Things will be getting more interesting soon...Thirty minutes later we were in the town center a couple miles away. The town was medium sized, with a nice shopping strip. We went to a hardware store first, where we ended up getting a paint called ‘summer night’—in other words, navy blue—for the main color, and curtains that matched. We also got a smaller bucket of silver paint. After I put those in Caitlin’s car, though—a light green minivan—she told me we weren’t done.
“Since we’re here, we should get you clothes and whatever else you need now.” I’d given her a rebellious look, but she wasn’t having it. “Come on, you need new clothes anyway. You’ll probably be riding and swimming, so we have to get some things.”
Though annoyed, I’d gone along with it silently. In the end I had three pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts, two tank tops, two t-shirts, and two long sleeved shirts. On top of that I had a bikini and a one-piece bathing suit, a pair of flip flops and a pair of sneakers, a cardigan and a jacket. To be truthful, I kind of liked the clothes: they looked good without showing too much skin and were comfortable.
On the way home, Caitlin started up another conversation. “So, what kind of music do you like?”
I just looked at her. I had heard songs before on the radio, sure, but other than that, I didn’t have the chance to listen to music, much less identify what types I liked. “I haven’t really listened to too many songs.” I told her quietly, looking out the window at the passing scenery.
Caitlin was shocked. “I couldn’t live without music! I literally listen to it almost all the time!” She indicated the radio, which was playing a fairly decent song. “Tell you what. You can borrow my iPod, because I have every imaginable music genre on there. You can download any songs you like on the desktop on the third floor, because that’s yours to use.”
She turned up the volume of the radio a little. “This is pop music.” She switched the station. “This, on the other hand, is rap. Personally, I don’t really like it, but it really all depends.” By the time we’d reached her house, Caitlin had defined the broader categories of music to me, giving an example for each.
She helped me get the floor set up, covering the furniture and floor boards with plastic before I opened the paint buckets. After she handed me her iPod and hooked it into the house-wide stereo system she left me, telling me to shout for her if I needed anything. I nearly snorted as I dipped the roller into the midnight blue paint. I liked Caitlin, but I wasn’t going to turn into a helpless cream puff. I was perfectly fine on my own.
Smiling slightly, I got to work: there was a lot to be done, and I had all the time in the world to do it.
~~~
Darkness had fallen when Caitlin knocked on my door. “Are you hungry?” She asked, peeking her head in. I took a moment to carefully finish the paint stroke I had started: this work was calming because it was so routine.
After a moment I turned my head to glance at Caitlin and shrugged. I was a little hungry, but not starved or anything. Caitlin smiled in understanding. “Okay then. This room is looking really good.” She cast an admiring glance around, and I followed her gaze. I agreed with her, surprisingly. The warm blue color seemed to shimmer in the light, exuding peace. “If you want, I can help you finish, and then we can go eat. You’ve been up here for seven hours, non-stop, so I’m sure you’ll be hungry by the time we finish.”
I settled a steady gaze on Caitlin, wondering if she’d look back again or give in to the urge to look away. She returned a calm, steady gaze for almost a minute before I blinked and looked away. Darn it. “Okay.” I relented, handing her the spare roller. “I’ll do the last wall. Can you do the ceiling?” With a shrug, Caitlin got to work, singing quietly to the music. She knew every word of every song that played.
To my surprise, she had a great voice. Mild annoyance made me work faster on the wall. Why was she so good at everything? Surely something about her life wasn’t perfect, right? I forced myself not to think about it: I didn’t know how long I’d be here and already I knew I’d miss this beautiful place. To take my mind off of Caitlin’s seemingly perfect life, I listened to the music.
Just like she’d said, Caitlin’s music taste was extremely erratic. Hard beats and fast paces changed to mellow, slow music and every range in between. During some of the sadder songs, Caitlin’s voice was filled with emotion—sadness and something like pride—that made me wonder again about her. I didn’t ask, though, pretending that I wasn’t listening to her voice.
Finally, my wall was finished. I sat back and watched Caitlin as she finished, shivering slightly in the breeze from the open doors. “Wow.” Caitlin looked around the room and put down her roller, a satisfied smile on her face. “This room looks great. I guess you’ll have to sleep somewhere else until the paint dries, though.”
I nodded silently, getting to my feet at the same time she did. She didn’t speak as she led the way back downstairs and to the kitchen. “Have you ever had croque monsieur?” I shook my head, frowning. Whatever it was, it sounded weird. “Well, basically it’s a sandwich.” Caitlin told me, moving around the kitchen and starting to cook as I watched.
