Can I just say this is the best fandom ever? Like, you guys are the cutest reviewers ever, and ya'll get so pumped, it's adorable! I love it, seriously, the energy is just the best.
I'm feeling really good about this chapter, because this prompt has been an idea I've been wanting to do forever, and now that I'm on the letter, I can finally do it, which I think puts me on perfect grounds to be excited.
The mid-season premiere of the Fosters isn't even three weeks away, and I'm feeling so excited that I could pee my pants in excitement.
Did I also mention it comes back on two days before my birthday?
I didn't? Well, it does, so lucky me.
Because of my good mood, I will be doing a writing haul, something I like to do when I feel like I've been sluggish with my writing. More info on that in bottom A/N, like always.
Liam
fosters&callie
Callie hated dances.
It wasn't the cheesy decor, or the lame punch tables, or the horrible song selections from the cheap DJ. Not even the dresses were the worst thing about school dances.
It was the girls.
Growing up in different foster homes for most of her childhood, Callie didn't experience much when it came to watching girls get ready for big events like dinner parties, school dances, the works. It was one of the only things she found to be a blessing in the foster system.
But god, was she not prepared for the night of the winter formal.
Callie sat dumbfounded, watching Lexi and Mariana run around the room like busy bees, hair elegantly pinned and sparkling with many jeweled clips, just the right amount of strands curling around their faces. Their glossy lips shined whenever the light hit them just right, each pair of lips matching the color of each respective dress. Watching their hair sparkle and skirts twirl around their knees made Callie feel like she belonged in a dumpster with her comfy sweatpants and tank top.
She'd known about the winter formal for weeks, but with Wyatt gone and her having no social life, she hadn't obtained any way to have a date, and who goes to a dance without someone on their arm? Didn't that defeat the whole purpose when you didn't have someone to dance with?
Unfortunately, Mariana was still convinced their was hope even when the dance was only thirty minutes away.
"It wouldn't take that much, actually," her foster sister told Lexi now as she struggled to properly place in a small hoop earring in her left ear. "That slash on the court dress? It comes right off - and it's not like anyone in school has seen her in it, so we should be good."
Lexi mulled over this idea carefully, rubbing her glossy pink lips in thought. "Make-up shouldn't be a problem either," she added wistfully, already reaching backward to grab a tube of mascara.
"Um, hello?" Callie interjected, grabbing their attention. "Do you not remember me clearly stating I wouldn't be going five minutes ago?"
"Ugh," Mariana groaned at her foster sister's stubbornness , "It isn't like you'd be staying the entire dance. Moms weren't able to chaperone, so they want us home at midnight. You'd only be there for, like, two or three hours, tops."
"And lots of guys are going stag this year," Lexi pointed out helpfully, "so it's not like it's an entire crowd of couples."
"Still failing to see why I should go," Callie deapanned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Awh, com'n, it will be a great time waster," Mariana continued. "You're always complaining that you never have anything to do but homework."
A problem that was, once again, her poor social life's fault.
Callie rolled her eyes, but stood from her bed, which the girls took as a sign of defeat. "Fine, fine, if it will shut you two up. But aren't you forgetting I don't even have a dress?"
"Not true!" Lexi declared, before marching to Callie's drawers and rummaging before she triumphantly pulled out the same floor length dress Callie had donned for the night of Mariana and Jesus' Quinceneara.
"That's no dance for a winter formal," Callie sputtered.
Mariana grinned wickedly, grabbing a pair of sccissors off her desk and grinning. "Then we'll make it one."
Twenty-five minutes later Callie was scowling as she followed her siblings and their dates into the school's gymnasium, pulling at her the cut hem of her dress that was now dyed a dark magenta.
Lexi and Mariana, when paired together, could work incredibly fast, cutting the diamond-bestled slash off Callie's court dress and shortening the dress' hem to mid-thigh after using left-over shirt dye to change it's color.
After they finished attacking her with tubes of gloss and mascara and pointy sticks of eyeliner, of course.
"Stop fussing," Mariana hissed as she waved her date, a tan sufer boy by the name of Davy, toward the punch bowl so she could yank Callie's hands away from her elegantly braided bun Lexi had proudly done. "You're going to ruin the look!"
With one stern finger wag, Mariana drifted away to her waiting date, who stood a few feet away, awkwardly swaying to the music with two punch cups in his hands.
