Just a Note, the first three chapters were really only background. This is where the story really begins.
As Erin Riley approached the Anderson-Hummel household, she couldn't help but feel that just like her other six foster homes, that this was just a temporary stop in her journey. Only a few of her possessions, well all of her possessions, but there weren't many to begin with made the journey with her. She learned over time that it was easier that way. Don't get attached to things that you'll just have to abandon in a few months. After walking down the long stone walk way, she came to the white front door. She turned to her social worker, Amy and smiled.
"See you in a few months." She said with a smile.
"I sure hope not." Amy replied. "Try to make this one work sweetie. They're really good people, I promise. This one is going to be different."
"That's what you said about the last five foster homes." Erin said quietly.
"Well, I mean it this time." Amy told her. "Just hang in there kiddo. You call me if you ever need anything. okay?" Erin nodded.
"I will." She replied. "Bye Amy." Amy waved as she got into her car and then backed down the long driveway. Now, Erin was all alone...again. She took a deep breath before slowly raising her fist and knocking on the door. She heard footsteps coming closer and then the door opened and revealed a tall man with light brown hair that was spiked to perfection.
"Hi, I'm Erin Riley…" Erin began
"Oh Erin! We were expecting you." the man said excitedly. "I'm Kurt and welcome to our, and well...your home." he laughed. "Please, come in." He said as he backed away from the doorway and cleared a path for Erin. She grabbed her bag and her guitar case and walked inside. On the couch, there was another man. He was short and his hair, unlike his husbands, was not spiked up, rather gelled to his head like a helmet. "Erin, this is my husband, Blaine." Kurt told her. The man got up from the couch and came over to shake her hand.
"Hi, It's nice to meet you." he said with a friendly smile. Erin smiled back and nodded, too shy to really say anything.
"Lily! Seth! Come down here." Kurt called up the stairs. Footsteps thundered down the stairs and then a girl with blonde hair and a boy with brown hair walked into the living room.
"Oh, you must be Erin." The girl said. "I'm Lily and that's Seth." she added point to the boy. Seth just waved, feeling no need to actually introduce himself, seeing as his sister had already done that. Before Erin even replied, she felt a hand on her own pulling her away from the rest of the people she had just met. "You'll be staying in my room, so I'll show you where it is." Lily said as she pulled her up the stairs. She followed Lily down the hallway to the very last room on the right. "And...this is our room." she proclaimed proudly. There were two beds in the room, each one pushed against the opposite wall. "I have the closet," Lily explained, "but, we got you this dresser. I hope that'll be big enough."
"Yeah… It'll be fine." Erin said quietly. "I don't have that much clothing."
"Then I, am going to have to take you shopping." Lily replied. "You don't know how happy I am to finally have another girl living in this house! It's just been me and three boys. Well, my dads are gay, but still. Sorry, I'm rambling." Lily said,stopping herself. "I tend to do that a lot."
"It's...okay." Erin said hesitantly. She had never had to deal with this type of a personality before. Usually kids of her foster parents wanted nothing to do with her, but this girl was different. Erin was worried that she'd never get a minute to herself.
"Well, I'll give you time to get settled. Call if you need anything." Lily said before skipping off downstairs. Erin let out a sigh of relief as Lily left. She may have been a bit high strung, but at least she was nice. Erin took a seat on the bed and set down her guitar case and her bag. She pulled out her clothes first, which just consisted of two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts, a fancy shirt, a sweatshirt, and a extra pair of converse. She opened up the first drawer in the large dresser and put all of them in there. She really didn't need the other three drawers. Then, she reached back in her bag and pulled out a guitar pick that had been her dad's and a picture of the two of them.
She really missed her dad. He had died when she was just eight years old to stomach cancer. After that her mother discovered her true love, which was alcohol, and soon became pretty addicted. It was awful living with mother, especially when she was drunk, which was almost all the time. When she was fifteen, her mother had fell asleep drunk with a cigarette in her mouth and lit the house on fire. No fifteen year old could ever forget a day like that. A day where their mother screams at them to "Leave her the fuck alone and let her die." Needless to say, social services got involved after that and Erin was left to fight for herself in the system. Her mother never even tried to get better and take her back. Erin had pretty much given up on her. Her only goal was to survive in the system until she was eighteen and get the hell out of there.