We ate at the kitchen counter in easy silence, something that was a first for me. As we did, I couldn’t help but hope that this time, I would stay here, in my new home.
~~~
After dinner Caitlin went to take a shower. Since she wasn’t around, I gave into the pull of the library. Seeing all the books I could choose from immediately made me happy—books were an escape, a way out of reality. Once I’d learned to read, there’d been no stopping me. I had devoured book after book on all subjects, any books I could find.
At first the people in the orphanage I was at before the Bee’s hadn’t known what to think: I knew tons of world history, English, Math, Science, I loved fiction too, reading as much as I could find. Some adults wanted to talk to me to see what I knew and how I learned, others tried to stop me. Either way, I made it clear that I didn’t care about what they thought or said. As far as I’d been concerned, all those adults could shove it, because I wasn’t going to play their games.
When I’d gone to the Bee’s orphanage, they barely had any books and I was forbidden to read them because I was an ‘uncooperative child’. In other words, I didn’t listen to what the Bee wanted. Truthfully, it wasn’t that I flaunted authority or anything—I listened to people I liked or respected, like—dare I say it—Caitlin. She was getting the ‘I’m wary of you but I’m open to listening’ attitude from me. If I didn’t like someone—like the Bee—then they got the ‘you can talk but I’m not listening, screw you, do you really think I care about your stupid foibles’ attitude.
Shaking those thoughts away, I browsed the bookshelves until I found something interesting: A book about the Medici family’s rise and fall. I sat in one of the armchairs with one of my legs draped over an arm and my body diagonal to the seat and started to read. I was engrossed in minutes, drawn into the past like a bee to honey. I heard it when Caitlin entered the room, but didn’t acknowledge her.
She didn’t speak either, getting a book from the shelf and settling into the armchair next to mine. I kept reading, but over the hours, warmth, comfort, and the soft music playing throughout the house slowly drew me into a state of half consciousness. I let the book slide from my grasp as I closed my eyes, just for a second. For the first time since the first time someone had wanted to adopt me, I smiled.
Waking up was a nice, slow process. I didn’t open my eyes at first, laying still and listening to what was going on. Someone was moving around in the kitchen. Warm sunshine glided over my body, better than any blanket could have been. When I lazily opened my eyes, I saw that the sun wasn’t too high up in the sky—it was probably eight in the morning. From this point of view the pond shimmered with light.
A contented yawn slipped through my lips before I could stop myself. I got up slowly, savoring the quiet, mellow sounds of this house. When I made my way into the kitchen, Caitlin greeted me with a smile and a nod. “Hey. I’m making waffles, do you want to help?” She asked. I looked at the counter to see there was an empty mixing bowl with a bunch of ingredients—eggs, milk, butter, flour, and salt—next to it.
“Um…sure.” I mumbled, wanting to try and cook but having no idea where to start.
Caitlin was quick to catch on. “Crack the eggs and separate them—like this.” She demonstrated with an egg. “We beat the egg whites so that they become kind of solid, but light and fluffy. That’s what makes the waffles themselves so airy.” I nodded, following her instructions. She’d made separating the eggs look a lot simpler than it was, but I managed.
Twenty minutes and a lot of explanation on Caitlin’s part later, the first waffle was finished. We’d added small chunks of apple as well as cinnamon to the batter, making it so that almost every bite of waffle had a warm, soft little apple piece to it. It was amazing, and I couldn’t believe how easy making waffles really was.
“So, what do you want to do today?” Caitlin asked as we finished off a stack of waffles. I thought for a second as I chewed.
“I’m going to paint designs in my room—with the silver.” I told her, uncomfortable with the way she was attentively listening to me. From my straight posture and expressionless face, though, I knew Caitlin would never be able to tell. “Then, I don’t know.”
“Hm.” Caitlin thought for a moment as she took another bite of waffle. “Maybe after lunch I can show you how to ride, if you want. The horses need to be exercised anyway, and I can give you a tour of the grounds. Afterwards we can go swimming if you feel like it.” She carefully phrased her sentences so that I was open to say no, I noted.
“Okay.” I shrugged, acting indifferent. Inside, I was already looking forward to this afternoon. I’d always loved animals, even though I’d obviously never had a pet. Plus, swimming in the pond would be beyond amazing.
