Aubrey Garcia's Journey home.

Chapter Thirty Seven.

Aubrey picked up her landline, slightly surprised to hear the shrill ring of her phone. Sure, her friends called her and they all hung out with her about once a week, but that was once a week. They had all been so busy for the past week, Eliana with work, James with schoolwork, Lexi with volunteering, and Aubrey with spending time with her family. Foster family, she reminded herself with a sigh. Her shoulders sagged, and she picked up her phone.

"Hello?" She asked, a confused frown on her face.

"Hey, Aubrey. Uh... could you help me with something?" James said, his voice slightly distorted on the phone.

"Oh hi James. What do you need?" She asked curiously.

"Uh... Do you remember the book report we were supposed to do for English that's due after break?"

"Yes..." She said cautiously, wondering where this was going.

"Um, could you help me with it?" His voice took on a pleading tone, and Aubrey smiled.

"Of course. Do you need help with getting ideas, or with creating the project?"

"Creating the project."

"Want to come over to my house?" The line went quiet for a moment, as if he was thinking.

"Sure."

"Be warned, Carter and Leon are crazy today."

"Well, your door has a lock!"

"They broke it."

"Oh God, we're doomed."

"When do you want to come over?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Okay, see you then." The line went dead. Aubrey felt a grin creeping up her face, excited to go help James with something she was good at. Then she realized how much of a mess her bedroom was. "Oh God." She muttered, appraising the mess of crumpled up assignments and socks on her floor.

Aubrey began to clean up her room, tossing trash where in the trash can. Everything was going fine for a while, but after a few minutes, under a pile of socks, she found it.

The envelope.

Her hands began to shake, and she quickly put it on her desk under her "Anne of Green Gables" book. She closed her eyes, and took a moment to breathe. Then she went back to cleaning, her movements robotic. A quiet knock sounded from her door, and Aubrey knew it was James. "Hey." She said with a smile, letting him in.

"Oh God please help, how the hell am I supposed to find examples of Anaphora in "The Scarlet Letter." Aubrey laughed and slung an arm around his shoulder. "I'm going to let you in on a secret." He stared at her, looking eager.

"If you make up an example of Anaphora, and back it up with 'evidence'" She made air quotes when she said that. "You can get away with anything."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"You're lying."

"My 100% in english says otherwise." James laughed and shook his head, all the tension released from his body.

"So I didn't need to call you."

"No, you totally did. Lexi and Eliana already called me yesterday."

"Really?"

"Yep. Lexi wanted to know what 'colloquialism' was, and didn't want to have to either sprint to the library, or spend a half hour waiting for her computer to reboot." James nodded, and gave her room an appraising glance room.