Chapter 5.

Callie

"He's dead?" Stef asked, taken aback. "How did he die?"

I looked away. I couldn't look her in the eye and lie to her. "He was drunk," I told her. "He came home mad, beat me, then took off in his car. He got into an accident, and he just died." I shrugged as if to say that there was nothing left to tell. I hoped she wouldn't look into my story somehow.

"Thanks goodness you and your sister weren't in the car," she said. She slipped my hand into hers and squeezed my fingers.

The thing about lies is that they get easier each time you tell one. It scared me how hard it was to lie to Stef.

"Well," she said, as if coming out of a trance. "Is this the outfit you want, baby? It certainly looks adorable on you."

I felt weird about taking from her after she'd been so nice to me and I'd been dishonest with her. But if I didn't take it, she would know something was up. And I did want the clothes. "Yeah. I mean, if it's okay with you?"

She smiled. "It's fine with me. I would be disappointed if you didn't get it." She patted my knee, then stood up. "Should we go track down your sister?"

"Okay," I nodded.

Sophia was still in the changing rooms. "Did you find anything, love?" Stef asked her.

She peeked out from the stall. "I can't decide which top to get." She looked to me. "Callie, you decide."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said. "Please?"

I looked at each of the tops carefully. "I like this one," I said, holding up a pink shirt with some crocheted lace at the sleeves. It wasn't anything I would wear, but I picked it with her in mind.

"I like it too," she smiled. She looked up at Stef. "Can I please get it?"

Stef looked at the price tag. "Sure, I don't see why not. Toss it in the cart."

After we picked out socks and underwear, we wandered around the store for a while. Eventually we made it to the toy section. I saw Sophia's eyes go to the Barbie dolls right away. I happened to know she loved them, even though she was ashamed to admit that she still played with them at twelve. When I looked back again, she was way behind us, still looking at the display.

"Soph?" said Stef, turning around. "There you are. I thought you were right behind us." She went to my sister's side and picked up a slim box, turning it over, looking at the doll inside. "Would you like a Barbie doll, love?"

"I'm too old for them," she said sadly.

"Mariana played with Barbies when she was your age," Stef told her. "I don't think you're too old. Neither does Callie. Right, honey?"

I shook my head. "No." When we were younger, Barbies were our escape from our crappy life. We would make up elaborate stories and act them out with our dolls for hours, getting lost in their world. Sophia cried herself to sleep when I told her I'd outgrown them. But by then, most of our dolls were either broken or stolen, anyway.

"I want you to have it," she told my sister. "My treat." Without another word, she dropped the box in the cart.

"You're just buying it for me?" she asked in amazement.

"You did great at the doctors," Stef told her. "I think you've earned a treat. Now, let's go find something for Callie."

When we got home, the house was in an uproar. "They delivered the beds early," Lena said, coming to the door to greet us. Her hair was messy, and she looked frazzled.

"Did Mariana get some space cleared out?" Stef asked.

"No," Lena sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. The beds would have never fit in there."

"So, where are they going to sleep?"

"In my room," Brandon said, coming into the room. He smiled his dopey but cute, crooked smile at us. "We made a compromise. I'm moving in with Jesus for now."

Stef smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, B. That was very generous of you. What about your keyboard? Where are you going to practice so you don't bother your brother?"

"The garage," he explained. "We're cleaning it out so I have a place to play. Is that okay?"

"It's fine," she said, kissing his cheek. He blushed when he saw me watching.

"Come on, girls," Stef said. "Let's go check out your new room!"

Stef

The garage was almost neat. It's amazing how much stuff a family can collect over the years. I looked around, under old blankets and behind boxes, trying to find the totes that held the kids' old toys. Finally, a flash of bright pink that could only be the Barbie house caught my eye. Next to it was a bin of dolls and accessories, neatly packed away.

I dusted off the dollhouse, then carried everything upstairs to Mariana's room. My sulky girl was sitting on her bed with a pouty expression on her face.

"Hey, Miss Thing," I smiled, trying to cheer her up.

"Hi," she said.

"I have a proposition for you," I said, setting the toys down and joining her on the bed. "I found out today that miss Sophia likes Barbie dolls. So, I was wondering if you would mind giving her your old Barbie things."

Mariana looked up at me, horrified. "First you want to give them my room, and now you want to give them all my stuff? Why don't you just send me back and adopt them?"

I took a deep breath before speaking. "I am not asking you to give them all your stuff," I calmly told her. "I am asking you to share toys you haven't touched in years with a little girl who has nothing." Callie and Sophia's new room was spartan-bare. It consisted of the beds, Brandon's dresser and nightstand, and little else. "And just for the record, I wouldn't trade you for a million dollars."

I took her hand and held it tight. "Love, we're trying to raise you to be the best Mariana you can be. And I haven't seen that these past few days. I'm disappointed, because I know what a kind heart you have."

"Barbies were something you and I used to do together," she mumbled. Her dark eyes were damp.

I wrapped her in my arms and hugged her. "And I treasure those memories, baby." I brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. "We had a lot of fun together."

"I kind of wanted to give them to my own daughter someday," she told me. "I don't want to give them away."

I nodded. "Okay," I said. "I'm sorry I asked. If you don't want to give them up, you don't have to."

She looked down at her lap, then back up at me. "I guess I wouldn't mind letting her borrow them. While she's here, I mean."

I kissed her temple and hugged her tight. "That's the Mariana I know. And love."

Callie

Sophia was messing around with the doll stuff Stef had given her. I stood in the doorway of our new bedroom for a few minutes, watching her lay out all the little furniture in front of the dollhouse. "Hey, cutie pie," I said, getting her attention.

She dropped a pink chair, like I'd caught her doing something horrible. "I was just looking at them."