Caitlin and I finished the waffles quickly, and then I put the dishes away. Just like a perfect child. I thought sarcastically to myself. After Caitlin left to work on something, I went to my room and smiled. It was looking good, and now the paint was dry. Now I took out the paint brushes we’d gotten and dipped a thinner one into the shimmery silver.
Starting from the bottoms of the walls, I painted careful swirls and tiny little stars that were densely packed together. As I went higher on the walls, the amount of swirls lessened and at the same time more stars appeared, spreading out. By the time I was standing on a ladder and painting the stars on the top of the walls they were evenly spread out like stars in the night sky.
The ceiling was a lot more complicated. Before I started that, though, I went down to the kitchen and looked for something to eat. I took an apple and checked the time to see that it was noon. Having finished eating at eight thirty, I wasn’t hungry yet. We were probably going to eat around one or two in the afternoon.
When I got back to my room, I started in the center of the ceiling, creating a three dimensional looking sun with tiny little arcs coming off of it—solar flares, I remembered. From there I fanned out with tiny dotted stars and the planets all in orbit. Caitlin came in while I was painting a shooting star in the sky and let out an impressed whistle. “This is amazing art, Max! Wow…” She trailed off, staring around the room. I finished my shooting star and quickly got off the ladder, feeling unusually embarrassed. Normally I never showed anyone any of the doodles and sketches of art I drew, so no one knew I liked to draw.
“Anyway, I came to tell you that I can teach you how to make Chinese stir fry if want, and then we can go horseback riding. In the meantime we can keep the French doors open to help let the paint dry.” Caitlin suggested with an easy smile, still taking in the details of the room.
I hesitated. “You want to leave the doors open while we leave?”
Caitlin gave a chuckle. “Yes, it’ll be fine. Not only is this the second story, but we can see the house from anywhere on the property. Plus, there’s only one way to get onto the property, and that’s the driveway. We’d see anyone who even tried to break in.”
I shrugged: her choice. “Okay.” Caitlin and I walked down to the kitchen together after I washed my hands free of paint. All the ingredients were already out, and it wasn’t long before they were being stir fried in a pan.
This was something else I liked: cooking was fun, much to my surprise. After lunch Caitlin and I moved slowly down to the stables, where I saw a horse in real life for the first time. Caitlin’s house was named Nina, and she was a tall, stately white horse. The horse that was apparently mine was named Caramel, after his coloring. He was warm and friendly, with the softest muzzle I’d ever felt in my life.
“I’ve never once ridden with a saddle, so I’m afraid we’ll both be going bare back. It’s actually a lot of fun, but I guess it’s different if you’ve only ridden in a saddle before.” Caitlin informed me.
I gave her a look, which she correctly interpreted to mean that I’d never ridden before, so it didn’t matter. I had trouble getting onto Caramel at first, but he was patient and steady, standing perfectly still until I got onto his back. “Okay, now, just relax. Hold onto the reins, but not to tightly, and place your fists on either side of his neck, so that the mouth piece doesn’t hurt his mouth.” Caitlin instructed, showing me from on top of Nina.
“Perfect. Now, just give Caramel a gentle tap with your heel—she’ll start walking.” I bit my lip and prayed silently for good luck, wondering if Caramel would bolt. But when I gave a light tap with my heel, he started forward at a steady pace. I smiled triumphantly, amazed that I was actually sitting on a horse and having it obey me. Caitlin was patient, slowly teaching me how to understand Caramel and how to give him orders.
It was five o’clock by the time we got back to the stables, and I felt high on success with Caramel. I gave him an affectionate stroking and brushing, loving the feel of a trusting animal beneath my hands.
And yet, the day wasn’t over. Five in the evening on a summer day meant that the sun wasn’t yet too far from it’s zenith. Caitlin and I both went to change into bathing suits. I took my bikini, quickly changing before taking a towel and heading out to the pond. Caitlin was already there in her bikini, smiling blissfully.
I smiled back at her, too content to bother trying to hide it. I was still high on the thrill of horseback riding, and now I was going swimming! I’d learned how to swim at seven, when I’d first been adopted. Images of Margaret, the woman who’d adopted me, flashed through my mind: I’d been with her for six months of hell.
She had always been drunk, and when she got drunk she became angry. I was the perfect object to vent her rage on: small and defenseless. I’d learned within the first month never to cry when she beat me. When the social worker came to see how I was doing, she’d taken me out of the situation immediately. It was during that time that I’d learned to swim, while I was at school there.
