emotion

26

Luke

As I did all the paperwork to adopt her, she ran around helping every kid that she saw that might need help.

Michael packed her stuff for her, knowing she wouldn't do it unless every single kid was taken care of.

Her social worker continued to thank me, telling me that she knew we were the perfect fit for her.

I already knew that though.

Harley.

I would carry each of their bags to the car that was assigned to them.

I was keeping notes of where every kid was being moved to in my phone, just in case.

I hugged each one of them bye, promising them that they were going somewhere safe, even though I didn't know whether that was true or not.

I felt my heart pounding as I hugged the last two kids goodbye, the social workers watching us as I squatted in front of them, talking to them.

"And you have to be brave." I told the girl, knowing she was too quiet to stand up for herself.

"And you have to protect each other-" "but you'll be at our school to help us like always, right?" I felt my eyes immediately water at the question.

They were going to Texas.

"No guys, I won't be there." I told them, squeezing their hands.

"But your social worker is going to give you guys my phone number and you just call me if you need anything- anything at all, and I'll figure it out, okay?" I whispered to them, seeing them slowly nod.

They both made a group hug, hugging me tightly.

Who would protect these babies?

"Okay, now be good." I smiled, ruffling their hair.

"See you soon, Harley!" They almost spoke in unison as they got into the cars, the social workers making sure they were buckled before getting in as well.

I walked back into the house, feeling an all time low at the emptiness of it.

I had dreamed about this from the day I got put here, but now that it's here- I feel nothing but panic.

I snapped out of my thoughts once I heard Luke's voice, seeing him appear from the kitchen with my social worker, who was smiling wider than I've ever seen.

"Congratulations!" She spoke, pulling me into a tight hug.

I couldn't even move my arms to hug her back.

"I'll do a check in call soon just to make sure everything is good with you, but I have no doubt that everything will be great!" She spoke cheerfully, hugging me tightly.

Suddenly it was just all of the guys and me, standing in the empty living room.

"Where is Veronica?" I asked quietly.

"Being questioned by the police, we have the job of locking the door and hiding the key for them." Calum told me slowly, making me nod.

"Do you need a minute-" "I just need to pack my stuff" I told them quietly

"Michael grabbed it for you, we noticed how busy you were with the kids." Ashton told me, making me breathe out a relieved breath.

I didn't want to spend anymore time in this empty house than I had to.

"Great- thank you" i exhaled, looking to him, seeing him nod lightly.

"Will give you a minute alone to just part ways with the house-" "no" I interrupted Luke, clearing my throat lightly.

"Can we just- go?"

"Anything you want." Luke was the first to speak.

So we all left.

We went to their house, which I had yet to become accumulated with how beautiful it was, inside and out.

Luke.

We gave her as much space as she wanted.

We gave her time to unpack and set everything up in her room, myself telling her multiple times that I would take her shopping tomorrow for more clothes and stuff for her bedroom to add her own personality to it.

I cut and washed fruit, bringing them to her, knowing she needed to be snacking as much as we could get her to.

I walked in, seeing her laying on her stomach on the floor, petunia laying almost face to face with her.

Harley was petting her, looking to her as if she was the most precious thing she's ever seen.

"Want some fruit?" I offered, getting both of their attention.

"Sure"

She washed her hands before joining me again, forcing me to eat fruit with her or she would flat out refuse.

Her and I chatted about Petunia as we snacked.

"So can I ask, what's going to happen with my school?" She asked me slowly.

She wasn't going back to the one she was currently enrolled in, if it was up to me.

"What do you want to happen?" I asked her, wanting her to have the choice.

"Well, I was just thinking- since you guys are all saying it's like a clean slate, a clean start for me, I was hoping to not have to go back to the school I'm in right now, just because I kinda have a reputation for fighting and that's not exactly something I want-" "you don't have to justify it to me" I told her calmly.

"We will look into some other schools for you, we can go tour them soon. I'll get some appointments set up for you." I told her calmly, watching her nod.

"Thank you" she spoke, grabbing our empty fruit bowl as she stood.

"Where are you going?" I asked her, seeing her look to me.

"Just to wash this real quick" she spoke, being one hundred percent serious.

"Absolutely not."

I was going to let her be a kid again.