S

"So we need some more milk, bananas, I'm thinking chicken for dinner? Cyrus, are you even listening?" Jill's voice entered my head as I shook it. I was lost in thought, completely forgetting that she was there and that we were at the store.

"Uh yeah, I was listening. Chicken sounds good," I told her. She gave me a look and shook her head. She pushed her cart down the aisle, scanning the shelves for any half-off deals or coupon sheets. As if she didn't have enough.

"So, how's school going?" I heard her ask.

I thought for a moment. "Better than any other school I've been to, that's for sure. The people are nice," I said. Well, besides those kids that picked on me the other day. I was thankful Tj had stepped in, or who knows what would've happened.

"That's good to hear. Did you make any new friends?" She grabbed a jar of peanut butter and tossed it in.

I nodded. "A couple. They're very interesting, to say the least."

She beamed at me. "Well, that's great. You should have them over some time," She said happily. I couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto my face. Jill was unlike any foster parent I've ever had. She was nice, cared about what I had to say, took me everywhere with her, and just made me feel included.

She made me feel like I had a family. "Oh, Cyrus, I need to talk to you about something," She said after we had gotten to the self-checkout.

My stomach dropped. Was she finally getting tired of me? Was she going to send me back? "Um, ok," I said sheepishly. We bagged everything up and headed to the car. Once we put everything in the trunk, I sat in the passengers' seat with dread.

"So Cyrus, you've been living with Simon and I for four months now," She started. I slowly nodded, unsure where she was going with this. "Well, I've been doing some paperwork, and I finally got these," She pulled out a folder of papers. Written on the folder in black marker was my name.

"What are those?" I furrowed my brow.

She smiled widely at me. "They're adoption papers, Cyrus," She said. My eyes went wide as my heart thumped in my chest.

"A-adoption papers? You're g-going to adopt me?" Tears formed in my eyes as Jill nodded, her own tears sliding down her cheek.

"Of course, Cyrus. I've wanted to adopt you since the first day I saw you. I don't want you going back to that horrible system or ending up in another horrible home. I love you like family Cyrus, and I want you to have a home. A real one," A smile had formed on my face as I reached over to hug her. She squeezed me tightly in a motherly embrace.

"I-I've never had a real family before. Thank you," I said, wiping the happy tears off of my face. I sat back in my seat, still smiling at the fact that I'm getting adopted. I've never been this happy before. "Hey, Jill?" I said once she started driving.

"Yes, Cyrus?"

I swallowed, nervously playing with my thumbs. "I-uh. Since you're adopting me, I-uh wanted to tell you something," I said nervously.

"Go ahead, Cyrus, you know you can tell me anything," She said softly.

"There's this person at school, and I don't know if I like them or not or if they like me or not," I started.

Jill gave me a confused look. "Well, does this person act differently around you?" She asked.

I thought for a moment. Tj is very different when he's around me. It's like he can breathe whenever we're together. "Yes," I answered.

"Do you smile whenever you see or think about the person?"

I cracked a small smile just thinking about him but quickly straightened my face. "I-uh, yeah," I said.

"Then you, young man, have a crush, and by the sounds of it, I think he likes you too," She told me.

I stared at her in shock. "H-how did you know I was talking about a guy?" I gaped at her.

She shrugged and gave me a smirk. "Call it mother's intuition. I notice every little thing about my sons Cyrus," She explained.

I let out a breath of relief. "How can I be sure he feels the same way about me?"

"You'll have to figure that out on your own, Cyrus. You can always just talk to him," SHe said. We pulled up to the house and got out. We unloaded the groceries into the house and put them up. Once we were done, I headed up to my room and plopped down on my bed. My thoughts were everywhere. My phone buzzed, and It was a text from Tj.

"Wanna sneak out tonight?" It read. I smiled at the question. It was random and out of nowhere.

Shaking my head, I typed a reply. "Where to?"

He read it and began typing a few seconds later. "Wow, you actually answered this time. And idk, I just had a bad day and need to get out of the house," He said.

I thought about it for a second. Jill said I had to find out on my own, and here's my chance to. "Fine, meet at the swings?" I typed.

He responded, "Be there at 11 :)"

I cringed at the smiley face and threw my phone on my bed. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:47 PM. I sighed and pondered the thought of taking a nap. There was a knock on the door, and Jill crept in. "Hey Cyrus, just making sure you're alright," She said.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Still kinda psyched out, but I'm alright," I told her. She nodded and began to leave. "Jill, wait!" She turned to look at me questioningly. "I was wondering if I can head over to a friend's house nearby?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "This late at night? Does this have anything to do with your mystery person?" She teased, making my face go red.

"I-i guess so," I said sheepishly. She gave me a knowing look and shook her head.

"Alright, but be safe. I would hate for you to get kidnapped before the adoption," She half-joked. I nodded, and she left the room. 10:30 crept about slowly, and soon I was heading out the door. It was kind of chilly tonight, the breeze making me shiver a bit. I made my way to the playground, where I saw Tj swinging gently back and forth.

"You're early," I said, making him jump slightly. Once he saw it was me, he relaxed.

"Yeah, I just didn't want to be in the house any longer," He sounded upset.

"Hey, what's wrong? I thought I was supposed to be the gloomy one," I joked. He laughed softly and shook his head.

"My parents are getting on me about our upcoming game. It's the first one of the season, and they keep drilling me to do well. I'm nervous enough as it is," He ranted.

I sighed and took a seat on the swing next to him. "Well, I think you're gonna do great. From what I've heard around school, you're quite the basketball player," I said.

He nodded, his body seeming to ease up. "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I just can't help but get nervous during our games. I just don't wanna mess everything up and disappoint everybody," He explained.

"Well, I think you're gonna do great," I reassured him. He smiled gently at me.

"Thanks, Underdog," He said, making me cringe.

"Don't call me that," I said. He smirked at me, making me roll my eyes.

"I think it has a nice ring to it. Underdog. Yeah, I like it," He said.

I shook my head. "I don't. It sounds stupid," I said.

He gave me a pout. "You wound me, Cyrus. Here I was, thinking my nickname was clever only to have it shoot down," He feigned hurt, making me push his arm.

I let out a soft laugh as he smiled at me. It made my insides flip. "Hey, so I kind of asked my mom to stay at a friends' house so.." I trailed off.

He gave me another smirk. "You want to come over? That's fine with me. My parents just left for another business trip and won't be back for another two weeks," He explained.

I frowned at him. "You don't sound affected at all. Do they always do that?" I asked, not sure if I was prying or not.

He sighed and nodded. "It's a miracle if they're home for more than a day or two. They're always gone," He told me sadly. I felt sad listening to him talk. I looked down at his hand, and before any real logic could tell me not to, I grabbed it. I laced my fingers through his, making him turn to look at me with a confused expression.

My face instantly heated up. "I'm sorry I don't know why I did that! You just seemed sad, and I didn't know what else to do, so I just- You know what this was a bad idea," I rambled, trying to let go of his hand, but he squeezed mine.

He smiled at me. "It's cool. This feels nice," He said. I swallowed and nodded, keeping my mouth shut so that I didn't say any other stupid things.

Here I was, walking down the street late at night, hand in hand with Tj Kippen.

And for once, I felt like nothing could go wrong.

I was happy.

And that's the chapter. This chapter was kind of filler because I wanted to write more Jill scenes. Don't worry, Simon will also get his time to shine soon. The next chapter should be out soon. Until then, byeee

~Ash