Gabriella's POV:
I finally made it to Timothy's class and see Mariana sitting at her usual desk. I go and sit next to her.
"Hi!" She says excitedly. I can't help but smile. She is a very sweet person. She is genuinely excited to see me everytime.
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Good, do you know where you are getting placed?" I look at her anxiously. I don't want her to feel like I lied to her this entire time with the possibility of me being Stef and Lena's daughter. But how will she react? I am going to have to tell her at some point or I know she will feel betrayed. I will wait until we get closer and I feel comfortable. We are in the beginning stages of forming a friendship right now.
"Well, your parents are fostering me. Is that okay?"
"Oh my gosh! Yes, I was hoping that would happen!" She is saying this with a big smile on her face. That is a relief.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely! We get to share a room, that's so fun. You will like Callie, Jude, Jesus and Brandon too. Don't worry." I am worried.
"Yeah, speaking of them, do you think they will care?"
"No, I don't think so. We are all kind of used to it. The worst thing that can happen is not everyone having enough time to get ready in the morning. Little things like that. Everyone will get over it." I gulp. Hopefully.
The day goes on in kind of a blur. I forgot to ask what to do after school so I just went to Mariana's locker. Luckily she is still there, Callie standing next to her. I get shy all of a sudden.
"Hey." I say kind of quietly.
"Hey! Gabriella, this is Callie, Callie this is Gabriella." I smile at her and she smiles back.
"It is nice to meet you Gabriella, I heard you will be staying with us for a while. That's great!" Callie says that reassuringly and I am very thankful. I am a little more at ease.
"Thank you. Sorry for intruding." I say, looking at Callie.
"You are not. Trust me. Mom's bring home who they need to. I trust them and I am happy that you have a safe place to stay. I know what it is like." Wow, she is kind too.
"Thank you so much." I am a little overwhelmed at Callie's acceptance. But I guess she just got adopted a year ago so she truly knows what it is like. "I didn't really know where to go, Mrs. AdamsFoster didn't tell me so I came here." Callie and Mariana smile at me.
"Well, we can either get a ride home or walk. But there may not be enough space in my Mama's car so let's walk." Mariana says. I think they can tell I feel bad that there isn't enough space. "Please don't worry. This is normal in our house. My mom has a Prius and five kids. Someone is always walking. We are like the Dugger's." I can't help but laugh. Honestly the thought of riding in a car with everyone sounds horrible.
We make our way outside and Lena is out there talking to a boy who looks a couple years younger than me. She sees Callie, Mariana and I walking towards her and smiles.
"Callie, I see you have met Gabriella," Lena starts. Do I call her Lena now that she is my foster mom? I don't know, this feels so weird. "Gabriella, this is Jude, Jude Gabriella."
"Nice to meet you!" He says excitedly. "Glad you can stay with us!" I smile at him. He is cute. He has to be like 10 or 11, I am not sure.
"Thank you Jude." His smile widens.
"Well, Brandon and Jesus are coming later so we can all ride together? Sorry I forgot to mention you could meet me at my car Gabriella, we were kind of rushing this morning." Lena says, kindly.
"It's okay." I look a little uneasy about getting in the car.
"Uhm, well Gabriella and I really wanted to walk." Mariana must have noticed. Lena too cause I can see her sighing. She knows Mariana is trying to save me. Oh well.
"Okay, that's fine. Callie, are you walking or riding?"
"I will walk with them, Mama." Callie answers, smiling at me. She is nice, thank god.
"Okay loves, see you at home." She smiles at all of us and gets in the car.
We walk home making small conversations. I am starting to feel comfortable around Callie now. I actually see some similarities in us. Just in our stories and some of our personalities. The things we like as well. We both love art. We both aren't very girly. However, I tend to have very girly moments, which I like. Callie, not so much. I also am into sports, which she isn't. But I think I could connect with her easily as well. The walk was nice. Maybe I will actually become friends with the AdamsFoster kids. I am sure they are not jerks if Stef and Lena are their parents and Callie, Jude and Mariana are so kind.
We go inside and I just follow Mariana upstairs not sure what to do. I sit on the bed, my bed I guess, and start doing homework. I need a distraction.
Knock knock*
"Come in," Mariana shouts. Stef pops her head in, she must have changed out of her uniform. I feel a little guilty, she probably does that because I said I was uneasy around cops. It's true, but now she is going to avoid me seeing her in her uniform at all costs. Maybe I could get used to it.
"Hello girls," Stef says, smiling warmly. She goes over and kisses Mariana's head. "How was your day?" She ask's sitting down on Mariana's bed.
"It was good, just kind of a regular school day to be honest, nothing special." Mariana shrugs.
"I guess regular is better than bad, right?"
"For sure!"
"How about you Gabby?" Stef says.
"Gabby?" I ask with a frown.
"Sorry, is that not okay? I just randomly give people nicknames and didn't think about it." Stef says softly.
"Or it could be Ella!" Mariana adds, causing me to look at her. "If you like that better."
I freeze and kind of look into space tilting my head. Ella? Ella? Huh, that sounds familiar. The room grows blurry, and I am getting trapped in another memory.
"Ella!" I hear my mom's voice. I am hiding at the store from my Mom. I am three. I start giggling that she can't find me. I love to play hide and seek. We play it at home all the time. When she finds me she throws me in the air and then tickles me. "ELLA!" My mommy sounds scared. Why? "ELLLLLLLA" I start getting scared, because Mommy is never scared. I pop out of the clothing rack and see Mommy starting to walk away.
"Mommy!" I call, starting to cry.
