Connected: Family, Together, Forever

-Chapter 3-

"Sorry about her," he says, sitting back on the chair.
"It's alright," I say, honestly feeling sorry for her.

"Anyway, you'll start school in a few weeks, so we'll go to get you enrolled. After that, we can go by your school supplies, and whatever you need," he tells me. "Do you have a phone?" He asks.

I nod. "I do, but it's crappy."
"I'll try and get you a new one soon, okay? Let me know if you want anything else,"
"I will, thanks,"

"Do you need new clothes?"
"I guess... a lot of what I have is pretty old," I admit.
"That's no problem, we'll go and buy you some clothes,"

We talk a bit more, and a few minutes later he stands up to leave.

"Come on Lily, let's go," he tells Lily, still standing in the corner.
"Kay," she mumbles sadly, walking out of the corner and out the door with him.

I walk around my room once more, taking it in. This actually could be mine.
I hesitantly unpack, wondering if Mark will suddenly change his mind, and send me back to the orphanage.

I don't have too many belongings, so I unpack quickly. My room looks more homey, but it's still pretty empty.

I gently sit on my bed and get out my phone, to text Ellie.

Me: hey, sorry I couldn't text u earlier, I was busy unpacking and stuff
Ellie: no worries. How are they? I asked Mrs Anderson for information but she wouldn't tell me anything!
Me: it's not a couple, it's this guy. He seems nice, he lives w his siblings, and he looks after them.

We continued to talk for a while, and I told her everything I knew. She was happy for me, but I missed her. I wish he had adopted us both.

Until the evening rolled around, I pretty much spent most of the day in my room, doing nothing. Mark came to check up on me a few times, but that was pretty much it.

I'm still looking around my room when I hear a little knock at my door. Before I could answer, it slowly opened, to reveal Lily.

"Hey, Savvy!" She grinned, closing the door and hopping on my bed. "Can we play now?"
I smile. I did want to play, but she and Charlie share a room, and I'm not sure if she'd appreciate me being there. But Lily had been asking me to play all day, so I put my worries aside and we went to her room.

Their room was pretty nice, they had bunk beds and plenty of space. Ignoring Charlie, Lily pointed to the floor where all her Barbies, their houses and their accessories were all sprawled over the floor. She created a spot for me and asked me to sit down. I did so, and I looked up to see Charlie on the top bunk bed, lying down facing the wall, seeming to be reading a book.

"This is Chelsea, this is Skipper, and this is Stacy!" She explained to me, showing me the dolls.
"They're very pretty," I say, stroking Chelsea's hair. I never had many dolls or toys growing up. None for my own or this nice at least.

"We can play with the others too," she says, rummaging through a big overflowing basket of toys. She fished out a new Barbie, still in the box, and handed it to me.

"I got her yesterday," she tells me. "You can name her!"
I run my fingers down the box. Even though I'm considered too old for dolls, I really liked this one.

I smiled at Lily. "I'll name her Lily," I tell her.
"Really?" She asks, and I nod.

"Yayyy! Thank you Savvy," She says gleefully, hugging me.
I hug her back as my heart melts.

"Can you guys keep it down? I'm tryna read," Charlie grumbles from the top bunk.

"You can play with us too y'know!" Lily says, before turning to me. "Charlie does the best Barbie voices."