Reunited

You're a Great Mother, Kendrick

(Anna's POV) 

Seeing Brittany again felt really good. Telling her about Alexa felt even better. Over the last seven ears, Brittany and I had become very close; it was heartbreaking saying goodbye on the last day of set. We knew we'd see each other soon enough – but the fact that we wouldn't be working together again killed me. On our last day, we'd jokingly made a pact to create our own movie together. She and Alexa hit it off right away.

She called me the next day.

"I still can't believe you had a daughter all this time and didn't tell us."

"Well, it wasn't something I was particularly proud of."

"So who's the father?"

I rolled my eyes at the inevitable question. "Just some jerk from high school. He doesn't even know."

"Oh, my god. That's kinda fucked up. Some guy out there has a kid and he doesn't even know it."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to tell him. He probably doesn't even remember me and more than likely has his own family to deal with now."

"Mmm," she paused. "What are you going to do now? About school and stuff. Did she go to school back at the orphanage? What would she be now? A Sophomore?"

"Shit, I hadn't thought of that. She told me they had classes at the orphanage so she's never been to a real school before. She would be a Sophomore for next school year."

"Damn, looks like you've got some enrolling to do. Lucky there are high schools all over Los Angeles."

"Yeah . . . I'd better go and talk to her about it. Thanks for coming over last night. And just thanks for, like, accepting this whole thing."

"Pff, honey, of course I accept it. I mean, it was shocking, sure, but the fact that you went back to her after all those years means something. You're a great mother, Kendrick."

"Thank you, Snow. I'll see you later."

I hung up, smiling. I went back inside to find Alexa on the couch, texting on her tiny flip phone.

"Damn, I really need to get you a new phone," I said with a grin. "It pains me to see you with that."

"Orphanage's budget," she said with a laugh.

I flopped down beside her. "Who were you texting? Ethan?"

She nodded and her smile drooped a little.

"You miss him, huh?"

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Yeah. It's okay, I still talk to him everyday. He said he's asked to get transferred but they told him unless an orphanage here is willing to take him in, they can't let him go until he turns eighteen. But they don't want to ask."

I clicked my tongue, making a mental note to ring the nearest orphanage.

"Listen," I began, thinking about what Brittany said. "The new school year starts in a few months and I'm kinda not allowed to not educate you. I know you haven't been to a proper school before so I'm sure I could get a tutor a few times a week or something. Or if you want, there are a lot of great high schools around the area. It's up to you."

Alexa scratched her nose. Something I'm told I do quite often. I couldn't help but smile.

"I was thinking about that actually," she said. "I've always wanted to see what an actual school was like."

"Yeah? Okay, great. Well we'll go and have a look at some, shall we?"

We spent the next half hour or so on Anna's laptop searching for schools around us. By the end we narrowed it down to two, one of which was a private catholic school. I'd never been a religious person so I decided on Hollywood Hills High. Anna told me she'd make some calls by the end of the week to enrol me for the next year.

That night I shared my excitement of going to a real high school with Ethan over the phone.