The Paper Girl - Adopted by the Ways

Part 7

The Paper Girl – Adopted by the Ways

HI GUYS! OH MY MUFFINS I’M SORRY FOR THE WAIT! 3 weeks, you must all hate me :( please don’t, I’ve been meaning to write this for ages but I could never get round to it.

Chapter 7

And now it's one of those days, locked away in your room to die of the unavoidable boredom. Tara left for D.C. this morning and won't be back until after the New Year. At least we have plans to have a Marvel Movie Marathon when she comes back, whether her mother likes it or not. Tommy has to work a double shift at his dad's comic book shop. So I'm on my own. Well, I'm not entirely on my own. I have my music player plugged into my crappy docking station and Danger Days the album by MCR is filling the void. It's also great for drowning out the sounds of the others in this hellhole known as an Adoption Centre. I'm supposed to be doing holiday-theme algebra, as if that's going to happen. Algebra is bad enough without the corny Christmas questions slotted in here and there. Instead I'm writing Christmas cards.

There are only 4 cards I can actually make and send off. It used to be one, then two, and now it's four. One for Tara – I'm gonna post it to her Gran's house in D.C. - there's now one for Tommy and his family. His dad is really nice. He let me have a Harley Quinn comic for less than a dollar. A Christmas present, he had said. Mr. Harley had also said Tommy had picked it out just for me. Those butterflies in my stomach go into overdrive when I think about it. I've spoken to him, but nether of us have mentioned the park.

The last two go to the Way's and Bandit. I made a special one for Bandit. She's obsessed with the penguin she saw at the zoo, so I made her a little rockstar penguin shaped card, with a guitar and everything. I've been skeptical about giving one to the Gerard and Lyn-z in case they thing it's stupid, but I want to give them all a card so I'll just hold my breath and hope they like it.

As I write out the funny Christmas rhyme for Bandit's card, there's a knock on my bedroom door. My pen freezes. Nobody knocks on my door. I stay still, hoping they think I'm not in, but the beat to Party Poison gives me away.

'Michelle, I know you're in there.' A snotty voice calls out and I roll my eyes. I thought it would be Kelsey or someone wanting to give me my Christmas bruises early. But that voice tells me its Amanda, one of the 'care' assistants. I slide the bolt across quietly. They're not allowed and if it's taken off my door I won't be able to sleep. I open the door and Amanda glares down her bent nose at me.

'The Head Careworker wants to see you in the office in ten minutes.' She says in a drawn out voice that says 'I-really-can't-be-arsed-with-stupid-kids'.

'Yeah, fine whatever.' I say, glancing back into my room to look at the Toy Story calendar on the only piece of band-poster free wall in the cramped room.

'It looks like they're finally getting sick of you clogging this place up,' Amanda sneered with a gleam in her eye.

'How's the diet going?' I ask with a singsong voice and her eyes turn to wild fire. She has been trying to lose weight the whole four months I've been here. If anything she's put more on. I never eat dinner here so she always eats the leftovers.

'Ten minutes, don't be late Baker, I don't want to come up here again.' She storms off with her nose in the air.

'Yeah, I don't think the stairs will be able to take it.' I shout back and slam my door and walk over to the Toy Story calendar. December 19th. That's the date. I have been here bang on four months today. It becomes a bit of a blur of running as fast as you can to dodge Kelsey, getting to school, papers and hanging out with Tara and Tommy. But today is four months. I know what this meeting is about – 1 month to go. 1 month to go before they kick me out. I'm only fourteen, so no; I'm not getting my own place. No, I'm getting deported.