Adopted

Chapter 64

"Alright kiddo," Mom said as we pulled in the driveway. "Homework?"

"Some. I did my math homework during PE. But can I take a nap first? I'm tired," I said. 

"Of course. I'll wake you up for dinner, okay?"

I nodded and went up to my room. I fell asleep pretty easily. 

I was shaken awake by PopPop.

"Angel, shhh, you're having a bad dream," he said, sitting beside me and wrapping me in a bear hug. 

I held on to him while my breathing evened. 

"Still having dreams about those kids?" he asked. I nodded. 

"Will they ever go away?" I asked. 

"I don't know sweetheart. I hope so. For your sake," he said. 

I sighed. 

"Mom's almost got dinner ready and I was thinking we could go get some ice cream after dinner."

"I have homework," I said. 

"So much you can't take a few minutes to go get ice cream with your PopPop?"

"Well, not that much," I said, smiling. 

"Then it's settled. Dinner, ice cream, homework," PopPop smiled. 

I followed him downstairs, where Mom was finishing up making some spaghetti and meat sauce. 

"Did you sleep okay?" Mom asked. 

"Yeah. Until I had a nightmare," I said.

She looked at me with pity in her eyes. I knew everyone was upset about me still dreaming about the boys that beat me up. But what could I do about it?

I helped mom set the table as best as I could with one hand. I wasn't that helpful. 

Once we were all seated and eating, we just chatted and joked around.  

My phone dinged with a text and I looked at it quickly. 

"Jess, no phone at the table," Mom said. 

"It's Astrid. She said to turn on the news."

Mom got up and turned on the TV.  There was a shot of the courthouse. We listened to the newscaster. 

"The case against the four eighth-graders who assaulted the adopted daughter of singer Brendon Urie and his wife Sarah came to a close today with all four boys being charged with aggravated assault causing bodily harm.  Jessica Urie, it was revealed, had been infected with the AIDS virus following a car crash that claimed the lives of her parents, Michael and Susan Brahn, five years ago. Following that disclosure, the four boys confronted the teenager at their school and assaulted her, resulting in severe injuries that included a head injury, broken ribs, multiple cuts and bruises requiring stitches, and a broken right arm. The young miss Urie spent two weeks in the hospital, four days during which she was in a medically induced coma. She required multiple surgeries to repair the damage caused by the four boys. 

All four boys have been expelled from their middle school and had been held on house arrest pending their trial.  With today's guilty verdict, the boys will be held until their sentencing on October 10. 

Jessica Urie, in the meantime, we have learned, is recovering well at home and has returned to school."

"They're guilty?" I said. "I mean, of course, they are, but what does it mean?"

"Those boys are going to see some hard times," PopPop said. 

"I don't know, honey. Bernie will probably call us tomorrow, maybe even later, and tell us what it means for them. And you," Mom said.

"Why me?"

"It depends on whether we take civil action now that the criminal trial is finished."

I sat staring at my spaghetti. I wasn't sure I was that happy about this. 

"May I be excused?" I asked.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" PopPop asked.

"Yeah. I'm just not hungry anymore," I said. 

"Okay, sweetheart," Mom said. 

I went up to my room and lay down on my bed. I was getting a headache and I didn't want to hear about the trial or anything.  Astrid was texting about it, so I turned off my phone and went to sleep.

"Hey kiddo," PopPop came into my room. "You want to go get some ice cream?"

"No, thanks, PopPop," I said. 

He sat down beside me on my bed. 

"Are you feeling okay, sweetie?"

"I think so," I said. "I just don't know what to think about Eric and his friends maybe going to jail or something."

"Well, Sweets, what they did to you was wrong, and terrible. Honey, you could have died," PopPop said. "You were in really, really rough shape, from what we were told. And who knows what would have happened if your teacher hadn't gotten there in time. They deserve to be punished. It was you against four older boys."

"I know. And the press scares me. They're always outside the house, they're always around, and now are they going to start showing up at school?"

"I can't answer that, sweetheart," PopPop said.  

Mom came into my room just then. 

"You feeling okay, Jess?" she asked. 

"Yeah. I think so," I said. 

"You didn't finish your dinner," she said. 

"I know.  The news kind of made me not hungry anymore," I said. 

"I understand sweetheart. Look, I know PopPop said he wanted to take you for ice cream. I think you and he should go, get some ice cream and take a break from the house. Then, come back and finish your homework and go to bed early. Deal?"

"Okay," I said. "But can Granny come, too?" 

"Of course," PopPop said.

I followed him downstairs and the three of us got into their car. I sat low in the car hoping the press wouldn't see me as we pulled out of the driveway. 

PopPop drove to a Dairy Queen about 15 minutes away from the house, and we went inside to order our ice cream. 

It was nice, just me, PopPop and Granny, sitting at the tables outside, and chatting. PopPop asked more about school, and we talked about baseball. I was a Dodgers fan, because my dad had been one, and when I was little he would take me to games. I still have pictures in that box that Matron sent with me, of me as a toddler in a tiny Dodgers jersey. So, they've always been my team. We sometimes got tickets at the orphanage, usually donated by the team. 

After we finished our ice cream, we got back into the car and headed back home. The press outside the gate were really loud and insistent. I got scared and curled up on the back seat. 

Once we got in the driveway and got the gate closed, I ran into the house and up to my room. I heard Mom ask PopPop what was wrong, and heard him quietly answer. 

I sat at my desk and pulled out my homework. I had a little bit of English - questions to answer about the short story we'd read in class.  I tried writing down the answers, but my writing with my left hand was horrible. I threw my pen across the room and put my head on my arms on my desk.