I hope you guys still like this story. Again, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated so frequently. But I'm a lazy bum and school has been extra busy. But, we now have two weeks off so I think I'll try to write more. But, we still only have internet for my mom's laptop (which I'm writing on) because we only have WIFI working. So, yeah. I'm not too happy about this. But, I got this chapter done so I would really appreciate it if you give me a review.
Ian POV
Jared and I walk around the mall, randomly going into stores, not really doing anything until we get to the food court. We pull our wallets out and basically go crazy. When we sit down at a table, we look through all the food we bought. In all, we spent 135 dollars, but we ate it all. We walked out of the mall and got in Jared's dad's car and we started towards Jared's house.
~Line Break~
I wake up to a hard, but obviously tired punch to my arm.
"Ian, wake up. Your phone's been ringing non-stop for 10 minutes," Jared says, tossing my phone on me. I pick it up and see Wanda's name, immediately answering.
"Hello?" I ask, trying to not sound tired.
"Ian?" Wanda's small, timid voice replies. I smile, perking right up.
"Hey, hon. What's the matter?" I ask. I hear a sniffle and a voice in the background.
"Ian, I-I…I'm….I'm being sent away," My whole world crashes down as I slump in my seat. "Ian?" She asks, clearly scared and heartbroken.
"Wanda," I say. "Are you at the orphanage?"
"Uh huh," She says. I nod.
"Ok. I'm coming. I'll be there in a minute,"
"Ok, Ian," We say bye and I hang up, sighing forlornly. Jared puts his hand on my shoulder.
"What's wrong, Ian?" He asks, clearly confused and worried.
"She's leaving, man. They're sending Wanda away from me," I say, rubbing my hand through my hair, a nervous habit.
"Dad, can you drop us off at the orphanage?"
"Sure," He replies and Jared starts to tell me that everything will be fine, that she can't possibly be leaving for real.
"She is, though. She cried it into the phone. Jared, she's leaving!" I say, my anger rising. Why doesn't he get it? Without her, my life is meaningless. She's leaving, I keep repeating to myself, she's leaving me.
~Line Break~
3 Minutes Later
We pull up to the orphanage and I basically jump out of the car. I start jogging towards Wanda and Mel, who were sitting on the steps. Wanda sees me and immediately runs towards me, tears streaming down her sweet face. I reach her and wrap her in my arms, cooing her, telling her everything will be ok, that we'll be fine.
"I don't want to leave you," She sobs. I shush her.
"I don't want you to leave, either, but they're making you. Where are they sending you, anyways?" She sniffles.
"California," She basically sobs. "San Francisco, California," She sobs harder into my chest and I hold her shaking for tighter. I keep thinking about the distance that will soon be between us and I fight the tears that want to fall. I hear voices behind us and know Mel's filling Jared in about what's happening.
If only it wasn't happening.
Jared POV
"No," I say forcefully, refusing to believe that Wanda's being sent to California. Mel nods, a few tears flowing down her face.
"She is. The family she'll be living with is taking in another kid from this other orphanage in South Carolina. At least she'll have someone with her from down here. Well, somewhat from down here, anyways," She says. I wipe her tears away and hold her, trying to keep her calm. I hear Ian and Wanda walking towards us and turn around to see Wanda tucked into Ian's side, gripping him like he's her lifeline. Ian's arms are around her small frame as they walk towards us. I keep Mel tucked into my side and Ian looks right at me and nods seriously.
"We're going to talk to Lara," Ian says.
"You and Wanda?" I ask. Ian shakes his head.
"You and me," Ian says, nodding at me. I nod and kiss Mel's cheek, whispering to her to watch Wanda. I let her go and Ian reluctantly lets go of Wanda, who reaches towards him silently.
Ian POV
We walk inside the building and see Bronwen sitting on the main steps, sketching or writing or something in a journal. She looks up at us when we walk in and nods to us.
"Where's Lara?" I ask coldly. She looks up again, searching our faces and only seeing the anger.
"In her office. Go right and through the door that looks like one that would lead to an office," She says, rolling her eyes and going back to her journal.
"Thanks for the help," I say sarcastically as we walk down the hall. There's only one door so we assume that's the door and open it, walking inside.
~Line Break~
"Well, sir, I'm sorry I can't help you," Lara said into her phone as we walked inside her office. "If the child ran away, the only thing you can do is get the word out that she's missing. I can't do anything about it," There was some yelling on the other end. The guy was so loud, the ear part was a few inches away from her head and we heard him from across the room. "Sir, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. If you want someone to help you, get the police," She said and she hung up, sighing as she rested her elbow on her desk and letting her chin fall on it, her eyes closing.
"Ma'am?" I ask, trying to be polite even though I just want to scream at her. She opens her eyes and looks at us, as if she's awaiting the next round of criticism to come her way. "I'm Ian O'Shea, Wanda's boyfriend. I understand you're…sending her away," I say, my voice cold, hard, unfeeling by the end. She closes her eyes and sighs again.
"I'm truly sorry, Ian," She says, lifting her head and standing up, watching us as she makes her way around her desk. "But a man requested a young girl and Wanda fit the description, so to speak," I shake my head.
"If he asked for a girl, there are plenty of girls here. Couldn't he take someone who doesn't have a life here?" I ask, agitated. Jared elbows me in the ribs, as if to say 'be nice', but I don't really care. Lara shakes her head.