I realized Caitlin was speaking to me. “What?” I asked, blinking to try and clear the images and sounds from my head: stifled crying at night, getting up in the morning and finding clothes to hide the bruises—
“I asked if you wanted to go in.” Caitlin repeated.
“Oh. Yeah.” I knew Caitlin was a little worried and could only wonder about the expression that I’d been wearing. The happiness from riding horses was gone now, strangled by memories. Shaking it all off, I walked to the edge of the pond and got slowly in, enjoying that fact that the water wasn’t too cold.
Caitlin rolled her eyes at me, laughed, and then ran and cannon-balled into the pond. I laughed in surprise and amusement, but then quickly shut the sound off, ducking under water to regain control. This was way too easy for Caitlin—unsettlingly so. I cracked my eyes open as I swam hard towards the middle of the pond. When I came up for air I shook my hair out and looked around, treading water to stay in place.
Caitlin was in the water not far away, floating with her short hair fanning out from her head. “I love this.” She murmured, half to herself. I smiled slightly in agreement, letting the cool water sooth the heat of the sun. Both of us splashed around for a little, not doing anything except enjoying the water.
Just as Caitlin and I started moving towards the side of the pond, a small, sleek silver car stopped in front of the gates and honked. I looked over at Caitlin. “Who’s that?”
Her face was grim. “My ex-boyfriend.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why’s he here?” Why did I care?
We reached the edge of the pond and Caitlin and I clambered out, wrapping the towels around ourselves. “Now that I inherited this place, he wants to get back together.” She was obviously annoyed as she strode purposefully towards the driveway. Curious to meet this prick myself, I followed her.
“Can’t you… call the cops on him?” I suggested.
“I just might.” We reached the gate but Caitlin made no effort to open it, standing with her arms crossed as a man got out of the car. He was really a regular looking guy: sandy brown hair, slight stubble, not overly tall.
“Caitlin, baby!” He greeted her, striding towards the gate. He pretended not to notice that it was firmly closed. “It’s been so long, and I just thought I’d visit you so we can talk.”
Caitlin raised an eyebrow. “That’s what a phone is for, John. I’m not interested.” Ooh, someone was in the doghouse.
John gave a disappointed, theatrical sigh, and then his eyes found me. I stiffened and glared as he smiled with false warmth at me. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met yet, my name’s John.”
I paused for a moment, wondering whether to humor this guy or not. I liked Caitlin and John was just the type of guy I hated, so I went with the cold attitude. “Really? I didn’t realize that was why Caitlin was calling you that.” You could hear the icicles dangling from my words. Caitlin shot me a surprised look, having never experienced this herself.
John looked taken aback for a second, but then he smoothed his expression back out into a smile. “Oh, you’re English! I’ve always wanted an English accent, because it makes people sound so elegant and refined.” Again, the winning smile sparkled.
Unfortunately for him, that didn’t work with me. “Well, you’re lucky you don’t have one. It would be a pain to have people always think falsely of you.” I told him cuttingly, looking completely disinterested.
John gave an awkward laugh. “Ha, um, yes. So, Caitlin.” Having sensed a defeat with me, he turned back to Caitlin. “Do you want to go out somewhere and chat? Or if you’d like, we can talk here.” His appraising glance took in the property.
Caitlin gave him a cold look, something I’d never thought I’d see on her face. “John, leave.”
John faked a shocked expression. “But, baby—”
I lost my temper. “She has a name, and it’s not ‘baby’. She’s told you to leave, so get lost unless you want the cops called on you. That’s not an empty threat.” I warned, looking John straight in the eyes.
He flinched and looked away. “Oh…okay. I’ll…call you later, shall I? See you later, Caitlin.”
Caitlin stopped him. “Don’t bother calling me, I’ve blocked your number. And you won’t be seeing me again.” Her tone was cool and clipped. John scurried back to his car and got in, driving away as quickly as possible. He didn’t look back.
We were silent for a moment, until I broke the stillness. “Nice choice in guys.”
My wry tone made Caitlin laugh. “He was nicer before I found out he was after my money. Then he turned nasty, so I broke up with him.”
I smiled a little. “I see.”
Caitlin nodded, seemingly glad that I was showing so much emotion—which I was, considering I barely knew her. “I’ll race you back to the house.” She challenged, a competitive smile on her face. I raised my eyebrows and looked disinterested. Just as Caitlin started to look disappointed I took off, towel flapping around my legs as I sprinted barefoot across the grass and towards the house.
