Friendship Never Ends (One Direction)

Chapter 13

Stephanie's P.O.V.

“Stephanie! Stephanie!” my mum kept calling as I ran up the stairs, but I didn’t listen. I flew into my room and slammed the door, making sure to lock it. I fell onto my bed and let the tears pour out. How could she not tell me? How could my mum keep this away from me? God, she’s not even my mum, stop calling her that! This woman who I’ve lived with didn’t even tell me the most important information of my life. What’s going to happen with England now? Am I still going to be able to go? What about that Elijah kid who apparently is my brother? How did I not even know I have one?

My mind was racing with questions that only one person, the one who I fear to even look at, can answer. I would have to face her eventually, and I needed the information now.

There was a knock on my door and I jumped as I knew it was her. I cautiously stood up and unlocked my door, letting her enter in on her own time. Turning away from her, I walked back to my bed and sat there, waiting for her to blame me for all of this.

But my instincts were wrong as she slowly creeped in, closing my door softly and gracefully moving to the side of my bed. She sat down and rubbed my back, something she had never really done before and I was completely surprised by it.

“Stephanie,” she started, her voice soft and quiet. “I-I’m sorry.”

The pain and honesty in her speech caused me to gently switch positions and face her.

“How could you have not told me?” I began, the tears stained to my cheeks.

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“Well, I’m going to tell you now, everything that I know.”

I stayed silent as I wanted the answers. Finally, she unfolded the whole story.

“When you were born to your biological parents, Lucy and David, your mother, Lucy, was diagnosed with cancer. Your father was having a hard time taking care of you, a newborn baby, your 8 year old brother, Elijah, and your mother, who had cancer. Your dad decided to put you up for adoption because you were the only reasonable one to give up. Your brother already knew the situation and he wouldn’t want to leave your family, whereas you were too little to know what was happening. I took you in when you were about 2 years old and I didn’t mean to leave you out of your biological family, but your mother passed away a few years after, when you were 5 years old. You had already considered me as your real mother and our family as your own, and it would have been difficult for you to understand the situation, so I tried to keep you away from your blood family. About a year after your mother passed, your father wanted you back and fought hard for you, but I couldn’t let that happen when you were so young. So I made the decision to move here, away from them, so you wouldn’t know who they were and why they wanted you. You had such potential, and I knew that if you were to live with your real family again, your life would have been very difficult for you to do anything. To grow up and move back with your biological family that fell apart would have been insane for someone as young as you to do. I couldn’t let that happen.”

By now she was crying. The pain in her voice caused me to feel sorrow and have sympathy for her. I understand why she did what she did, but that still doesn’t give her the right to keep this from me all these years.

“I’m so sorry, Stephanie,” she sobbed, her hands covering her face.

She wasn’t the only one crying, for my eyes watered up from watching her and contemplating the story. I was speechless with no idea what would come next. My mind was in a trance as I didn’t realize my arms wrapped around her and I hugged her tight, tighter than ever before. She was the one who’s taken care of me my entire life so far and she wasn’t a bad adopted parent. She needed to know I appreciated everything she’s done for me, even if she’s not my real family.

I carefully let go and she looked at me with her red, puffy eyes, but the connection we shared at that moment made us both realize that it was all going to be alright. No matter what happens next, we’ll get through this, as adopted mum and adopted daughter.

A week later, Spring Break was over and school resumed. I hadn’t been able to talk to Rachel about this whole situation, since her and her family travelled to Illinois to visit family during break, but we organized another one of our famous sleepovers (at her house this time) so I would be able to tell the story.

The week dragged on but Friday finally came, so after school, we stopped at my house first to grab my things and then headed over to Rachel’s house. We scrambled inside and placed my stuff in her room, making sure to halt in the kitchen for some food, which was gone in no time.

After eating our snacks, we sat on her bed and she didn’t even have to say a word as she knew I was going to spill, so I took a deep breath and unraveled the novel.

She was silent after I finished, and I almost had tears in my eyes. Talking about your family that you didn’t even know you had is heart aching, especially when one is gone. Rachel even looked as if she was about to cry, too.

“Stephanie, that’s…” she started, clearly not knowing what to say.

“You don’t have to say anything, it’s ok,” I shushed her. “I’m just glad you listened.”

She looked up and smiled at me and I returned it, letting her know that I understand. But her smile quickly faded as a question popped into her brain and her face twisted up into confusion.

“So then what does this mean for England?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” I answered. “I haven’t really talked to my ‘adopted’ mum since the situation.”

“I would think she would want you to go. You’re not a little kid anymore, you deserve to see the place you grew up in,” Rachel responded.

“You think?”

“Yeah, I mean, she may have thought that what she did was right for everyone, but that was the past and you’re all grown up now. You can’t hide away from the truth forever.”

“So then what do you think I should do?”

“Just sit down with her and kindly ask her about it. Since you know the whole story now, what’s stopping her from letting you go?”

Rachel’s question hit me and I took a moment to think about it. She’s right; there’s nothing stopping me now.

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Plot twist! I love it!

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​Please check out my other fanfic I'm writing, "Drama." It's here on this website and on Wattpad, too! Also, we have Twitter accounts for those fanfics: @FNE_1Dfanfic and @Drama_1Dfanfic so please follow us to stay updated on those stories! We follow ba​​​​ck, too!

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​​​​​Rachel and Stephanie :)