"It's not that simple. We interview the person or people who want to become foster parents multiple times to get a feel for their personality. He seemed to be a very gentle person, like Wanda. It took a lot of encouraging to get him to open up, like Wanda. In many ways, he's like Wanda. He even looks like her a little," Lara adds, almost as if she thinks that the information will make the situation seem better. I shake my head.
"Does her dad know?" I ask. Lara pales a little. I have a feeling that she doesn't want to see Seth anytime soon. "He deserves to know, Lara! He is her father!" We stand in silence for a moment. Then, an idea hits me. "Isn't he?" Lara frowns and walks back towards her desk, motioning for us to follow. We sit in the chairs in front of the desk as she sits in her chair.
"When Seth and Elisha first got back from their honeymoon, Elisha had to start job hunting because she lost her former job due to the newspaper going out of business," Lara started. "Seth had a job at the time so while he was at work, Elisha prided herself on keeping her new house tidy, keeping food in the house, and trying to find a new job. One day when she was grocery shopping, she met Killian," Lara said his name with distaste. "Killian and Elisha got along well, and he even made her his new secretary for his new company. After a few weeks, Killian professed his love for her. Elisha denied him, stating that she was a married woman and had all the happiness she could want at the moment. Killian decided that he would take her to a bar, which she agreed to do, and he got her drunk. Technically, they had an affair, but she was drunk and didn't know what was going on at the time," Lara wiped her eyes. "The next day, Elisha quit and started looking for a new job.
"She continued her life with Seth and was happy, too. That is, until she realized she was pregnant. Seth wasn't ready for children, and never will be in my opinion, but he had no right to act in such a brutal way. Once Elisha realized the baby was alive, she did a DNA test, to be sure that the baby was Seth's," Lara was silent for a minute, starring down at her desk. "The baby turned out to be Killian's. Elisha never told Seth, though, letting him think the baby was his. When Wanda was born, she was so scared that Seth would find out and kill her, considering how abusive he turned out to be. But she loved him too much to stay away for long. She never told anyone about Killian, so no one knew that Wanda wasn't Seth's child,"
"Then how do you know?" I asked. I knew it was wrong to ask in such a rude way, but I was so angry, I didn't really think.
"Because I'm Elisha's sister," I heard a scream from behind us and we turned to see Wanda, her face wet with tears, sobbing on Mel's shoulder. Lara stood and started to rush towards Wanda, but Wanda wouldn't have it. Instead, she did what she did best.
She ran.
Wanda POV
"Wanda, please!" I heard Lara yell behind me. I didn't stop, though. How can this all be happening to me? I ran up the stairs, wanting to go to my room, but I didn't turn that way. Instead, I turned towards the talent area. I ran past every door, faintly seeing paintings, ballet moves, dancing, hearing a few singing voices as I ran. I slowed and ran into the last door. I let the door close behind me, but this was not the room I wanted. All around me were normal-looking people, sitting around the room. Some had headphones on, some were watching videos, others were talking on the computer with Skype or something. They all stopped talking and laughing and stared at me for a while until one girl stood up and walked towards me. She was olive-toned with long, curly brown hair down her back that looked really thick because it seemed to make an afro around her body. It bounced as she walked to me. Her bright brown eyes were filled with sympathy as she got to me, and wrapped me in a hug. A few people clapped while others stood and came to hug me, too. Pretty soon, I was being suffocated by people who were trying to make me feel better.
After a few minutes, they all let me go and stepped a little ways from me to give me some space.
"What's wrong?" The first girl said. I wiped my eyes.
"I have to go to California, and I just found out the man I thought was my real dad wasn't really my blood dad. He was never a dad to me anyways," I say. The girl rubbed her hands up and down my arms as a few more tears leaked out.
"Hey, it's ok. You'll be fine, alright?" She said. I nodded and she wrapped me in another hug. I wish Ian was here to hold me. I always feel better when he's near me. The girl lets me go again and sticks her hand out. "Gracia Romero. Who are you?" I take her hand.
"Wanda Daniels," We shake and she smiles brightly.
"Nice to meet you," I look around the room again.
"Where am I, exactly? I wasn't really paying attention when I was running," Gracia laughs.
"You're in Nerdfighteria," I stare at her in confusion. She blushes slightly. "Ok, technically, you're in a room full of nerdfighters,"
"Nerdfighters?" I ask. I'm so confused on so many levels.
"Nerdfighters are nerds fighting to decrease Worldsuck. We fight for awesome and try to make the world a better place,"
"Instead of being made of organs and cells and stuff, nerdfighters are made up entirely of awesome. Author John Green and his brother, Hank Green, created the world of Nerdfighteria. There's an island that we want to make one day, combining a very large amount of money to buy said island, and every nerdfighter will live there. We'll take care of each other and no one will be mean," A boy behind Gracia says. He looks almost exactly like her, so I guess they're siblings.
"Wanda, this is my little brother, Nicolas Romero. He, like me, is a nerdfighter. If you want to become one, it's not hard. You just fill this out and bam! You're a nerdfighter. If you want to talk to people, you can do so on the Ning, our little chat room. If your boyfriend becomes one, you guys can talk on there. A lot of my friends are on the Ning," Gracia says. She walks towards a table so I follow. She motions for me to sit in a chair and she pulls up a website and clicks sign up. I sit there with her for about 15 minutes until we eventually get it filled out. We put a picture that says 'real life nerdfighter' as my profile picture and she writes down my username and password, handing it to me.
"Ok, so let's go find your boyfriend and get him to sign up, too," I nod.
"Ok," We walk out the door and start down the hallway, in search of my Ian.