Chapter 3- Laying Down the Bricks

Breakfast time was busy in the Adams-Foster household as it usually was, so no one really noticed that Callie was distant. She kept her head down and ate some cereal without really speaking to anyone. When it came time for everyone to leave for work and school, the change in her attitude was notable.

"Goodbye my loves. Have a great day at school" Stef said as she moved about hugging and kissing each of her children as she always did while they walked out the door. Callie tried her best to be the first one out to avoid this encounter, but she failed as Jesus beat her to it.

"Bye mom!" he said giving her a hug and kiss quickly while dashing out to the car. "I call shotgun!"

Callie tossed her backpack over her shoulder and attempted to breeze past Stef who was standing at the doorway. As Stef saw Callie approaching, she couldn't help but smile and hold her arms out for an inviting hug.

"Bye Slug-a-Bug! Have a good day at school today" Stef stated. As she finished her sentence, she noticed Callie was trying to move past her.

"Hey, no hug or anything?" she asked. Callie stopped and hid her sigh as she reached one arm out for a lousy hug, only to be embraced by Stef. She hated that she loved her hugs at this moment, as it wasn't making it easier for her to keep her distance. All she could think was her dream with her birthmother standing in the front yard with a look of disappointment. As Stef released Callie from the hug, Callie glanced over towards the front yard just to see if it were possible. She was pulled out of her thoughts by Stef.

"Well I know Mondays aren't always the most fun days, but you'll get through it". Callie glanced at Stef and gave a fake smile and continued to walk out to the car.

"Love you!" Stef shouted as Callie's feet seemed to move like lightning in their front lawn.

"Mhmm" was all Callie managed to say. She sat in the car and sighed, looking out of the window waiting for the moment when she could be alone.

Around lunch time, Lena's phone rang. She looked to see it was Stef.

"Hey. How's your day going?" Lena asked.

"It's going fine. Same old stuff happening here. What about yours?" Stef asked.

"Uh, just about the same here as well. We had a student go to the nurse because he thought he could shove an eraser up his nose and be able to blow it out" Lena chuckled.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. I couldn't help but laugh. You would think as a middle schooler he would know that that wasn't a smart decision"

"Haha yeah, but didn't we all make decisions we thought were dumb?" Stef added. "How are our babies doing?"

"Everyone is doing well" Lena answered.

"I noticed Callie seemed a little off this morning when I was saying goodbye to her. I don't know if something happened, or if it's just a Monday thing or what."

"Yeah, she seemed quiet this morning getting out of the car. Maybe just a Monday thing, but I'll check on her and let you know" Lena replied.

"Thanks, have a great day" Stef stated.

Lena left to find Callie at lunch, and eventually found her sitting on a bench in a hallway on her phone.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you" Lena stated.

Callie held her breath as she saw Lena approaching. She chose not to say anything and to continue to scroll through the photos in her phone.

"What's up? Finished lunch already?" Lena asked.

"Yup" Callie lied. She hadn't eaten lunch, and wasn't planning to.

"Well, I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. You seemed pretty quiet this morning getting out of the car"

Callie continued to scroll through her phone trying to ignore Lena and look busy, but she knew her plan wasn't working.

"Hello? I'm talking to you" Lena stated.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine" Callie insisted, planting another fake smile on her face. Lena knew something wasn't right as Callie answered the way she did.

"Callie, you don't really seem yourself hun. What's wrong?"

"Nothing really. I think I'm just tired today" Callie lied again as she began to stand up. "I have to use the bathroom" she stated as she walked away, leaving Lena alone on the bench.

Lena sat there for a moment more trying to figure out if it really was the Monday blues or if it was something more than that. She decided to text Stef and let her know she had checked on Callie.