I went over to her and sat down beside her on the carpet. "I don't care if you play with them. You looked really happy just now."

"You don't think I'm being babyish?"

"Nah," I replied. "I mean, you've kind of earned the right to be a kid. And I've missed your smile."

"I miss when we used to play together," she said quietly.

"Me too," I admitted, playing with her ponytail. "I guess life just got in the way. I had to grow up. I had no choice."

I picked up a dark-haired Barbie doll and walked her over to my sister. "I almost told Stef about the Brian thing today."

"You did?" Sophia's brown eyes went wide.

"I stopped myself in time, though." It was because Stef had hugged me. Because she held my hand at the doctor's. Because she told me I was beautiful. "I guess I need to be more careful, too."

"I love them," Sophia stated, holding her new Barbie doll. "I wish they'd adopt us."

"They aren't going to adopt us," I told her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she had to know the truth, so she wouldn't get her hopes up.

"How do you know?" she asked me.

"I just do," I said. "Look... they're just being nice. They have enough kids. Why would they want two more? Especially ones like us." If they liked us, it was because they didn't know what we were.

"You don't know what they want," she protested.

"No," I breathed. "But today was really close. Too close. We can enjoy being here while it lasts, but I'm not going to fall in love with them, and I don't think you should either."

She gave me a defiant look. "I don't care what you say. I'm gonna make them love us."

Suddenly, she dropped her doll and held her stomach. "What's the matter?" I asked, alarmed. "Are you sick?" I remembered that she'd complained about her stomach hurting twice already.

She nodded. "I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom."

She came back a few seconds later. Her round face was pale and there were tears in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "Callie, I'm bleeding. Down there." She came closer, and I noticed her hands were shaking. "I think I'm dying."

I laughed, even though I knew she was scared. "Sophia, you're not dying. You just got your period. You know what that is."

Sophia blushed, swiping at her tears. "I know, I know. I just thought maybe what-"

I stopped her, holding my arms out. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not. Sometimes it's easy to get scared over nothing. Don't worry. We'll take care of it."

I led my sister to the bathroom and looked in the cupboard under the sink. All I found was an empty tampon box. "Maybe Stef and Lena have something in their bathroom?" They were women. They had to have some sort of protection. "Come on. We'll check."

It felt strange, just going into someone else's room without their permission. But the last thing I wanted to do was approach Mariana for help. I went into the bathroom, with Sophia hovering behind me.

"Girls, what are you doing in here?"

We turned to see Lena, her arms crossed over her chest. Sophia shrunk against me, scared. "We weren't doing anything wrong," I said. "Sophia started her period. We couldn't find anything to take care of it."

"Please don't hit us," Sophia pleaded. I held her protectively.

Lena's face softened, and she lowered her arms. "Oh, sweetheart... I wasn't going to hit you. I would never hit you. No one in this house will ever lay a hand on you." She gently held my sister's shoulders. "Is this your first time, honey?"

"Yes," she admitted. Her face was still ghostly pale.

Lena sighed. "I'm sorry I scared you girls. I didn't mean to. I've just had a stressful day and I'm tired." She went to the bathroom cupboard and took out a pad. "You know how to use this, right?"

Sophia nodded.

"Well, do you have any questions? I know this can be confusing."

She shrugged. "Callie told me some stuff."

Lena smiled. "Why don't you go ahead and put this on in the bathroom? I'll make sure the other bathroom is stocked by the end of the day. And when you come out, you and I will have a long talk."

Without saying another word, Sophia ducked into the bathroom. "Poor baby," Lena sighed. "Puberty is hell." She handed me the half-empty box of pads. "Could you take these to the other bathroom, sweets?"

I nodded. "I could've explained things to her."

"I know you could have," she nodded. "But there are times when a girl needs a mother-figure in her life. So, I think I'll take this one."

I nodded again, then turned toward the door.

"Hey, slug-a-bug," Stef smiled, as I wandered into the kitchen.

I paused. "What did you call me?"

"It's just a nickname," she laughed. "You don't like it?"

I shrugged, secretly pleased. "I don't mind it."

She was spreading gloppy peanut butter on graham crackers. "You want a snack, love? I was gonna have one myself."

"Okay," I said. I couldn't believe how generous they were with food around here. They let us have seconds at meals if we wanted them, and the other kids were always in and out of the kitchen, taking something out of the fridge. Last night was the first night I'd gone to bed with a full stomach in weeks.

Stef brought a plate to the table and set it between us, then poured us some iced tea. "Where's Lena?"

"She's upstairs with my sister," I told her. "Sophia started her period." I broke a graham cracker in half and bit into it.

"Aww," said Stef, with a smile. "You look kind of down, honey. Is something bothering you?"

I shook my head. "It's just... it's like one minute she was still a little kid, and the next, she's all grown up."

"She's still the kid she always was," Stef promised me. "No one grows all the way up in an instant. You'll see." She took a sip of her drink. "So, who explained the facts of life to you, Callie?"

"No one," I told her. "I figured it out for myself."

"That must have been hard," she said. "Bill said your mother passed away. Is that right?"

"Yes," I nodded, without going into detail.

"What's your plan for the future? Do you have one?"

"I'm gonna get custody of Sophia when I turn eighteen," I told her, pushing cracker crumbs into a little pile. "I just want to get her out of the system."

"What about you?" Stef asked, looking me in the eye. "What do you want from life?"

I shrugged. "I'll be fine, as long as my sister is safe and we're together."

Stef took my hand, like she had at the doctor's office. "Well, until then, I want you to think of this as your home. We want this to be your last foster home. Ever."

I managed a small smile. It was all I could do not to tell her everything right then and there.

To Be Continued