A Little Too Much | Shawn Mendes (COMPLETED)

01 | Starting Over...Again

Officially began on March 29th, 2016.

Allie's POV;

I quickly stuff my clothes into my dirty blue bag and sling it over my shoulder. I slip on my dirty converse sneakers and meet Michelle from Child Services on the porch of my now previous foster family.

"Hi, sweetie," Michelle says sympathetically, ruffling my hair. I just give her a small smile and follow her to her car. She takes my bag and puts it in the backseat, letting me get into the passenger seat next to her.

"So, where to next?" I say. It's the same thing I've been asking her every time my foster family decides they don't want me. Every time, Michelle comes to pick me up. This has been happening for past five years or so. At least I have one friend.

"There's a couple in Canada that has agreed to take you," Michelle says, attempting to sound excited for me. "They're very nice, and promised to give you the very best."

I roll my eyes. That's what they all say, because they get payed to take us foster kids in. Most of the families aren't as nice as they appear. Sometimes it baffles me to see that they even went to such great efforts to make their house presentable for a Child Service worker.

"What're they like?" I ask.

Michelle smiles. "Their names are Adam and Hannah Stevens. Young couple, no kids. They've been trying, but Hannah's been told by several doctors that her uterus isn't strong enough to hold a fetus long enough to grow and be born, so they decided to take on a foster child. Maybe they'll adopt you," Michelle finishes excitedly. "Then you'd have a forever family!"

I guess I can only hope, except I stopped doing that a long time ago. Once I realized I'd been to twelve different foster homes in my sixteen years of existence, I started losing hope of ever getting a forever family. Of course, if my parents had decided to be smart and use protection, or actually attempt to take care of and love me, I wouldn't be in this situation. As usual, I'm paying for someone else's mistake.

The drive to Canada from my previous home, which was in Albany, is a long one. About halfway, Michelle pulls into a McDonald's and buys me a hamburger. Then, we stop in a deserted empty lot for the night, recline our seats, and sleep for the night.

After stopping for breakfast the next morning, we continue our drive to Canada. I've heard it's very cold there, which I'm not looking forward to. But I don't really have a choice in where I go. It'd be nice if I had a say.

When we finally reach the border, I gape in awe when Niagara Falls comes into view. It's breathtaking. I've heard about it, but this is the first time I've actually seen it up close. It's really beautiful.

We go across the Peace Bridge to get into Canada, which now requires a passport. Since I've been moved around so much, I have one. Michelle keeps it safe at her company for me, since my irresponsible families would usually loose it or try to sell it as a fake ID.

Once we get across the bridge, we drive to a small town called Pickering, located in Toronto. The houses are beautiful, and some are pretty extravagant. I've never been in a neighborhood this good-looking.

"Alright, here we are," Michelle chirps happily as we pull into a driveway. My eyes widen. The house is very large, larger than one I've ever lived in. It's made of light brown stone, with black doors and window shutters. There's a garage to the right, and a beautiful garden off to the left side of the yard. Above the front door, there's a large window, and it looks like there's an entirely separate living area up there. There are also flower baskets attached below each window that are filled with blossoming flowers and droopy vines that hang down past the baskets.

I get out of the car and take the scenery in. There a lot of other houses similar to this one in size and design. I've never seen anything this beautiful. Maybe my luck is getting better, after all.

•••

Michelle grabs my grungy bag from her backseat and hands it to me as my new foster parents come out onto the front porch. There's another thing - the house has a beautiful porch, also filled with overflowing flower pots, a little brown wicker table and chairs to the left, and a matching wicker love seat to the right of the porch, with decorative cushions and pillows on it. As I walk up the patterned stone walkway, a light summer breeze blows my long dark hair, and also rustles a wind chime hanging from the porch rail.

I turn at the sound of a car and see a boy with curly brown hair getting out of a car. A younger girl with the same brown hair tackles him in a hug as he makes his way up to the house and I smile at the exchange.

"Allie, this is Hannah and Adam Stevens," Michelle introduces us, and I smile politely. Hannah grins and pulls me into a hug.

"Allie, it's so nice to finally meet you!" She squeals.

I gasp, taken aback by her hug, but quickly reciprocate before pulling away. Adam just stands behind Hannah and watches me carefully. He's very intimidating, and not giving me a very good first impression.

Hannah is very pretty. She has dirty blonde hair that stops just above her shoulders, and pretty green eyes. She wears a plain green t-shirt and jean capris.

"Well, everything she has is in this bag," Michelle says, patting my old bag. "And if you ever need anything, any of you, feel free to call." I smile and wave goodbye as Michelle gets in her car and drives away. "I hope this is the one, Allie!" She calls as she backs out of the driveway. I sigh and watch my only friend drive away.

I hope so, too.