‹ Prequel: Let Me Perfect It
Right Back Where We Started
Earth to Chloe
Chloe’s POV
“We’re in Dallas today, driving tonight, and Austin tomorrow,” I walked through the schedule with Sophie for the hundredth time. “Our show in Austin isn't until almost seven. But we've got a signing at our tent at three.”
Sophie’s expression was completely flat. “You realize I get the same emails you do, right?”
“I'm just trying to make sure everything's in order. I feel like I need to account for every minute because I do not want your mother to get you alone, okay?” I stopped to take a deep breath, resting my elbows on the counter to lean down slightly, my head in my hands. For a few long moments, I was focused on just taking deep breaths and everything else on the bus fell out of focus.
“Chloe, you should sit down,” Sophie urged. “Are you okay? What's going on?”
I stood back up and put an ‘I'm totally fine’ grin on my face. “I actually think I'm just hungry.”
“That is so much better than not being able to hold down any food!” Sophie laughed. “We have some time before we need to be anywhere. Want to find lunch?”
“Only if lunch is a mountain of french fries,” I laughed.
---
Our search for any vendor with french fries took what felt like 4 hours of wandering through a loud, crowded venue and humid summer air. Finally, we were seated at a low wooden table and the paper basket of french fries in my hand was calling my full attention. Attention which was rudely interrupted by Sophie shouting “WILLIAM!” and waving to flag the man down. She returned her attention to me for a moment. “He was getting lunch and wanted me to come so I told him to just meet us over here,” She explained.
I couldn't help but still be a little distrusting of William. After the rollercoaster he put Sophie through so long ago, I didn't want to risk my best friend walking into that same scenario once more. At the same time, Sophie seemed happy to have him around again. And I couldn't discount the fact that with the chaos surrounding the resurgence of her 'parents’, William was definitely high on the list of people that won't leave sophie alone. He seemed to understand the caution I was showing about the ordeal and wasn't just confused about me being 'overprotective,’ as Sophie had been calling me repeatedly.
“Earth to Chloe,” Sophie's laugh pulled me out of my thoughts. William was sitting at the table now, next to Sophie and across from me. The two were sitting close enough together that their shoulders basically touched. He had his own food, apparently from the same vendor Sophie and I stopped at. Paper basket half full of fries and a cheeseburger. “Were the fries as good as you hoped?”
“Holy shit, yes!” I grinned. “This isn't quite a mountain,” I paused and shook the paper basket slightly. About half of the fries were gone now. “But they are perfect and exactly everything I wanted. The only thing that could possibly taste better than them right now is… mom’s cinnamon coffee cake.” Just the thought of the cake set my stomach back to growling.
“I haven't had that in so long,” Sophie said with a laugh. “She would make it for your birthday and I couldn't believe how good it was.”
“And she made you a carrot cake? Which at first I admittedly didn't like, at all. But it grew on me. But only if it's one mom made, no other carrot cake has even come close.”
“I'm drooling just thinking about it. But really, I agree that nothing can top mom’s.”
“Wait a second,” William finally joined the conversation. “You keep just calling her mom but I think I'm pretty sure that the two of you don't share a mom….”
I laughed for a moment. “I don't know how it was… not talked about, I guess,” I began to explain, “Sophie and I have known each other since… the second half of freshman year?”
“The shit foster system meant that I was moved around pretty often. I had three different elementary schools and two middle schools. Technically two high schools too, but the first one was only for half a year so it barely counts.” Sophie explained.
“At the time I was friends with Angie and Josie, but they were both a year ahead so I didn't really have classes with them. Sophie ended up in about two-thirds of my classes in her first semester at the school. One of which was,” I paused to try to recollect the exact class, “American history!”
“Which you were doing awful in, remember.”
“Please do not remind me. It was like, 8 A.M. and Mr. Robertson just talked and talked and talked and my brain could not listen to details about the revolutionary war and stay awake at the same time.”
