"No he didn't!"

"Yeah, he did!"

"You're lying!"

"Nah bro, I swear, he legit turned around and told him 'if you touch me again, I'll break your face'," said Caleb.

"Oh. My. God." said Lizzy.

"Yeah," added the cousin.

Lizzy fell silent while she took this in, her face a mixture of shock and amazement.

The two teens were hanging out in Lizzy's bedroom, by her desk, as Caleb's family visited for the day.

"Wait so what happened? Did he get sent to the Principal's office?" she asked.

"What do you think?" said Caleb.

"Oh my god, no way!" she exclaimed.

Both of them burst into laughter.

"Yeah, suspended for two weeks."

"Damn!"

"Yeah. He gotta work on his anger issues, man."

"For real," added Lizzy as she sighed. "I feel bad for Jason. I wish he found some permanence. Like a forever family or something."

"You mean adoptive family?"

"Yeah, or like a permanent placement. Something to give him a sense of stability and direction."

"...Is that what you feel you have now?" asked Caleb, tentatively.

Lizzy looked up at him, taken aback by his question.

"Among other things, yeah."

There was a silence while her statement settled on Caleb.

"Yo. I wanted to say I'm, uh, sorry about, uh…"

Lizzy cut him off before he could finish.

"It's cool. Don't worry about it," she said.

"I think it's really cool you got adopted," added Caleb.

Lizzy gave him a smile, forgiveness written across her features.

"Thanks. You're not that far off either, eh?" she teased.

Caleb shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

"We'll be officially cousins before you know it," she added.

He sniggered. "We'll see."

Lizzy gave him a knowing look. "Dude. I get it. I didn't believe it until like a week before my court date. But you'll get there."

"I don't know."

"Don't you guys have the .26 hearing in a few weeks?" she asked.

Caleb looked at her again. "Yeah but, anything can happen."

Lizzy raised an eyebrow. "You mean you're gonna make something happen?"

"Me? Nah. But you never know," said the teen boy.

Lizzy gave him a sad smile, knowing very well where his feelings were coming from.

"Daisy seems happy though," continued Caleb. "She calls them 'mom' and 'dad'"

Lizzy nodded. "I heard. It's so cute. I think Aunt Kimmy loves it."

"Yeah"

"But you're not there yet," said Lizzy.

Caleb shrugged his shoulders again, confirming her statement. He picked up a highlighter pen from her desk and started fidgeting with it.

Lizzy decided to give him space, so she stayed silent while Caleb gathered his thoughts.

After a while, he looked up at her. "You gonna tell me I should just give in and join her?" he asked.

Lizzy shook her head. "No. There's no pressure. They love you. They'll be patient. One day it will just come naturally, and you'll wonder why it took you so long in the first place. But you gotta get there in your own time."

Caleb took a piece of paper and ran the highlighter across the page, drawing lines all over it. Lizzy allowed him the space to work through his feelings.

Once the page was almost completely soaked in yellow ink, Caleb looked up at her.

"You know, if I'm gonna have a family, I'm glad you're gonna be part of it," he admitted.

Lizzy smiled and faked punched him in the arm.

"Me too"