Aubrey held onto her backpack straps tightly as she looked up at the building. It was more a house than anything. Basically it was right outside a neighborhood. It was a nice little place and it looked very comfy and inviting. But she was drawn in two different directions. Part of her wanted to go in and be happy and have fun. But the other was telling her that nothing was ever going to change and she was always going to be an unhappy person. She didn't know any other way to be. She could act the part but it wasn't going to change anything in the end. And she couldn't figure out why this lady wanted to her to be here. Why did she care anyways? She didn't know anything about Aubrey and she wanted to help her? Aubrey was confused but she didn't want to get her hopes up, like she seemed to do every time she was placed in another, what seemed to be a nice, normal foster home. Then that hope was dashed when she'd find out that each and every house was like the last, but worse. It just wasn't even worth it anymore to hope for some good in her life. It was just too hard.
She was forced to ride a bus to the address Mrs. Cahill had given Mrs. Grady. The bus dropped her off a couple of blocks away from the Hope Center and as she stood at the end of the sidewalk, still staring at the building, she looked at her watch. She was 5 minutes late. She sighed, looked at the direction she came from and then back at the Center, and then walked up towards the door. She opened the door and took a deep breath. There was a receptionist type desk on her right and she walked up to it. A black lady that looked to be in her late 40's, sat behind the desk. She looked up from her paperwork at Aubrey. "Um, I'm Aubrey. I was sent here by Mrs. Cahill?" Aubrey told her questioningly. "Yeah and you're late. You were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago!" the lady barked at her. "Yeah well I'll tell the bus driver to move a little bit faster next time, ok?" Aubrey shot back sarcastically. "Excuse me?" the lady responded back with attitude. Before Aubrey could give her attitude back, a voice popped up from behind her. "Hey Aubrey. Glad to see you made it!" Alex responded cheerfully. Aubrey swung around to face Alex. "Yea, it was a no brainer," she countered timidly. "Good. I'm glad. Ok and if you want to go ahead and come with me, I'll give you a tour of the place!" Alex told her with a smile.
About 30 minutes later, Alex ended the tour outside, where more than 20 kids were playing on the playground set. "And this is where a lot of the kids end up after school. Most of them are out here until their parents come. We stay open until 6:30pm to give parents enough time to get here to pick their kids up," Alex explained as Aubrey took in the site. All the kids seemed to be laughing and running around. Must be nice to be a kid, she thought. "So basically y'all are a nonprofit daycare?" Aubrey questioned. "Well I guess you could say that," Alex answered a little taken back. "Most of these kids have nowhere else to go and their parents can't afford daycare. We'd rather them be here, with people to watch them, than to be out doing God knows what," she finished. Hmm. Least she actually knows what she's talking about. "I think I know more about that than you do," Aubrey mocked her. Alex sighed. "Hey I want you to meet someone. Follow me," Alex informed Aubrey as she headed back inside. Aubrey shrugged her shoulder and followed her.
After making their way back inside they came back upon a door Alex had earlier described as the room with all the toddlers. Alex opened the door and led her into the room. Chaos was running the room. Kids were everywhere, toys where everywhere and there was a mixture of laughing and crying echoing throughout the room. Kids ranging from infants to toddlers filled the room, with only 5 or 6 adults. It was like hell was breaking lose! "This is the most popular room," Alex practically screamed at Aubrey to be heard over the noise. "This is where we need your help at". Aubrey hesitated but she didn't retaliate. She was actually going to enjoy this. This room was way too loud to think about anything. To worry nonstop. Here she was going to watch little kids, with no worry, run around and just be kids.
"Mommy!" A little girl around 4 came running up to Alex full speed. "Hey, sweetie!" Alex exclaimed as she propped down to eye level with the girl and received a massive hug from her. Aubrey smiled. It was cute. And so was this little girl. She had intense blue eyes and long curled blonde hair. She looked a lot like Alex. "Angela, this is Aubrey. She is going to be playing with you and your friends every afternoon! Isn't that exciting?" Alex informed Angela as she winked at Aubrey. Aubrey looked at the little girl, at Alex, then back at Angela. "Nice to meet you Angela. Could I play with you?" Aubrey smiled at Angela. "Well I'm playing with Chris, but he won't care if you come with us. He is my best friend after all!" Angela exclaimed as she took Aubrey's hand and led her over to a doe eyed boy, a little smaller than her. He was playing with action figures intensely. Alex took this as her cue to leave the room. It was nearly 4pm and she needed to fill out some paper work in the office before making her way home by close.
After a little over an hour later, Alex made her way back over to the room she had left Aubrey in. As she walked in, the room was much calmer. 4 other kids where left along with Angela and Chris. She spotted them in a corner of the room, still with Aubrey. She stood watching them. They were working on structuring a tower with building blocks. Angela placed a block on top of the tipping tower and it all came falling down. All three started laughing uncontrollably. Alex couldn't help but laugh herself. At that time she was spotted by Aubrey and she stopped. And here I thought she was going to warm up to me. Alex thought disappointingly. "Hey guys! Sounds like y'all have been having fun!" Alex covered up her disappointment quickly. "Loads! I like her Mommy!" Angela exclaimed. "Well I'm glad y'all had fun. Okay it's time to go home so let's pick up the toys and go home. Chris your riding home with us tonight okay?" Alex told him as Angela and Aubrey scrambled to pick up the toys. "But why?" Chris asked with a puckered lip. "Your mommy and daddy are at a doctor's appointment so you and Angela get to play some more. They're going to come pick you up from our house," Alex explained to the sad boy. Aubrey eyed the little boy. "It's okay Chris. Remember what I said earlier and you'll be fine," Aubrey reminded Chris. Alex eyed her suspiciously but didn't say anything. Chris shyly smiled at Aubrey.
After packing up there things, Alex, Aubrey and both toddlers walked out into the parking lot. "Bye, Angela and Chris! I'll see y'all tomorrow afternoon okay?" Aubrey said as she waved at the pair. "Bye," both shouted in union as she shut the door and turned to Alex. "I heard you did really well today. I'm glad you seemed to enjoy yourself as well as being such a good entertainer," Alex told her. "Didn't really have a choice did I?" Aubrey stubbornly told her as she turned to leave. "Listen Aubrey, you always have a choice. You chose to come today. You hesitated but you still made the decision to come in," Alex told her. Aubrey froze. She saw me outside? Aubrey thought with nervousness. "And for the record, I think you made the right decision. Like it or not, I want you here. And I want to help you," Alex admitted. "Well I don't need help! Not from anyone or you!" Aubrey angrily exclaimed as she stormed off towards the bus stop. She knew deep down that none of the things she said were true but she didn't know what else to say. How was she supposed to accept help from someone when she's never been offered it before? How was she supposed to know someone actually cared?