The last thing in the bag was her baby blanket that she had for...well forever. Her grandma, her dad's mom, had knitted it for her and she had never slept anywhere without it. She laid it across her bed and took a deep breath. Well, that took care of unpacking. The rest of the night, Erin spent mostly in her bedroom. Her new foster family was friendly, but she wasn't ready to be one of them yet. She barely knew them. She just needed time. On the other hand, she was stressing about her first day of school tomorrow. It was already October and classes had already been in session for a month. So, that meant that once again Erin had to suffer through being "the new girl" which she hated. She only hoped that this school would be a lot better than her last one and wouldn't include airport security scanners at the entrance.
Later that night, Lily came to bed, still happy and smiley. "Goodnight." She said sweetly.
"Goodnight." Erin replied before turning on her side to face the wall as she cradle the baby blanket in her arms. "Please, let this be a good one." She murmured before snuggling further under the covers and falling asleep. Her wake up the next morning was not as peaceful.
"Crap! I'm late!" She heard Lily say loudly. "Erin wake up. We're late." Erin opened her eyes and stared at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was already 7:25. School started at 7:38, which was a really weird time. Erin threw back the covers and pulled on a pair of jeans, a clean t-shirt, her sweatshirt, and her converse. "Wow, you're fast." Lily sighed. She threw on a pair of black yoga pants and a tight graphic T and then pulled her beautiful curly blonde hair into a ponytail. "Fine, I'll just have to have a bum day." She said. Erin looked at her. That was a bum day outfit? What was a regular day outfit? After, Erin followed Lily downstairs to the kitchen. Lily opened the cabinet and grabbed two packs of pop-tarts and then threw one at Erin. "Bye Dads! We're leaving." Lily yelled as she grabbed her car keys and made a break for the door.
"Bye girls."Came Kurt's voice as he walked down the stairs. "Have a good first day, Erin." he said sweetly.
"Thank you." She muttered before racing after Lily. She climbed into Lily's car just in time because as soon as she shut her door, Lily stepped on the gas and drove off.
"God if I'm late again Mrs. Jones is going to kill me." Lily blabbed as she shoved the poptart into her mouth with one hand and drove with the other. Erin was fairly certain she wasn't even really watching where she was going and wondered if she'd even live to be called "the new girl" once again. Amazingly, they made it to school in one piece. "The main office is right over there." Lily said before running off to see her friends once they had made it into the building. Erin nodded and walked into the main office.
"Hi, I'm Erin Riley. I'm new and I have to pick up my schedule." She told the secretary. The old woman sitting at the desk smiled at her before rifling through some papers and then handing one to her.
"You're first class is honors global studies. It should be right down that hallway." the woman told her.
"Thank you." Erin replied before walking out of the main office. She was fairly certain that the bell had already ran because only a few kids remain in the hallways. She walked down the hallway and searched for room numbers and then looked back down at her schedule. Suddenly, she bumped into something...or someone and her papers fell to the floor.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said a voice. Erin looked up and in front of her was this gorgeous boy with dark brown hair and beautiful green eyes.
"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking." Erin apologized. "I was just trying to find my class." she added softly.
"So, I take it your new." the boy said with a white toothed smile. "I'm Logan. Maybe I can help you find your class?" he offered. "Where are you headed?"
"Umm...Honors global studies." Erin replied. "Mrs. Deily" she added.
"Oh that's right over there." Logan said pointing to a door right across the hallway.
"Thank you." Erin said as she made her way over to the door.
"Hey, if you need help finding the rest of your classes, I could meet you after class. I'm right across the hall." Logan offered.
"Yeah,' Erin replied. "That would be nice." she said with a smile.
"Alright, see you later…" Logan paused. "You didn't tell me your name."
"Oh, it's Erin." She told him.
"Well Erin, I'll see you after class." Logan said before going into his classroom. Erin smiled as she watched him walk away. Maybe being "the new girl" this time wouldn't be so bad.