This was good, this was very good.
Adding another foster kid to the equation meant that I would be off Stef and Lena's radar.
I desperately needed to be off their radar.
We still haven't talked about the whole mother thing and I don't even want to mention how badly father's day went.
It was a temporary solution to have AJ here but as long as it helped me I was fine with having him here.
The word was.
The fact that this kid didn't even realize how lucky he was annoyed me down to the core.
AJ really hit a home run with the Foster family, the fact that Mike wanted to foster him should have been an eye opener but of course he was blind as a bat. How many people actually met a kid and want to foster them? Zero in my book, they all just wanted something else.
I groaned as someone shook my shoulder.
"Wake up Maisie!"
I rubbed my eye and looked at Mariana annoyed.
She huffed and said "Did you forget what day it is?" She waved a homemade birthday card in the air and I smiled.
I got out of bed and dragged her to Callie's bed.
Mariana jumped onto her bed and we yelled in unison, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
She pulled the money out of the card and it rained down onto Callie.
"What is this?" Callie grabbed a couple of dollars and looked at us confused.
My stomach rumbled and I said "You tell her I am starving, Happy birthday Callie."
I ran downstairs and met with Stef. "She's awake and Mariana is going to take her out all day until the party, I'm sure of it!" I reported.
I didn't tell her that Mariana had planned to take her car shopping.
It was interesting to see how invested the Fosters were on making this a great party for Callie.
I was excited, I had never done this before and I couldn't wait to see how happy Callie would be once she saw the surprise party.
The party was now in full swing and I could tell Jude was a little anxious about things.
"Do you need any help Jude?"
He looked down at the empty cooler and said "Brandon and Mike brought more drinks, can you get them they're supposed to be inside."
"Fine you want to dance with him?"
"I-.."
I looked inside to see Sophia and Brandon staring out the window.
"Or we could just unplug his phone from the it."
I finally stepped up and said "What are you doing?"
Sophia grabbed the phone from the corner of my eye and Brandon said "It's nothing you need to worry about."
I rolled my eyes and watch them try to discreetly go into the shed.
After waiting a couple minutes I followed them.
"What you're doing is wrong."
Brandon tried to hide the phone behind his back and said "Maisie leave us alone and enjoy the party."
I grabbed the phone from behind his back and waved it in the air.
I glared at him and said angrily, "You think I'm stupid or something. There won't be a party to enjoy if you keep this up. I know you had it out for the guy but you would go as far as stealing his phone."
"Maisie I-"
"Yea I know, keep my mouth shut about this."
I tossed him back the phone and said "If you mess this up for him I'm letting you know I'll be on his side."
I walked out frustrated and went inside.
AJ wasn't a bad guy, I don't understand why Brandon hates him. Is it because he's a fost-
"I'm sorry." I was so deep in thought I didn't even realize I bumped into someone.
I shook my head and kept walking when I felt someone grab my wrist.
I froze and as quickly as I could pulled my wrist away in fright. I looked up and the familiar face calmed me down a bit.
"Stef"
She looked at me with worried eyes, "Are you okay?"
I nodded and ran my fingers through my hair, "I'm fine, it's just there is a lot of people here and I just needed some fresh air."
She puts a hand on my forehead and says "Are you sure? You don't feel sick or anything?"
I nodded my head, "I'm fine. I'm just gonna stay in here for a bit."
Stef sighed and said "Okay but if you start to feel bad let me or Lena know, okay?"
"Okay."
I waited for her to leave when suddenly she did something I thought they would never do.
She kissed me on the head.
As Stef walked out my fingers slowly went up my head.
Was that real?
I had seen Stef and Lena do it to the other kids but this was different.
I blink, no one in foster care had ever shown me that kind of affection.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you."
My head turned toward the window.
"Happy birthday dear Callie, happy birthday to you!"
I watched as Callie blew out the candles with a smile on her face.
I grabbed a flashlight and fled out the front door.
I need to escape.
The happiness was drowning me, it was suffocating me.
Just like how AJ was a temporary solution, this happiness would only be temporary.
No matter what I can't deny the fact that I so desperately want to be apart of this family but Brandon proved to me today that I will always just be the foster kid.
The foster kid that they will always be so suspicious of, the foster kid causing trouble, the foster kid who you need to protect your family from.
I dragged my feet when a car suddenly pulled up at my side.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
I turn to see AJ sticking his head out the car window.
I shrugged my shoulders and said "I'm just walking around for a bit."
"Stef and Lena are looking for you, Do you realize what time it is?"
I stared down at my feet and Mike called out from the driver side, "Get in, we're taking you home before Stef and Lena have a heart attack."
I stared at the stars and sighed. I got into Mike's car and AJ said "You better apologize before you even speak to them, they were pretty worried."
We pull up to the Foster's house and got out.
Mike called out, "I'll see you guys soon."
Once his car left I sat down on the sidewalk.
I heard AJ sigh and he sat down next to me. "What are you doing? Do you want t-"
"I hate living here."
AJ turned quite and waited for me to continue.
"Do you know why I'm here?"
He shook his head, "No."
"My social worker had no other place to send me so he dumped me here, It's only temporary. I'm never going to get adopted by them. I wish he sent me to a group home."
He looked at me funny, "A group home, everybody knows group homes are the worst."
I sighed, "The thing is before I came here I accepted the fact that I may never get adopted, I was fine with not getting adopted. This place is different than any other place I've been but you know what the worst thing is? Knowing I have to leave because this places gives me so much hope."
I stood up and said "Hoping for something and losing it hurts worse than never hoping for anything."
With that I walked away from AJ and went inside the house. As expected Stef and Lena sat in the living room.
"We need to talk."
Yay another chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you guys think.
