Forevermore (20 page)

32 / OLIVIA

FOR A SECOND WHEN
I blinked awake, I couldn’t remember where I was. I thought I’d dreamed the last week. Then I blinked again and purple surrounded me. So did my posters and my corkboard with pictures of my mom, Briony and M, Caleb and Hank, Eden and me, and the newest, Aunt Nell and me. I was home. My wishes had come true.

A soft knock on my door sounded before M poked her head inside. “Good morning, sunshine. First day of school. You up?”

I stretched and smiled. I used to hate the first day of school, but I felt like I might never hate anything again. “Yep.”

“Up, up? Or am I coming back here in five minutes with a bucket of water?”

I giggled. M used humor to get us going. Briony would pounce and tickle. I didn’t care whose turn it was to wake us up; I was just glad I got to experience it again. I pushed my covers back and sat up.

“Bri’s making waffles.”

“On a school day?” I tried not to sound shocked, but we usually just had cereal on weekday mornings.

“First day of middle school, Liv. Big day,” M reported and went to knock on Caleb’s door.

I jumped in the shower first. When I got out, M was still talking Caleb out of bed. He really didn’t like waking up. I went into my room and opened the closet door. All my new clothes hung neatly on hangers. Clothes my aunt and Briony helped me pick out on two shopping trips while we were waiting for the guardianship to go through. Briony knew how to win my aunt over. Shopping. My aunt didn’t care if it was for her or for me, so Briony used the excuse of school shopping when Aunt Nell got home from work two nights in a row. I shouldn’t have let Briony and M spend so much money on a new school wardrobe, but it felt great to see my aunt and Briony with their heads together about the clothes I might like. Then later, Paige and Aunt Nell would root through the purchases to put together all the combinations of outfits for me. I couldn’t remember what they chose for today.

“Know what you’re wearing today?” M asked as she saw me standing in front of the closet still in my robe.

“I think so.”

“Wear what makes you comfortable. You can try everyone else’s suggestions once you’ve got your routine down at school.”

I looked at her understanding eyes and wondered if she was reading my mind. Aunt Nell and Paige picked out something pretty for today. Briony picked a different shirt. Eden thought I should wear shorts and a t-shirt. I selected the short sleeve button up shirt that Briony liked and a pair of blue and white striped crop pants. Halfway between pretty and laidback.

Caleb opened the inner door of the bathroom as I clicked off the hairdryer. He was already dressed in new cargo shorts and a t-shirt with the logo of Quinn’s basketball camp. He’d probably be bragging to all his friends that he’d gotten to work there this summer.

“Hey, Livy,” He sounded more like a human than the grunting zombie who stumbled past me to shower minutes ago.

“Hi,” I repeated my earlier greeting he must have missed.

“You nervous?”

Every possible emotion someone can have had already hit me all week long while we waited for the judge to sign the papers. I really didn’t have time to dwell on how I should feel about starting at a new school today.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you the trick to opening your locker in a hurry and let you in on all the shortcuts around school. I had your homeroom teacher last year. She’s great. You’ll like her.”

“Okay, thanks.” She could be the worst teacher ever, and I wouldn’t care because I was home. I stowed the hairdryer under the counter and shared M’s news, “They’re making waffles.”

His eyes brightened. They weren’t quite as gold as Briony’s but very near. “Mom always feels guilty on the first day of school. We can ask for anything this morning and she’ll give it.”

I laughed but knew that wasn’t true. He’d already tried to get Briony to let us keep the cellphone that Willa had given me. I didn’t care that she was taking it away until I started high school, but Caleb tried to come up with any way we could keep it to share. Not even guilt would make her change her decision on that one.

“Time?” he asked as he shoved a comb through his short hair.

I leaned out the door and looked into his room. The large red digital display said 00:22:13 then 00:22:12 and counting. I reported the time and headed for the stairs.

“Morning, sweetie. Ready for your first day?” Briony came over to my stool and kissed my forehead then squeezed an arm around me.

“Sure,” I said, not feeling any of the apprehension I usually felt when I started a new school. It wouldn’t be totally new, and all that mattered was that I’d be dropped off by M and picked up by Briony and tonight we’d be right back home.

