Lions ~~~ An Adopted by Skillet Fic (COMPLETE)

Stand

I was woken up the next morning by a knocking on my door.

I sat up, calling out sleepily, "Come in."

Alex's head peeked in, "Hey, we've got church today. Do you wanna come with us?"

I hadn't actually been to church since moving in. John and Korey offered to take me every single week, but I would refuse. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know who to expect there. But Spencer and I had talked after the weekly tour meeting yesterday, it turned out that he went to the same church as the Coopers did. Maybe with him there it wouldn't be so scary.

"Sure," I mumbled, running a hand down my face.

"Awesome. We're leaving in a couple of hours, don't worry about dressing up. Our church is pretty chill. I'm gonna go let Mom and Dad know you're coming with us," Alex said, closing the door.

Pretty chill. But I wanna impress people?

I walked over to my dresser, opening the drawer with my pants. I grabbed the white jeans I had in there, closing it and walking to the closet. I grabbed a blue shirt and my white leather jacket- my pride and joy. I had saved up money when I was in the orphanage and bought it as soon as I was told that I had stopped growing. I smiled at it a little, walking to the bathroom to hop in the shower.

After I hopped out I gently pat my face until it was dry. A thin layer of concealer was applied, and then my foundation was applied. I went for a neutral color makeup look- didn't want to freak anyone out. After my make up was done I pulled my hair out of its makeshift t-shirt towel and began to blowdry it with Alex's hairdryer (she let me use it whenever I needed to). I pulled half of it into a bun in order to get it out of my face but pulled out a few strands because it looked cute. 

I walked back across the hall, going to my vanity and pulling off a necklace and bracelet. Both were silver, in order to blend in better with the silver of the jacket. After pulling on a pair of boots, I grabbed Chloe and walked back downstairs. 

I walked into the kitchen, noticing that the rest of my family was in the dining room. Alex was the first to see me, "Aria! You look amazing!"

I giggled, "Thank you." 

We were off to church a few minutes later. I had my headphones plugged into my iPod and was playing on my phone.

Alex looked at me, "You know you could listen to Spotify and have a ton of songs?"

I looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "I have plenty of songs on here that I like."

Alex nodded, "Alright."

I went back to scrolling through my phone, reading this thing called a one-shot book. Apparently a lot of people liked to see John and Korey being cute.

We were at church about half an hour later. John parked the car, but Korey turned around to look at me, "Just stick by us and everything will be alright. I'll warn you, there is one lady-" Korey was interrupted by groans from Alex and Xavier which stopped after a short glare from both parents. "There is a lady named Ruth Turner. She's very... conservative. Honestly, the reason why she hasn't left this church yet is that it's the only church that she's been to."

I nodded, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because she likes to complain about us when we show up," Alex said bluntly.

I nodded slowly. And with that, we were finally on our way into the church.

Alex let me follow her to the cafe, which had donuts and coffee for everyone to eat. They had bananas as well, so I grabbed one of those and had Alex help me make some tea. After pouring an ungodly amount of sugar in, Alex led me back to their family spot in the sanctuary.

A ton of people came by to say hi to everyone. Most didn't notice I was there. Fewer said hello. 

The room seemed to quiet a little as the doors opened. An older woman stood in the doorway, clad in a floor-length dress and long sleeves. 

"Is that her?" I asked. 

Harsh eyes scanned the room until landing upon us.

"Yup," Everyone mumbled.

"Oh boy."

Ruth walked over, shifting her bag from one arm to the other. Alex and Xavier suddenly found an excuse to leave. She stood in front of our pew, a false smile highlighting the wrinkled on her face.

"Good morning," I could practically hear the venom dripping.

"Good morning Miss Ruth," John said cheerfully.

"Where are the kids this morning?" Ruth asked. 

If it weren't for the fact that I could hear the passive-aggressiveness in her voice, I would have thought she was being genuinely nice.

"They wanted to hang out with the youth group this morning," Korey said.

Ruth's gaze landed on me, "And who is this?"

I stuck my hand out before John or Korey could introduce me, "I'm Aria, John and Korey just adopted me a while back."

Ruth pursed her lips, "Oh."

I gulped, slowly bringing my hand back.

"Why haven't you been to church yet then?" Ruth asked.

"Well, I haven't really been in a church environment before, and because I also haven't been in a family environment before we figured it would be best for me to adjust to that before coming to church," I answered. 

Ruth nodded, "And the orphanage let you dress like that?"

John spoke up, "What she is wearing doesn't matter, Ruth. What matters is that she's here now and in a safe environment. Now, would you please mind sitting down somewhere? Service is about to start."

Ruth scoffed and rolled her eyes, stalking away.

I let out a breath of air that I didn't realize I was holding, "Thank you, John."

"Of course," He smiled. It looked like he was about to wrap an arm around my shoulders, but hesitated and awkwardly stretched his arm up and brought it back down. "She didn't scare you too much did she?"

"Nah, I'm used to it," I mumbled.