15-year-old Mckenna James has been registered at the Sunshine United Shelter since she was a year old. She's been fostered about 6 times and instead of those homes providing her childhood, they ripped it away in the most inhumane way.
Mrs. Jones, t...
Scarlett groans as she reaches over to her phone on the bedside table to turn off the alarm that was blaring. She manages to turn off the alarm and reads the time, 5 am. She asked herself why the hell did she have to book such an early flight and she quickly remembered that there's a better chance of seeing no paparazzi in the airport at this time. She gets up stretching her limbs and looks around the room, her eyes landing on the sofa bed in the living room portion of the hotel room. She sighs remembering how her daughter absolutely hated the idea of sharing the bed with her and had insisted on taking the sofa bed instead.
Scarlett walks over to her packed suitcase and picks up the outfit that sat on top of it. She then walks into the bathroom to get ready and pack the rest of her things which only consisted of her toiletry items. She walks over to the kitchen area and starts the coffee maker before making her way over to the teenager who was sleeping soundly on the sofa bed.
She lightly shakes McKenna with caution remembering how the girl got startled the last time she woke her up. "Kenz, it's time to get up," she says softly as she decides to run her fingers through the teenager's hair softly letting her nails scratch the girl's scalp instead of shaking her awake. McKenna hums to the feeling before her eyes snap open realizing Scarlett was the one who was giving her the comfort feeling. "I'm up," she announces with her raspy morning voice.
Scarlett halts her actions nodding her head at the teenager before getting up and making her way back to make both of them coffee. "You gotta get change, wear something comfy, we're leaving in 20 minutes." She informs her daughter over her shoulder.
The brunette gets up and picks up a pair of sweatpants and her hoodie before making her way to the bathroom to get ready. She comes back out 5 minutes later with her toothbrush in her mouth and goes and puts a pair of her crew socks on. McKenna packs up all of her belongings after getting ready and goes over to the sofa bed folding it back into the couch.
"Although I don't approve that you're already drinking coffee at your age, here you go," Scarlett says before handing her a to-go recyclable mug filled with coffee. "Thank you," she replies softly which made Scarlett smile to herself.
McKenna's POV
The flight to New York was pretty uneventful but I would much prefer not to have to sit with Scarlett for hours as she tries to make conversation with me. I'm not even sure what she's trying to accomplish by trying to converse with me, did she think I'd be all happy and bond with her now that she decided to take me back? Hell no. As a matter of fact, this whole thing just makes make me feel like crap, more than I already do.
Scarlett opens the door to her house and steps in before stepping aside to let me in. She takes off her shoes which prompts me to do the same, she wheels her suitcase further into the house with me following behind her like a lost puppy.
"Honey, baby, I'm home!" She yells out trying to alert whoever of her presence.
Does she have a partner that I didn't know about?! What the hell! This whole entire thing is about to be more awkward than it already is. A tall man makes his way over to Scarlett with a wide smile and a toddler in his arms.
What. The. Fuck.
The toddler squeals out of excitement reaching over to Scarlett, "mommy!!!" Scarlett smiles widely taking the toddler out of the man's grasp and hugging the little girl tightly into her as she kisses the girl's temple over and over again. "Oh baby mommy missed you so much," she claims.
I feel a familiar feeling bubble up inside of me and I blink my eyes rapidly wishing the tears that were threatening to spill would go away. I watch as Scarlett looks up to the man, "Hi honey," she says before sharing a short sweet kiss on the lips with him. I shift awkwardly and after they pull away from each other the man took notice of me.
"Oh, um, hi?" he says confused looking at me then back to Scarlett.
"Mommy who's she?" the toddler asks Scarlett.
"This is McKenna and she'll be staying with us from now on," she informs the two. "McKenna this is my boyfriend Colin and my 3-year-old daughter Rose."
"She is?! Does that mean she'll play barbie and dress up with me mommy??" Rose asks excitedly to which Scarlett replies with, "she might if you ask her nicely."
She has a daughter, a 3-year-old daughter. I try not to let it get to me but I'm honestly hurt. I don't even know why, I shouldn't care about this anyway. She obviously wanted nothing to do with me since the beginning, that's clear now. I was right to think that I was here as her charity case, I'm an idiot to have a slight hope that maybe she actually wanted me.
I mean who would want me? I'm just a piece of trash.
"Here, let me show you to your room so you can get settled," Scarlett says before leading the way up the stairs which I follow.
Rose tells Scarlett everything that she had missed from being away and I'm too deep in my thoughts to even pay attention. Scarlett opens a door to one of the rooms and gestures for me to come in after her, "this is one of the guest rooms we have so it's a little plain. We'll make sure to spice it up to your liking this week once we get settled. There's an ensuite bathroom over there, a little walk-in closet over on that side. Rose's room is right beside yours which is right across from my room if you need anything."
I walk further into the room taking in everything and drop my suitcase on the queen-sized bed before turning around to face Scarlett, "thank you." She nods her head at me, "you get settled and just meet us downstairs, I'll make us some late lunch."
She turns on her heels and makes her way out of the room, Rose waves at me over Scarlett's shoulder and before I can even wave back Scarlett closes the door behind her. I give the whole room another look over before sighing as I unzip my suitcase.
I don't belong here, obviously, she has her life together with her daughter and her boyfriend. I'm sure that if I hadn't shown up at comic con she wouldn't have taken me back. Did seeing me just made her so guilty that she actually took me back?
I huff in frustration getting annoyed by the same thoughts circling around in my head. I finish unpacking quickly seeing as I didn't have a lot and now the walk-in closet seems so stupid since only less than a quarter of its space has been filled. I unpack my toiletry bag in the washroom and I look at the shower, which seems inviting so I decided to take a shower to freshen up. I grab clean comfy clothes and look for a towel, thankfully there was some in one of the cabinets in the washroom.
After spending 20 minutes in the shower, I make my way downstairs quietly and the sweet sight I walk into would normally melt my heart away but this time around all I feel is complete sadness, envy, and anger.
...
A/N:
McKenna's Bedroom:
(Pretend it currently made)
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