New Home, New Hope (On Hold)

The Punch to Love

Annabella

"Annabella Lorrette McGrath! You get out of bed right now or I will not take you to Church tonight."

Well those words got me jumping out of bed! "I'm up Lauren!!" I yell. My response, "Well hurry up! I leave in 20 minutes!" Ha! I thought. I've lived with this lady for 3 years already, wouldn't she already know it only takes me 10 minutes to get ready? I know what you're thinking. A 15 year old girl only takes 10 minutes to get ready? She's crazy. Well the answer is yes, I am crazy, but I'm also not important in my school. The only people who know my name are the people in the office and some of my teachers. But I'm ok with that. It saves me from the people I attend high school with. You know those movies where there are cliché groups of nerds and populars and everything. Well my school is only filled with the popular people. I put on some random clothes, brushed my teeth, and ran up the stairs still putting my hair up in its normal ponytail. "Lauren, I'm ready!" I tell as I head to the twins room. Mikey and Amy run up to me, both asking the same things. "Can you get me dressed?" "Can you get me a snack?" These are their daily questions I am always asked between the two 4 year olds. "Amy, yes, I will go get you dressed but you know you have to go sit on your bed first. And Mike, you have to go ask Lauren." By the time I stared talking to Mike, Amy was already running back to her room "But Anna, Foster mommy said I had to ask you this time. She say you get me fruit snack." Of course she did. "Well then, of course you can have one. But remember. Only one." With this news, he ran to the kitchen with a huge smile. I chuckled and made my way over to their bedroom where I helped get Amy ready for preschool. As I was helping her get ready, I gave her a mission. "Hey Ames, wanna help me with something?" "YES!" "Go tell Windle it's time to go, and I'll go tell Sarah. I bet you I can do it faster." Here's the thing with these Amy and Mike, they love to race! So she runs downstairs to the bathroom to tell Windle it's time to hurry up. I follow right behind her, but head to my room instead. "Hey Sarah, we gotta go!" "Ok, ok. I'll be right up." And with that I run upstairs to go tell Lauren I have everyone ready. Not long after, Sarah and I are putting the kids in their car seats, and we are off to school. On our way, I think about the people in my family. Lauren and Tom are wonderful foster parents, by I've never been able to call them anything other than their names. Then there's Sarah, who, like me is 15 years old, but I'm still 5 months older. She's only been with us for two years. Windle is my real brother, and he's 12. Social Services never had the heart to break up apart, and Lauren ad Tom were the only people who would take us both. And then we come to Amy and Mike. For being how young they were, it still amazes me how much they have to go through. They've only been with us for a couple months, and they are the only ones of us whose parents are trying to get them back. Sarah and I are the first ones to get to dropped off. I watch as Sarah runs off to meet with her friends, whom she has plenty of. I slowly walk up to school, and before I enter the doors I think to myself...

just 9 more hours...