I wake up hours before everyone else, I'm anxious and excited at the same time. Today is the day I didn't even know I was dreaming of, I never thought something like this possible, at least not for me. I shower and get dressed in the pretty blue dress that Mariana picked out for me the last time I was supposed to get adopted. Since I'm up so early that I should make breakfast for everyone, especially because we have a private session with the judge and only Stef and Lena will be able to be there for the actual adoption, it'll be nice to show them all how much they mean to me.

I'm not much of a cook, but I know how to make eggs and bacon and stuff like that. I have to remember that Jude only likes scrambled eggs, Jesus likes them well done and Mariana doesn't eat meat. It doesn't take nearly as long as I thought it would and I managed to have everything done at the same time. I can vaguely hear Mariana's alarm for school go off upstairs. Within a few minutes, everyone is coming downstairs. Stef and Lena are fully awake and dressed, usually, they make breakfast for us, so they're pretty shocked when they see everything.

"Gracie, did you do this?" Stef sits down.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you again, for everything you've all done for me." I serve everyone. Jesus hasn't even noticed, he's still half asleep.

"We're a family, that's what we're here for, stupid." Mariana hugs me.

"I wanted to make sure you knew how grateful I am." I join them for breakfast. Callie whips out her phone and starts snapping pictures of all of us.

"So, today's the big day, you excited?" Lena says.

"I can't wait, in just a few hours I'll have a real family."

"You had us all along, today just makes it official," Callie says.

Jude's still acting a little off with me, I guess he's just stressed with schoolwork. I just wish he could talk to me about stuff the same way I can with him.

Brandon comes to give the others a ride to school, they all wish me luck, most of them hug me but Jude just gives me a weird pat on the back thing. Just as I'm about to get into Stef's car with her and Lena, I hear footsteps running up behind me, I hear Jason call my name.

"Hey, Jason I can't talk right now, I'm about to go get adopted," I say.

"Before you go," He takes my hand to stop me getting in the car, "I have to tell you something, I tried to tell you yesterday but you were-"

"Preoccupied? I'm sorry, go ahead tell me." I squeeze his hand.

"Okay," He pulls me away from the car for a second, he holds both my hands.

"Jason, we've talked, we're cool now right? If you're trying to get back with me-"

"No, no it's not," He laughs. "I have to be honest with you, I'm leaving, today."

"What do you mean?" He can't leave, we were becoming good friends. I was getting him back, even if it wasn't in the same way I first had him.

"My dad got a job overseas. We leave in an hour."

"Oh," I don't know how I feel, how do I react to this? "I- I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too. I just want to say even though it didn't work out with us, and it wasn't meant to be, you still made me a better person and I can never repay for that." A small tear runs down my cheek, he changed me too.

"You gave me confidence, taught me about forgiveness, friendship. That's more than enough." I hug him.

"Here, keep this." He hands me the necklace he gave me for my birthday. "Think of it as a going-away present."

"Aren't I supposed to give you a gift?"

"The gift is taking it; it would mean a lot to me." He turns me around and fastens it around my neck.

"Thank you. Let's not make this goodbye, let's make it... see you around."

"Okay, see you around, Gracie." He kisses me on the cheek and walks off down the street, he takes a second to look back at me before getting into his car.

"You alright?" Lena asks, turning back to me as I get into the back seat.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I wipe away my tears and embraced the excitement. "Let's get me adopted!"

After a long wait and a lot of nervous pacing, I'm stood in the judge's office while Stef and Lena sign away on a stack of papers They can't stop smiling, neither can I.

"Okay, last signatures on the dotted line here." The judge hands them one final sheet of paper. "Then you'll officially be adopted, Gracie." He smiles too. Stef and Lena both take my hands as they sign the final form. "Congratulations, it's official." I burst into tears of joy. Stef and Lena embrace me in their arms I finally feel like I'm going to be safe forever, nothing can tear me away from them now.

They take me out for dinner at their favorite cafe and buy me an ice cream sundae.

"Thanks, moms." I've been waiting patiently for the moment I can finally call them that. I smile like a giddy idiot. "I'll never get used to saying that," I laugh.

"It feels great hearing it, love." Stef squeezes me.

"It's so nice to see you so happy," Lena says. "I only wish you'd come to us sooner. You don't deserve any of the things you've been through." I appreciate Lena's sentiment, but I don't want to talk about that right now, I don't want my past to define me anymore. It's like Callie said, I'm more than what I came from.

We meet the others back at home and they've decorated the kitchen with balloons and streamers, and there's a cake on the kitchen table. They all jump out and surprise me. I start crying again. Mariana's crying too, but she cries at puppies so it's not surprising. Even Jude's smiling. Callie takes me over to the cake on the table.

"I love it, thank you guys so much." They form a group hug around me. They take me outside where they've set up another party, kind of like the one they threw for my birthday. All of their boyfriends and girlfriends are here again, Sophia's here with her parents too, and Taylor's here. And in the corner sitting at the table are some people I've never met before, Stef and Lena's parents. I recognize them from all the photos.

"Gracie, this is my mother Sharon and Lena's parents Dana and Stewart," Stef introduces me.

"Your grandparents." Lena pulls a chair out for me to sit down with them.

"Oh wow, it's so great to finally meet you all." I extend my hand to shake Dana's, but she gently pushes it aside.

"Nonsense, no grandchild of mine is getting a handshake!" She pulls me in for a hug and kisses my cheeks, Sharon and Stewart do the same and they all begin talking to me, they mostly tell me about themselves and Stef and Lena when they were kids. I love them all already, Sharon is hilarious, Dana is so real and straight forward, and Stewart is really smart, it's cool to see where Stef and Lena came from. I love this whole family so much.