Hey. Just checked on Callie. Seems like she's in a Monday mood, but may be something more. Not sure. Going to check on the rest of the kids. –Lena

Callie locked the bathroom stall and leaned against it, sighing. She knew that after that conversation, Stef and Lena were going to be all over her trying to figure out what was wrong. A big part of her felt bad for not really speaking to either of her moms today. "Why did you abandon me Callie? What happened to us?" were the words that began to ring in Callie's ears. How could she feel bad for not speaking to them when she had felt like she abandoned her mother? "I gotta get moms out of my head. They're Stef and Lena" Callie tried to convince herself. She pushed the feeling of loving Stef's hug that morning out of her mind, as well as loving that Lena went out of her way to find Callie and sit with her. She couldn't love those things anymore, she needed to love her mom; she needed to love her birthmother again and feel like she had never left.

That evening at dinner, Callie kept quiet just like earlier, but tried to smile or pretend to laugh at others' comments to seem like her usual self. Her chore that night was taking out the trash, one which for the first time ever she was thankful for since it allowed her an excuse to get away and then sneak upstairs to be in her room away from Stef and Lena. About an hour later, Jude knocked on the girl's room. Callie knew Jude's knock and welcomed him in.

"Come in Jude"

"Hey Callie. Moms asked me to come get you"

Callie stiffened up, knowing that she was dreading the talk they were about to have. "Thanks" was all Callie managed to get out as Jude nodded and went to his room. She got up reluctantly and took her time leaving her room and going down the stairs. She found them both sitting in the living room waiting for her.

"Hey love. We wanted to talk to you real quick" Stef stated.

Callie stood at the boundary of the living room, not moving forward and crossing her arms. She dug her nails into her arm to keep a neutral face. She had to remember to stay strong.

"Okay, well I have homework to finish." She responded blankly.

"Alright, well we just wanted to ask you if anything has been going on or if anything is bothering you." Lena mentioned.

"And you know you can tell us or ask us anything, yes?" Stef added.

"Nothing is wrong, I told you earlier I was tired, and still am, which is why I'm trying to finish my homework so I can go to bed." She pointed out. Lena and Stef could sense the attitude in her voice.

"We understand, but you haven't seemed like yourself at all today." Lena went on.

Callie dug her fingernails deeper into the inside of her arm as she remembered her mother's words in the dream. "I already told you, I just want to sleep" she spat.

"Hey, there's no reason for that tone. We just want to make sure you are okay. We will always be here for y-" Stef replied, but was interrupted by Callie's outburst.

"I don't need to be coddled, every moment of the day! I will be okay when I can sleep!" Stef and Lena were both taken aback by the ferocity in Callie's voice and how she suddenly changed moods.

"Excuse me young lady? You wanna try rethinking what you just said, because I know you can be better than that." Stef warned.

Callie was facing a battle within herself. She so desperately wanted to apologize and run into their arms; since experiencing abuse in the foster system, she had never imagined that she and Jude would find a family like the one they now had that was loving and never gave up on them. Each time she thought about this, her birth mother's disappointed face was all she could see in her mind, and this was what was making Callie fight back and push herself away from Stef and Lena; she believed she had to do this for her mom. She believed she had to show her allegiance some way, and that was by building walls between herself and Stef and Lena.

"Nope" Callie answered seriously. "I'm going to bed. This is a waste of my freaking time" she dared as she made her way up the stairs.

Stef and Lena knew for sure then that Callie wasn't just tired, and that there was something much bigger going on that they would have to dig to find out.

"Well she definitely isn't getting away with that" Lena stated.

"No, she sure isn't, no matter how upset she is" Stef responded.

Callie had walked back into her room to find Mariana awake sitting on her bed with her laptop. Mariana noticed that Callie was upset about something, and didn't know whether or not to mention anything.

"Hey" Mariana started. There was no response from Callie. "You okay?" she asked innocently.

"I'm fine" was Callie's reply. With that, she pulled up the covers and turned to face the wall. She noticed a slight sting in her chest, but chose to ignore it. She just wanted this day to be over.

That's it for chapter 3! I hope it makes sense and that you enjoyed it! Reviews always welcome. What do you think about how Callie acted out?