The Girl of Colours (Book TWO)

Adoption

"I've got to go soon." Luke told us, and I could see Sanjay and Imogen in the background. That girl... "Saturday is band night at the Student Union."

Clyde stared at him. "What? You're going to watch a band? We are talking music here? Electric guitars, drums, not some physics experiment with elastic, right? Like, a band Callie would listen to?" I more made my own music, Clyde, didn't need anything else.

Rani shoved his shoulder lightly. "Clyde, don't be soft. Soon Luke will have seen more cool new bands than you've ever heard of and you'll just have to listen to Callie." 

" Yeah, you'll be so after my tunes next time I'm home. And, Callie will have to come with me to the next Oxford festival they're having." Well, that sounded more fun.

"Oh Luke, I can't wait." His mum grinned.

He looked behind him at his friends. "Look, I've got to go now, so I'll catch you later."

"Love you." Sarah and I said together, but he was already out of range of the webcam. Oh, baby...

"Right, homework."

Rani nodded her agreement. Hadn't they already done this? It was really easy. "Yeah." We headed to the front door to show out Clyde and Rani, who tried to comfort us. "Luke will be back soon, clothes all over the place. Empty mugs, dirty places, lots of loud music."

I sighed, hugging her. "You're tight. I should make the most of the peace and quiet. Night, night."

"Night, Sarah Jane, night, Callie."

Clyde waved, heading around the corner. "See you tomorrow."

We headed to bed, and I slept fitfully, dreaming about my mum, a woman I couldn't remember. She was so close, like I knew her, but I couldn't place it. Until I heard the doorbell going, and I had to pad down the stairs quietly, hoping that Sarah Jane wouldn't wake up. 

"Hello?" I asked, looking around, before seeing a small amount of electric blue and silver sound below me, and found the most perfect, adorable baby. "What the?" I ran to the road quickly, and tried to see who left her, but there was no one, so I picked her up and carried her inside. "Oh, why would anyone leave you on a stranger's doorstep? Oh, look at you..."

Then she started to cry, and the bulbs blew, the high blue frequency of the cries shooting out like electricity. "Oh! Now, OK."

"Callie?" Sarah Jane called sleepily, and then she came down the stairs next, in her pjs. We had pj days, it was awesome. "Callie, did you have a bad-" She cut off abruptly, seeing the baby in my arms. "Dream. Calliope, why are you holding a baby?"

"She was on the doorstep!" I whispered, trying to rock her back to sleep. "I don't know why, but there was no one else there. Keep your voice down, I'm going to try and sing, see if that helps her." Sarah Jane stopped, and I took a deep breath, starting to sing in tune with her cries and her heart, something I'd learn when I'd looked after baby Tony. "Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder, what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond, in the sky. Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder, what you are."

The baby dropped back to sleep, and I held her close, feeling an unexplainable bond with her, like I was the first to really hold her like she was something precious. Oh, she was so gorgeous... "Come on, we need to get her upstairs, so Mr Smith can find her parents." I was then told, and I followed her upstairs, but Mr Smith refused point blank to come out.

So first thing we could do, we texted Rani and Clyde, while I kept singing, stopping her from crying again, and she looked up at me with these perfect giant electric blue eyes. Help! Come quickly! SJ&CJ