Chapter 20.

"Hey! Wait up!" Callie called, following Serena down the hall. "Wait!"

Serena stopped walking, standing in front of a bedroom door that was presumably hers. "What do you want?" she asked.

Callie cleared her throat. "Umm... you don't really know me, but my name is Callie Jacob. I think a family I lived with a while back also fostered you once."

"Oh yeah?" Serena said, smiling. "Which family?"

"Umm, " Callie answered. "The Olmsteads." She studied Serena's face for a reaction. The older girl's smile was replaced with a pained look.

"Get lost!" she snapped, entering her room, and slamming the door shut.

"But wait!" Callie cried, knocking on the door. "I need to talk to you! Please!"

"I have nothing to say to you!" Serena called from inside. "Just leave me alone!"

Sighing, Callie gave up and went to her own room. She picked up her guitar and sat down on the bed. Music always helped her think. Homesick and lonely, the tune she played was sorrowful. She didn't know what she'd expected from Serena. When she recognized her name and face from a school portrait in Mrs. Olmstead's photo album, she began to wonder if the two of them shared the same dark secret. Now, after the other girl's reaction, she was positive they did. Maybe she was just looking for confirmation? Someone who would understand, so she wouldn't feel so alone. Now that she was separated from her family, she felt more isolated and lost than ever. She was angry at Serena, for not even hearing her out. They could've helped each other. As she mulled over her problems, the song she was playing quickened in tempo, matching her mood, until she was interrupted by a knock at her door. She held her breath as her fingers stilled against the strings.

Meanwhile, Brandon was laying on the grass under the tree in the backyard, thinking about Callie. They had been texting each other, but that wasn't the same as seeing her and hearing her voice. Everything around him reminded him of her. He wondered if it was actually possible to die of a broken heart. If it was, he was terminal.

"Hey, B.!" Stef called, crossing the yard. Brandon looked up as his mother sat down on the tree swing. "Shouldn't you be practicing your composition?" she asked. "How's it going?"

Brandon sighed from the ground. "I decided to drop out of the competition."

"Why?" Stef asked. "You've worked so hard on it!"

"I don't care about it anymore," Brandon admitted. "Callie was my inspiration, and she's gone."

"She's not dead, B.," Stef told him. "She's just a few miles away."

He shrugged. "I just don't care anymore. I miss Callie too much." Truth be told, it hurt too much to play that song.

"Honey, I'm worried about you," his mother said, concerned. "Have you told Callie you're not doing the competition?"

"No," Brandon replied. "I haven't."

"Well," she began. "What do you think she'd say?"

Brandon sat up, idly pulling blades of grass from the ground. "She'd tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself."

"I think she would say that, too," Stef said, smiling. "She's never been one to mince words, and she knows how hard you've been working on your piece. You put so much thought into it, Honey. It came from your heart, and she's feel pretty bad if you just threw it away." Getting off the swing, she sat down next to her son. "I'll make you a deal, okay? You finish your piece and stick with the competition, and I'll make sure Callie's home in time to see you perform it."

Brandon glanced at his mother, with disbelief. "You can't make a promise like that, mom."

"Maybe not," Stef replied. "But I'm going to try with everything I have. Our family isn't complete without Callie. And you love her so much."

"What makes you say that?" Brandon asked, his face shadowed with guilt.

Stef laughed, pointing to the tree. "I think I read it somewhere."

He blushed, turning his focus to the ground. "So, maybe I do? She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. She's all I think about. I even dream aboout her. She makes me happy, and she loves me too. But I guess that will get her kicked out of the house forever, right?"

"I don't know," said Stef, touched by her son's words. "Did you know that Lena and I can't adopt Callie and Jude?" Brandon looked at her, puzzled. "Because we wanted to, and I looked into it a while back," she explained. "We love those kids, and would adopt them both in a heartbeat. But their father is still alive, in prison, and won't sign away his rights to them. He can't have them, but he doesn't want anyone else to have them either." The news had saddened Stef. She thought it was incredibly selfish and unfair of Mr. Jacob to let his children suffer in foster care when they could be adopted into a family who loved them. She was so troubled by the news, she hadn't even had the heart to share it with Lena yet, though, since it was brought up the night before, she knew the time was coming.

"What are you trying to say?" Brandon asked.

"I'm saying," said Stef. "That if you and Callie really love each other and want to be together, I'd be willing to turn a blind eye to it. And I think Lena would be, too."

"You really mean that?" Brandon could hardly believe his ears.

"Yes," said Stef. "I do. As long as you're both responsible and very careful, I don't see the harm in it. You never know," she added with a wink. "Callie may never be our adoptive daughter, but if you two stick together, maybe she'll be our daughter-in-law someday?"

"I don't know if I'll be ready to get married for a long time," Brandon told her. In the brief moments he and Callie considered eloping, reality set in quickly. Though he'd love to marry her eventually, they really were too young to think about it yet. "But I do want to be with Callie," he said, wrapping his arm around Stef, and hugging her to his side. "So, thanks mom. You're awesome." He stood up, brushing the grass from his jeans. "I guess I better get practicing. For the competition."

To Be Continued