Worst Summer Ever... (Book 7 of Adopted by Jenna and Tyler Joseph)

2. Tyler

We got home late the night before the gala. We'd been at a rehearsal and going over things at the venue.  My parents, knowing we'd be late, had taken the little girls overnight and dropped them off bright and early in the morning. 

After a slight misunderstanding about Samantha's blood sugars (to be fair, it was three am) we all fell into an exhausted sleep.

My parents brought Rosie and Junie home around eleven thirty and Jenna gave them lunch and then set them on Samantha. It was late, and while she obviously needs sleep, she also needs to keep her sugar in range. So, while it may not have been quite long enough for her to sleep, it should be sufficient.

Rosie and Junie came downstairs saying 'grumpy Sammy' was coming. And Jenna sent them to the playroom to 'escape'.

Samantha crutched her way into the kitchen.

"Good morning," I said. "Or should I say, 'good afternoon.'"

"Morning, Dad. Or afternoon. Good whatever-time-of-day-it-is," she grinned at me.

I loved Samantha's smile. When she really smiled, her eyes sparkled and looked so much bluer. And I loved that her smile reached her eyes again. She'd worked so hard to recover from the assault in January. It had been hard. She'd struggled, had been catatonic for a few days immediately after and her trust was broken and it extended to family and friends. She wouldn't be in the same room as anyone male. Especially not alone. But by the end of May she was doing more days at school than at home with Ms. Heron, her trusted tutor, and by the end of the school year was back to wearing her leg and going to school five days a week.

She'd sat out the remainder of the basketball season, though. On both teams. She didn't want to wear the uniform because she felt it was too revealing at first. She was starting to come around on that account, too.

But what was most important was that she was very much closer to the Samantha from before the assault than in the immediate aftermath. She played with her sisters and had just grown so much. Her support system was incredible. And Mason and Cameron had both been by the house since the assault, to check in with Sam. They never came without Jill if they could manage it. Otherwise they would call us to make sure Jenna was home. They had respected the boundaries Sam had drawn in the weeks and months after the assault. And they'd accepted the changes, back and forth, as she had grappled with everything.

Cameron and Mason were two I knew we could trust. And Samantha soon saw that her friends were truly her friends. That they never would intentionally hurt her.

Mason had, apparently, given Tristan a pretty good beat down at school the Monday after the dance.

"We're heading to the venue closer to the start. The program director has everything under control. Mark has been helping out and Uncle Josh is there. They said you rest up and get ready for tonight."

"Okay," Sam said, looking in the fridge.

"Sandwich?" I asked her. "I can make you a turkey one."

"Sure, okay," she smiled. I shooed her over to the table and she sat down and started scrolling through her phone.

I made the sandwich, poured her a glass of milk and sat with her as she ate and scrolled through her phone.

"Excited about tonight?" I asked her. She looked up at me as if forgetting I was here.

"A little," she said. "And also nervous. But I'm more nervous about Friday."

"Why?" I asked.

"I have to make a long speech," she said.

"Aren't you speaking tonight?"

"Oh," she said. "But Friday I have to speak for so much longer. I have to describe the scholarship and who Blaine was. His parents are doing that part tonight."

"Well, you'll be great. I've heard you practicing."

She sighed.

"I can't believe this is all happening!"

Samantha was excited, and so were we. For so many reasons.

We had some hair and makeup people come to get Sam and Jenna ready. Sam had a very nice looking pants suit on. Jenna had a stunning gown. Junie and Rosie were in nice dresses and I and on a suit as well.

Once we were all dressed and made up we left. I'd hired a limo so Sam could get a taste of some special treatment that was focused on her.

There was press as we pulled up to the venue and some of the stations had been allotted some red carpet interviews with Sam and us. So we stopped for them.

"Tyler," the reporter from Entertainment Tonight was asking. "How does it feel to see your daughter turning something so tragic into something so beautiful?"

"I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of Samantha. She struggled a lot after the shooting and worked so hard to overcome so much hardship. For her to turn the pain of losing a friend into something so positive is just a testament to the type of person Samantha is."

"Samantha," they turned to her. "Why did you choose Blaine to honor, of all the students?"

"Blaine shielded me with his body. He sacrificed his life for mine. That's not to say the deaths of my other classmates aren't worth memorializing. They are in the courtyard at the school.

This scholarship is personal."

We made our way through more interviews and Samantha did great. There were a few adorable sound bites from Samantha's sisters. We entered the venue and Samantha was immediately whisked away by the program director. She was taken to another hair and makeup set up and prepped to go on stage and introduce the scholarship and discuss the nominees and formally launch the very first Blaine Carter Scholarship.

We followed along as the director spoke into her radio and then got Sam into the green room and started talking to her about cues and everything we'd gone over ad nauseam the day before.

I watched with pride as Samantha walked out onto that stage and stood in the spotlight. The one place she usually didn't like being.