Transitions

Guardianship

"Can I help you young lady?" the heavyset man behind the counter asked.

Abbi stepped up to the counter again and took control, "I'm a case worker at the Waterford Country School. This is Riley Conway. I am here to obtain adoption and travel documents for her and her sister Mackenzie. These two young men behind me have been granted legal custody of Mackenzie, while we are hoping Riley can be emancipated; she is still under their supervision until she turns 18. Mackenzie is not present at the moment; she is participating in a dance competition."

The man nodded his head and acknowledged the situation. He searched for something on his computer, tapping on his keyboard a few times.

"Okay, I see their record. Who will be the main legal guardian? There are 2 names on their file. The main guardian has to be at least 18, which obviously you both are. To legally adopt, you have to be 21. Mr. Irwin, your year of birth is 1994, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"That's settled. Riley, do you and your sister want to keep your last name, or do you intend on changing it to Irwin?"

I pondered on that thought for a moment. Riley Irwin doesn't fit together. However, Riley Clifford and Mackenzie Clifford do.

"Um, well, what about using Mikey's last name. His last name is Clifford."

The man looked at me, and looked at Mikey, who shrugged his shoulders signaling he didn't have an issue with it.

"Sure. We can do that," he said, while fetching paperwork from the printer across the office, "Okay, gentlemen. This is the paperwork you and Abbi need to fill out. Its basic information such as where the children will be living, who else is living in the household, where they will be going to school. If I see correctly on your file, you will be moving out of the United States, correct?"

"Yes sir. The girls will be coming with us to Sydney. They will have dual citizenship to Australia and the United States. I will need travel visas for them as well as we do travel around the world a lot."

The man handed us a couple more papers to fill out. Turning around I noticed a line of chairs against the wall. We went and sat down in the hard plastic chairs. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and played Juice Jam while the adults did the paperwork. Looking up, I noticed a table over in the corner of the office with a coffee maker and a drawer full of sweet treats. I stood up and walked over to the table, flipping through the carousel of coffee pods. There was everything from cinnamon bun flavored coffee to peppermint hot cocoa. I took a hot cocoa pod and snapped it into the casing of the coffee maker. I tapped the start button and the cup size after placing one of the paper cups on the tray. The water started dripping into the cup at a steady pace turning brown and enveloping the room in a minty scent. Once it was done brewing, I took one of the plastic coffee lids and secured it to the brim of the cup, slowly pulling it out from under the machine. I sat back down next to the boys and watched them finish the paperwork.

"Riley, you need to sign for you and Mackenzie here." Ashton said, while tossing the clipboard at me.

I scribbled mine and my sister's name on the sheet and handed it back to Ashton who then gathered all the paperwork and stacked it neatly. He got up and handed the paperwork back to the man at the desk. The man looked it over, nodding in approval.

"Alright, so your next steps are getting the certificate of adoption, and Riley, unfortunately, due to the circumstances, you cannot be emancipated right now. You will have to go through that process when you travel abroad and turn 18. You and your sister will claim the last name of Clifford, and then when you turn 18, you are free to do as you wish. It does not make either of them your parents. They're just legal guardians for your time of travel. But, I am printing out the Visas now. I have a recent photo of both girls on file here so I can print out their visas and send you to the post office to get their passports."

After a few moments the man handed me two cards. One with my name and one with my sisters name. It had a picture of each of us along with all our personal information, "These are your visas. They allow you to travel throughout the country as well as use for identification purposes. Mr. Irwin will get you and your sister official Australian identification cards when you arrive and have everything settled. When you get over there, the boys will take you to get all your proper documentation. Here is the remainder of your documents, and I am very happy for you and your sister. It looks like you have a great support system ready for you."

I smiled, and shook the man's hand, thanking him. We gathered all our paperwork and left the office, going downstairs and back to the van. I launched myself into the middle row of the van and got comfortable. Michael and Ashton climbed in next to me. With the nearly 2 hour ride back to the hotel, I leaned my head on Michael's shoulder and looked out the window. I put my headphones in and swiped through my phone's menu to find Pandora. Scrolling through my station list I selected one of my All Time Low stations, based off the song Kids in the Dark. I handed an ear bud to Mikey and offered the opportunity for him to listen in as well. He gladly accepted the offer, placing the ear bud into his ear. I let Pandora run in the background while I started to scroll through Facebook. When we were almost back to the hotel, my phone rang, and it was Mackenzie.

"Yes Mackenzie?"

"Are you guys on your way back? I don't have a key to the hotel room and I need to change and shower. I'm sweaty and gross."

I looked at the GPS that was mounted on the dash board, "Yes. We'll be there in about 15 minutes. See if you can find someone to let you in."

After dropping off Abbi, we finally made our way back to the casino. I ran up into the lobby and found Mackenzie, dragging her upstairs with me.

"Girl, we need to talk."

When we finally made our way up to the hotel room, I slid my key in the door unlocking it. I shoved the door open, pushed my sister in the bathroom, running in behind her and locking it. She gave me a look of utter confusion.

"What on earth is your issue, Riley?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"I think I'm catching feelings for Michael. Not like, fan girl feelings, or father daughter feelings, since he's not my dad, but like real feelings." I stumbled out in one breath.

Her jaw dropped, "Uh, alright. I guess. I mean, what do you want me to say? He's not your dad, he's around your age, and there really isn't anything wrong with it so to say. How you and Mikey want to handle it isn't up to me. You're almost an adult, and well, he's an adult."

I jumped nearly 10 feet in the air when I heard the door shut from the main entrance of the hotel room.

"Riley? Mackenzie? Are you girls in here?" I heard the boys shout.

I quickly rushed to turn the shower on to cover up any sounds of mine and Mackenzie's conversation. I slowly cracked open the bathroom door and peeped into the common area of the suite. I could see Michael and Ashton sitting at the table shifting through paperwork and looking at flights. I guess the light leaking out of the bathroom gave away our presence because Ashton looked right at me.

"Oh, there you are. Is your sister with you?" he asked.

I stumbled on my words, "Um, yes. She is in here. We're just having some girl talk, in private. Don't mind us. Carry on with whatever you're doing."

Slamming the bathroom door shut, I looked back at my sister with wide eyes, "Dude, chill. The time will come when the time comes. Until then, let's go have some retail therapy. I've got about 100 dollars I can spend from doing chores. But I want to go to the outlets at Foxwoods. Do you think Ash and Mikey will let us go without them? We can take the bus there. " Mackenzie asked.

I smiled at her, "Child, you are brilliant. As for them letting us go on our own, I have no idea. Go ask."

Mackenzie opened the bathroom door and snuck out, with me following her. She walked up to the boys who were sitting at the table drinking soda and watching Adventure Time.