Tutor j.g

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"One time when I was 5, I thought the red christmas ornaments on my tree were apples, so I took a bite out of one. My whole mouth was bloody and I didn't eat apples until like last month" Jack Johnson laughed as we laughed with him. We were all sitting in my room, as they wanted to come and visit me the night before I went back to school. Everyone was sharing stories as Sasha was cooking us some dinner in the other house.

    "When I was 11, I tried to climb a mountain but I lost my grip and rolled down it. I had like 100 rocks and sticks stuck in my body" Aria cringed and we laughed in response.

    "What about you Cor?" Nate looked at me. I looked down at my hands. My childhood wasn't one that I talked about alot. As there were no true funny stories or anything like that.

    "Oh, I was a pretty safe kid" I laughed. Only Jack and Aria knew about what I had to grow up with, and I didn't want to bring the mood down.

    "C'mon you didn't break one bone?" Johnson asked

    "Well, I did but-" I said

    "Then tell us" Sammy said

    "I don't kno-" I started

    "Cora, it's okay. We trust them now, remember?" Aria gave me a comforting look. I took a deep sigh

    "It was in 2nd grade, I was in a foster home. At this one, it was just me, sasha, and our foster mom. She was this little old lady, Dorothy. Dorothy really didn't do much, but she kept us fed and told us stories before we went to  bed. It was nice there. My mom and dad were trying to get us back at the time......"

FLASHBACK TO CORA IN 2ND GRADE

    "Sasha! Sasha! Look I got my cartwheel down" Cora laughed as she did her 100th imperfect cartwheel of the day on the grass at the park. Sasha gave her sister a smile as she slowly rocked on the swing set.

    "C'mon Cora, it's starting to get dark and Dorothy probably has our dinner ready by now" Sasha stood up grabbing their backpacks and heading towards the entrance of the park.

    "Okay" Cora caught up to her older sister whom she admired a lot. It was just a short walk back to apartment, passed the grocery store and a bar. And straight up the stairs of the post office. They lived above it, and Cora loved sitting at the window watching the different people come and go with their letters and packages. It was nearly dark, and Sasha began to get worried. She of all people know how unsafe it could be around places with people drinking as they were just reaching the bar. It being a Friday night didn't help either.

    "Come on Cora faster!" Sasha said sternly as the two girls speed walked down the street. They almost reached the post office until the girls heard the voices that their heart longed for yet also feared.

    "See David, there they are" Slurred a woman

    "Aye! Sasha, Courtney! Come here!" Screamed their father. Sasha tried to keep walking, but Cora's curiosity got the best of her and turned around.

    "Dad?" Cora said softly "Mom?"

    "What do you want?" Sasha said grabbing onto Cora's hand

    "What kind of foster home are you in, letting my angels out after dark?" Their mother Sherry said pinching Cora's cheek. Which Cora wiped after she let go

    "We were going to make it home on time, until someone stopped us." Sasha said

    "Hey! Don't talk to your mother like that, she raised you" David spoke up

    "She didn't raise anyone, we are still kids" Sasha responded "But if you call sleeping all day, drinking all night, feeding us maybe once a day. Disappearing in a moments notice due to god knows what concert or party. Leaving me to learn the entire bus route of Los Angeles so that I could get to school, or San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose or whatever city you guys decided would be a fun time that year. I would spend hours trying to find enough change around the house so that we would have something to eat while you two were at the beach for three weeks straight. Oh and by the way, dad, her name is Cora. Not Courtney" Sasha continued to get out every single emotion she felt towards her parents in the matter of 90 seconds. Cora looked around at the three most important people in her life, confused. How was a 7 year old supposed to comprehend what her life was? Didn't every 7 year old have parents that would drink a lot and leave? Didn't every 7 year old have an amazing sister that never left? Sasha knew how awful her parents were, but she did her best to shield Cora from the awful realities of their life.

    "How dare you" Sherry began

    "Don't even start, let's go Cora" Sasha pulled Cora arm to leave but David had grabbed onto her other arm. They had begun a full on tug a war in front of the downtown pub. Sasha yanked extra hard causing Cora to fall straight on top of her wrist, immediately bursting into tears with everyone's eyes on her.

BACK TO PRESENT DAY

    "So, that's how I broke it" Cora looked down while all of her friends' eyes were on her.

    "Do you still talk to your parents?" Sammy asked

    "No, my dads in rehab and my mom.. I don't know where my mom is. They tend to find me before I go looking for them" I said and he nodded back to me.

    "How many foster homes have you been in?" Nate asked and I let out a sigh

    "Um probably like 2 a year until we moved into Daniel's which was when I was 14, so you do the math" I laughed a little bit. "I haven't really talked about my childhood with people so.." I began

    "Don't worry Cora, nothing will change" Johnson smiled and Jack pulled my close towards him.

    "Thank you guys" I smiled

    "So we will see you at school tomorrow?" Nate asked

    "Ofcourse"

    "We missed you" Jack said squeezing my hand.