the fire inside : spider-man

THIRTEEN

THIRTEEN
a blonde

"I like your bracelet."

—

The sun peaked through the girls bedroom, awaking each one, Olivia waking up the earliest, then Cheyenne, then Gia. Teresa had left early and asked Gia to take care of getting each kid on to the bus while she went and attended a meeting with her social worker. Teresa informed everyone that a new girl was coming, not knowing too much about her situation.

"Cheyenne, Charlie, drop Olivia and Quincy off at the bus stop and wait at yours. Don't go anywhere else, I'm gonna be watching from up here." She pointed to the window, "I seriously have to drink some coffee, I'm drained." Gia pulled a blue mug from the cabinets and served herself.

"Look Gia, a shooting star!" Charlie exclaimed, causing to Gia to look out the window startled. He took a swig of her mug and laughed loudly, rushing out the door with his siblings trailing behind. "It's six in the morning!" He shouted between laughs.

She rolled her eyes, pulling on her backpack and taking a seat on the fire escape. Gia had been finishing a speech on her phone, taking sips of coffee and watching the kids from a distance. Her mind was clouded, constantly thinking about what had happened to her the other night yet also attempting to deal with school work. Her eyes opened, she noticed Teresa calling and quickly answered.

"Hello?" Gia mumbled tiredly.

"Her name is Katerina, sweet girl, she's quiet." Teresa's mouth sounded full. "She officially comes later today after her day at school, she's getting transferred to your school tomorrow. I think she's fourteen." She explained, "I'm headed to work right now."

"Is she like the last kid? Seems nice but is actually super annoying? Because if that's the case then I'm not excited. Not that I was to begin with." Gia waved goodbye to her siblings who had been boarding their bus.

"I don't think so! She barely spoke a word. My social worker told me her parents were imprisoned, something about the Russian Mob or a cult, don't know which one. Yeah I'm not sure." Teresa told her.

"That's comforting." Gia snorted and climbed through the window. "Never heard that one before." She admitted.

"She has an aunt in Brooklyn, she didn't want to take her in so she's sticking with us until Katerina's social worker comes to an agreement with the aunt." Gia put the phone on speaker as she pulled on her shoes, taking another sip of her coffee. "Her grades suck though, you gotta help her out."

"Sure why not." Gia shrugged, placing the mug in the sink and pulling on a jacket. "Well I'm heading out now." She shut the window closed and locked it.

"You never told me how that date night went! So?" Teresa giggled through the phone.

Gia's lips parted slightly, "Well, I -um." She didn't know what to say, the only thing she could think about was the man in the alleyway.

"Was Peter sweet?" Teresa added causing Gia to break away from her thoughts and smiled weakly. "Yeah, it was really great." She walked out the door and locked it tightly. "Everything was great."

Gia powered through her morning, riding the bus but getting to school late. She didn't get to see her friends but didn't mind since she would see them in class. Gia aced a test in her first period, moving onto her second and finally going to her third where she took a seat beside Peter.