After scarfing down on two waffles, I ran up to my room to grab my shoes and backpack. I checked that the new notebooks, pens, and calculator were inside before going back to the kitchen for the packed lunch M made.

Briony walked us to the door with lots of encouraging words. She pulled Caleb into a hug. “Have a good day, honey. I love you.”

“Me, too, Mom,” Caleb replied, patting her back twice before lurching toward the door. He was ready to see all his buddies again.

Her bright eyes accompanied a happy smile when I stepped up for my turn in the assembly line of hugs. “You have a good day, too, sweetie. I love you.” She squeezed me tight.

“Thanks, Briony. Love you.” I no longer held in those words around them anymore. They were going to be my parents. They wanted me. They loved me, and nothing felt better.

M kissed Briony and hustled us into her car. First stop was Hank’s. His grandmother waved from her open door and wished us all a good first day. Then we drove to Eden’s. I was really glad we were giving her a ride today because I didn’t want to walk into school alone. Caleb and Hank might see some of their friends and ditch me, but Eden wouldn’t.

“Morning,” Eden’s dad greeted us as we pulled into his driveway.

Eden’s middle brother was getting into the beat up Jeep their oldest brother drove last year. The youngest brother raced out of the house and playfully shoved Eden on his way by. She stuck her foot out but was too slow to trip him. I wondered if I’d ever treat Caleb like the nuisance she thought her brothers were.

“Ah, so much love you have, sons,” Eden’s dad kidded them. “Don’t bother saying goodbye like normal people or anything. Wouldn’t want to wish your sister good luck on her first day of middle school and be mistaken for loving brothers.”

If the oldest brother wasn’t off at college this year, he might have had something really nice to say. Instead, the youngest brother scoffed and made a funny face with his fingers pulling at his lips and stuck his tongue out. Middle brother waved and called out from the driver’s seat, “Don’t do anything dorky on your first day, Eden. It’ll stay with you all year.”

Eden cupped her hand to her ear like she couldn’t hear them. They did this a lot, but unlike other siblings I’d seen, they all actually liked each other. Eden waited until they screeched away in their car before giving her dad a hug and climbing into the backseat with me and Hank. She was in new shorts and a new t-shirt with a fancy design that her mom got her. Her hair grew about an inch over the summer, and it looked styled, a little like M’s, which made me smile. It hadn’t been styled yesterday when we spent the day at Willa’s pool. I wondered if her middle brother, who was the king of hair product, had given her a lesson last night.

“Be good, kids.” Her dad tapped the roof twice and M pulled away.

We barely had the chance to talk before we were at the middle school. Nerves hit me then, but one look at Eden and Caleb and the nerves left me. I had a best friend and a brother to be with this year. Nothing to be nervous about.

M parked and got out of the car with us. She reached out to grip my shoulder as the boys signed goodbye and started for the doors. “It’s a whole new year,” she whispered to me as she leaned in for a quick hug. “You’ll do great. I couldn’t be any more proud of you.”

“Love you, M.” I squeezed her tight before stepping back.

She pressed a hand to her heart then pushed us into motion with an encouraging smile. “Bye, girls. Have fun.”

“What’s your locker number?” Eden asked as we hurried to catch up with the boys. I pulled the paper from my backpack and told her. “Hope we’re in the same area.”

“Our lockers are over there,” Caleb pointed down the first hallway inside the building. “Seventh grade lockers are this way.”

“Cut through the commons to get to PE then use the locker room’s outside exit to get over to your next class. It’ll be faster,” Hank told Eden when he looked over her schedule.

“You guys have PE together?” Caleb grabbed my schedule from my hands. “Good, but your next class is math, so that’s back through the commons shortcut. Homeroom and your first two classes are in the same hallway.”

At our lockers, Eden and I high-fived when we saw that I was on one side of the U bank of lockers and she was on the other. It would make it easy to hang out between classes. Caleb showed us his trick with the lock then a group of his friends wandered by and pulled the boys away.

