nice to meet you. I hope you'll like it here."
Beca only nodded and continued to watch everyone with a wide-eyed look on her face.
Claire, being the great host she is, invited Marie to stay for dinner. The social worker agreed and soon the three Beales, a still shaken brunette girl and a concerned looking Marie were sitting at the kitchen table after Claire had gotten the lasagna out of the oven and Chloe had quickly set some plates down on the table.
They each put some lasagna on their plates and started eating. Not being used to so much awkward silence, Claire decided to break it by asking questions.
"So Beca," As soon as she heard her name, Beca dropped her fork onto her plate and turned around to look at the blonde woman.
"How was the drive over here? Did it take long?"
Beca shook her head. "No, it was fine."
"Are you excited about starting a new school?"
The brunette girl shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. I've done it so many times, I don't really care anymore."
Chloe was getting interested now and decided to question the small girl sitting in front of her herself.
"Really? Isn't it always exciting? Meeting new people and making new friends?"
Beca looked at Chloe for a moment but averted her eyes quickly much to the taller girls confusion. Why wouldn't she look people in the eyes when they were talking to her?
"The excitement quickly wears off, believe me. And no, meeting new people is always stressing me out. I don't really bother making friends."
Chloe gaped at Beca. "But why? Having Friends is the best thing about school!"
Beca only shrugged and looked down at her plate.
When the silence went on a little too long, Marie decided to break it by asking questions about the Beales. About their jobs and their lives. She knew most of the stuff already but asked the questions again for Beca's sake. She knew the young girl wouldn't ask anytime soon.
Twenty minutes later they were finished with eating dinner. Chloe noticed that Beca hadn't really eaten much, preferring to push her food around her plate. Taking pity on the brunette girl, who looked ready to keel over from exhaustion, Chloe quickly suggested showing Beca the house. The grown-ups agreed and Chloe led Beca out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into the living-room.
"Well, this is the living-room. I know you're tired, so I'll keep it brief, okay?"
Beca nodded gratefully and followed Chloe through the rooms.
"This is the my parents room, this is the downstairs bathroom and the door under the stairs leads into the basement. I'll show you tomorrow. You and me will sleep upstairs. Do you want to take your bags with you?" Chloe asked as they stopped in front of the stairs.
Beca nodded and quickly got her two small bags.
Chloe eyed them sceptically. "Is this everything? Where is all your stuff?"
"That's all I have." Beca answered curtly and started her way up the stairs.
Chloe winced at her rude sounding question and decided to quickly apologize for her thoughtless comment. She hurried after Beca and caught up to her at the top of the stairs.
She put a hand on the other girl shoulder to get her attention but quickly retracted it after Beca flinched violently away from her.
"Sorry, about this and the other comment. I don't know you and your life, so I should be careful with what I say."
Beca looked around the hallway uncomfortably and murmured a short "It's fine" under her breath.
Chloe heard her and smiled. Noticing the awkward fidgeting she quickly continued her house tour.
"So, we've got a bathroom" Chloe motioned to a door right to the left of the stairs, "my room" she motioned to the room on the left of the bathroom, "my brothers room", she pointed at the door straight across from the bathroom, "and finally the guest room, that will be yours". She motioned to a door straight across from Chloe's door and next to Chloe's brothers room.
She went ahead to the guest room, opened the door and walked right in. Beca followed after her carefully. Chloe turned in a small circle in the middle of the room and held her arms up wide. "So, this is it. You've got a bed, a desk, a dresser, a computer and some shelfs. If it's not enough, I'm sure we can get my dad to install some more storage space."
Beca looked wide-eyed at the spacious room in front of her. She had curtains. Actual curtains. Beca hadn't had those in the last few years. They were a pale purple, just like the comforter on the bed. She marveled at the Computer on the desk and was positively surprised by the colorful paintings on the wall. She smiled a little as she took everything in. She wanted to start exploring immediately but was reminded of her tired state by the big yawn that stretched her mouth as wide as it would go.
Chloe noticed and walked over to the door. "I can see that you are tired. I'll leave you be for now. You know where my room is if you have any questions?"
Beca nodded.
"You remember where the bathroom is?"
Beca nodded again. This time her left eyebrow was starting to twitch in annoyance.
Chloe smiled. "Okay then. Good night, Beca."
"Good night, Chloe. Thanks for the tour." Beca murmured.
"No problem, see you tomorrow." That being said, Chloe turned around and closed the door after herself.
The first thing Beca did as soon as she was alone, was to check if the door had a lock. Thankfully it did and she turned the key around quickly. She relaxed monumentally after the soft click of the lock jumping into place registered in her mind. She let out a loud breath and sat down on the bed. She was so tired she only managed to get her shoes off her feet before falling asleep on top of the comforter.
As soon as the girls were gone from the kitchen, Marie looked at Claire and Andrew with a serious expression on her face.
"I just want to talk to you about a few things. Do you have a few minutes?"
Claire and Andrew nodded.
Marie sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair.
"Beca is a sweet girl. Don't let yourselves be distracted by her harsh exterior. She's trying to protect herself by portraying a badass attitude. I'm just asking you to give her a chance. She's been through a lot, a lot more than we know, because she won't talk about it. I want this home to work out for her. As I already told you I've only been Beca's social worker for a few weeks now. Her former social worker didn't take his job as seriously as he should have and Beca had to pay the price. So I wanted to ask you to bear with me and maybe let me check in on Beca once a week in the beginning. I won't bother you, I'll just come over for a few minutes and check in with her."
Claire and Andrew had grim expressions on their faces but nodded anyway.
Andrew decided to speak. "That's no problem. You can come as often as you like. You said that Beca had to pay a price. Has she been hurt?"
Marie nodded gravely. "More than you will probably ever know. But I ask of you, please don't pity her. She hates it with a passion and will shut down faster than you can blink. Just treat her like a normal teenager. I think that will be best for her."
The Beales nodded. "We'll do our best. We want to give her a home." Claire said quietly.
Marie smiled. "That's more than anyone could ask of you. I'm glad you decided to register as foster parents, you are one of the nicest families I have ever met. It's getting late, I think I'll be going. I'm giving you a call sometime next week to tell you when I'll come and check on Beca, okay?"
Andrew nodded as the three adults made their way to the front door. "Of course. It's been nice meeting you. Have a safe trip home."
Marie nodded. "Thanks. Please take care of her?"
Claire smiled. "We will. Good night, Marie."
Marie smiled back at the friendly couple and climbed back into her car. She started the engine and quickly went home, quietly hoping that it would work out for Beca this time.
A/N: Wuhu, chapter two is done! Next time we'll see more from Beca's point of view. Originally, I wanted to wait with this chapter until I finished the next chapter for 'Roommates', but I got carried away at work ;) (*Pssst* don't tell anyone)... Thanks guys, for the amazing support! I didn't expect so much response for only one chapter. You gave me 8 reviews, over twenty favs and over 60 follows! You are awesome! I'm ridiculously happy every time my phone lights up with another E-Mail notification.
Something unrelated: I listened to Rachel Platten's 'Fight Song' (the cover by Caleb Hyles) while writing this and he is seriously awesome. Go check him out if you have the time. I promise you won't be disappointed. So, enough with the boring author's note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, please leave a little review to let me know :)
