𝑷𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑺𝑺 [ 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑦𝑠. 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑦 ]

Chapter 13

jump then fall

BEFORE SHE KNEW it Sadie was sat in the back of the family car between her two favourite toddlers, almost on her way to view some potential schools.

First, they had to drop Jonah and Lydia off at Maya and Carina's. They pulled up outside the apartment complex,

"Do you want to come in and hug your aunts or wait in the car Princess?" Alex asked as he unbuckled Lydia from beside the preteen.

No answer.

Sadie was too busy stressing and thinking of all the possible outcomes today could bring, now and in the future. Tears brimmed in her eyes as her anxiety bubbled over and her leg began to bounce.

"Princess?" Alex repeated placing a gentle hand on Sadie's thigh, dragging her out of her emotional spiral.

She just looked up at her uncle frightened and helpless wishing for them to do anything but this today.

"Would you like to come inside for a minute or wait here sunshine?" Jo asked now hovering at the side of the car.

"Um i'll come in" Sadie whispered feeling as small as ever with all eyes on her.

As she crawled out of the car she sniffled bottling up her emotions for later.

Alex swung his free arm around her as they walked inside.

When the family reached Maya and Carina's apartment the pair were already waiting with the door open, Sadie ran to hug Maya, her aunt picking her up and spinning her in return.

"Hey kiddo, you excited to look around some schools?" Maya asked running her hand up and down Sadie's back.

The brunette just shrugged in return hoping to keep her mind off the subject.

Maya looked past Sadie to her brother in concern who could only force a small smile back, also worried about the small girl in front of him.

Maya gave her niece one last squeeze before letting go for Carina to hug her.

Alex and Jo handed the babies to the pair before standing either side of Sadie and walking back to the car hand in hand.

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AFTER A PAINFULLY SILENT car journey Sadie, Alex and Jo pulled up to the first of three schools they would be viewing today - Brook Adams Middle School.

According to the internet, this was the least affluent of the bunch but Alex and Jo thought it might be more stressful for Sadie if they put her in some uptight, posh private school opposed to one more like where she used to attend. 

After parking, the family made their way to the office.

"Hi my name's Jo Karev, this is my husband Alex Karev and our niece Sadie Harris, we have a meeting and tour with Headmaster Swiler?"

"Yes, right this way please," The receptionist replied warmly, standing up and making her way out of her office to where they were stood.

She led them through some double doors into a room that had four more coming off of it.

"Please take a seat, Mr Swiler should be with you shortly," 

"Thank you," Jo smiled back at the receptionist before she left to go back to her office.

●∘◦❀◦∘●

"MRS KAREV?" ASKED an older-looking man as he exited one of the other rooms. He was dressed in a suit with greying hair and beard and wearing clear framed glasses, he gave off a warm and caring vibe and smiled intently at the Karevs as he held out his hand for Jo and then Alex to shake after they stood up.

"And you must be Sadie?" 

Sadie just sheepishly nodded in return looking scared out of her mind.

"How are you today," He asked her.

"Good thank you," She practically whispered, if it was up to her she wouldn't have said anything at all but knew better than to be rude.

"I'm glad," He smiled, "I promise you have nothing to worry about we are just going to take a little tour and then you and your parents can ask me any questions you might have, sound good?"

Sadie just nodded taken aback by Mr Swiler calling Jo and Alex her parents, but as shocked as she might have been she liked it, it felt comfortable to her and she didn't want him to think she was weird by not having proper parents.

Jo and Alex however were freaking inside, they didn't want Sadie to think they were forcing themselves onto her even though they have told her countless times they can be whoever she needs them to be in her life. Although, they would both be lying if they didn't think about how amazing it would be to call her their little girl and to be her mom and dad, not just aunt and uncle.

"Okay so why don't you follow me and we will get started on that tour," Mr Swiler asked dragging them all back to the conversation though he hadn't even noticed them all thinking off into space.

●∘◦❀◦∘●

AFTER A LONG AND tiring day Sadie could not be happier to be getting back in the car to go home, well after picking up her sibling from her Aunts' of course.

Surprisingly Sadie had enjoyed today, it made her think about the possibility of having friends and fitting in somewhere after seeing all those happy kids sitting together laughing and having fun.

"Which school did you think you would fit in best DeeDee?" -A new nickname the family had picked up Lydia's lacking ability to say, Sadie - "Could you see yourself attending any or should Uncle Alex and I keep looking?"

"I um I think I liked the first one maybe?" Sadie questioned herself barely above a whisper.

"Brook Adams?" Jo questioned smiling at her husband happy to have found a school their niece might be happy attending.

"Yeah that one, the headmaster was nice and the kids seemed happy,"

"I agree, should I call Mr Swiler tomorrow or would you like to think some more first?"

"Call him tomorrow? I think I'll like it there," Sadie smiled finally admitting all she wanted was to be happy.

"Sounds like a plan Princess" Alex finally spoke up glad they were making progress.

"Aunt Maya just messaged asking if we want to stay for dinner," Jo said looking at her husband before turning to their preteen in the back "Is that okay sunshine?"

Sadie just smiled and nodded contently before resting her head on the car window.

She finally liked her life and she was happy in the way it was heading too.

Hey guys!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just wanted to say thank you for bearing with me through my lack of posting, I have ADHD which is a lot more than just having too much energy and not listening very well, a very small part of it means I really struggle with completing tedious tasks unless I am completely hyper focused on it. Therefore I find it extremely difficult to write without motivation which at the moment is all the time. I have so much going on at school and with revision that my mind is mush by the time it comes to doing anything that I want to do so this story is suffering a little but I promise I'm going to keep trying my best to consistently post. I have found in the last two days that working on multiple chapters at a time helps and I get more done but that has also resulted in me having a lot of chapters that are ready but further into the story so cannot be posted yet, I hope that makes sense as I kind of just word vomited that out as I went lol. As always,

I love you to the moon and back,

~ Ev ♡