Callie sighed, spotting Jesus and Lexi swing each other around in front of the DJ booth, and Brandon and his date, a shy girl with a mousy voice from his English class, talk quietly at one of the brightly decorated tables.
Sighing, she shrugged her leather jacket off and slung it over her arm, heading toward the nearest sparkly table herself and settling in.
This was going to be a long night, she decided as the song switched to what she assumed to the first slow one of the evening as girls shyly held out their hands to the boys who had suddenly gone terribly clammy. She wished seventh graders had been allowed to the dance, instead of freshmen and above, at least she could be a politely accepted third wheel with Jude and his buddy Connor instead of a lone wolf in itchy high heels that are literally killing her.
"One of the dateless, I presume?"
Callie looked up from playing with her fingers to see a blonde boy in nice jeans and a formal jacket take the seat across from her. He had big eyes the color of melting chocolate, and a smile that showed off all his teeth.
"Actually you happen to be sitting on my date," she retorted dryly, "and he finds you very offensive."
Blondie laughed the kind of laugh that was loud and involved the action of throwing his head back and exposing all the neat skin that covered his throat.
"It's Callie, isn't it? From March's homeroom? I sit a row behind you to the left."
She took in his face and recalled his name being Eric, and he was on the school's basketball team. He was one of the few jocks that actuall valued the need a human had for education, and did quite well, and wasn't afraid to show off either, whether it be with grades or just with his skills on the court.
"Ah, and you're the famous Eric Hassing, basketball star," she profiled him, spreading her hands in the air as if to put his name up in lights.
Eric laughed, dragging her up from the table and pushing his way through the crowd, dragging her behind him all the while.
"Us staggies need to stick together, you know," he declared louder than needed, drawing the attention of nearby couples that had peacefully swaying along with the music.
Callie stumbled along after him. Damn these stupid silver heels.
But, maybe it was Eric's fault for being so pushy. Seriously, who grabs a person and makes them dance after a five minute conversation?
Once they were in the very front of the gym, which meant in front of the stage, in plain sight of everybody gathered in the room, Eric took her hands and began to spin her wildly, making her perfectly piled hair whip through the air as it unraveled and fell around her face.
"What are you doing?" Callie managed to sputter as he twirled her into his chest, stopping only for her sake.
He gave her a cheeky smile. "Hey, staggies need to have a dance, too."
Then he began to spin her again, the two laughing so loudly the music seemed to disappear, and people swayed to the sound of their laughing alone.
At a quarter to midnight, Callie had managed to hold down half a cup of spiked punch, eat three stale cookies and and make a new friend in Eric, who admitted to being forced to the dance as well by his teammates even though he had just gone through a rough breakup with his girlfriend.
"Look who had a just a terrible time tonight," Mariana sarcastically commented as Callie scurried toward the small ring her siblings had made while she said goodnight to Eric.
Callie shrugged on her jacket, rolling her eyes at her foster sister. "Shut up, will you?"
Mariana rolled her eyes back in response, but locked arms with Callie in the one that wasn't already linked to Lexi's.
"Too bad all my pretty work went to waste though," Lexi said in a defeated tone, eying the ringlets that framed Callie's flushed cheeks. "If I'd known you two were going to swing around the dance floor like teenage Tarzans I wouldn't have been so much work into it!"
Jesus laughed at his girlfriend, kissing her head. "Ah, babe, she looked good for the first ten minutes."
Callie scoffed at him, crossing her arms over chest.
As she fell to the back of the walking group, she noticed the lack of mousy girls in their group. "Hey, Brandon, where'd Lisa go?"
"Oh, her mom picked her up an hour ago," he told her, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I don't know if I can say I was ditched, or what."
Callie shrugged, bumping their shoulders together. "Don't worry, dude, if it was a ditch, the sting wears off."
"Not if she was ditching me for a Sherlock marathon," he joked in response. "If so, I think that shows how much I need to improve on my social skills."
She laughed, bumping their shoulders again.
When they were only a couple blocks away, Callie froze completely, setting down the small clutch Mariana made her carry. (For touch-ups, she had exclaimed, but Callie hardly even knew what touch-up even meant.)
"Okay, these shoes are just getting ridiculous," she exclaimed once the rest of her group noticed her sudden stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Kneeling down, she fought with the buckles strapped on her ankles, working them free of the stupid tiny loops and kicking the damned heels off her feet.
