Adopted by Stromae

vingt

"Are you starting to get it?" Paul asked me, pointing towards the huge textbook full of complex equations in front of us.

I shrugged, "I definitely understand better. I wouldn't day completely, though." I smiled at him.

Slowly, bit by bit,everything he had helped me learn came together. It was a huge relief, since I could now go into a test without firmly believing that I was going to fail.

I knew that it was horrible to compare, since I loved my father more than anything in the world, but he never would have done something like this for me. For him, this would have been something for me to figure out on my own, which was his mindset even before all the bad things started to happen.

Paul was better than she ever could have asked for. He was a father in every sense of the word, except the fact that he could never be hers. Still, she found herself growing more and more attached to both him and Coralie.

She never believed that these people that she was forced to live with would be people that she was excited to wake up and see in the morning. She hadn't anticipated any of the happiness that she was left with.

In her mind, she had used up all of her happy. She thought that everybody got a certain amount of happy and that she had used all of hers in the short amount of time that she was on earth. But, it seemed that either that was false, or she still had some happy left in her.

Thankfully, the foster-father that she had been placed with was not only wonderful at math, he was also wonderful at teaching math. She would have been drowning without his help.

She remembered how nervous she was about telling him that she was failing. Looking back, it seemed silly. All he wanted to do was help her. She could see that now.

"Do you want to go over it again?" Paul asked her, resting his face in his palm.

Maelle smiled gently, "No, thanks. I've got all I need,"

+

"Hey, Maelle,"Coralie began from the doorframe of Maelle's bedroom, "feel like going shopping?" She asked with a smile.

Maelle smiled, looking up from her phone towards her foster-mother. She always had appreciated the amount of love that Coralie had shown towards her. It had proven to her that she could be loved even if her family had broken into a million pieces. She could still have a family, it didn't have to be by blood.

"Of course," Maelle responded. She loved spending time with Coralie. It reminded her of time spent with her mother, but in the best way possible. It brought back the good memories, instead of the bad, painful memories that resurfaced every time her parents were mentioned.

Maelle got up from her bed and followed Coralie out of the room, towards the front door. They yelled their goodbyes to Paul, who was in the kitchen doing dishes and headed out to the car.

"So," Coralie began as they drove down the busy street, "how's school been, lately?" She asked. Maelle knew for certain that Paul must have shared he fact that Maelle was failing math to his wife, since it seems like the kind of thing that didn't stay secret.

She nodded, "It's been going well. Thanks to Paul, I'm no longer failing. Who knew he was a math whiz?" She laughed lightly.

Coralie laughed along with her, "He was always great at math, but I never knew to what extent."She joked, letting the conversation pause for a moment, "How's Kaydence?"

Maelle inhaled deeply. After visiting her with Theo, she hadn't revisited. It didn't seem right. Nobody had forced her to pick sides, but if they had, she wouldn't have known who to choose.

She never thought that she would be able to remain loyal to a girl who had killed someone, but being in the sotuaion itself was entirely different than imagining it. Kaydence hadn't intentionally killed Danyka Perrault, but she was still at fault. If Maelle had been in the car, which she was only a few minutes prior, she may have also died. It was hard to get over something like that.

Plus, Theo had lost his mother. She knew exactly how he felt. Maelle, herself, had rushed to blame anyone and everyone who may have been at fault, when, the truth was, the only person that had caused the accident was her mother. The only person Maelle could blame was herself.

Maelle hadn't seen Theo, either, since the hospital. She figured it was best to let him plan a get together, since he was so vulnerable the last time. Having someone you don't even know that well see you in the worst moment of your life was something that was hard to grasp. Still, Maelle was glad to have been there for him, just as she was sure Theo would be, eventually.

"I'm not sure," Maelle said, shutting down the conversation, "I don't know how she is,"

+

a/n: hello this is danielle because adèle couldnt get off her lazy ass and write a chappy so ill be doing the next few

-danz