Adopted

Chapter 72

October ended with a Halloween party at our house. Mom and Dad dressed as skeletons. Their makeup was amazing. I dressed as a ghost, but, like not under a sheet. Mon got me grey clothes, and we got my makeup done so I looked sort of, ethereal. It was unreal.

Astrid, Kevin, Joshua, Paige and Kristin came, and most of Dad's and Mom's friends came, too. The party was amazing. Dad got a smoke machine and some dried ice so the whole back yard looked like a foggy graveyard.  Mom and Dad made a punch for the kids and one with alcohol for the adults. They gave them weird names like potions.  Dad also put really weird and eerie lights around the backyard and played spooky music all night.

It was so much fun. Probably the best Halloween of my entire life.  After my friends left, and it was late when they did, I went to rejoin the party, but wound up falling asleep outside. Uncle Pete, dressed as a werewolf, carried me up to bed.

November dawned cold. The coldest day so far in the fall. I got dressed for school in layers. A long sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie and then a jacket on top of that.

Mom made oatmeal for breakfast with maple syrup and brown sugar. It was so warm.

Even at school, people were complaining about the cold.

We were doing projects in English about Thanksgiving and colonialism. We had to write a paper about the Pilgrim's first thanksgiving.

Mr Clark asked to see me the day after we handed that in.

"Jess, your paper, as usual, is really well written," he said. "But the content is rather dark."

I'd written about how the Pilgrims essentially killed the indigenous people by introducing viruses they'd not been exposed to, and then by slaughtering them and taking their land.

"Is there anything in there that isn't true?  I cited my sources," I said.

"Technically, no.  I'm just curious as to why you took this tack on your paper."

"Because no one discusses the real history of the colonists and the indigenous people. And we're still treating them as second class citizens. Except they were here first. We have a whole holiday celebrating, supposedly, the cooperation between the Pilgrims and the indigenous communities. And then we laid waste to their culture, language and history and told them their land was now ours."

"You are a very articulate young person," Mr Clark smiled as he wrote 'A++' on my paper. "You're a very rare flower, Jessica. Keep honing your writing and research skills."

"Thank you, Mr Clark," I smiled.

The rest of the day was normal and I'd been cleared to return to PE, but had to be careful of my head. I'd had an x-ray and Dr. Smith said my skull had healed remarkably well.

"That's my kid," Dad had said. "Remarkable."

"That's funny because just last Month you said I was boring," I smirked at him.

"Hey, Urie!" A voice called me as I was heading to PE. It was Darren, who still checked in with me. He felt really protective of me for some reason.

"Hey Darren," I said, giving him a fist bump.

"You looking forward to Thanksgiving?" He asked.

"I am. You?"

He shrugged.

"My parents are divorced, so I'll be sitters between the two of them, eat way too much turkey and have to pretend my step brother isn't a complete douchebag. What are you doing?"

"We're going to Vegas," I said.

"Vegas for Thanksgiving?"

"My grandparents live there. So yeah. We're heading down on Wednesday and staying for the weekend."

"Ah. Cool. Take care if I don't see you before the break."

"You too," I smiled.

After school, Dad came to pick me up and we headed home.

"How was school? Did you get your English paper back?"  He was so on top of my schoolwork.

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound disappointed.

"That bad?" He said. "I thought it was a great paper. Dark, but really good."

"Yeah. Mr Clark said it was a pretty dark take on colonialism. He made me defend it," I said.

"How? Do I need to speak to him? Don't tell me he failed you on that paper," Dad said.

"Nah. Don't bother speaking to him about it. Because he gave me an 'A++'," I said, pulling the paper out of my bag.

Dad looked at it after we pulled into the driveway.

"Jess! This is amazing! What's an A ++ mean, though?"

"I don't know. 100%?"

"Well, whatever it means, I am very proud of you. Let's go show your mother how brilliant our daughter is," he smiled. "And then you need to pack."

"Okay," I said.

We walked into the house and Dad called out.

"Sarah! Darling?!  I come bearing grand news!"

Mom came down the stairs.

"And what is that?" She asked, giving me a hug.

"Our brilliant daughter received an A++ on that colonialism paper," he said, proudly displaying the paper for Mom to look at.

"Jess! This is fantastic!! I knew you'd do well on this paper. I'm so proud of you!" She gave me a hug and kissed my head.

"Now, go pack because we're leaving Wednesday from school. Our flight is at four. I did your laundry and laid it out on your bed. So pack and then put the rest away, okay?"

"Yep," I said, bounding up the stairs. At the top, I was hit with a wave of dizziness and coughing.

"You okay?" Dad called up.

"Yeah. My cough gets worse in the winter," I said.

"Okay. Get packing and we'll call you down for a dinner," Mom said.

"Okay," I said.

I went into my room and pulled out my old duffel bag. I put on some music on my computer and packed clothes for five days, I put the rest of my laundry away and by the time I was done, I was completely winded, as if I'd run the 100 meter.

I coughed up some gross phlegm and flushed it down the toilet, then laid down on my bed to stop the room from spinning.

I wound up falling asleep. Mom woke me up for dinner and I went downstairs.

"You feeling okay?" Mom asked as I came into the dining room.

"Yeah," I said. "Just tired."

"Okay. Well, if you have any homework, get that done after dinner, then early to bed, okay?"

I nodded and contemplated my dinner plate. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes and green beans. I tried to eat it all, but I wasn't that hungry and was feeling more tired.

"Can I be excused?" I asked. "I'm really tired."

"Do you have homework?"

"No. It's right before break," I said.

"Alright. Take your meds and go to bed. I'll check in on you later," Mom said.

I dragged myself up to my room, took my meds and just flopped onto my bed. I was too tired to bother changing.