“Hey!” Her indignant protest reached my ears, but I didn’t heed it. In moments her footsteps were pounding after mine, but she never caught up: I’d always been fast. As I waited on the veranda and looked out on the setting sun, shimmering lake, perfect lawn and the long winding driveway with a smiling, running woman coming up it, I hoped that this place would be my happy ending.
~~~
The next morning, my room was ready. Caitlin helped me take off all the plastic covering the furniture and set up the navy blue curtains. I finished and sat on one of the two silvery grey poufs in a corner and took in the room. It looked amazing. “Wow.” I murmured, smiling.
Caitlin sat next to me. “Yeah. It looks great. Where did you learn to do art like this?” She gestured at the intricate swirls, stars and planets. I shrugged.
“Sketching, I guess. On whatever was handy at the time.”
“Hm.” I could tell that Caitlin was curious—she badly wanted to know about me. I felt a little bad that I knew her life story—or some of it—and she knew nothing about me, but I pushed that feeling aside. Sure, I was nicer to Caitlin than I was to most people, and I was slowly opening up to her. That didn’t mean I was going to open my heart to her.
Before the silence had time to become long, the phone rang. Caitlin jumped, startled. “I wonder who is calling.” She murmured, hurrying out into the hall. There was a phone on each floor, and the one on this floor was right by my room. I followed her, hanging slightly behind as she picked up the phone. “Hello?” She asked.
Her expression changed from surprise to a warm smile in a matter of seconds. “Let me ask.” She covered the end of the phone and turned to me, much to my surprise. Who was calling for me? No one even knew me. “The neighbor right next to us is a girl your age and she wants to know if she can come over to get to know you. What do you say?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” Maybe this girl would be okay. If she was one of those prissy types, though, I wouldn’t be able to stand too much of her. Not ten minutes later, there was a knock on the front door. I opened it to see a tall, thin African American girl with a bright smile. She was holding the handles of a pink bike.
“Hey! My name’s Meghan, I’m your neighbor. You’re fifteen like me, right?” Her sunny smile was matched with a bubbly personality. I nodded. “Cool, we’ll be freshmen together! That’ll be so great, I can introduce you to all my friends and we can hang out and stuff! What’s your name?”
Wow. That had all been in one breath. “Um… my name’s Maxine Bailey. Call me Max, though, I hate being called Maxine.” I managed a small smile, impressed at my own politeness.
“Oh, my god, you have an English accent! That’s so cool, I love English accents! I like that name. Max…I don’t think a lot of girls could carry it off, but you do.” Meghan commented. “So where’d you move from? What was it like there? Do you like it here?”
I had to smile: this girl talked a lot. “Um, why don’t we go to my room so we can talk?” I led the way to the second floor, going slowly and letting Meghan take in the view. When I opened the door to my room, Meghan stopped dead in her tracks.
“Oh. My. God.” She breathed, staring around the room. “You have the most beautiful room in the world! Wow! I love the walls! And the ceiling!”
She turned to me with a comically star struck look, making me smile. “Thanks, I painted it yesterday and the day before.”
Now Meghan’s jaw dropped. “You painted this? Are you, like, a professional artist? This is amazing!”
I laughed, shaking my head and sitting cross legged at the head of my bed. After a moment’s hesitation Meghan sat on the other end. “Thanks. And as for your other questions, I moved from a small town in the countryside of England—from an orphanage there. Caitlin adopted me a couple days ago. Truthfully, it sucked.”
I shrugged at Meghan’s shocked expression. “I never had much luck with foster parents or with orphanages. So yeah, I really like it here. I mean, how could you not?” I gestured out to my balcony and beyond, where we could see the whole property. There was a moment of awkward silence before I came up with something to say.
“So, what about you? Have you lived here all your life?” Again, I couldn’t believe my politeness. And truthfully, I wanted to have friends here, if I was really staying. Somehow, I was starting to believe that I would stay.
Meghan’s musical laugh bounced through the room. “Yep. I really love it here, too.” She babbled on about her family, the town, the sports, and the kids. All I had to do was listen and make an occasional comment. Every so often she’d shoot off a couple questions about me. As I listened, I decided I liked Meghan: she was friendly, kind and easy-going—so in other words, everything I wasn’t.
“Hey, why don’t we go down town and I can show you the stores and stuff. We can meet up with my boyfriend, too. His name’s Nick, he’s really funny and smart, you’d like him. What do you say?”
I grinned, unable to help myself. “Sounds like fun.”
