Adopted by Stromae

neuf, partie i

In some ways, Maelle's total disregard for upcoming major events could serve her well.

Her ignorance of things that may hurt her in the future could be a defence mechanism, but since she had done it since she was young, she was fairly sure it wasn't brought on by her mother's death and her father's drug addiction.

Recently, she had focused on trivial things, such as making her foster parents hate her and flirting with her foster brother, when she should have focused on bigger, more important things. The trial of her mother's dump truck driving killer was coming up all too soon.

As she checked the calendar app on her phone, she was reminded of that fact. She had spent little to no time thinking about it, having pushed it to the back of her mind every time she thought of her mother's death.

Maelle didn't want to blame the man in the dump truck, who they had called Jean-Paul, if she remembered correctly, but it was hard not to. When your parent was killed in a freak accident, the blame had to fall on somebody's shoulders, even though they may not actually be guilty.

For Maelle, the dump truck driver had been the one in which she had to hold the blame. He was the only one she knew for sure was involved in the accident. For all she knew, there could've been
some random person on the street that shoved her into oncoming traffic. But, the thing was, she didn't know. Therefore, the blame will be on the shoulders of Jean-Paul.

Maelle suddenly heard a soft knock on her door, pulling her out of her thoughts. In response, she mumbled a quick, "It's open," before proceeding to fall into her bed.

Paul appeared at the doorway, sympathy lacing his features and toast in his hands, "May I come in?" He asked, leaning into the doorframe.

She nodded quietly, staring up at her ceiling.

Paul came into the room, sitting on her desk chair and placing her breakfast on the desk. Her foster parents may not have been too strict, but they certainly were not fans of breakfast in bed. Food in her room, they could live with, but food in her bed was a hard no.

"So today's the day, huh?" Paul asked, though she couldn't look him in the eyes. She concentred on the ceiling above her. It was a popcorn ceiling, probably because of the time period that the house was built in. It made it easier to stare at than a normal ceiling.

"Yeah," She finally responded, her voice raspy, partially from lack of speech, partially from crying, "yeah, it is."

"How are you doing?" Paul asked after a moment of silence, "Is there anything I can do?"

Maelle looked him in the eye, choking slightly, "Why did she have to die?" She asked rhetorically, a sardonic laugh ringing out into the empty room. She remembered the last time she had laughed sardonically. He father had scolded her, but he wasn't there now to do it again. He had left her all alone to fend for herself on one of the hardest days of her life.

The rehab centre hadn't let Pascal out for the court hearing, afraid that it would cause a relapse. Sadly, Maelle couldn't disagree. She wanted her father to get better, but, still, it would've been nice to have someone in her corner, on her side.

"We're here for you," Paul said out of the blue, a serious look on his face, "we'll be there every minute of today,"

She swallowed, "Will Max be there?" She asked. Max was the only person she could endure a long period of time with, so far.

Paul nodded, not phased at all by her question, which had even surprised her, "I can ask him to come, though I will not be sure until I speak to him." He smiled slightly.

Maelle sighed, feeling slightly better knowing people would be there for her, even though the people she got were not her first choice. The only people she wanted were her parents.

"Do you have something to wear?" Paul asked her, to which she shook her head slightly, cursing herself for not thinking of it.

She had been trying to repress this day, which did not exactly include buying a new outfit for it, "I didn't think of it. I'm sorry,"

Paul smiled slightly, "Coralie had something ready for you in case you had forgotten. Don't worry, it's perfectly understandable. It's not exactly something you think of," He said.

"She bought me something?" Maelle asked quizzically.

Yes, she always wanted a daughter to choose outfits for. I can get it for you whenever you want," He told her.

She didn't have enough energy to process the new information about her foster mother, so she simply nodded in response.

"I've never been into a courthouse before. I don't know what to do," She admitted, embarrassed.

"That's okay," He told her, "we'll get through it together,"

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a/n: heyy thanks for reading sorry this was shitty stay tuned for part 2

-danz