“So,” Sophie turned to William now, “the teacher saw how great I was doing in the class, and I guess decided I needed to be assigned a friend since I was new? I still don't know the thought process behind it but I basically was volun-told to be a tutor.”
As Sophie told the story, I couldn't help but reminisce.
“I don't understand why I have to remember the names of all these dudes. I mean, George Washington and Jefferson are easy enough because they were presidents but… I don't know! This class is so stupid.”
“John Adams was president, too, and he's on that name list there. And Hamilton's on the ten dollar bill. And he basically invented the economy. AND he immigrated from the Caribbean and had an absent father and his mom died when he was a kid. From a little street rat to becoming a Founding Father, Chloe. You can't forget him!”
“You may be underestimating the power of my forgetfulness,” I teased. “How - or why - do you even know all of this?”
“I read books,” Sophie shrugged. “Couldn't help but latch on to the story of a dude with a shitty childhood bouncing back to, I guess, prove everyone wrong.”
Before I could respond, there were a few soft knocks on the bedroom door. My mother pushed it open and leaned in the doorway. “Its a school night, girls,” She chided, looking between the two of us. “I just got a phone call that Ms. Sophie was supposed to be home thirty-five minutes ago. Care to explain?”
My eyes fell on my friend. What I knew of her home life was that, at least at the moment, it… wasn't great. She was fifteen and had been cycled through foster homes for eight years. Where she lived now, that allowed her to attend the same school as me, was less of a family home and more of a group home. Sophie sighed, collecting up her textbooks and papers into her slightly worn burgundy backpack.
After a long moment, I spoke up. “Mom, can't she just stay here tonight? We’re working on a project and we've only got a few days left. It would be soooo helpful,” I begged, putting on the best innocent pout that I could. I glanced at Sophie, who was mostly confused. We had not talked about her staying the night, but she didn't protest.
My mom looked between us, trying to decipher if I was telling the truth, I think. “Fine,” She finally relented, before adding, “Your father works in the morning. If this arrangement means he loses sleep, it will not be a recurring thing, okay? Sophie, if you want, I can drive you home to get clothes.”
“I went pretty quickly from staying the night to basically living at Chloe’s house. If I had to be home I would go for as little as possible. Her parents welcomed me with open arms and at that point it was the closest I'd had to like… a legitimate family.”
“Shit, man,” William said quietly. “I knew you guys were close but that's awesome.”
“There's more!” Sophie exclaimed.
10th grade was just around the corner. Sophie had basically become the sister I never knew I needed. My mom, bless her heart, really saw how well we got along and took Sophie under her own wing as well. Even when the house was chaos from my dad trying to renovate his office, Sophie was always welcome and more often than not, always present.
With only a few weeks of summer left, my mom had gone with me to buy any supplies we needed as well as a few new outfits. Sophie, in an attitude I would eventually learn permeated through her entire life, refused time and time again despite my mother's offer to get her things, as well.
My mother, though, had other plans. She waited for a day that Sophie and I were both distracted and went on her own, getting the school supplies she knew she would need, gift cards to a few stores for clothes (she didn't trust her own taste for an almost 16-year-old’s wardrobe, understandably), and put them all into a backpack that was all black with a pattern of tiny cartoon skeletons, one that Sophie had made a comment about at the store weeks beforehand.
The day she was presenting Sophie with this gift, she called a family meeting to the living room. This in itself was weird because, before or after that moment we’d never have family meetings. Sophie, still trying not to step on any toes, fumbled with words; “I can just, like, hang out in Chloe's room for a few….”
“Nonsense,” My dad grinned. He was usually pretty busy with work but he did his best to not be unattentive. “You're part of this as much as any of us!”
“Besides,” My mom chimed in now, entering from the dining room, hands behind her back. “If you just hid up in her room, how would I give you this?” With the final word, she revealed the probably-too-full backpack in one hand, and the envelope I assumed held gift cards in the other.
