Best Friend's Brother: Chapter One

Worried Sisters and Incredible Brothers

I dropped myself onto the couch as soon as I got home from practice. Kari came down the stairs and sat on my back.

"So, what's new?" she asked.

"Alexa talked to me again today."

"Oh God, what did she say this time?" I could hear Kari rolling her eyes.

"Asked if Harry relapsed and made a snide comment about how mom and dad are dead," Kari got off of me and sat on the ground next to my face.

"I'm going to kick her ass one of these days."

"Kari," I warned, "we don't need you to get suspended again."

"He deserved it!" Kari said, and I got off of the couch, heading to the kitchen to start dinner for us three since it was almost six-thirty.

///

I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes. I looked at the time on my computer. 3:15 AM.

'Harry, where the hell are you?' I thought to myself and got out of bed to check his room one more time before calling him. His bedroom was empty... again. I dialed his number and put the phone to my ear waiting for him to pick up.

He never picked up, so I left him a message, "Hey, it's just your worried sister calling again since you still aren't home yet. I have to get up for school in about three hours, so I have to go to bed. Let me know when you get home. Text me, call me, come into my room, leave a note, I don't care. I need to know that you are okay... I love you, Harry. Bye," I hung up and crawled back into my bed, but I couldn't fall asleep due to my mind going crazy with what could have happened to him since he hasn't text me since this morning.

My alarm rang out into my empty room to let me know I had pulled another all-nighter waiting for Harry to get home from work. I got out of bed and checked his room to see he still wasn't there. I checked my phone to find out that I didn't have a text from him either so I did the rational thing and called my grandmother.

She picked up on the second ring, "Good morning sweetheart!"

"Good morning Grandma, did Harry crash at your house last night?" I asked hoping she would ease my worried mind.

"Why, no dear, he didn't. He may have stayed at that one girl's house. Gosh, I can never remember her name. He really likes that girl though! He talks about her all the time," I could hear her smiling as she spoke about the two. I sighed, "Don't worry dear, I'm sure he's just fine."

"I know, I'm just worried that he got hurt or something because he usually texts me," I walked into my closet and pulled out clothes to wear today.

"His phone could have died too, sweetheart but I'll call him to see if I can reach him. You girls can stay here tonight if he still hasn't shown up yet, alright?"

"Okay, thank you, Grandma. You're the greatest," I let out a breath, and we said goodbye and hung up. "Harry, wherever you are, you better be okay. If you're dead, I'm going to kill you," I laughed at my small joke.

///

I tried to stay awake in Mr. Heart's class, but he made that extremely hard considering his monotone voice had no emotion whatsoever. I felt Katie taking my notebook out from under my arm and place it on her desk to take notes for me. I whispered a quiet thank you, and she slightly nodded and continued to catch me up on the notes I missed while I tried to stay awake.

When the bell finally rang, Katie handed me my notebook, and I hugged her.

"I could not ask for a better best friend. I love you so much," I said with my voice quivering. 

She slightly laughed while saying: "You didn't get any sleep last night did you?" 

I shook my head, and that made her laugh even more, "I don't mean to laugh since it was probably because you were waiting for Harry, but it's fun seeing you so emotional when you're tired."

"Shut up, let's go to English already," I whined, and Katie shook her head as she wrapped my arm around her shoulder and dragged me to English.

As we got to English, my phone started to ring, and I pulled it out to see Harry's face pop up on my screen. I instantly became more alert as I quickly told the teacher I wasn't feeling good and ran to the office while pressing the answer key.

"Harry! What the hell! You had me worried sick! You could've at least used someone else's phone if yours was dead! I-"

"Jessica," Harry cut me off, "I'm coming to pick you up."

"What? Why? I don't need you to," I said and scrunched my eyebrows. I turned to Ms. Penney and shrugged. She nodded and sent a message to my teachers.

"Just be ready when I get there. I have something to show you. I'll see you when I get there, bye," Harry said and hung up without waiting for a response from me. I groaned and put my phone back in my pocket. I slumped down in a chair crossing my arms like a little kid who didn't get their way.

"Not even an 'I love you' before he hung up. Jerk," I mumbled, and Ms. Penney laughed. She motioned for me to come over to her and I did without hesitation. She stood up and wrapped her arms around me like she always does.

"Trust me, you're going to love it, princess," she said as she ran her fingers through my tangled hair. 

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Harry walked through the office door and looked like he was raised from the dead. He nodded at Ms. Penney and turned to me. I jumped on him and wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him into a hug.

"Dear God Harry, don't do that again. It scares the crap out of me when you don't tell me you're working late," I said as he let me go.

"You worry too much, little sister," Harry gave a faint smirk and ruffled my hair as I growled softly to myself.

"I'm just glad your stupid spontaneous self is fine," I sighed as Ms. Penney spoke up.

"Harry, do you have the things," Ms. Penney emphasized the word 'things.' Harry thought for a second and then his face lit up when he remembered. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a blank envelope.

I hesitantly took it from him as he handed it to me. I turned it over and opened it to reveal a sandy colored paper. With apparent confusion written on my face, I pulled the paper out of the envelope and opened it to show the words "Adoption Form" written in cursive across the top.

I read the paper to see that everything was filled out and filled out correctly, except one signature was missing. The adopter's signature. I looked up at Harry, and he shrugged and pointed behind him at Ms. Penney who had a massive grin on her face. She waved a pen at me, and I slowly walked over to her handing her the document. At this point, there had to have been a gallon of water running down my face. 

As Ms. Penney finished signing the paper, she hugged me and said: "I have been waiting to sign these papers since you came in with a scraped knee when you were in Kindergarten. You were my daughter then, you're my daughter now, and you're my daughter forever."