Adopted

«What’s going on? Mum? Dad?»
«Just, please sit down. We need to tell you something.» I could feel the dread in my stomach. Was someone dead? If so, where were my siblings, shouldn’t we get to know this together?
«We swore that we were going to tell you once you turned seventeen.» What? What was mum talking about?
«You... Aria, y-you...» Mum stuttered.
«You’re adopted, Aria.»

I sat in the car next to my brother on my way to school. Mum and dad didn’t want me driving, claiming that I would be too distracted to concentrate on the road. Noah said that he could happily take me and get me after as well. For over half of the way, it was complete silence in the car.
«Aria?»
I didn’t answer.
«Are you ok?»
I still didn’t answer, but I turned my head sharply to look at him. My eyes saying what my my mouth wasn’t; Do I look OK?
Noah shrunk a bit in his seat, his eyes never leaving the road. I know he had only seen my look in his side view, but I was sure he could feel them as well.
«Please say something,» he pleaded.
I let out a big sigh before turning in my seat so I was facing towards my brother. «You know I don’t do words, Noah. And this is big news. I’m not mad or anything, I swear I’m not. I just don’t know how to react.»
Noah sighed. «We’re still your family. You know that, right? Even if we don’t share the same bloodline, you’re as much my sister as Alex is my brother. And mum and dad are just as much your mum and dad as they are mine and Alex’s. We all love you, no matter what!»
«I know that. It’s just... Why didn’t they tell me earlier? Why couldn’t they have told me when I was really little, so that I would have just always known. Then I wouldn’t have to feel like I feel now.» I slumped down in my seat, not really knowing what it was that I was feeling.
«And what do you feel, Aria?» He had to ask that. I never knew how I felt, I was usually just neutral. What was I supposed to feel about something like this?
«Aria?»
«I don’t know, ok?» I exclaimed. «I don’t know what I feel. I suppose I feel... I feel like I don’t really know anything anymore. Everything has changed, don’t you see?»
Noah took his eyes off of the road to look at me. I looked him in eyes. He turned his eyes back on the road. «It hasn’t. Nothing has changed. You’re still my sister, you’re still Alex’s sister, you’re still mum and dad’s daughter. You’re still Arianna Owens.»
I was silent for a while before I answered. «It has though. Something has changed. I know. I spent all my life thinking I was someone I’m not. I have a mum and dad out there, Noah. Why did they give me away? Was my mother really young? Does my dad even know I exist? What did they do? What do they do now? My parents could be serial killers for all I now!» While I was ranting, Noah had driven into the school parking lot and shut the engine off. I was looking, no staring, at Noah, demanding answers I knew he didn’t have.
He didn’t answer me at first. He was just silent. Looking at the school through the car window.
«Your mother’s dead.» He finally said. «She died a couple of days after giving birth to you. That’s why you were put up for adoption. She didn’t give a last name for your father, so the state couldn’t find him, and the last name she put down for herself was a dead-end. They think she used a fake last name so no one would find her.»
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say. I kept staring at my brother. How did he know this? I had thousands of questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t know how. Slowly, Noah turned his head towards me, his eyes almost looking scared. «I’m sorry,» he finally said. «Mum and dad were going to tell you after school, I think they have something from you biological mother as well, a picture or something. I shouldn’t have told you, I’m sorry.»
I opened my mouth as if to answer, but the car-clock interrupted me letting out a small, piercing shriek, letting everyone in hearing distance know that the time was now nine o´clock. I looked at the school, then back at my brother. I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes. This was too much. I could deal with it later. I opened the car door and grabbed my bag as I stepped out of the car.
«Aria,» my brother called out.
«I’m already half an hour late for school, Noah. We can talk about this later.» I slammed the door shut and walked quickly to the school entrance.

The hallway was dead-quiet due to all of the students already being in their classrooms. Having never been late before, it almost scared me. How eerily quiet it was. I could hear each of my footsteps as I walked. Click, clock, click, clock. I could see my English door now. I slowed down, not really wanting to be in a classroom full of people. Mum offered to call in sick for me today, but I refused. School was important to me, always had been. Everyone in my family had always done well in school. Gone to college, made something of themselves. I wondered what my real parents did. Did they do good in school? Did they go to college? Would they be proud of me, or would they be embarrassed? Noah said my mother died, but I still had no idea how old she was when I was born. Did she even get the chance to go to college? I really hoped I could somehow find my father. The thought that I was never going to see the person who carried me for nine months, who died for me, broke my heart.

