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17 ~ Don't Want To Lose You

"Hayley? And random girl I've never met? What are you doing here?"

I didn't really have a response, but I opened my mouth anyway. Luckily, Sadie cut me off.

"I'm Sadie, like the Sadie that Katie gave away before Hayley was born," she said.

"Sadie? Oh my gosh, it's so nice to see you again," Paige pulled her into a hug, then quickly pulled away. "Wait, why are you two here? Hayley, why aren't you in California?"

"You saw my live, right?" I asked. Paige nodded her head. "Well, I mentioned that I wanted to meet Sadie, and, uhh, she showed up the next morning, which was today."

"How did you find her?" Paige asked my sister.

She hesitated. "It's hard to explain. Also, can we come inside?"

"Oh, sure. Sorry." Paige opened the door wider.

We walked inside and sat our bags down.

"Anthem is napping right now, so please don't make too much noise," she told us. We nodded our heads.

"Can I get you anything to eat?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm good," Sadie and I replied in unison, resulting in us giggling.

We explained the entire story to Paige. She was very confused about it, which made sense because she just had to take in so much information.

"Sorry, but is it okay if we stay the night?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure. I only have one guest room though. Are you okay to share a bed, or does one of you want to take the couch?"

"I'm fine if you are," I said.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," Sadie said.

"Good. You girls can go ahead and put your stuff in there. Go upstairs, and it's the first door on the left." She said.

"Thanks, Paige," Sadie smiled.

"No problem."

We took our bags and set them down in the room. Inside, there was a queen-sized bed, a dresser, and two night stands. We began to head back downstairs, but then I heard Paige talking.

"... yeah, she's here ... yeah, that's a good idea ... sounds good. Let me know what the plans are."

I rushed down the stairs, ignoring Sadie telling me to wait.

"Was that my dad?" I raised my voice.

"Yes, but—"

"I thought I could trust you. Don't make me go back," I said softly.

"No, you're staying here. Your dad was telling me about how he's going to turn himself in and his lawyer will have me be your guardian," she explained.

"Oh. That makes a lot more sense," I said.

"Wait, Sadie, who's your guardian?" Paige asked.

"I'm an emancipated minor. My adoptive parents let me become one so I could go to an art school that we couldn't afford to really move near since the area's expensive, but we could afford to get an apartment there, which is where I live."

"Oh. Do they know where you are right now?" I asked.

"I logged into Life360 on my old phone, which is at my apartment, and deleted it off of the phone I actually use. They think I'm home, and I told them that I'm sick when they asked why I wasn't at class."

"I think you should go back," Paige said.

"Why?" I complained.

"She doesn't want my parents to find out that I'm cutting class and halfway across the country from where I'm supposed to be," Sadie simply explained.

"I don't want to lose you, though. You're the only sibling I have left," my eyes started tearing up.

"I know. I'll figure something out," she said.

"Please tell them you're here, at least. I'm not comfortable with you staying unless they know," Paige said.

Sadie obliged and called her mom. While she was pretty upset, she said that Sadie could at least stay the night before back the next morning. After that, we didn't really know what to do for the rest of the day, so Sadie and I sat down to make a youtube video.

Only one chapter and an epilogue left y'all 🥺