Summary: Evie and her dad take in a girl from the states intending to just foster her for a few months after the death of her mother. The girl who has never met her father, quickly connects with Evie over their similar pasts with the loss of their mothers.
Takes place around the start of the school year following season 2 (3 on netflix), meaning that Evie and the gang are about 17ish.
Request from Twilightroxas7. (This ended up being over 18 pages written so I've broken it into two parts.)
Word Count: 2278
"Evie, can you come here for a minute?" Mr. McLaren, Doug, called from the living room.
"What's up, dad?" Evie asked.
"Here, sit down." Doug motioned to the vacant spot beside himself on the couch
Evie made her way slowly over to her dad, unsure of what he wanted to talk about and why he'd want her to sit down for whatever it was. "What is it, dad?" Evie repeated her question from before.
"Well," he started. "Today I found out about a girl who needs a foster family for a little while. She lost her mother to cancer recently and I thought. . . " Doug trailed off unsure of what more he really wanted to add.
"How old is she?"'
"About fifteen if I remember correctly."
"Okay," Evie agreed.
"Really?"
"Yes," Evie answered with a confident tone.
"I'll go let them know we have a place for her. I already went through all the stuff to be a foster parent and we might be able to have her join us within the next week."
"Okay," Evie agreed. She liked seeing her dad so happy and couldn't help but smile herself. She hoped that through this, she'd be able to comfort the girl who had just lost her mother since she had gone through the same exact experience almost ten years ago. She was almost jealous of the girl for having her mum around for that long until she realized that her father must not have been around if she'd ended up in foster care. She vowed then to do whatever she could to help the girl she hadn't even met or seen pictures of yet through her recent struggles.
The next few days, Evie and her dad spent time getting the spare room together and ready for the girl who would be staying with them. Evie's dad had been able to find out a bit more about the girl. She was in fact fifteen and was originally from the States. They'd seen a couple pictures of her. Her hair was a light blond color and her eyes green.
"I really like her name, Pearl. It's just really pretty. Don't you think dad?" Evie asked as they worked on getting the room all set up for Pearl.
"Yes," her dad smiled.
Evie knew that having a younger sister for a little while might be somewhat risky, but she wanted to do anything she could do to help Pearl with the loss of her mother, hoping that their similar experiences would help them bond and connect.
Before she knew it, Evie and her dad were going to pick Pearl up from where she had been staying until she was allowed to stay with them. Pearl had a few suitcases, duffle bags, and a backpack of stuff. She insisted on carrying the backpack herself; Evie and her dad respected Pearl's wish and took her other bags instead.
CHCHCH
"And this is your room," Evie said, leading Pearl into the room that had formerly been the guest room. "You get your own bathroom connected to your room. What do you think?"
"I like it." She went to sit down on her bed. Doug walked in with the last of her bags.
"I'm glad to hear that," he spoke. "I'll let you two get everything settled in the rest of the way." Doug smiled and left the room.
"I like your dad; he's really nice," Pearl smiled. "But where's your mom?"
"My mum died when I was 8, almost 10 years ago now."
"I didn't know," Pearl spoke, she lowered her head. "I'm sorry for asking; they didn't tell me that."
"Don't be sorry. It's hard sometimes but I made it through with a good support system." Evie walked over to Pearl and sat down beside her. "And I understand what you're going through right now. If you ever need anyone to talk to about it, I'm here. Dad's a good listener and all but sometimes you need to talk to another girl."
Pearl smiled. "Thanks. I never met my dad. My mom said he was there when I was born but he had to leave so I don't remember him." Pearl's voice grew weak. She'd never met her father and after recently losing her mother after a battle with cancer, she had been left as pretty much an orphan, sending her into foster care.
Evie reached her arm around Pearl to give her a comforting hug. Pearl leaned her head onto Evie's shoulder. She brought her hand up to wipe the tears that had fallen from her cheeks.
"When does it stop hurting?" she looked up to Evie with tear filled eyes a minute later. Evie's heart broke for Pearl and all over again for the loss of her own mother.
"It doesn't," Evie spoke; tears started to fill her eyes too. Pearl put her arms around Evie's waist and the two girls stayed like that, just holding on to one another, for a while until their tears subsided.
"I'm sorry to dump all of this on you," Pearl laughed through her obvious pain.
"Don't worry, a good cry is healthy every once in awhile," Evie smiled. "Anyway, do you need help unpacking?"
"I think I'll be fine."
"Okay. I'm next door if you need me, and don't forget to rehydrate yourself."
"Thanks," Pearl smiled as Evie left the room, She'd never had an older sister before, but she could definitely see how she could get used to it.
When Pearl finished unpacking about an hour later, she went over to Evie's room. She gently knocked on the door, even though it was slightly ajar. "Come in," Evie said. Pearl entered and went to sit down next to Evie who was sitting on her bed with her laptop on her lap. "What's up?" Evie asked. "Need help unpacking?"
"I finished and was wondering if we could go do something together."
"There's the cafe," Evie suggested. "I actually work there and so do a couple of my friends. They're both working if you'd want to go over there and meet them."
"Sounds like fun," Pearl smiled.
"Okay, then let's go." Evie closed her laptop and set it off to the side of her bed. She grabbed her bag as Pearl went to go grab her stuff. They were soon heading out.
They took the short walk to the cafe and as they did, Evie gave Pearl a little tour of the area. "There's Ocean Cafe and the beach is basically right here too."
"I'm not really a big fan of water and swimming."
"That's cool," Evie said. "I don't really go to the beach much more either."
Pearl couldn't help but be reassured by Evie's words. Sure they didn't share everything, but they'd both lost their mothers and they both didn't really care for the beach. Pearl was glad Evie was so nice. She'd been worried that the 'sibling' she found out she was going to have would be mean and not like her or be a brat. Compared to her fears, Evie was like a heavensend.
