My New Parents Are Who

Amy, Rose, and I raced to the mall doors when we got out of the car. Frank tried to stop us before we got hit but we were already standing outside the doors.

“Please don’t do that again,” Frank said when they got to the door.

“Sorry.”

“Where are we going first?” Bob asked.

“Hot Topic!” Amy, Rose, and I said at the same time.

They shrugged and followed us through the mall. The guys got a lot of stares, mostly from teenage girls.

“Aw, aren’t you all so popular,” I joked as one girl bumped into her friend when she was staring at our group.

When we got to the store our group split up. I went to the back where the makeup and hair products were. I grabbed an orange dye and black eyeliner then some neon green nail polish.

Rose was showing Bob some band tees and he was trying to help her narrow down her choices but it wasn’t working; she just couldn’t make up her mind. Rose was looking through the skirts and corsets, trying to mix and match.

“Did you find what you wanted?” Frank asked.

“Yep!”

“We’re done,” Rose said as she and Amy came over.

We paid and thought of where to go next.

“”This is supposed to be payback so what’s a good store for that?” I asked as we walked ahead of them.

Rose got a mischievous smile and started walking faster. I looked at Amy and she shrugged. We followed her until she disappeared into a store. It was Victoria’s Secret.

“What?” Ray groaned.

“Rose chose,” I said, walking inside with Amy.

Rose was looking at the lotions and smelling them. The guys got some curious looks from the women in the store. They mostly stayed together and stood near us so they wouldn’t look like some weird perverted guys. They must’ve looked to odd to someone because fifteen minutes after we came into the store an employee came over.

“Excuse me, ladies,” she said, ignoring the guys. “Can I show you something?” without waiting for an answer she walked away.

“We’ll be right back,” I said to Frank and we hurried after her.

When we were in the front of the store away from the guys and out of their line of vision the woman stopped and turned to us.

“Girls, are you ok? Those men aren’t giving you any problem are they? I can get security here quickly.”

“No! It’s fine,” I said quickly. “It’s just my dad and his friends.” She gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me.

“There have been some men going around and following young ladies that are in the mall alone. We’ve tried to get the men but they keep evading security.”

“We really do know them. Last night they scared us so my mom made them take us here as punishment.”

“I thought taking them here would be funny,” Rose added.

“I’m sorry, girls. We just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Thanks, we’re fine.”

She smiled at us and we went back to the guys.

“What’d she want?” Frank asked.

“She th-thought you were some ran-dom guys following us!” I choked out, I was laughing so much.

“Can we leave now?” Mikey asked.

We left the store and Amy, Rose, and I continued to joke about the store. It was almost three by now and I think the guys were getting tired.

“Let’s go to FYE next!” Amy said.

We turned around and went to the nearest staircase then went down. The store was close by and the guys seemed ok with going inside.

I went to the CDs and found the Flyleaf one that I’ve been waiting to get. Then I went to the posters. I flipped through the big ones and found the bands section. I found the My Chem ones that were from Three Cheers.

“I remember those!” Mikey said, coming over.

“Hey, Mikey?”

“Yeah?” he was flipping though the posters, looking for a band he liked.

“Can I meet Alicia?”

“Sure! I’ve told her about you and she’s excited.”

“Cool.”

An hour and a half later we decided to take pity on the guys. They looked dead on their feet and so bored. The guys came to the house long enough to complain to Jamia and leave. I went with Frank to drop off Amy and Rose.

“Did you have fun?” he asked when it was just us.

“Yeah, thanks for taking us and sorry for making you so bored.”

“It was fun and I guess I should get used to it right?” he asked with a smile.

“Right.”

Jamia was reading in the living room when we got back.

“Sadie, can you come in here please?” she called.

I walked into the room and sat next to her.

“What’s up?”

“Ms. Cleethy called. She wants to check up on you and I think she’s coming tomorrow. Her number’s on the pad in the kitchen, why don’t you give her a call?”

“Ok.”

I went to the kitchen, found the number, and called her. Someone picked up after four rings.

“Hamilton Police Department,” a gruff man said.

“I’m Sadie Royce, um I’m looking for Ms. Cleethy.”

“One second. Mary!”

“What?”

“There’s a Sadie Royce for you.”

“Thank you,” the phone was handed over. “Hello.”

“Hi, Ms. Cleethy.”

“Hi, Sadie! How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Jamia said you called?”

“Yes. I’m coming over tomorrow with a woman from the adoption agency. It’ll be around one, is that alright?”

“Let me check.” I went to the living room where Frank and Jamia were watching the news. “Can Ms. Cleethy and a woman from the adoption agency come over tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Jamia said.

“Ok.” I went back to the kitchen. “It’s fine.”

“Alright, I will see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and went into the living room. I sat between Frank and Jamia and leaned against Frank. It was such a perfect moment.