OH MY GOSH I LOVED THE REVIEWS I GOT FOR THE LAST CHAPTER! I know it's kind of pathetic that I get so excited over two reviews, but they were AMAZING!
Lola Ride: I AGREE WITH JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID INVOLVING LEMONADE MOUTH AND JB. Well I kind of suck at singing, but I'm pretty decent with playing rhythm and notes and my music teacher is always like 'WHY CAN'T YOU BE MORE LIKE HER?' to all the other kids and they're like *glare*. Andrew Jackson does sound really familiar. Google says that he was the seventh president of the United States. I didn't even mean to do that when I wrote it. *Starts laughing like a little nut.* OH I DID THE STUPIDEST THING TODAY! I SLAMMED A CAR DOOR ON MY RIBS AND IT HURT LIKE CRAZY!
Matchakorky: Awww… Thanks! I might just do that. *Starts grinning and rubbing hands together evilly*
Chapter 12
Lindsey Sword smiled. It had been a year and four months, but she was finally getting her siblings back. As soon as she had aged out of the foster system five months ago she had headed back to Tyler to work on getting the rest of her siblings back. The Swords wouldn't get Wednesday, Josh, Greg, Billy, or Sean back for another seven months but she would get some of her siblings back. And over the time that she had been in foster care Tyler had gotten promoted and with his increased pay check he had been able to buy a house. It wasn't huge, but it was big enough for the Swords to be comfortable in.
But for the entire time they had gotten no word about their siblings in delinquency home other than a report every three months. Lindsey was kind of nervous about what they would be like when they came back. Would they be brats? Would they feel distant from everyone now?
There was only one way to find out.
-CBTD-
Eighteen year old Billy Sword wanted to see Wednesday more than any of his other siblings. Two years ago Wednesday had been a short seven year old girl with brown hair that had streaks of blond bleached in by spending lots of time outside. Now she was a nine year old girl who had spent the last two years of her life in a delinquency home.
He almost didn't recognize her when he got home. Her hair was almost black with streaks the color of milk chocolate and was cut raggedy at about four inches below her chin. Her skin was pale and she looked like she could use a good nap and some time in the sun. She looked a lot stronger than she had before and skinnier.
Josh and Greg were the same but they just had short shaggy hair. They had each earned a hard, cold, determined look in their eyes. It was honestly a little scary and made Billy wonder what had happened to them in the Grayson Delinquency Home for Uncontrollable Youths.
"Hey guys," Tyler said, bending down and wrapping his arms around them in a hug. The three of them flinched away, hesitated, and then returned the hug.
"Have you been doing well?" he asked. The three of them shrugged together.
"We eat, we exercise, and we learn," Greg said.
"Did you behave?" Tyler asked.
"Josh and I did after a little while. It took Spif a couple trips to the Grayson office before she started shaping up," Greg said.
"Spif?" Billy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Josh and Greg nodded. "We met a boy named Dustin and he started calling Wednesday Spitfire. Sometimes we shorten it down to Spif," Josh explained.
Tyler wasn't exactly sure how to reply so he just nodded. "Well do you want to get settled into your rooms? You'll each get your own."
Wednesday, Josh, Greg, Sean, and Billy nodded and picked up their backpacks which were considerably lighter than they had been two years ago. They each found a room and Tyler was surprised that they didn't start wrestling for the best room like they would have two years ago. Wednesday and Billy said nothing about getting the two room that were up in the attic space. Gosh, Tyler wished they'd throw a fit or something. Just to let him know that there was still some regular child in them.
"The Bakers are two houses down if you want to go see them," Tyler said to break the quiet over dinner. "You could go see them after we eat," he offered.
Wednesday nodded. "I'll go talk to Mike," she said. She finished eating quickly then went outside.
-CBTD-
Mike almost jumped for joy when he saw Wednesday approaching. He had been nervous that he wouldn't recognize her, but he would know her anywhere. The last two years had been tough on Mike. He had a hard time making new friends and mostly just stuck with the rest of the Bakers.
"JAKE," he yelled. "It's Wednesday."
Jake came thundering down the stairs holding his skateboard with a broad grin on his face. "Sweet," he said. "Tyler said they would probably be coming today."
The two ran out the door and towards Wednesday. "Hey Wednesday," Mike called.
"Hey Mike, hey Jake," Wednesday called back a faint smile flickering across her features. They went over to a tree, climbed up, and sat on a branch.
For the next hour they sat on the branch talking, catching up, joking, laughing, and smiling. Wednesday seemed a little hesitant at first, but soon she was hopelessly laughing and smiling with the two Baker boys.
Wednesday wrapped her legs around the branch and dangled down. Mike and Jake could see a bunch of scars across her back.
"What happened to your back?" Jake asked.
"What do you mean?" Wednesday said. She pulled herself back up onto the branch and pulled her shirt down.
"The scars," Mike said. "You have a bunch on your back."
"They're just from lickings," Wednesday said with a shrug. "Clarks was in charge of us a lot and he would kick you or take a belt to your back if you were misbehaving. And every time I got sent to Mr. Grayson's office I got twenty lickings with a cane."
Jake and Mike's eyes went wide. "That sounds like it hurts really badly," Mike said.
"That's kinda the point," Wednesday said. "If you get hurt every time you do something bad then it makes you want to stop being bad or at least stopped you enough to make you think."
"Did they bruise or bleed a lot?" Jake asked.
Wednesday bent down and pulled her shirttail up. "I got a licking two days ago for talking about going home," she said.
Jake and Mike nearly threw up as they looked at the black, blue, purple, yellow, and green bruises that surrounded each cut that was about three inches wide.
"Wednesday that's abuse!" Jake said. Wednesday shook her head.
"It's a delinquency home Jake," she said. "They can do whatever they find necessary to turn juvenile delinquents into good kids."
"It's still not fair," Jake said. Wednesday laughed a cold, humorlessly laugh that sounded unusual coming from someone her age.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you life isn't fair?" Wednesday said. She glanced at her watch and leapt from the tree, landing on her feet and bending her knees slightly. "I gotta get home," she said and started walking back home.
So Mike and Jake Baker sat and watched a little girl who had to grow up too fast walk away/
