That Way / JJ Maybank

── 𝘿𝙀𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

shortened summary at the bottom.

     COLLINS ELLSWORTH WAS BORN A POGUE. Her parents, Katherine and Patrick Campbell, were just normal, hardworking people. Despite not being 'rich', they made sure that their daughter had the best life they could possibly give her.

One day in third grade, she was being nosy. Overhearing 2 boys arguing, she decided to spy on them. The one with the darker hair thought that he could successfully jump from one wall to the other, without falling or stumbling. The blonde boy was shaking his head, saying there was no way he could do it. He was sure his friend was going to fall and get hurt.

This was the moment that Collins stepped forward and inserted herself into the conversation. She stood next to the blonde boy and said that she was pretty sure that his friend could make the jump.

"Yeah! See even this girl knows that I could do it." He grinned, already looking triumphant, as if he'd just completed the jump.

The blonde boy turned to face Collins, giving her a mean look. "He can't do it, and he's gonna get hurt if he does."

"Woo-hoo! I did it! See I knew I could!" They both looked back to see that Collins was indeed right, he made the jump. "Wait... were you guys seriously not watching?!" After the boy hopped down from the wall, he walked up to Collins and introduced himself.

"What's your name?" She turned to the blonde boy after.

"JJ," he mumbled, looking away.

"It's nice to meet you both, I'm Collins." She tried to remember her manners, something that she'd been working on at home.

He looked back at her and laughed. "That's your real name? But that's a boys name."

This earned a glare from her. She'd always liked her name until last year when another boy made fun of it. JJ knew he was being mean, but when you're 8 you don't really care. He already decided he didn't like her the moment she interrupted him hanging out with John B., and because she disagreed with him. He definitely didn't want this girl joining their new friendship.

But the next day when he saw a boy push her aside so he could hurry up and be first on the monkey bars, he ran over and pushed the boy back before helping Collins up. Thus, a friendship was born. John B. was more than happy to have Collins start hanging out with them because he liked her the moment she said she was sure he could make the jump just the day before, but JJ could tell she was still wary since she was sure he hated her.

The following day at lunch when Collins accidentally dropped her cookie on the ground, she was sad. JJ picked up the one on his tray and handed it to her, saying he didn't want dessert today anyway. The truth was, chocolate chip cookies were his favorite, and he was excited to eat it. But he didn't like how sad Collins looked when she dropped hers, so he pretended that he didn't want it.

They quickly became a trio, and were inseparable. Eventually, their friend group expanded when they met Pope. He immediately formed a bond with Collins, they were both "freakishly smart. Like, too smart" (by JJ), and even though they were only in elementary school, they were already talking about graduating high school because the year before, Collins had heard about some kids older brother being something called valedictorian. So when she went home that night and asked her parents what that word was and they briefly explained it to her, she knew she wanted that title someday.

Not long after that, Kie joined their group and Collins was ecstatic to finally have another girl friend. They were only kids but it was nice to sometimes relax and read a book or flip through a magazine while the boys were being crazy. Life was good. And it stayed good for the next 3 years.

But tragedy managed to find its way into Collins' life. When she was 11, she was woken up one night by loud knocks on the front door. She looked through the peep hole, and opened the door to reveal 2 police officers. Both of her parents had been in a bad car wreck. Her dad died on impact, and her mom died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Just like that, Collins became an orphan. She was taken to the police station while officers tried to see if there were any relatives available to take the girl in. She told them that her whole life, it had just been her, her mom, and dad. They hoped to track down some long lost aunt or uncle.

But luck still wasn't on her side, because officers weren't able to track down any living relatives. She spent the night in a foster home, and the next morning an officer came by and took her home, telling her to pack a bag because she was going to have to stay somewhere else until they figured out where she was going to go permanently.

Collins mind went to a conversation that she had with John B. just a couple of days ago. He said he loved that she was basically his sister. And so she asked the officer if she could stay with one of her friends. Big John always loved her and she was sure he'd take her in. But the lady explained that things weren't that simple. With no apparent living relatives, there were now a lot of legalities and technicalities that had to be dealt with before she'd even be given a place to stay.

At just 11 years old, she was broken. And with how badly her heart hurt she was sure she'd die. Her whole world, shattered overnight. Collins Campbell was placed into the foster care system. She was sent away, and spent the next year moving from foster home to foster home.

Her friends were told a different story. As far as they knew, she'd been sent off to live with some unknown relative that no one knew existed. And when she didn't reach out to them, they were all sad, but just thought that they'd been left behind.

Big John, Heyward, Mike and Anna, almost all of her friends parents tried to find out where Collins had been sent to live, so that their children might be able to keep in touch with their friend. But the police looked the other way, and simply said they weren't allowed to hand out that information.

At 12 years old, Collins got lucky. She was adopted by a wealthy couple who saw something in the young girl, and so Collins Campbell became Collins Ellsworth. She'd been offered the chance to keep her last name, but after a year, it was still too painful.

At 16 years old, Collins and her adoptive parents have relocated to Figure 8, and it was the closest that she'd been to her old home since that horrible day she was told to pack her things.

OR:

JJ and John B. became friends in 3rd grade and not long after they met, Collins came into the picture. At this point they're 8 years old. They become best friends, eventually adding Pope and Kie to the group, and for the next 3 years life is good.

When Collins is 11, her parents are killed in a car crash. With no other family, she's put into the foster care system. None of her friends know that, police say they're not allowed to disclose any information and instead of leaving it at that, their parents are lied to and told that she had been sent to live with another family member. She spent the next year moving around different foster homes, told that she wasn't allowed to contact her old friends.

When she was 12, after a year in the system, she was adopted by a rich couple.

4 years later, her adoptive dad (who she calls dad) gets a promotion / transfer and they move to Figure 8. This is where the story starts.

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