I took a deep breath before opening the door. My English teacher was quite strict, so I assumed I would get a detention the minute I stepped in. Mr. Morrison's back was turned towards the blackboard as I entered, hopefully I could get to my seat before he noticed. I had just taken two steps when the door loudly slammed shut behind me, and everyone in the room turned towards me. It looked like Mr. Morrison was about to shout at me, but he didn’t. His eyes turned from annoyed or angry to almost concerned. «Are you alright, Miss Owens?» Did I not look alright?
«I-I’m fine.» Even I could hear the trembling in my voice. It sounded like I was about to burst out crying. I brought one of my hands to my face to place my hair behind my ear when I felt it. My cheek was wet. I quickly made my way to my seat next to Max as I wiped the tears everyone but me had known about.
Mr. Morrison looked unsure of what do to. «Please see me after class, Miss Owens,» were his final words. I nodded, and he turned back to teaching. He was talking about Romeo and Juliet, trying to get the class to find similarities between this play and Shakespeare’s other plays. I wasn’t paying attention. All I could think about were my parents, my biological parents. Noah had said that my mother most likely put down her wrong last name, and no last name for my father. Surely that meant that I had a first name for both of them. I wished I asked Noah if he knew. He seemed to know everything else. And what was this ‘thing’ they had of my mother’s? A picture, Noah had said. A picture of whom? My mother? My father? Both of them maybe? I hoped it was. Maybe I could find him.
«Aria,» someone whispered. I looked over at Max Max. He looked worried. «What’s wrong? Has something happened?» I turned towards Mr. Morrison to see if he was looking at us. He wasn’t. «Not here. I’ll tell you at lunch.» He still looked worried. Scared even. «Relax,» I said jokingly. «No one died.» Well, my mother died, but that was seventeen years ago, so I didn’t think that mattered.

Max didn’t day anything for the rest of the the period, and I was glad he didn’t. He did however hold my hand. When he first took it, I looked over at him and he smiled at me, as if to say that ‘it’s OK, I’m here’. And I knew he was.

Luckily, none of my other friends were in the same English period as I was, so I didn’t have to deal with any of them. Yet. The English period finished and I took my time packing my things together considering I had to talk to Mr. Morrison. «I’ll wait for you outside, ok?» Max said. I nodded and gave him a small smile.

«Miss Owens. Can I ask why you were late?» This had to be a first, usually he gives out detentions more freely then freebies. I guess the tears scared him, though he should me used to girls crying, this was high school after all. Maybe it was me particularly crying that scared him. I didn’t usually cry, hell, I couldn’t even remember the last time I cried, but I didn’t think anyone else would notice that.
«My parents held me at home. They had to tell me something. They’ll back that up if you call them.» I tried to tell him as much as I could, and at the same time, tell him as little as possible.
«Don’t worry, I believe you. You’ve been a star student ever since you started here, Miss Owens. May I ask what it was that your parents had to tell you? Obviously it’s brought some distress on you.»
«Just... Personal business. Family matters. I’m sorry I interrupted your lesson, it won’t happen again, I swear.»
«I’m not concerned about my lesson, Miss Owens. All I care about is my students’ well fare.» He put his hand on my shoulder and I stiffened, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Surely he wasn’t allowed to do this? «Than you, Mr. Morrison, but I’m fine. Really. You know how girls are, always crying over nothing.»
«Please, call me Mark.» Was he allowed to be this informal? «If there is ever anything I can help you with, just ask, alright? I’ve known you for almost three years now and I’ve never seen you cry. Your friend, Hannah Clarkson, she cried at least three times a week, but I’ve never seen your cry.» I was definitely uncomfortable now. What he was saying and the way he was looking at me made me feel like he had been watching me.
«Heh, I guess you’re right. Thank you, Mr. Morrison. I really have to go now, my boyfriend is waiting for me just outside.» I gave him a small, polite smile before hurrying to the door where Max was waiting for me.

