Adopted by Jennxpenn

Memories

One Year Later

(Above are pics of Molly and Caleb as children, they're parents and sister, and Adam)

        I was just looking back at some of the pictures from The Dance Awards. Life was so much simpler back then. Now everything was so much harder. My PTSD had been worse than ever. I woke up in the middle of the night crying for no reason. I still hadn't told anyone about what happened to me or why I had such bad PTSD. I just told them it was the car accident and being separated from so many people I loved.

Caleb had gotten a lot taller. His voice has been cracking a lot too. But sometimes he makes it crack purposely. He had let his hair grow out and it was really curly. Sometimes he let Andrea straighten it! He was still playing baseball with Luke on Team Savage. He was still like the over protective brother, but it was okay because I needed that. He still comforted me when I came into his room at night, even if he had friends over he always made time for me when I needed him.

Jenn was still pretty much the same. She told Caleb and I about her Youtube life, I had to pretend like I didn't already know about it. It was getting hard to keep from me because she was always filming, editing, and so were all of her friends. She still didn't want to introduce us to her fans. She was afraid something bad might happen. Some fans who've seen us out have asked about us, but she just says she babysitting us while our parents were out of town. Little did they know they weren't ever coming back.

Andrea was still basically the same. She introduced us to her boyfriend, Kian. He's really nice and he's on this collab channel with a bunch of other guys and they're pretty cool! Arden and Lauren are super nice! Lauren helps me with some tumbling stuff and flexibility since she was a cheerleader. Her and I work out together sometimes and its a lot of fun! Arden has been helping me learn how to do makeup and she's really good at it! I can do my own makeup for competitions now!

I'm still exactly the same. Still short, tiny, dancing, flexible, the usual! This year I'm a junior but I only did one solo at The Dance Awards this year. I didn't win again which would have been really cool. I've started doing more lyrical and contemporary and I'm starting to like it a lot! My dance teachers all say I have a natural gift for it.

I'm planning on telling Jenn what happened to Caleb and I soon, her mom already knows but didn't tell her because she thought it would upset her. I'm just hoping she doesn't have to find out from someone besides me telling her. I've been planning on what I would say to her and the only way I can think to tell her is to write the story down and have her read it.

But we think we've found my older brother, Adam! He retired from the military and we even found a picture of him online! He's coming back to the States and we think he'll probably go back to Pennsylvania since thats where he probably thinks we are. He doesn't know that our dad wanted us in California where he grew up.

       I really hope we can meet him again. I want some closure and I want to know why my dad killed him self. I don't think it was just because my mom and sister died, I think it was something deeper. I want him to know that we're safe and with family again. I want him to know what happened to us in the system. I want him to know about our uncle and I want him to protect us from him.
Jenn and I haven't told Caleb about all this with Adam. Last time we mentioned him it didn't go over too well with him. Jenn tried to surprise us by telling us she had found him, expecting both of us to be happy. Lets just say Caleb wasn't as happy as me, he thinks it's Adam's fault that we were put in the system. Although I'm starting to figure out it was our dad. I was eavesdropping and I found out he wanted to take us back to California and Jenn's mom wanted us to stay in Pennsylvania. So he changed his will and it said we would go into the system. I'm not sure why he killed himself though.
I want Adam back. All I remember is him telling us we would be in foster care and him hugging me tight and kissing me hard on the cheek before we left. I miss his hugs. He always gave the best hugs. Calebs hugs are good but Adam's hugs were so tight and they made all your broken pieces come back together. I could use one of those hugs right now.
Jenn gave good hugs too, but only when you really needed one. She always hugged but they weren't always as meaningful. Lauren was also a really great hugger. When I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare she was always there. Of course she didn't even get in bed until after I had woken up.

2 Weeks Later
Jenn had found some pictures of Adam and thinks he might be in California. Caleb is starting to like the idea of meeting him again. I talked to him about it and he thinks it will answer some questions he has. I want to know if he knows about our uncle and I want to know where our parents are. I'm planning on telling him about the uncle situation before Jenn so I can have a practice run before telling everyone else. I had never had to actually tell anyone before, the police had done it for me.
       I hoped I would actually get to meet him. I assume he would want to meet us ans find out about us. Hopefully he didn't treat me like another poor rape victim.

One month later
       I have a dance competition this weekend and its our first one! I have a solo and lots of group numbers! I was really excited! Caleb also had a baseball tournament this weekend! While he was at his tournament I was going to be at Bostyn's house for a sleepover and Jenn was going to meet us at the competition.

At The Competition
       It's almost time for awards and I feel pretty confident! There were a few tears from Dylynn because she messes up a little in our group but I told her no one even noticed. I just had to hope no one did notice.
       My solo had gotten first overall! I had gotten a trophy and a plaque! I also got a bunch of pins for our group dances, my jacket was filled with pins! Then they made an announcement that they had a soldier coming home today, it made me think of Adam. Just when I looked over to stage left I noticed a familiar face, IT WAS ADAM! I dropped my stuff and ran over to him! He picked me up and hugged me really tight! I squeezed him as i dug my face into his shoulder. Tears were slowly gliding down my cheeks. The audience was clapping and all the dancers stood up and cheered.
       Adam carried me over to my stuff and off the stage. I clung to him tightly as we made our way to Jenn who hugged us both. She said that Adam had surprised Caleb at his baseball tournament and his reaction was exactly like mine. Now I had to tell Adam about my uncle, our uncle. We went to the lobby and Jenn left Adam and I while she went to get some snacks.
       "You're an amazing dancer! Jenn was telling me about how you won Best Dancer at the Dance Awards! That's something to be proud of!" Adam said as we sat on a windowsill where Jenn left us.
       "Thanks! Were you in the audience the entire time?" I asked as I sat my trophy next to us.
       "Yea actually. I got here yesterday and Jenn told me about Caleb's tournament so I surprised him and then I surprised you. How long have you been dancing?" Adam asked.
       "Well remember how before mom and dad... died I did a little ballet and gymnastics?" I asked.
       "Yeah do you still do gymnastics on the side or just dance?" Adam asked.
       "Well I couldn't dance again until I was 10 and I've only really been dancing for 2 years. But I did dance without knowing what I was doing but thats a story for another time." I said. 
       "We need to catch up. Caleb and I got to talk a lot last night but I havent talked to you, how about we do something and catch up a bit?" Adam suggested. I knew I was going to have to tell him soon. But luckily Jenn came back with some popcorn that we helped ourselves to.
       Jenn said we should go home and change and then go to Santa Monica to the playground. But she said she wanted to leave Caleb home because she thought Adam and I needed to bond a little. I just changed into a maroon leotard since all my other clothes were in the wash. I threw on some capris over my shorts just in case it got cold.
       At the beach Jenn kind of wandered from Adam and I, I think she either felt left out or wanted us to bond. We had a lot of fun and he showed me some of the military workouts he did on the rings and the ropes. He was impressed at how strong I was for being so small.
      When we got home Caleb came up and Jenn ordered a pizza! Just us four ate it and we all caught up and talked a little more about the Last Christmas and the accident. I remembered I had to tell Adam soon, I didn't know if I wanted Caleb there or not. I was leaning towards not, I wanted to be alone and be able to speak for myself. I just had to get Adam alone and away from Jenn. That would be the hard part, but i'll have to find a way.