I whizz through all my classes, trying to participate as much as possible. I like being good at school, you see kids who can do it effortlessly, but I like that I work for it. After school, I go to help mama out in the office until the end of the day. I remember the first time I met her, this is what we did, she filled out paperwork and I stapled pages together. Back then I had no idea they would ever even consider fostering me, let alone adopting me.
Back home, Stef made all the others go out, so we can have the house to ourselves when Greg arrives. They wanted us to eat in the dining room, but I don't want it to feel too formal, so we set the table in the kitchen. I'm pretty nervous now, what if he starts a fight with them? Sooner than we expect, he's knocking at the door. I make mom open it. I hear them greeting each other.
"Hi, Gracie." He seems nervous.
"Hi." He tries to hug me, but I offer a hand to shake instead.
"So, what's for dinner?" He asks as mama pulls out a seat for him.
"Gracie made pasta."
"Oh, you cook?" He smiles at me.
"Not really, my sister taught me this recipe." My goal for tonight is to drop subtle hints that I'm already right where I belong.
"Oh, right."
As the evening progresses, he tells me more about him and his upbringing. His parents were always wealthy, they've been in charge of a big law firm since they left college. His father died when Greg was twenty-three and left him a lot of money. The money wasn't quite enough to help him when he was wrongfully convicted of theft four years ago, but when it came time for him to appeal the court, he finally had the right lawyer for the job. And that's when he found out about me. I still don't know why Cordelia said he wanted nothing to me, I'd like to know but not enough to go and visit her again. He tells me about his childhood, it sounds like a good one. He went to good schools, had good friends, he played football, and graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
"Enough about me. Tell me about yourself."
"My childhood?" I question him. "Well, the woman I thought was mom died when I was three, the man I thought was my dad was depressed and killed himself when I was seven." My blood boils. "I was taken into foster care, went to a lot of emergency placements, and a few group homes. I did bad in school, got bullied. I got beaten up a lot, got my stuff stolen, got kicked out of some of my homes. Uh, let's see, what else?" I mockingly stroke my chin. "I tried to kill myself a couple of times, the last time was an accident, but that got me moved to a special home, got kicked out of there for having a cell phone, got an emergency placement with a child molester called John. Finally got placed with the Adams-Fosters, had to testify in court to get John sent to jail. Fell in love with his daughter," I laugh. "She set up cameras to spy on me and leaked them on the internet, she went to juvie. I got adopted by my moms who love and care for me. And last but certainly not least, my birth father decided to waltz into my life and put me in a group home, taking me away from the one home I've ever felt safe in. But enough about me." I mock him. I look to my moms, they're in shock. Well, my plan for subtlety is out the window.
"I'm sorry." He seems breathless. "I never meant for any of that to happen, you have to believe me." He looks like he might cry.
"I know, that's not what I was trying to say." I instantly feel guilty. "Sorry, it just makes me so mad."
"We don't have to rush into anything, more than anything I just want some kind of relationship with you." I feel awful for saying all of that, I didn't have to make him feel like crap. He just wants to know his daughter. Moms give me a minute alone with Greg while I see him out.
"Sorry again, about what I said. It was way out of line." I hate admitting being wrong, especially to him.
"That's okay, I know you're angry with me."
"It was nice getting to know you, and one day I'll tell you more about me, you know, the good stuff."
"I look forward to it, thank you for dinner, and thank your mothers again, I'll see you soon?"
"Yeah." He goes to hug me and again I let him, this time I notice the way he hugs me. It's tight like he doesn't want to let go. But eventually, he does, and he drives off in his fancy sports car, it's not exactly a family car like the minivan that mama drives.
"Apart from my outburst, the dinner went well," I say on the phone to Sophia.
"Do you think he's going to stop trying to reverse your adoption?"
"I don't know, he wants me to live with him. But I think slowly he's starting to see how good my life could be if I stayed here. Anyway, thanks for talking, I've gotta get to bed. It's my last day of summer school tomorrow. Night S."
"Goodnight G."
I walked to school today, I needed some time alone to think about things. When I reach the grounds of the school, I feel an arm grab mine and yank me behind the trees. I look ahead of at me at the teenage boy, he wears a dark blue hoodie that's pulled up over his head, shadows cast over his face. I can't make out any of his features.
"Get off me!" I yank my arm away. "Who are you?"
"You're Gracie, right?" His voice croaks, like he's been crying.
"What do you want?"
"I'm Freddie, your half-brother." I still can't get a good look at him, but he has the same slight New York twang in his voice that Greg has. "Stay away from him, you'll only get hurt." Is this a threat?
"You're my brother?" I yank his hood down, he looks a lot like me. But he has a black eye and a fat lip.
"Stay away from Greg," He spits as he pulls his hood back up in defense. "You're better off with your family."
"If you're telling me this because you don't want to share him, you don't have to wor-"
"I'm not, I don't care about that. But apparently, you're my sister, so I'm trying to protect you." He starts walking away. "I'm telling you, stay away!" He starts running. I can't chase him; I have one last class to go to. He probably just doesn't want me walking into his life.
I dismiss the incident and continue with my day as nothing happened. I turn in my last assignment at the end of the day and I walk home, mom's just getting into her patrol car.
"Hey love, how was your last day?" She asks.
"Yeah, it was good. My teachers said you should be very proud of me," I brag. "Are you going to work?" I was hoping I could hang out with her; I have nothing to do with my day now.
"Yeah."
"Do you take ride alongs?" She smiles at me.
