Adopted

Chapter 18

"Hey, Jess, time to wake up," Sarah was shaking me. "Sheri is going to be here soon. Do you want to take a shower first?"

I rolled over and groaned.

"Can't you guys just tell her I'm awesome and doing fine?"

"Well, yes. Because you are awesome. But she needs to see you. Come on. Up you get," Sarah tried pulling me up.

"I don't wanna," I whined.

"Young lady, this is not a debate. Up you get," Sarah said.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," I said, sitting up.

"Good. Downstairs in ten," she said.

"I think you got this parent thing down," I smiled.

"Dr. Roberts is right. You are a brat," she smiled back.

I got up, got dressed, took my meds and headed downstairs. I had at least run a brush through my hair, but it was stringy from the chlorine, so I put my Dodgers cap on.

"There she is," Brendon said as I came into the kitchen. Sheri was already there with a cup of coffee and my file out.

"Hello Jessica. You're looking good. Circles under your eyes though. Are you sleeping?"

"We were at Disneyland yesterday and came home and late. I'm afraid I had to wake her up to meet with you," Sarah said.

"Disneyland?  Fun!" Sheri smiled. "How was it?" She asked me.

"Ah. You know. Boring rides, bad food, terrible time," I smirked.

"I see you haven't lost your sense of humour or your sarcasm," Sheri smiled.

"Sheri, you know sarcasm is my second language,"

"I'm pretty sure it's your first," she retorted.

"So," she said, turning to Sarah and Brendon. "How has Jessica been settling in?"

"I think she's settling in well," Sarah said. "We're showing her the neighbourhood and she's got a library card. Penny and Bogart really like her. She's met a bunch of our friends and she had a good time when they were over."

"Nice," Sheri said.

I went over to the cupboards and pulled out cereal and milk and poured myself a bowl and then came back to the table.

"She's made herself at home," Brendon said, "which is exactly what we'd hoped."

"Good. I'd like to talk about the situation from Saturday and  find out exactly what happened. Jessica, could you tell me?"

"Sure. We went out for dinner and when we were walking back to the car, I saw my shoelace was untied so I bent down to do it up.  A group of people, fans of Brendon's I guess, saw him and chased him and we got separated. I don't know the area, so I got turned around, otherwise I would have gone back to the restaurant. I got scared and sat down on a corner. Somebody called the police and they found me and took me to the station where Brendon and Sarah found me. No biggie," I said.

"Well, not no biggie, but that's essentially the story I heard from the police and your parents."

"Now, you know of Jessica's diagnosis, of course so I may have to come visit a bit more often at first. But I'm so far happy with what I've seen and heard. What are your plans for the summer for Jessica?"

"Well, my parents are coming in for a couple of days next week to meet her, then the following week my band leaves on tour and we'll be taking Jessica with us for the summer," Brendon said.