All Kinds Of Kinds~Miranda Lambert

I Hate It Here

Lacey POV

The last few months that I had been in this orphanage have been awful. They are so mean to me, and I hate it. The only thing that has kept me somewhat sane is Kyle and his humor. The other kids aren't very nice to me, and I don't even get to see the younger kids!

"Hey, it's okay. I promise." I jumped, Kyle's voice was next to my ear. I had just broken down crying, one of the caretakers had slapped me. Kyle gently rubbed my face. "Thanks." I said quietly. "It's adoption time!!" I heard someone say in a sweet, singsong voice. Her name was Katy, she came every so often to look after us and clean us up, I really liked her.

We all formed our lines and she gave us something to wear, one by one. When she got to me, she smiled, "Lacey! I've got the perfect thing for you!" She handed me a yellow dress with white cowboy boots. I smiled, she knew my style so well! She leaned toward me, "Keep these afterward, it's on me." I smiled widely at her. "Thank you so much!" I whispered before moving on. I went into the bathroom and changed.

I finished putting up my blonde, curly hair and walked out of the bathroom. Kyle joined me, he was wearing a plaid, red, button down shirt with jeans and brown cowboy boots. "Ready?"He asked, smiling at me. "Sure." I shrugged. It was just another adoption fair where families only look at younger kids. Kyle and I were the same age, apparently no one wanted 15 year olds.

We walked into the room, it was surrounded by people! I smiled at everyone I saw, and at the end, I only had one interview afterwards. I was lead into a small, plush room with a cherrywood desk and two green chairs. A man wearing a tight-looking suit came in with his wife, she wore expensive-looking clothes and had long, black hair. "Hello, I'm Lacey." I said with a smile, sticking out my hand.

The man took my hand and shook it,roughly. "How's it going? I'm the owner of the Grey Dog Records. Tell me a bit about yourself." He flashed a smile. "Well...I've been in orphanages for a while, I play guitar and love arts. I love painting, singing, and playing guitar." He didn't even seem to be paying attention. "Uh huh." He said, I could tell he didn't care very much.

"how much do you know about dressing, girl?" The wife asked, looking me up and down with disgust clear on her face. "First off, it's Lacey, and I know better than you." I snapped, my anger flaring up. "Oh! I am terribly hurt by your comment!" She yelled at me. I shrugged, "Sorry, If you weren't mean to me, then I'd be nicer." I said that and walked out of the room. I didn't care if I was never adopted, but living with them would be awful.

I just ran back to our bunk areas and cried with my head in my hands. I would never be adopted, I would never amount to anything. I sat in silence, every once in a while broken by my own sobs. I heard the door open and saw black dress shoes walking across the floor. "Lacey." I heard someone say, they sounded very angry. I was grabbed by the shoulder and practically lifted off of my bed.

"You ungracious little twit! I should throw you on the streets after that!" He yelled at me. "Look me in the eyes!!" he yelled at me. I glanced fearfully up at him. He slapped me accross the cheek and I recoiled with a gasp. He threw me down and dashed out of the room. I stayed on the floor, sobbing. I heard him come back in. "And as for this!" I heard him slam something on the ground. I realized with horror, it was my guitar!

"NO!" I yelled, scrambling to pick up the pieces. "That's what you get for being such an awful child." He snarled at me. "You can't do this!" I yelled as he left, he just shrugged. I knew I had to leave, I didn't care what happened. I grabbed the pieces of my now shattered guitar and put them in my suitcase. I cried as I packed my things, changed into my top and jeans, and shoved my fancy outfit into my suitcase.

I heard footsteps and looked up, Kyle approached me. "Little fox. What happened?" He asked me, softly. He had named me "little fox" because of the red streaks in my blonde hair. I told him and looked at him, "I guess you didn't get adopted either?" He didn't meet my eyes. "Actually... I did. By a man that runs a farm on the outskirts of Nashville." He said, tears coming down his face. "I wanted to take you with me, but he said he couldn't do it."

I nodded. "It's okay. I understand." He handed me a piece of paper. "It's my new address. We can write to each other." He said, sadly. He gave me one more hug and walked away.

He stopped and turned back around. "I forgot something." He said with a tiny smile. He reached under his bunk and brought out his guitar. A beautiful, acoustic Yamaha.

"Take it. It's yours." He held it out to me. I shook my head, "no. I insist. Take it." I had played it three times in the past few months. He sighed, "little fox, I can never win with you." He gave me one last hug and walked out.

I sat in stunned silence. How had this day gone so wrong? I sat on my bed and cried for a while. I knew I had to leave. I just had to!