I must have had a look of disgust on my face as Max immediately asked me what had happened. «I think Mr. Morrison just tried to flirt with me. Either that or he was being way too friendly.» Max looked at me with shock in his eyes. «Are you being serious?» «Yes. He asked me to call him Mark. When has a teacher ever asked you to call him or her by her first name?» Max looked behind us at the door to the English classroom with disgust in his eyes. «You should tell someone,» he said. «Tell them what? He hasn’t exactly tried anything, has he? I’m sure I’m just overreacting. I’m going a bit haywire with everything today.» Max looked at again and I could see that his earlier concern had again been awoken. «Look, Aria. What was that about earlier? I’ve never seen you cry before, and you seemed fine this morning. What’s happened?» I took a deep breath. English, particularly Mr. Morrison’s creepiness had let my mind wander away from this mornings happenings. I was about to answer him when one of my other friends stopped us.
«Aria! I had so much fun last night! We should totally do that again, even if it isn’t for a birthday party. And your parents shouldn’t be there. Connor’s brother is 21 so he can get us booze.» Ashley talked a lot without breathing. I gave her a smile and a nod, not really in the mood to talk to her, she was a bit too much. «Oh my gosh, is there something wrong? Maddie said you came in crying in English, but I didn’t actually believe her. You know how she gets, more than 90 % of what she says is usually bull, so I didn’t actually take her seriously, but oh my gosh, you look so sad. Has something happened? Did someone die? Did Max do something to you?» Her voice was sugar sweet until that last question when her voice turned cold as ice, and her eyes went to glare at him. None of my friends really liked Max, they thought of him as a geek, and he was. Sort of. But He was my geek. Me and Max didn’t really fit into the same stereotypes. I was a cheerleader, Ashley was the cheerleader. Cheer captain of the Princeton Lady Panthers. «No, Ashley, Max didn’t do anything. He is perfect, as he’s always been.» Ashley still gave him sour look, before again focusing on my and completely ignoring Max. «So, what’s going on? Someone didn’t die, did they?» «No. No one died, Ashley. Can I talk to you tomorrow? The bell..» Riiiiing, the bell went. «...Is about to ring, and I’ve promised to spend lunch with Max. But I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’ll talk, yeah? Ok, bye Ashley!» Luckily we were just outside of our classroom and the teacher had yet to arrive. I took Max’s hand and dragged him into the classroom, completely ignoring Ashley who still tried to talk to me, probably dying with curiosity about what was going on. I noticed a couple of people looking at me with curiosity, probably having heard the newest gossip. I tried to ignore it, but I really hated it when people talked about me. I sat the whole lesson holding Max’s hand, ignoring the teacher and fantasising about what my life would have been like had I not been adopted. I didn’t mind my current life, I loved it. I had everything I could possibly ask for. A Perfect family, a perfect boyfriend. I was popular, on the cheer squad. Oh gosh, I never realised how A4 my life was. What would my life be like hadn’t my mother died? Would she still have given me up for adoption? Would she have raised me alone? Would she and my father have raised me together? Where would we have lived? I didn’t even realise that the bell had rung before Max was packing his things together, poking me to get my attention. I quickly packed my books together, not having read a single word or taken a single note. I suppose I was overreacting in a way. Crying, not paying attention in class, all because I found out I was adopted. It’s not like it’s that big of a deal. Maybe it is. I really don’t know.

Me and Max were walking toward the school exit, wanting to be alone during lunch hours. We walked to the back of school and sat down at one of the benches.
«I’m adopted,» I said. Not wanting to draw anything out. I didn’t look at him as I said it, so I don’t know what his reaction was. I slowly started getting my lunch out, but I didn’t eat it straight away. «Max?» I said as I looked up at him. He was just looking at me. He, like me, wasn’t really good with words.
«Are you alright?» He asked me.
I shrugged. «I think so. I mean... Nothing has changed, has it? Not really.»
«It’s still quite a big shock though. Do you know anything about your biological parents?» I told him everything Noah had told that morning in the car. He seemed quite excited about the picture. «Maybe we can learn something from it,» he said. «It’ll be like real detective work. You do want to find your father, don’t you?» I smiled at his enthusiasm. «Of course I do, but for all I know the only thing on show in that picture is my mother in front of a white wall. I just don’t want to get my hopes up.» Max smiled at me, and I knew that he understood. «Why don’t I come over to your house after work and we can look at everything we’ve got. I’m sure we can also find out where you were born so that we can narrow it down geographically.» Hearing Max talk about it really made me believe that I could find my father. He was a real computer wiz. If it was online, Max could find it. «Won’t your father mind?» I asked. Max only lived with his father. His mother had left them when Max was younger, and that was why they moved here.
«Nah,» Max said. «He’s working late, so he won’t even notice.»
«OK, then. You’ll come over after work and we’ll see what we can find out.» I was almost getting optimistic about this. Like Max said, it’ll be like real detective work.» When we were younger we always liked to find ‘mysteries’ we could solve. A couple of years back, one of the neighbour’s cat got run over with a car and me and Max spent an entire week questioning different people and dusting their cars for fingerprints. Of course we had no idea what we were doing, but it was great fun.
«You do know that if you tell Ashley, the whole school will know you’re adopted, right?» Max asked unsure. Just like my ‘popular’ friends didn’t like Max, Mac didn’t really like my ‘popular’ friends. No one made any effort to hide their dislike either.
«Hey, that’s my friend you’re talking about. And yes, I do know. I know I said I’d tell her, but I really don’t want everyone to know. I suppose if I tell her that both of my biological parents are dead, and I don’t really make a big deal out of it, she won’t either?» There was a faint hope in my voice. Ashley likes to make a big deal out of everything! «You can hope,» Max said, giving me a faint smile.

The rest of the day went by quickly. I didn’t have any subjects with Max after lunch, so I couldn’t hide behind him. Luckily, me crying wasn’t the only gossip going around school so I was distracted though the rest of my subjects, listening to Hannah and Ashley and some of my other friends tell me who did what with whom where. As the last bell of the the rang, I hurriedly packed my things together, wanting to get home as fast as I could so that I could see what it was my parents had from my birth mother. I almost ran to the front doors, but once I was there, I slowed down. What if the only thing on that picture was my mother in front of a white wall. What if we really couldn’t track down my father. It was possible. You just have to do this, Aria! I told myself. I took a deep breath, pulled myself together and walked out of school. Just as he said he would be, Noah was parked in front of the school, waiting for me. Once I got in that car in would be home in twenty minutes. Dad would be at work, but I’m sure mum wouldn’t mind showing me whatever it was they had without him being there. That means that in thirty minutes I would get to see that picture.