Adopted by Heathers Cast

Why Do I Cry Myself To Sleep?

"Elle!" I yelled, running down the hallway and banging on her bedroom door. She opened it, and said, "What's up, Sunshine?"

"I got my school schedule!" I said. "I'm waiting for you to see it!"

I sat on the couch and I opened the envelope.

Hamilton Middle School
Reeve-McLemore, Catlynn Sunshine, Grade 8
Period 1: Algebra 1 8
Period 2: English 8 Honors
Period 3: U.S. Government and Civic Life Honors
Period 4: Mandarin 2 Honors
Period 5: Science 8 H
Period 6: Middle School Band
Period 7: Physical Education

"I'm so proud of all the advanced classes, Sunshine! You're so smart." Elle said, tickling me. I started crying, and Elle said, "What's wrong?"

"I haven't been back to school since my...my brother beat me up." I said. Elle hugged me, and said, "I called the principal of your new school and explained the situation. He's going to let one of us walk you into school every day. And he made sure you have every class with Cesca."

"I'm scared." I said. Elle kissed my hair and said, "You have 3 weeks until school starts. This week you're hanging at the theater and helping us get ready to close. Next week you're seeing Heathers. The week after you're going to Florida. Then you're starting school."

"Who's going to drive me to school?" I asked.

"It's going to be 2 days of me driving you. Then it's going Jessica, Ryan, Katie, Alice, Barrett, Evan, Jon. Sound good?" I nodded, and hugged Elle.

"I'm so proud of you, Sunshine. Now, let's go to the theater." Elle extended her hand and I grabbed it, heading to her car.

________

I was sitting in my office for one of the last times, looking at the pictures of me and the cast. I wanted to cry my eyes out, but I had to stay strong for them. Especially Elle.

I'm going to miss the rest of the cast. No, the rest of my family. Jessica and Katie were my aunts. Evan and Jon were my brothers. Ryan was my dad. Barrett and Alice were my older sisters. And Elle was obviously my mom, but I lived with her.

I had the journal, and the pictures, and everyone's number, but I'll never see them all in the same place ever again. I won't get to hug them. I can't tell Elle how I feel. She's too worried about me as it is.

I'm just going to keep my feelings in and ride out the storm.

That was a bad idea. 5 minutes later I found myself in the middle of a mental breakdown, crying my eyes out with no sign of stopping. Everyone was on stage, and I was alone.

I heard a knock on the door, and someone said, "Cat? It's Jessica. Can I come in?" I said, "Yeah..." and Jessica opened the door.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I shook my head and said, "I can't stop crying..."  Jessica hugged me and said, "I think you've been holding that in for a long time." I sighed, and Jessica said, "What's going on? Tell me the truth."

"Elle will kill me." I said. Jessica sighed, and said, "No she won't. Now, tell me what's wrong."

I sighed, and said as fast as I could, "I'm scared to go to school and I'm scared everyone's going to forget me after the show closes and I'm scared my dad's gonna break out of prison and my brother's tracking me and I don't want to lose you guys you're my only family." I exhaled, and Jessica wrapped me in a hug and said nothing, just let me cry. And that felt really good.

"Sunshine?" I heard from behind me. I looked up and it was Elle, concerned.

"Elle, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened, I-" Elle cut me off and sat on the couch with me. She gave me a hug and Jessica whispered to her, "I think she needed that." Elle nodded and kissed me on the head. "What's wrong?" Elle said to me.

"I'm scared you guys are all going to forget me once the show closes." I said. Elle looked at Jessica and said, "Hey. None of us are going to forget you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to us. I was thinking, maybe we could schedule a couple of nights where you hang out with one of us? Like, um, maybe Jessica can come over for movie night once a week or something like that." Jessica looked at me excitedly, and I said, "Yeah!"

Jessica said, "No Elle allowed though. It's just Jess and Cat time." Elle said, "Fair deal." and me and Jess hugged.

"I have an idea." I said. Elle nodded, and I said, "Aren't we rotating who drives me to school? Maybe I can hang out with the person who drives me to school that night."

"That's too confusing for me." Jessica said. "Let's not do the rotation thing. But I do like Cat's idea. And Elle, you can have quality time with her on the weekends."

Elle nodded, and said, "I'll drive her on Mondays. Jess, you have her on Tuesdays. Barrett has her on Wednesdays. Ryan can have her on Thursdays. Evan and Jon can have her on Fridays. I'll have Alice and Katie do something with her on Saturday mornings or something." I nodded, and Elle said, "See, I told you we'd make it work."

"But what if they forget about me?" I said, starting to panic. Jessica ran over to me and said, "Cat, you're overthinking again. Deep breaths." I sighed, and Elle said, "No one here's gonna forget about you. I promise."

"You can't speak for everyone." I said. Elle hugged me and said, "I promise you."

"I'm just a random girl off the street. You have better things to do." I started crying, and Elle kissed me on the head.

"You're not a random girl. You're my daughter. You have a family now. It's never just going to be you against the world anymore."

"I hope so." I said.

AN: Writing this while on a FaceTime call, how very. Hehehe, Heathers reference gah. Hope you enjoyed! Catch ya later!