Foster

Chapter 6

We arrived at Kobe's football practice. "Alright Caelen, let's go sit over here. Good luck Kobe!" Elaine said. He smiled and winked at me before putting his helmet on. "So Caelen, did you play any sports?" she asked. "Me? Oh, no. I ...no." I said. "Oh, don't worry, are you flexible?" she asked. "Oh, yes." I said. "Perfect, I'm signing you up for gymnastics." she said. I just smiled. "That okay?" she asked. "Oh yes!" I said smiling wider. "Perfect, so I'm sorry my son Kobe, is..you know...finding *ehem* attraction towards you. He doesn't understand that soon you'll be his sister." Elaine said laughing. "It's fine, sooner or later he'll learn!" I said laughing. I guess I laughed a little to loud cause all the players on Kobe's team couldn't take their eyes off of me. "Look at that, Caelen you are a true beauty!" Elaine said patting my back. "Come on boys! Focus! Get your head out of the clouds and focus!!" the coach yelled. I frowned. "Come on Kobe!!" Elaine shouted. "If you guys don't move, you all are going to drop and give me a hundred!" the coach I shouted. "Honey, why don't you get us some pretzels, and fries." Elaine said handing me a twenty. As soon as I left the guys started playing again.

While I waited in line, a girl about my age popped up. "Hey, you don't look familiar, did you just move in town?" she asked. "Uh, yes." I said. "Cool! I'm Hope Havermathy!" she said. "Cool name, Caelen Hi-Metts." "Nice to meet you Caelen Hi-Metts!" Hope said. "Its just Metts," I said. "Oh, well, welcome! So, what high school are you going to?" Hope asked. "Uh, what's this high school called?" "Aldine Senior High. " Hope said. "I think this one then," I said. "No way! I'm here too! What grade?" she asked. "I'll be a Sophomore." I said. "No way! Me too!" Hope said.  I smiled. "So, who ya here for?" she asked. "Kobe." I said. She nearly choked. "Kobe, Kobe...Kobe Metts?!" she asked. "Uh. Yea." I said. "Whoa! Is he your boyfriend?" she asked. "What!? No! He's...just...my sort of brother." I said. "Oh yea the Metts adopted lots of kids!" Hope said. "Right, so anyways, who are you here for?" I asked. "My brothers, Luke & Tristyn." Hope said. "Awesome! Two brothers." I said. "Ha, no. Plus I have a baby brother. Ryan." Hope said. "No way! How old is he?" I asked. "Five months!" Hope said. We finally got to the front of the line and ordered/paid for our food. "Well, let's go see what those guys are up to." Hope said. Elaine was on her cellphone when we got to her, she quickly hung up. "Hi Mrs. Metts!" Hope said. "Oh. Hi Hope! How's the family?" Elaine asked. "Pretty good, moms coming home, and Nana's still cooking like crazy! This morning she made 25 pancakes, for me!" she said. "When is your mom coming?" Elaine asked. "Tuesday." Hope said. She looked at me and smiled. "Mom had cancer, but she beat it!" she said. "Congratulations!" I said smiling back. "That's enough practice for today!" the coach yelled.

Kobe and Hope's brothers came jogging up to us. "Hey..who's this?" one of Hope's brothers said to Hope, but looking at me. "This is Caelen, Caelen, this is Luke." Hope said. Luke and Tristyn looked like twins. "I'm Tristyn, the other guy, and you can tell us apart 'cause I got dimples." he said. "Hi." I said.

