I'm taken into surgery pretty much as soon as I wake up the next day. Callie has been discharged so she, Lena, and all the others are at home while Stef's in the waiting room. As I'm wheeled down the halls on my bed, I don't feel nervous, I just want to get back home so I can recover. I feel like such a burden. Why can't I just be normal? The nurses talk calmly to me they put me to sleep.
The next thing I know I'm waking up in a recovery room, my stomach hurts but I'm on a lot of painkillers so it's kind of muted. Stef is here with me.
"Hey, how're you feeling, love?" She's holding my hand.
"I'm okay, did they fix everything?" I can tell I'm slurring my words, but I don't feel to hazy. It kind of feels like I'm a little drunk.
"They did, you can come home later, but you're staying in bed until you're fully recovered." She strokes my face, she cares about me, no matter how much trouble I've caused. I nod. After the nurses make sure I'm fully awake, they take me back to my room. The first thing we all notice is a bouquet of balloons in the corner, a white teddy bear on the chair in the corner, a vase of flowers on the table, and a box of chocolates next to my bed. Stef reads the note attached to the balloons.
"Who's it from?" She rolls her eyes and hands it to me, it just says 'Rae'.
"I'll throw them out." She starts to scoop everything up.
"No Stef." She looks at me, she looks like she's going to yell, but she doesn't. "Please."
"Fine." She moves the bear over slightly, so she can sit down. "How did she even get all this in here?" I shrug, if I knew, I would get her to come back, I wish I could see her, or just talk to her.
"How long 'til we get our phones back?" I ask.
"Four days. You kids are so obsessed with your phones."
"Well, they don't train owls to send messages anymore." I realize that was kind of snarky. If I said that to any of my old foster parents I would have been locked in my room for a couple of nights, maybe even punched a couple of times, but Stef laughs it off. "How's Callie?" I didn't get to see her before she went home this morning.
"She's fine, just a little tired."
"Stef, I know you don't want to talk about her but-"
"Gracie-"
"I just want to know what the cops said."
"It doesn't matter, she's out of your life, be thankful." I'm not thankful, I'm hurting. I think I love her. Like I'm actually in love her, and now I'm so confused. But there's no budging Stef, she won't tell me a thing.
She seems kind of pissed off with me for the rest of the day, but she still takes care of me. The whole family does. They all want me to eat dinner in bed or on the couch, but I insist on eating at the table with everyone. We're all talking about Brandon moving out and deciding whether Callie or Mariana should take his room.
"I know it's pretty packed in your room girls, but I don't think any of you should take B's room," Stef says.
"Mom it's fine, it makes sense for someone to move in there." Brandon smiles at me.
"Yeah we've all discussed it, even Jesus wants one of us to take it," Callie says.
"Really?" Lena says. She and Stef seem shocked.
"Yeah, I'm a decent guy. Gracie can't keep sleeping on that camp bed."
"I don't mind, guys."
"Well, which one of you would take it?" Lena asks the girls.
"We haven't figured it out yet," Mariana says.
"Okay, well as long as you don't fight over it and you do all the moving yourself-"
"And no painting or major redecorating." Stef interrupts.
"Then it's fine with us." Lena smiles. Callie and Mariana high five and start discussing who's moving in.
"Not at the table, I don't want to be involved in any of this." Stef starts clearing up after us. All the others help out too.
"Gracie, you can get into my bed if you want, you'll get a better night's sleep in there."
"Thanks, Mariana, um, Lena can I talk to you for a second."
"Sure sweetie, let's go upstairs."
Lena helps me get comfortable in Mariana's bed. "What is it?"
"Well, I've already missed a lot of school, and now I'm going to miss even more, I know I'm far behind. Am I going to pass the 9th grade?"
"It doesn't look good right now, but there's always summer school and tutoring."
"Do you think I'm going to be able to make it, though?"
"I don't know Gracie, at this point, it could go either way. Callie still has to pass a few classes from last year, so she'll be at summer school with you." I can't help but feel like it's my fault I'm doing so badly in school. "Gracie, it's going to be okay, you're a smart girl and you'll pass if you put your mind to it." She's so sweet to me, and she believes in me. "Now, you get some rest and tomorrow you can get to work, I'll bring home all your assignments. It'll be fine Gracie."