Eden slid down to sit on the floor in front of her locker. She patted the spot next to her. I sank down next to her as three girls that weren’t from our elementary school did the same in front of their lockers. They smiled nervously and said hi. A boy I recognized had the locker next to Eden’s. He glanced down at us as he banged on the door when it wouldn’t open. Eden popped up and showed him Caleb’s trick to get his locker open. She was just sitting back down when Krystal and Kortney walked by. Their last names should put them in the other bank of lockers, but that didn’t keep them from stopping.

“Look here, Kortney. The freak twins are together again.” She smirked at Kortney and signaled for the rest of her pack to surround us. To Eden she said, “Still can’t decide if you’re a girl or a boy?” Then she turned her sneer to me. “Surprised you passed the sixth grade, dumbbell.”

The guy next to Eden slammed his locker and faced Krystal. “Grow up.”

Eden and I shared a surprised look at his words and watched as he pushed past Krystal’s group. The girls sitting near us frowned and shook their heads. They probably had their own set of mean girls to look out for.

“Did you forget how to talk over the summer?” Krystal taunted me. “Maybe you should be in the special school.”

Eden spoke up as she usually did whenever Krystal got on a roll. “It’s great that you put on some weight this summer, Krystal. You looked like a stick figure last year.”

The girl pack gasped at Eden’s suggestion that Krystal got heavy over the summer. If she had, it would have been a mean thing to say. But the only extra padding she had this year was in her bra.

“Shut up, freak,” Krystal screeched at her.

“Hey, Liv,” Caleb called out from behind the pack. They parted to look at him and, as one, started twirling the ends of their hair and smiling stupidly. “Ready to walk to your homeroom?” His eyes passed over every girl, lingering on Krystal with a look I’d never seen on him before. He got along with everyone, liked everyone, but this look didn’t say he liked her.

“Hi,” she almost sang out to him. I knew that tone. She thought he was cute. “I’m Krystal.”

Caleb looked at her again. “I’m Olivia’s brother.”

Her eyes practically fell out of her head as she looked at him then at me and back to him. “He’s your brother? I thought Mrs. Lomax said you didn’t have a family.”

Eden and I got to our feet. Caleb came to stand beside me. He looked like he was going to stick up for me again, but something swelled in my chest. Something powerful like I’ve never felt before. I met her stare and announced, “I have one now.”

“With an awesome brother,” Caleb inserted and flashed me a cocky smile. “And buddies who’ll always be close by.” His hand gestured to Hank, Terrance, and several of his other friends all waiting to walk with us.

His meaning was clear. Krystal would have a hard time talking about Eden and me the way she had last year without one of Caleb’s friends hearing about it. Her brand of mean fun just got cut off, and my seventh grade existence just hurtled past the best of any other grade.

M / 33

Waiting in the lobby of Jessie’s gym always provided entertainment. Members came and went. Everyone seemed to know each other because Jessie fostered a community atmosphere. Rare was the person who just walked through the lobby and over to the security gate on a mission to get to her workout. I could spend hours watching the people here. I never minded that Willa took five minutes longer to dry her hair after our workouts together.

“Hey, M,” Jessie called out as she sailed down the stairs from her office. “How’s things?”

I smiled at her as she greeted a few other people who were grabbing beverages from the juice bar. I expected her to continue on to whatever class she was teaching based on her exercise ready appearance, but instead she stopped in front of me.

“Good, thanks. You?” I glanced up and up some more at Jessie’s six foot one inch frame. “Willa said the expansion is going to be done before winter?”

She nodded and smiled with what looked like pride. “Sure is. We were lucky to get the space next door. Des had fun knocking through walls for a while. You like racquetball?”

I shrugged, not really one way or another on the sport. Willa was jazzed about the courts going in, so I knew we’d be spending at least one of our workout mornings playing as soon as they were done.

“Willa’s orders.”

I wondered if that was really the only reason her expansion included two racquetball courts. I wouldn’t put it past Jessie. She was pretty damn good at being a friend.

“How’re my favorite kids?”

My smile this time was pretty wide. Kids, plural. Nothing felt better. Olivia was back and everything was right in our world. Thanks to Lauren’s efficient work getting the papers filed, the home study would be completed in a few weeks, a month at the most. “They’re good. Olivia is loving soccer and Caleb’s trying his legs at cross-country this year.”