"Well, let's get going boys, do you need a ride?" Elaine asked. "Sure." Luke said coming towards me. I backed away a little. "Come on, pretty girl, don't be scared." he said. "Luke, stop it." Hope said. I looked at Hope. She was wearing sweats, combat boots and a black jacket. She had blonde hair tied up in a messy bun. We all eventually got in the car, and I was squished between Luke and Tristyn. "Which house is it?" Elaine asked as we pulled into a neighborhood. "The one with the red door." Hope said. We pulled into their driveway. "Alright, bye bye guys. See you soon." Elaine said. "Bye, thank Mrs. Metts!" Hope said. She hopped out the car and slammed the door. "Uh, are you gonna leave?" Kobe asked from the front seat. "Oh right, bye." Tristyn and Luke said, as they got out the car.  "Yeesh, I feel so bad for you Cae, you have all these guys on you." Kobe said. Elaine slapped Kobe's arm. "You're one of 'em!" she said.  "Mom, I can't help it! I'm 16!" Kobe said. "Well you can't like your sister, it goes against God." Elaine said. I didn't know much about God, but I guess I learned something today.

When we got home, everyone was there. Alyson was probably in her room, and Tyler & Ricky were on the floor coloring. Robert was in the room with them watching Spongebob. Angel was on the couch snuggled next to him. "Hey, we're home!" mom said. "Mommy!!" Tyler and Ricky said in unison. "Hi babies! What did you do in daycare?" she asked. "We-we-we colored, and ate snacks, and took sleepy time, and played outside." Ricky said. "I did snack, arts and crafts, and outside time." Tyler said. "Oh that sounds like fun! Come on upstairs, I think its bath time." Elaine said. She and the two little boys ran upstairs giggling.

"So, Caelen, what did you think of Kobe's practice? Did it suck?" Robert asked. "Dad!" Kobe said. "Oh, it was okay. For some weird reason his team wouldn't play for a good three minutes. Its like they were all frozen!" I said. "Was not, we were just..." Kobe said trailing off. "Son, let's get this out of the way, you reek, go shower." Robert said. Angel and I laughed. Kobe raised up his arms and sniffed his armpit. "Oh boy, you do reek!" I said pinching my nose. Kobe went upstairs to take a shower. "Hi Caelen, how are you?" Angel asked. "I'm great! Wanna go out on the swings?" I asked. "Sure! Love you daddy!" Angel said and hopped off the couch. We went out back and got on the swings.

"So, Angel, I'd like to get to know you better, tell me about yourself." I said.  "Well, I'm originally Angel Ashton. I lived in Portland, Oregon with my mom and her boyfriend and of course, Ricky. My mom's boyfriend didn't like us and did everything he could to make us feel miserable, once in the winter, he left Ricky in the cold for an hour, he caught hypothermia! My mom was defenseless, and after Ricky told our neighbors everything, we got taken away. Here I am." Angel said. "I'm so sorry." I said. "It's okay, I'm here now, a much happier place. Tell me about you!" she said. " Well my parents were abusive. So I ran away." I said. "Wow, I can't believe how someone can give birth to a beautiful gift from God, and destroy it." Angel said. "Gift from God?" I asked. "Well yea, don't you believe in God?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "My mom and dad said there was no God," I said. "That's a lie! He is real, Sunday's we go to church, you gotta go with us!" Angel said. "Alright, let's see." I said. "Good, want to go in? It's cold!" she asked. "Sure." I said smiling and we both went inside.

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At dinner:

"Okay, who is going to say grace tonight?" Elaine asked. "Me!" Ricky said. "Okay everyone listen to Ricky." Elaine said. "Dear God, fank you for keeping us safe, and for mommy, she makes good food, and daddy who doesn't ,but we love him anyway. Amen." Ricky prayed. "Amen." we said in unison. "So..my cooking isn't good?" Robert asked. "Uh." Ricky said with his spoon full of peas about to enter his mouth. We all laughed. "Mom, we gotta take Caelen to church! Her family don't believe in God." Angel said. "Oh, really?" Elaine asked. I swallowed my steak. "Well, my parents didn't, but I knew there's someone out here making miracles." I said. "You'll love church! Its amazing, I never want to leave," Elaine said. I smiled.

After dinner, everyone washed up and got ready for bed. "Mom? Can Caelen and I watch a movie?" Angel asked. "Okay, but just for tonight, one." Elaine said. So Angel and I headed to the family room and watched Finding Nemo.

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