Aerobics

It was a day, like any other day. I was sitting at the table eating breakfast with my friend Rebecca. We were chatting as we ate the stale tasteless pancakes. The dining room is the centre of the orphanage. That was the moment the great dreaded bell rang. The bell was a sig that a parent or more had come to adopt a child, or at least see which one they liked. I ran into the hall among the other girls with Rebecca. We sat in our normal places, right at the back. Neither of us wanted to get adopted, we were happy here. As well as the fact that if one of us got adopted we were likely not to be able to see each other again.

The adopting parent stood before us. She was tall and slim; you could tell she just came back from work. She had long straight brown hair, unlike my curly hair. She wore jeans and a green shirt with a simple brown jacket. Her eyes were of the greenest colour I have ever seen.

She looked at us in turn, pointing her eyes at each of us. Hey eyes paused as she took a thorough look at me, but she did eventually move on. When she had finished looking at us she looked me straight in the eye. I held my breath, hoping willing her not to say anything about me. She pointed her slender finger at me. “Her,” she said. “I want her.”

That was four years ago, when I was nine. I remember the dread of parting with Rebecca, the tears we shared. I tired not to like Julia. But its almost impossible not to like her. She tried very hard to get me to call her mum, but I never did, and I still don’t. I called her friend breaker and fake mother. But soon things smoothed over between us, but I still stick to calling her Julia.

I lie here on my bed staring at the ceiling on this bright Sunday morning. I was being sent to another secondary school since the one I went to before I accidently trashed a classroom. I sighed to myself as I remembered the horrible moment. I slid my bag onto my shoulder. At least that was all behind me. I could start afresh now.

Mum asked me if I wanted to be driven to school. I wanted to, but lately I had been thinking about my mum. I could think and walk, but my mum would certainly be worried about the petrol she was using up if she did drive me t school. Julia had recently lost her job and was panicking over finding a new one. We were slightly struggling with money.

I was five when it happened. I was at a friend’s house. My friend’s mother drove me home. I didn’t notice anything wrong until I got out the car. My house wasn’t there anymore. It was just gone. The police had put boundaries around it and were crawling all over the place. I started to cry. “Mummy! Daddy!” I yelled. They didn’t come. I started to run towards the house, but my friend’s mother swept me up and bundled me back in the car. I stayed at their house a couple of days. But it was soon arranged I was going to the orphanage.

I had arrived at the school. It was the largest school I had been to that wasn’t a boarding school. I looked around, trying to spot anyone looking interesting. I noticed a girl who caught my eye. She was looking around trying to make conversation with somebody, basically anybody. Her hair was long and red, just like Rebecca’s. She noticed me staring. I waved. She came over. ”Hi, I’m Ruby nice to meet to meet you.” She said quickly. ‘Hi, I’m Jane. New here.’ I hadn’t known her for long. But hopefully she would make a good friend for me, I needed one badly.