Adopted by Mean Girls

Some People Need to Grow Up!

**Comet's POV**

Two months. That's how long I've been living with Erika and, honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better placement. Erika cares about me and I love going to the theatre every day. Erika usually wakes up after me, but we like it like that. For the first month or so I had nightmares every night, but they've subsided and usually, I can handle them myself. The really bad ones where I wake up screaming and need Erika's help only happen once every couple weeks or so. At six, my alarm clock went off and I rolled out of bed.

Still clad in my pajamas, I left my bedroom and went to the kitchen. Breakfast for this morning was oatmeal - a favorite between Erika and me. I'm a pretty good cook if I do say so myself and I do enjoy it and can pull together a big meal, but Erika and I like simple breakfasts. While the oatmeal was cooking, I warmed up the Keurig and turned on the electric tea kettle. Erika stumbled into the kitchen a little while later when the kettle beeped Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

"Morning," Erika slipped into the breakfast bar, "How'd you sleep, Comet?"

"Pretty good," I answered, sliding a bowl of oatmeal and a mug of coffee to Erika.

"No nightmares?"

"I woke up once, but I don't remember why," I admitted, sitting down beside her.

"Okay," Erika rubbed my back, "So they're getting better?"

"I guess," I shrugged.

After breakfast, Erika cleaned up and finished my lunch while I changed for school. When I was ready, Erika rode the subway with me but didn't walk me up. Instead, she left the train, hugged me, wished me a good day, then got on a different line to take her back to the apartment. Once I'd left the station, I popped in my earbuds, flicked up my hood, and kept my head down as I entered my junior high. I'm mostly a loner, but I do have a few friends, only one of whom knows I'm in the foster system. I spend my days wishing I was in my Creative Writing class or at the August Wilson or in bed and I'm fine with it this way.

I pulled my earbuds out of my ears and wrapped them around my phone as my friend, Casper Locksworth, slammed his back into the locker beside mine and let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't want to be here," Casper shook his head sadly, "Why do I have to be here?"

"The law," I replied simply, stashing my backpack in my locker and pulling out my stuff for our first period.

"Stupid law."

I made it through school pretty smoothly. Some eighth-grader snuck a kitten he found outside his apartment to school in his hood and so far, no teacher had found out. My classes were pretty good. We played games in Math that covered topics I actually understood and all the Science teachers were out for meetings so we just watched episodes of Brain Games. We ran the mile in PE, which I don't like but I'm okay at and we had a test in Social Studies. Then, I was in the passing period between Creative Writing and Spanish(my least favorite class) when this kid called out,

"Hey, Henders!"

At first, I ignored him, but then he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him. Zachary Jones, God I hate this kid. We used to be on okay terms, then his dad died and his mom remarried this rich jerk so now Zachary is a rich jerk too - funny how that works.

"I heard you're a foster kid," Zachary tossed his head.

"So?" I narrowed my eyes. I would worry about the fact that Zachary just revealed my lack of permanent family to the entire school later.

"Makes sense," Zachary came in front of me and I could smell the mix of Flamin' Hot Cheeto and OtterPop on his breath that he no doubt stole from the PE office, "If I were your parents, I would've abandoned you, too."

"Big word - don't hurt yourself," I rolled my eyes, "Though, I am surprised you know what 'abandoned' means. Oh, wait - nevermind. Your dad abandoned you.

I could see the anger in Zachary's eyes and heard some of the spectators mumble to their friends.

"My dad died! He didn't abandon us!"

Got him. Very few people knew that Zachary's dad had died and everyone else thought they'd gotten a divorce. Zachary pushed me up against the lockers, but I didn't care. This wasn't the first time.

"Zachary Jones!"

Perfect timing, Mr. Ross. My Creative Writing and English teacher, Mr. Ross ran down the hall and pulled Zachary off me.

"Go to the office! Now!"

"This isn't over, Henders!" Zachary growled before walking away.

"I look forward to it, Jones," I answered, adjusting my grip on my notebooks, "Thanks, Mr. Ross."

"Are you okay, Comet? Do you need me to call anyone?"

"Nah," I shook my head, "I'm fine. Some people just need to grow up and Zachary is one of them."

"Okay..." Mr. Ross didn't sound convinced, but I was okay with that.

I continued on to Spanish and my classmates who'd gathered to see Zachary unsuccessfully beat me up all got out of my way as I walked to class. I got a pleasant surprise there: we had a sub who didn't know Spanish and was just that to 'babysit' per se because they can't have a class without a teacher. I didn't have any friends in my Spanish class, so I just got to play BrainPOP games for the entire hour. 

I am not complaining.

Hey, all! I hope you're all taking care of yourselves and those you care about right now. Comet mentioned BrainPOP games in this chapter and I have a question for you all: What is your favorite BrainPOP game? Mine is either Game Over Gopher or Tree Frog Treasure.

Until next time guys, gals, and non-binary pals,

                                 -Spaceheater1