“Great!” She hopped off the bed and went to get her shoes while I went to the library, where I found Caitlin.
“Meghan and I are going downtown so she can show me around. Is that okay?” I made a sour face at the last words: it had been a long, long time since I’d asked anyone for their permission before doing something.
Caitlin smiled. “Sure. Here, let me give you your allowance for this month.” I shifted awkwardly as she moved past me into the living room, where she found her bag and wallet and gave me twenty dollars. “Have fun and be back before dark!” She called.
I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.” I repressed a sigh at the realization that I was quickly becoming a polite, well mannered child. Save me, someone. I thought sarcastically, catching up with Meghan.
The walk to town center was relatively short and easy—it was twenty minutes from the gate of Caitlin’s house to the town center. Waiting for us in front of an ice cream shop was a tall, lanky boy. He had pale skin and super blond hair, as well as light blue eyes and a warm smile. He gave Meghan a hug and nodded to me, keeping an arm around Meghan’s waist. “Hey, you must be Max. I’m Nick.”
I nodded to him, smiling a little. He seemed like a nice person, and since Meghan liked him, I’d give him a chance. “Nice to meet you.”
Meghan’s lips curved in a warm smile before she gave in and let out a giggle, getting a surprised look from both Nick and me. “Max, you look like you’re in pain whenever you’re being polite, it’s hilarious.”
I narrowed my eyes playfully at her, hiding a smile. “Yeah, well, I think that before Caitlin got to me the last time I ever bothered to be polite to someone was almost a year ago.” I frowned, thinking about how that adoption had ended. “Since then, I’ve been working on the whole ‘I really don’t care’ attitude. That doesn’t change over night.”
Nick let out a laugh. “Boy do I know what you mean.”
Meghan ribbed him gently as I looked inquiringly at him. “He does that to teachers all the time. And then he smooth talks his way out of any sort of punishments.” I laughed at Meghan’s expression and realized that I hadn’t talked with people my age in ages—almost a year. This felt good.
Hours flew by as we walked around the town center and talked. Around noon we sat down at a small café and ate together. We compared terms to each other to see what words were different, and I learned that here, the ‘loo’ was called a ‘bathroom’ or ‘restroom’, and the ‘rubbish bin’ was either called a ‘garbage’ or a ‘garbage can’.
Later, Nick needed to go get something that his mom asked for, so Meghan and I wandered a little. My eye was caught by a small bookstore. There was a sign on it that read ‘employee needed’. Hm…not having to rely on Caitlin for money would be nice. Plus, it was a bookstore. “Can you wait a minute? I want to go look in there.” I asked Meghan, pointing to the bookstore.
“Sure.” Meghan said, using the shortest sentence I’d heard from her all day. I ducked quickly into the little shop to see an old lady by the counter.
I gave her my warmest smile. “Hi. I saw that you needed someone to work here, and I was wondering what exactly you wanted done. My name’s Max, and I’d love to work here.” I told her sincerely. I hadn’t even known I could get this polite.
The woman looked surprised. “Oh! Well, you’d be helping customers when they came in, and ringing up the purchases.” She went on to explain the different parts of the stores and then looked expectantly at me. “So, what do you think?” I blinked, surprised. That was it?
“I’d love to take this job.” I told her, glancing out the window quickly to see that Nick and Meghan were talking and waiting outside.
“All right. You can start the day after tomorrow. Does nine in the morning till noon work?” Really? Was it that easy?
“Sure, thank you.” And that was that.
Once I got out of the store, Meghan pounced on me. “What was that?” She asked curiously.
I grinned at her. “I got a job.”
Nick whistled. “Impressive. You’ve been here…what, three days? I’ve been here my whole life and my mom still hasn’t bugged me enough for me to get a job.”
I just rolled my eyes as we started walking—this time, we were going back to Caitlin’s house. Meghan got her bike and then she and Nick went to her house. I waved goodbye to them and trudged up the driveway to the veranda, where Caitlin was reading a book. She looked up with a smile and asked how the day was, so I filled her in briefly on the job, which she whole heartedly approved of.
Bored, I went to the stables, where Caramel was happy to see me. As Caramel walked sedately around the property and threaded through a lightly wooded area at the end of the property, I had to laugh. This time last week I’d probably been staring up at my ceiling, purposely ignoring the Bee or rereading the same book twenty times over. Now I was riding a horse for the second time, learning to cook, I had a job, a room, a foster mother and two friends…at this pace, I’ll have won a national award by next week.
