𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 * . °•★

one ⋆ ★

Alana's pov:

"Mia I'm clocking out now!" I shouted to the redhead who was placing dog food into the bowls on the floor of the doggy cafe we worked at. "See you tomorrow babes!" She shouts back and gives me a wave as I walked out. I placed a earbud into my right ear and put on my playlist, consisting all of Taylor Swift. I was so happy to finally be off work. Obviously, having a job at 13 wasn't ideal but I was determined to pay back every penny to Helen and Noah who had bought me and Piper eras tour OPENING NIGHT  tickets. Although they had given it to me as a birthday present, I though it was too much to ask of them so I was somehow going to get them to take back all of the money they payed for my ticket. If I had any left over money, I was hoping to buy myself some merch at the stadium. I had forced Piper to listen to Taylor with me ever since I heard that we had tickets. We had spent loads of time together, choosing outfits, learning chants and making bracelets. I was SO excited. 

The walk from the cafe to the foster home was only around five minutes meaning it didn't take very long for me to get home. When I turned down the street to my home, I saw Ethan stood out in the cold.  I ran straight to him, pulling my earbud out as I did. I wrapped my arms around him as he patted my head, I loved when he did this. Ethan was practically my big brother. "How was work little miss?" He asks, looking down at me with his golden eyes. "It was alright, nothing special." I tell him, pulling myself off of the lynx smelling teenager. "What are you doing stood out here?" I ask. "I'm waiting for James to come pick me up, we are going out." James is Ethan's 'best mate' , they were always doing something together. I had spent loads of time with James, he loved me, James knew me as well as Ethan did. "Tell James I said hi, I would myself but its fucking freezing." I say to Ethan who laughs, "Whatever, James is MY  best mate. Don't understand how he loves you more then me!" He rolled his eyes playfully and I let out a laugh. I gave him a quick last hug before heading inside. 

I closed the door behind me and slid off my shoes before making my way to my room. "Alana." I turned to the voice, looking at Olivia, one of the three who were incharge at the home. "Yep?" I reply, praying I wasn't in trouble as I wasn't in the mood for a beating today. I also take a step back from her, just incase. "You're incharge of putting the little shits in room 3 to bed tonight. You know, singing or whatever." She informed me to which I nod before turing around and walking into my room, wanting to quickly get away from her. I sighed with relief as I shut the door behind me. A familiar pur came as Aurora rubbed her warm body against my leg. "Oh I've missed you!" I say, throwing my bag to the side and bending down to grab her.  I quickly made my way to my bed and got under the covers while stroking the kitten in my arms. I then went to amazon, checking when the accessories for my outfit were coming, luckily they were arriving a few days before the show. I was going as the lover era with a pink flowy dress, bejeweled heart sunglasses and arms full of friendship bracelets which should hopefully cover most of my scars. Piper's outfit was reputation inspired, she was going to be wearing a black pant suit and was planning to use face paint to draw red snakes along her arms. However, the whole night was a secret to everyone at the home, except Ethan. Everyone else thought I was just going for a sleepover at Piper's, which I do very often. 

I was so exhausted from today, I was so ready to go to sleep. I threw my phone down onto my bed and went to grab some fruit, deciding that after not eating anything all day, it was for the best. I walked into the kitchen, only to be greeted by Jack who was cooking a meal for himself after giving the little ones their food. I tried to walk past him without making eye contact, begging he wouldn't talk to me. "You eating? Typical." He scoffed. I kicked the back of his leg as I opened the fridge and grabbed a small plastic container with a fruit mix inside. "Make sure you dance extra hard to work off that weight." He remarked to which I kick him again as I leave the kitchen, hearing his shouts. "Shut up you fat shit." I mutter under my breath as I walked to my bedroom. I was so sick of Jack's comments, he was 5x the size of me and he still felt as though he could comment on MY  weight. 

★

I scrolled on my phone for a while, slowly making my way through the fruit, I did things on my own, no matter if my mind told me not to eat, I wasn't letting myself die before I see Taylor Swift. Time had passed and I now had to go put the younger kids to bed. I was incharge of one room containing 7 girls, their ages ranging from 5-8. I got up and headed down the corridor to their room, a few of them playing with teddies and others running around. I caught one of the running girls by their waist and the whole room broke out if laughs, "Bed time guyss!" I tell them all and placed the girl I held in the air on their bed. "Are you going to sing for us?" One of them asks me excitedly, jumping up and down on the end of their bed, her little arms out for a hug. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?" I reply to her before picking her up into a hug and spinning us around. "What song do we want tonight guys?" I ask and get multiple voices of young girls shouting at me. "You guys need to calm down! Take a breath." I tell them, throwing in a Taylor Swift reference which a few of them got. "I want message in a bottle!" The girl still in my arms tells me, flicking her golden hair out of her face. I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as I placed her down. "Great choice! Anyone else got any ideas?" The room erupted in chaos once again before we all agreed on starlight. I sung the lyrics as I twirled around their room, tucking each of them in and giving them kisses. In the home, no one ever felt love from the adults so I always made sure the younger ones were shielded as much as possible. I turned from the final girls bed to find Ethan stood at the door videoing me, I gave the camera a small wave and a giggle before continuing to the end of the song and turning on the two night lights in the room. As the song came to an end, Ethan stopped recording and I walked towards the door. "Night guys! Sweet dreams, love you all." I tell them as I blow them a kiss and close the door behind me. 

"Oh hello again." I giggle to Ethan. "You looked like you were having fun." He says to me. "I was, thank you very much." I tell him lifting my chin up, trying to look taller then him and failing. "Awh your cute, but reality is that you are never going to be taller than me." He laughs out and he pushes my head down. I frown at him, "Your so mean." I say, trying to hold back laughter as i flick my head around and cross my arms before walking into my room. Ethan laughs, "Sorry not sorry, goodnight shorty." I grown at him, "Night dumby!" I say cheekily and shut my door. I can practically feel Ethan's eye roll as I listen to his footsteps go down the corridor. I turned to my bed and picked up Aurore who was meowing. We twirled around my room before I placed her down and got changed from the joggers and top I had worn to work and into my comfy pyjamas. The short sleeved top let me look at my arms before I put a hoodie over them. I was so ashamed by each and every scar, so annoying that this is how I had to cope. Why can't I just be normal? But then again, why be 'normal' when this feels so good.

I pulled a grey oversized hoodie on and jumped into bed with the white kitten. We snuggled up together and fell asleep after a while of scrolling endlessly on tiktok, just like any other night.