Adopted

Chapter 38

"Jessica?" Mom called from the front door. "I'm home!"

I sat up. I'd apparently fallen asleep watching TV.

Mom came into the living room and kissed the top of my head.

"Hi love. How was school?"

"Not bad. I made some friends."

"Fantastic!  Any homework?"

"Not for me," I smiled.

"What does that mean?"

I pulled the stack of booklets out of my backpack.

"You have a ton of homework," I said.

"Oh gosh. Okay. Let's start tackling this. Pizza for dinner? I didn't take anything out to cook and I'm too tired to figure out food."

"Okay," I said.

We went to the breakfast bar and Mom started going through the forms. There were permission forms for possible field trips, the gym uniform form, expected absence for religious observance form (none). It took about an hour for her to go through all the forms.  While Mom was working on those, I ordered pizza on her phone.

We were eating when my phone rang. I didn't bother looking to see who it was and picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby girl!! How was your first day of school?"

"Hi Dad!" I said. Mom looked up and smiled.

"So, spill. How'd the first day go?  Do I need to send Zack home for a couple of days to beat up the bullies?"

I laughed.

"No. It was fine. I made some friends, and my teachers seem nice."

"Fantastic! Friends already? No surprise there.  Homework?"

"Not for me. But Mom has a ton." I laughed.

"Now, Jess, I admire your initiative, but you need to do your own homework," Dad laughed.

"Nah. It's easier this way," I joked.

"Can I talk to Mom?"

"I dunno. She hasn't finished her homework yet," I said.

"You are a brat," Mom said, taking my phone. "Hey, babe. What's up?  Homework?  Oh, just about eight thousand booklets of forms, permission slips, uniform order forms for PE, health forms, contact forms and so on. First day of school and the kid has no homework, but I'm inundated." 

Mom was quiet for a bit while Dad talked.

"Oh. I don't know. I didn't ask. I'll ask her after. Pizza. No. Pete picked her up because I had to work. No, she did not burn the house down for the couple of hours she was alone.  No, Penny and Bogart have not been sacrificed to Satan or sold for drug money," Mom was rolling her eyes but she had a twinkle. Dad was being his usual weird self.

"Don't you have a show?" Mom said, checking the clock on the microwave.  "Oh no!  Really?  That's too bad."

"What?!" I asked. Mom shushed me.

"What's too bad!?  Moooom!" 

"Okay. Yep. I'll pass that on. Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.  Love you."

She hung up the phone and handed it back to me.

"What's too bad. Is Dad okay?"

"He's fine. They were in the middle of the show and the PA system blew. The techs tried to get it up and running, but they needed a part that they wouldn't be able to get until the morning, so the rest of the show had to be cancelled,"

"That sucks!" I said.

"He sends his love, again and told me to give you a kiss and a hug before bed. Now, let's finish these forms and get them into your bag, then we can watch a movie before bed," she said.

"Okay," I helped fill out whatever forms I could and then we made popcorn and watched a movie. When it was done, Mom sent me to bed.

When I woke up in the morning, I didn't feel as bad as I had the morning before. I had made it through the first day and had made friends.

I hopped into a shower and got dressed and took my meds. As I was coming out of my bathroom, Mom came into my room.

"Oh. I was just coming to wake you up. Waffles or pancakes?" 

"Cereal?" I asked.

"That's even easier. See you downstairs,"

I had left my bag downstairs since I hadn't had any homework and so I just went downstairs and poured myself a bowl of cereal.

"I'll pick you up today. And the rest of the week," Mom said. "I don't have to work late. I'll drop you at school, go in and the. Pick you up at 2:30. Cool?"

"Cool," I said.

Once I was done eating I rinsed my bowl and put it in the dishwasher. It was still earlyish, so we took Penny and Bogart for a short walk and then I grabbed my bag and we headed to school.

Paige was standing outside when we pulled up.

"Hey, Jess!" She said as I got out of the car.

"One of your friends?" Mom asked. I nodded.

"Mom, this is Paige. Paige, this is my mom. Sarah," I introduced them.

"Nice to meet you, Paige," Mom said.  Paige was standing there with her jaw on the pavement.

"Paige, you're staring," I said.

"Your mom is really Sarah Urie," she said.

I laughed. So did mom. 

"I'm sorry. Hi Mrs. Urie," Paige finally managed to get out.

"Hi Paige. Have a good day, girls," Mom said as she drove away.

"Are you okay?" I asked Paige as we headed into the school.

"Yup. I'm good. Your parents really are Brendon and Sarah Urie.  I mean, I knew that obviously but well, seeing Sarah drop you off for school. Wow. Okay, okay. I'm done being an idiot," she said, blinking.

We went to our lockers to get our English books and head to class. Astrid was already there and Joshua came in just after us.

"Paige," Astrid said. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?"

"She's fine. She just met my mom and it hit her that my parents are who my parents are."

"Got a dose of reality, Hoser?" Astrid asked.

"Hoser? Where'd you hear that?" Paige asked Astrid.

"I looked up some stuff about Canada," she said. "Who are Bob and Doug McKenzie?"

"I have no idea," Paige said. "My dad must have known them. I'll ask him. I've heard him talk about them,"

"Did you have to sell your igloo or do you just leave it to melt or for the polar bears to live in?"

Paige looked at Astrid with a look that said 'you don't actually believe that?'   Astrid started laughing.

"Relax!  I'm not stupid. I'm just bugging you," she said. Paige smiled.

The bell rang and Mr. Clark came into the room.

"Okay, grade sevens, we are going to head to the auditorium for a quick assembly.  Line up at the door. Quiet in the hallways please."

We lined up and followed Mr. Clark to the auditorium.