Just as she was standing, relishing in the freedom her squished feet now had, the smell of burning rubber hit her nose full force as a car came swinging around the corner, practically driving on it's sides. Heavy rock music filtered out from the open car windows, along with the heavy scent of beer Callie could unfortunately place instantly.
It was one of the most expensive brands of beer ever made, and had a sharper, heavier scent than most alcohols.
She only knew two people ever drank that stuff: Mr. Olmstead and his son, Liam.
Callie was hugging Lexi's arm and pulling them both backwards before the jeep even came to a stop. Her stupid sparkly heels fell from her slack grip and to the lawn of the house they stood in front of with a thud.
Brandon seemed to recongize the vechile as well from Liam visit to their school one day. He stepped to the front of the group, Jesus following after proctectively slinging his dress jacket over Lexi's shoulders.
Mariana stepped back, grabbing her friend's other arm.
"Who is that?" Lexi asked, voice quaking almost as much as Callie's knees were. She felt she was going to drop like a stone.
While they had lost the battle in court, the judge did have enough decency to accept Stef and Lena's file for a restraing order against Liam.
But apparently, the offical seal of court meant nothing to the drunken bastard as he loudly slammed his car door shut and came stumbling around, reeking of booze so strongly it made Callie's eyes water.
"Hey, Jacobs, did you miss me?" He called to her loud enough to make his deep voice ring in her ears.
Callie winced, her nails digging in harder to Lexi's forearm.
"Hey, man, what're you doing here?" Brandon asked gruffly, pushing the older boy back so that he stayed on the road in front of his hazardously parked jeep.
"Just visiting my favorite girl," he said, his tone suddenly turning monstrous and angry. Jesus looked back at her a brief second before returning his attention to Liam, who now looked ready to kill.
Callie's guts swam at the fact that him finding her on her route home must have meant that he'd been circling the area around her house, waiting like a hawk that wants to sink their claws into their helpless prey.
Mariana inched her way behind Callie and Lexi, so that she stood just centimeters behind them.
"We need to run, now," Mariana whispered fiercely, flashing her hand quickly enough for Callie to see the dimly lit screen of her phone and the first letter in Stef's name.
Callie's chest loosened slightly at this, and she nodded, slipping her hand down enough for her and Lexi to lock hands.
When Mariana's hand slipped into her right one, the three girls took off down the street, whipping around the corner so fast her eyes stung and her vision blurred.
Liam let out an angry roar behind them, and Callie could picture her foster brothers using all their combined strength to push him away, and keep him there long enough for the police to take him away.
When they arrived at the house, Callie was heavily leaning on Mariana as the three girls stumbled into the house. The bright lights hurt to Callie's teary vision.
Someone gasped, and swooped them up in their arms, embracing them with their signature smell of flour and lilacs. Lena.
"Oh my babies," she soothed, hugging the three girls close.
Callie let herself relax fully, releasing her heart from the tension that it would have if squeezed by a fist.
Footsteps came thudding down the stairs, and Callie pried herself away long enough for Jude to run and hug her waist tightly.
"You okay?" he muttered into her dress.
Callie thought of the emptiness of her hands and the lack of sparkly shoes, the fact that her nose was still caught in the smell of rubber and beer, and sobbed, an animalistic sound that mangled its way from her throat and choked up from her mouth.
"I'm okay," she sobbed.
I've been wanting to do this one forever.
For those of you who have been wanting Braille, this is a strictly platonic story between Callie and all of the Fosters, so sorry to tell you, there will be no Braille moments other than pure fluffy siblings ones, but I hope you did catch the ones I threw in this one just for you.
As for what was mentioned above, I will be doing a writing haul that will last all weekend, and will mainly focus on this story.
For any of you who are reading this that read my other stories out the Fosters fandom, I will be working on those chapters as well, but they may not be published during the writing haul time period.
Because I'm still on break, the writing haul will be from tonight until Monday. I can already tell you the next chapter, M , will be up sometime late tomorrow night.
I will not be asking for any M ideas for I have already began writing it, but if you have any requests/ideas/desires for N, O, or P, leave that in your review along with who you want Callie to hang with next.
But reviews that are purely complimenting the story are cool too.
P.S. This may be the longest chapter yet. Be proud.
