Ice frozen dreams turned golden

Chapter 1

"Do you have anyone I could call?" The social worker asked, and her voice still seemed so far away.

Lizzie was still too shocked about all of it. This morning had seemed like a perfectly normal morning, and she had been so excited to finally go to school again to be out of her mom's reach for a couple of hours.

And now she was sitting here in a social worker's office trying to think about how she ended up in this mess. Maybe that was why she didn't even think about the woman's question and just murmured Taylor's name and gave her phone number away without even thinking twice. And now that the phone was ringing and she was waiting for Taylor to pick up, she scolded herself. 

What was she thinking calling Taylor? The woman already had so much on her plate - four kids and a successful music career. Besides that, Thea had told her, that her mother would be alone with her and her three siblings for the next two months because her dad was away filming something. And the girl really didn't want to stress Taylor any further when she had already done so much for her. Lizzie smiled at the thought of exactly how many times Thea and her family had saved her without even knowing.

"Do you want to come over tomorrow after school?" Thea asked her, and Lizzie looked at her in surprise."You want me to come over to your house?" She asked just to make sure she had understood her new friend's question right. No one had ever asked her to come over to their place!

"Yes! It will be soo much fun! I can show you my room and my younger siblings Nora and Luca, although they are pretty boring because all they do is sleep or cry." Lizzie smiled at that - she would love to have siblings, but the one time she had dared to ask her mom about it, she had only gotten a slap in the face for an answer.

Lizzie carefully thought about Thea's question. Usually, she would have said no, but tomorrow was Wednesday - so the only day of the week where she would have no figure skating training."I have to ask my mom about it. I don't know if she would allow it, though." Lizzie didn't want to give her friend false hope, but she was pretty sure her mom would say no. In fact, she already had a tummy ache just asking her about it." I have to ask my parents first too but I'm sure they don't mind," Thea said as well and Lizzie was left wondering. The way Thea talked about her parents really made no sense. She always told stories about how nice they were, how much they played with her, and how much she loved them.

It always made Lizzie feel bad for not loving her mother as much as Thea loved her mother. If she was honest with herself, Lizzie was a little bit afraid of her mother, not that she would ever admit that in front of her new friend, because that would make her look like a crybaby. Her dad was maybe a little bit like Thea described her parents but then again she hadn't seen her dad much since her parents had broken up. And now he was in Germany, and she was here in America with only her mom.

In the car on the way home back from figure skating training, Lizzie prepared herself to ask her mom if she could go over to Thea's place tomorrow. Her mom was in a relatively good mood after the training today, as Lizzie had landed every single jump today - it was the perfect opportunity. The girl's heart was beating too fast, and her hands trembled slightly, no matter how many times she reminded herself that her mom could not hurt her in the car.

"My new friend Thea asked me if I could come over to her place tomorrow, and I wondered if I might go, please?" Lizzie slowly released the breath she had been holding, relieved that she hadn't stumbled over the words and had used perfect English. Her mom always got mad at her for slipping back into German since they had gone to America.

"You found a friend?" Her mom sounded surprised, and Lizzie hold her breath. "I didn't think you could find a friend, but Yes. I don't care where you are as long as you're home by seven."