When they entered the cafe, Pearl looked around in amazement. She loved the colors, design, and general look of the cafe. "Hey Evie," a blond girl said coming up to the pair. "You must be Pearl, I'm Carly," Carly spoke, a warm smile on her face as she extended her hand to Pearl.
Pearl shook Carly's hand and smiled back at her. "Yeah, I'm Pearl. It's nice to meet you.
"It's nice to meet you too." Carly moved to allow the girls to sit and took their orders. "I'll have your drinks for you in a minute."
"Thanks Carly," Evie said as her friend headed behind the counter to prepare their drinks.
"I like Carly. She's really nice," Pearl spoke.
Evie smiled. "She's been my best friend as far back as I can remember."
"I can see why."
"She's always been there for me. She's trustworthy and we tell each other everything."
"I wish I had a friend like that," Pearl said, sounding downcast.
"I'll be here for you whenever you need to talk," Evie reassured Pearl.
"Thanks," Pearl replied. They fell into silence for a little while until Carly came over with their drinks. The rest of the day, Saturday, Evie and Pearl spent time hanging out and getting to know each other.
The following day, Pearl was able to meet Zac and Cam having already met Carly and David the day before at the cafe. The cafe was less busy on Sunday than Saturday so Pearl was able to get to know them all better. They soon all took on the 'protective older sibling' type stance over Pearl, knowing that she hadn't had anyone to confide in before.
"You ready for school tomorrow?" Evie asked as they got ready for bed later that night.
"I'm nervous but knowing that you, Carly, Cam, David, and Zac will all be there too makes me feel better."
"Good. We're leaving a little early so you can meet Rita– Principal Santos. We talk outside of school so I slip and call her Rita sometimes."
"What's she like?"
"She's really become like a mentor to me, more than just a principal. She's the female adult figure in my life."
"I think I'll like her. See you in the morning."
"See you in the morning."
Each girl went to their own room and fell asleep soon after lying down. The next morning, both girls awoke to the sound of their own alarm clock. They made their way to the kitchen and found Mr. McLaren cooking breakfast. "We don't normally make breakfast, dad," Evie said.
"Well, it's a special day," he smiled at Pearl.
"You don't need to go through all this trouble for me."
"It's no trouble at all." Mr. McLaren continued cooking breakfast and a few minutes later he dished out pancakes, bacon, and eggs to the girls. "I have to get to work, I'll see you two later," he said. He returned to his room to gather the rest of his things after taking care of the stuff from breakfast and headed out to work.
"We should probably get ready and head out soon," Evie said about a half hour after her dad left. "I want to give you a tour of school if we don't get the chance to do it with Principal Santos.
"Okay," Pearl agreed. Another half hour or so later, she and Evie were heading out the door.
A little while later, Evie lead Pearl through the halls of the school she herself was so familiar with. When they got to the principal's office, Evie knocked on the door. "Principal Santos?" she asked.
"Come in," came Rita's reply. "Evie," Rita stood up to greet her. "You must be Pearl," Rita held out her hand. "I'm Principal Santos."
"Nice to meet you."
"Likewise. I was hoping that you, Evie, and I could go on a tour of the facility before school starts. I have a copy of your schedule and a map of the school here so you can find them on your own but figured we'd go over it now too."
"Sounds great," Pearl said, taking the papers from Principal Santos as she handed them to her.
They left the area with the administrative offices and headed to the area of the school where the classrooms were. They spent about 45 minutes going over Pearl's schedule and where the classrooms were to help keep her from getting lost. They ended at Pearl's locker.
"Your teachers should have all your books ready for you when you get to class. Will you be okay if I leave you?"
"Yeah," Pearl answered.
"Good." Principal Santos smiled before heading off.
Other students were now walking through the halls. "It's about time to head to our first classes. You want to join us at lunch?" Evie asked.
"You don't need to include me in everything."
"I know we don't need to, but we want to," Evie said. "So if you want to join us at lunch, just text me and I'll let you know where we are."
"Okay."
In her classes before lunch, Pearl was able to meet a few people she felt she could be friends with, but when it came to who to sit with at lunch, those people weren't Evie and even though it'd only been a few days, she and Evie had connected.
"Hey Pearl," Carly greeted with a big smile when Pearl sat down in the grass with her, Cam, David, Evie, and Zac.
"Hey," she replied.
They talked all through lunch but for some reason, Pearl got the feeling that they were all hiding something from her. She obviously didn't know what it was or why they were hiding it from her if they were hiding anything at all.
The rest of the day following went well for Pearl too. After school she, Evie, and the gang headed over to the cafe. Evie, Carly, and David had to work so Pearl sat at a table with Zac and Cam while they all talked and worked on their homework. Zac and Cam did as much to help Pearl as they could since she had missed a couple weeks of the semester.
Pearl could see why Evie liked Zac so much and why they'd all been friends since they were little. Everyone she hung out with was genuine and nice, but Pearl still had that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that they all had a secret or something that they weren't telling her. But, she reminded herself, she wasn't telling them everything either.
A/N: So this is really the best place to cut it off for before the second part which is a little longer than this. The plot thickens in the second half starting literally on the next page I have written and this is the most logical cut-off. I'm sorry for the little cliff-hanger.
Anyway, next week is finals week and I should be studying but I have time this weekend to do that. That means I probably won't update until Wednesday night at the earliest because my last exam ends Wednesday at 4. Then again, I might end up posting at some point before then to keep my brain from melting.
Let me know what you thought of this and continue sending requests. If anyone else has finals in the next couple weeks or anything, I hope yours go well for you. Until the second half of this,
-CrazyHayniac
