A New Family

Previously, I put my hand around my sister's shoulders and Mr. Kline began talking…

The Adams-Fosters:

Mr. Kline looked back at me and my sister and motioned for us to sit. By this time I am sixteen and my sister is twelve. I put our belongings on the ground next to the chair and sit. I make my sister sit on the cushion as I sit on the arm of the chair. There doesn't seem to be enough room in the house for any more kids. They already had five kids, which made me think they were about to get stuck with us. My sister looked up at me and I smiled at her. Mr. Kline got down to business.

"Thank you again for taking in the kids. Matias and Max haven't had the best situations in the foster system. I was hoping they would be fine at their last house, but the parents decided that having a biological child was more important than keeping the sisters. I want this to be the last house they have to be in. And from what Bill has told me, you had offered to take in more foster kids after adopting your last two. Now, I'm not saying you have to adopt them or anything, but they are good kids who deserve the chance to live a good life."

"How'd they get into the system in the first place?" the oldest looking son asked.

"Their parents were killed in a car accident and their only living relative was an uncle that didn't want them. He chose his own daughter over them."

"Hah, he chose the money over us."

"Matias, this is not the time."

"Why not, I've had to be quiet about it ever since we entered the system. Uncle Rimon stole what is rightfully ours and nobody gives a damn."

"Until you are eighteen and can fight against him in court for what it is you believe is yours, you don't have much of a choice. He is in the northern part of the state; he hasn't tried to contact you at all over the years."

"Not him at least."

"Your cousin has tried to talk to you but her father always showed up and we had to cancel the visit."

"So were supposed to stay here in a house that can hardly house us. Where are we supposed to sleep?"

"Actually, we recently cleaned out the attic and moved in two beds, a couple dressers, a couple desks and some other furnishings. You'll be treated like one of the family, if you'll let us help you. Like Mr. Kline said, we want this to be your last house before you find your forever family, if you'll have us."

"It'll be fine for now, at least until I age out and get custody of Max."

"Alright then, I will leave you here. I'll be back in a week to see how things are going."

Mr. Kline got up and walked to the door with Lena. They stepped outside to talk a few minutes before Mr. Kline left.

"So is there anything we need to know about them? Anything that might hamper their progress here?"

"They are both homeschooled. They do their homework online every day. A real school never worked for them as they've been moved around a lot. Their first family moved them here from San Francisco because they were aiming on adopting them, but it didn't happen that way."

"What happened with the adoption?"

"Just like there first set of parents, these folks died in a car crash. The extended family didn't want to adopt them as they had to take on the biological kids, so they were put back into the system. They've been bounced around since. But it was nothing that they did. The biological kids never got over the fact that they had to share their parents with two new kids. They were always stealing the girls' belongings and Matias was always stealing it back. When one of the biological kids would complain and say she was stealing from them, at first the Foster parents believed them but when Matias and the Foster mother walked in on them one time, the mother sided with Matias and the next day I would be called. It was safer if they weren't in those homes."

"Alright, we'll let you know how things go. Thanks for the information."

"You're welcome. Matias is very protective over Max, just so you know."

"Of course; we'll see you in a week."

Mr. Kline headed for his car and Lena went back into the house. The rest of the kids had pretty much headed for their own rooms but Matias and Max were still sitting on the chair. Max was looking down and Matias was looking around the house.

"So, how about we get you guys settled for the time being. Dinner isn't set to be done until later."

"Sounds fine to me, come on Max."

"So, we'll go over the rules at dinner. Since your homeschooled, you'll need to follow them at all times. Stef and I work nearly every day. I'm the Vice Principal at Anchor Beach Charter School so I might take you in at certain points. We need to be able to trust the two of you to stay at home while we are at work and the kids are at school." Lena stated.

"That's why we have laptops, so that we can do our homework and schoolwork when nobody is home. We just need access to the internet."

"We have internet and we'll give you the password. You also will be getting on the family plan when it comes to a cell phone. Now, we can get you both a phone but how much do the two of you actually get out of the house?" Stef asked.

"Um, actually a lot. We have one teacher that makes us do our science class outside. We have the curriculum and he always wants photos of what we worked on for the class. Besides, it helps that your best friend in the world lives in the ocean."

"How does that work?" Jude asked coming into the attic where his moms were with the two new foster sisters.

"When we were younger, our parents would take us out on the boat and we'd basically go swimming with sharks. There was this one that we named Mega because for a Great White, he was larger than the others around. He only seemed to show up when we were in the water and the smaller sharks fled when he was in the water with us. It was like he was protecting us. We haven't seen him in a few years, but he's always tame when he's around us. I think he might be our Guardian Angel at times. The last time we saw him was when we were in the house where the father liked to lock us in the basement all the time. His family went to the beach one day and he said he was 'forced' to bring us but I know that his wife wanted us to get out of the house for a while. When we entered the ocean, Mega showed up like magic as soon as the father started in on us and tried to get us out of the ocean. It was a beach, we wanted to have fun. Mega stayed with us the whole day and by the time the family was ready to leave, the father realized just how much he no longer had control over us. A week later, we were removed from his care and later I found out that his wife divorced him and got custody of the kids. The father landed in jail for trying to kill his wife and his parental rights were terminated."

"Long explanation, but I get it. Your parents wanted you to have a Guardian Angel when they were gone. Mega showing up every time you guys are in the water is like your parents are saying that they are still with you and that they always will be."

"Something like that, yeah."

THIS CHAPTER IS NOT FINISHED. JUST NEEDED TO POST AN UPDATE!