"Oh sweets," she says, running over to me and picking me up. "Honey, where were you?" She says squeezing me so tight to her chest. I can't help but cry harder, scared I am in trouble.
"Shhh, love, take a deep breath it's okay." She is rubbing my back now and my face is pressed into her neck and long blonde hair.
"Mommy, I was playing hide and seek. We always play. Then you got scared. I didn't know why and then I got really scared and wanted you to find me." I start sobbing again. My mom keeps rubbing my back telling me to take deep breaths.
Once I calm down my Mom finds a bench and brings me over to sit on her lap. She puts me on her lap so I am facing her. I look up and it is Stef holding me.
"Sweetheart, Mommy was scared because I didn't know where you were. You can't just hide in a store or anywhere really, unless I know we are playing hide and seek. I don't know I am supposed to find you if you don't tell me and then I think you are missing. But it isn't safe in stores or public places like it is at home, okay?" I start crying thinking I am in trouble.
"I am sorry Mommy, I didn't know I was doing something wrong. I was trying to surprise you." I say in between tears.
"Oh baby, it's okay. You aren't in trouble. Now you know. Come here sweets, come here." She pulls me into her as I start crying. I finally settle down and whisper, "Sorry, Mommy."
"You are forgiven baby. What did you learn today?"
"To not play hide and seek without telling you first."
"Very good, what else?" Mommy asks.
"To not play in stores or when we aren't at home?"
"Yes baby, very good. I am sorry I scared you. I just didn't know where you were. If anything every happened to you, I would be devastated. I wouldn't recover. You are my heart Ella. You, Brandon and your Mama are the most important part of my life, okay baby? I love you so much." She has a tear in her eye and I wipe it away.
"Okay Mommy, I love you so much."
I come out of my daze and look over to Mariana and Stef who are both looking at me. How long was I staring off?
"Are you okay?" Mariana asks.
"Huh?" I say looking at her. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, lost in thought."
"Does that happen a lot?" Mariana's question is making me uncomfortable.
"Not normally, no." I say, not knowing what else to say. Mariana is about to ask me something else when Stef cuts her off.
"Mariana, may I speak to Gabriella alone?" Uh oh. She knows I had another memory. Mariana looks at me like she wants my permission. My eyes plead her not to leave me.
"Well Mom, Gabriella and I really wanted to stay together." I look at Stef who knows she will have to use a little force to separate us.
"Mariana, wasn't an actual question. Actually Gabriella, would you come to mine and Lena's room?" She says standing up. I must have given a horrified look cause Mariana changes her mind and says, "Oh, no it's okay. I am leaving." I let out a sigh of relief. I know Stef caught it and wants to know why I was so scared.
Stef comes and sits next to me. "Baby, what did you see?" Nothing Mommy. I want to say. Is she my mom? Is she the one I called Mommy as a child? This is so weird.
"I am not sure what you are talking about." I say trying to look at her as confused as possible. Again she sees right through me. I never lie either. I hate lying, yet I lie to them all the time.
"Honey, I know you saw something. Please, I am begging you, tell me what it was."
I just start crying at this point. I don't know what to say. I just keep shaking my head no. "I can't."
"Yes, baby you can!" Stef says as she pulls me into a side hug. I try to pull away, but she keeps her hands on my arms and turns me to face her.
"Sweetheart, my sweet, sweet baby. Please, I know you're having memories. I know it's so scary. But I have been feeling more and more sure. Just tell me. I can tell you if it happened." I look up at her. She is desperate. I debate saying something. Not sure what to do. She is crying now and I take my hand and wipe her tears just like I did in my memory. She looks at me like this is something I have always done. I stand up and turn my back to her.
"I was hiding in a clothing rack in a store. You were shouting my name and I got scared. I thought we were playing hide and seek. I started crying because you seemed panicked and I thought something was wrong. So I pop out and you hug me. You pick me up and take me over to a bench. You said that we can't play hide and seek unless you know we are playing. Also that it isn't safe to play in a store. You console me as I cry, letting me know I am not in trouble. Then you tell me..." I can't continue.
"I tell you what?" Stef whispers. I can hear the emotion in her voice. This means, it happened. I get the courage to turn around and look at her. She is pretty much sobbing at this point. Completely broken down. That means, this is true.
"Baby, what did I tell you? What did I tell you Ella?" I freeze. I look into her eyes that I have been avoiding and take a step closer. She reaches for my hand and places me beside her again. We are staring into each others eyes as she cups my check. "My baby, what did I say?" I am afraid to say it. For some reason this last part makes it all the more real. She knows what she said. It proves they love and wanted me.
"I can't" I shake my head crying.
"You can, sweets, you can. You are doing so good." She moves further back on the bed and pulls me onto her lap. I try to get off but she holds me. I am sitting on her lap like I was on the bench. I know she did this on purpose. I look into her eyes again surprised.
"Tell me," Stef whispers again.
"You said... you said, I was your heart. That Mama, Brandon and I are your hearts and if anything happened, you would be devastated." I whisper it so softly, like I am afraid to hear it myself. I start sobbing. Stef pulls me to her chest as tight as she can and we are both sobbing so hard, it's audible. I hope no one comes up here. I am practically straddling her lap but I can't get the courage to move. I just cry and cry as she holds me.
"My sweet baby. I love you Ella, I love you forever. I have never stopped loving you. I have never stopped looking for you. Gabriella, you are mine and Lena's daughter. You are. You are my heart. Part of my heart has been missing, but I found it. I love you baby." Stef's voice is shaking as she says these things. I don't know what to say, think or feel so I just hug her tighter as she tries to pull me closer, but we are honestly already as close as possible.