Chapter 4

Natalie's Point of View

Just as she predicted, the second Tom and Natalie got to the new foster home the parents acted all lovey- dovey and ecstatic to have a new foster child. She couldn't necessarily say it was a show because she could not assume that they were lying. However, very few people are actually that happy to have yet another teenager in the house. After all, teenagers tend to be emotional wrecks with all sorts of authority issues…at least that's what most adults like to believe.

Both parents seemed really nice. They gave her a hug and welcomed her to the small town that appeared to be pretty bleak. The house was very pretty and looked inviting. Natalie could picture herself really liking it here. As she walked inside she only felt more comfortable. It was like a scene from a movie. There was a fire in the fireplace, a chocolate brown sofa with another girl appearing her age sitting watching a sitcom. Just then she looked up at me and smiled.

"Natalie, this is our other foster child, Katie." Her new foster mom, Beth, said.

"Hi Natalie! It's so good to finally have another teen around here. I was getting so bored." She joked. I could already tell I was going to love her. She seemed so happy and bubbly.

"Hi Katie! I'm glad you feel that way!" It was true; she hated it when other kids felt like they owned the house just because they got there first.

"Katie, do you want to show Natalie her new room?" asked her foster dad, Steven.

"Okay!" Katie replied brightly, "Come on, Natalie! Let's go!"

We went upstairs and turned to walk towards the end of the hall. She opened the last door and there was a huge room that appeared she and Katie would be sharing, but she didn't care. She was already very fond of her sister. The room was painted a vintage-looking pink and had a white stone fire place against one of the walls; there was two matching of everything else: Two matching queen beds with cream duvet covers, two pretty white desks, two dressers. The only thing that there wasn't two of was a bookcase and an absolutely huge closet that looked more like four that one, but it was all connected.

"So what do you think?" Katie asked.

"It's all so pretty, I already love it here." And she did. It seemed so comfortable, so much like home. Natalie had never known home. She knew foster homes, but it wasn't anything near what she always imagined a real home would be like.

With that, they began to talk. They sat on Natalie's bed and talked about what the foster parents were like, what the town was like, and their hobbies. Natalie actually found out that she had a lot in common with the girl. She liked playing with hair and makeup but also liked to get dirty from time to time. She liked to bake, but liked eating more. She was very open and social but, just like Natalie, had a quite side to her. After a while, Natalie even noticed that some of their physical traits were the same. She had blonde hair too, but it wasn't quite as bright, almost on the verge of being a light brown color instead. She had pale skin like Natalie, and a body shape kind of like her own only Natalie had a slightly smaller waist, but not by much. The only very apparent difference was that Katie had brown eyes instead of blue.

After comparing body shapes for a little while, Natalie started to complain on how hard it can be to find clothes that look good when you have big hips and a small waist, but Katie simply smiled as she disagreed. Afterword, she showed Natalie her portion of the closet. Man this girl knew how to shop!

"Holy cow, Katie! Where did you get so many clothes?" Natalie's eyes just continued to pop out of her head when she saw the shoe collection.

"Bet-I mean mom really likes shopping. Later she'll probably insist you go out with her because your wardrobe can't be complete with only two suitcases.

"One" Natalie corrected quietly. Suddenly her wardrobe did seem extremely small, but that didn't matter. She had what she needed.

"What! One!" Katie practically screamed. "What's in the other one then?" she continued. She didn't sound angry, just shocked that I had one, small suitcase to fit all my clothes in…easily too.

"Do you want to see?" I asked. I didn't especially want to show her all the journals, some of them were really quiet old. But I could tell her that they were heirlooms or something.

"Yes!" she said excitedly. I guess she didn't get to see other peoples stuff that often. So Natalie walked over and unzipped the bag. All Katie did was gasp in shock, and Natalie 100% understood why. Natalie had two books in there: A nice copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (that was her favorite book) and a very old story book that belonged to her mother had read to her in her young years. The rest was absolutely completely filled to the brim with journals. It did not even have her current diary, which was in her clothes suitcase.

"Why so many?" Katie asked, almost sounding humbled.

"They are the only things I have from my birth family. Most of them are from forever ago, but they are the only heirloom I'll ever have the chance to own." That was not entirely true, but was definitely possible.

"Oh Natalie, I'm sorry" she whispered. I couldn't understand why, she was probably in the same boat as I was, but I was not going to tell her that…at least not right now.

"So anyway, what size shoe do you wear, I think I saw a pair in your closet that I just might have to steal." With a laugh she answered '7' and they spent the rest of the night ogling shoes and clothes and deciding who was allowed to wear what on specific days until they went down for dinner.

She really was going to like it here.