“Mrs. Summers, please, you didn't have to…” Sophie mumbled, her eyes wide. “You don't have to buy me stuff. You.. you really don't.” She took the bag from my mom and set it on the couch, before turning around once more to grab the envelope. My mother had written Sophie in large, looping cursive and drawn a large smile next to the name. Sophie cautiously opened the envelope and instead of gift cards, pulled out a few folded pieces of paper. She read the printed words half-aloud, eyes scanning the page. “Congratulations… home study….” There was a very long pause and my gaze passed between my father and beaming mother with confusion. I knew about the school supplies. I didn't know what Sophie was reading. She flipped through to another page, this time hand-written instead of typed. At this point, I moved to where I could read the letter as well.
Sophie,
These past few months you've grown from being Chloe's friend into a part of the family we never knew we were missing. The idea that you could ever potentially be moved from your current home and from our lives was something we didn't want to think about. We couldn't imagine Chloe not having her best friend and confidante and it broke our heart to imagine you moving yet again.
The letter cut off at the end of the page. Nothing was written on the back. Sophie looked between my parents, and I could see tears in her eyes. “We have one more page,” My dad finally spoke, now smiling as well. “But first, the office was finished today and I did not have a chance to show it off!”
“....Dad, what's going on?”
Without another word, he stood from his recliner and walked down the hall towards the office door that had been closed for at least a week 'so the house doesn't smell like paint and dust.’ “Go ahead,” He laughed, gesturing Sophie towards the door.
She glanced at me again and I shrugged, just as confused as she was. After another moment she pushed the door open slowly. I turned towards my mom in time to see that at this point she seemed close to tears.
“Holy… shit.” Sophie finally spoke, eyes widening as she realized the misstep of language in front of my parents, who I could tell absolutely did not care. I turned back towards the office and I swear my jaw could have fallen straight through the floor.
The office I knew was gone, replaced with a sparsely decorated bedroom. There was no large computer desk, piled with papers and who knows what else. No rolling chair tucked beneath. No dinosaur desktop computer to work at for hours a day. In its place, though, was a bed. A simple wooden frame held the thick mattress, covered in gray sheets and a black comforter with matching black and gray pillows. A small wooden writing desk with a silver decorative chair sat against the wall, next to a wooden 4-drawer dresser.
Stepping into the room, Sophie found another handwritten note resting on the surface of the desk.
So, with the means we had to do so, we wanted to help potentially bring some sense of stability to your young life. Douglas and I met with your case worker, and through her spent the last few weeksmonths preparing for this announcement. We've gone through the steps to become licensed as foster parents and are opening the doors of our home to allow you to become one step closer to being the member of our family we already feel you are.
I could feel tears welling in my own eyes now. My parents had done all of this without either of us knowing. It was a fantastic surprise for me, but I wasn't sure what reaction to expect from my friend. She didn't speak for a few moments, just staring at the note and rereading it to herself quickly. Finally, she looked up at my mother, and before she could say another word, a few tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
“So,” Sophie grinned, “Chloe's family slowly started really feeling like my own. It was my last move within the foster system.”
“That's unbelievable,” William chuckled. “In a good way, I mean! No wonder you're so worked up about whatever's happening tomorrow.” The last statement was directed towards me, but his attention quickly went back to Sophie.
“Rather than think about that,” Sophie grinned at him, “Can we do something? We've got time to kill before our set!”
“I'm actually going to go find Brendon,” I interjected, standing from the bench, “His set should be starting soon. I'll see you two in a while!”
After tossing the trash I had into a can, I started walking in the direction I thought my boyfriend's stage was located. I turned my attention to the table I'd just left in time to see that Sophie now had her attention fully towards William, engaged in a conversation I couldn't hear. But my friend was grinning ear to ear, an expression I was glad to see. Maybe, after a five-year break, William was exactly who needed to fall back into her life now.