New beginnings

I look out the window, sighing. It’s eight in the morning, and school starts at nine.
Another day here, without a family.
I mean, it’s not bad. It’s not as if they abuse us. But I wish that I had a real family. I wish that at Christmas, I would have brothers and sisters to open presents with and laugh with. I wish that at dinner, our parents would ask us about our day and our friends and our interests. Sometimes I wonder if I would be different if I had a real family.
But unfortunately, that’s not happening.
Should I explain?
My name is Violet, and I’m 14 years old. I don’t even remember my parents. Apparently, they died when I was about a year old. There was a fire at a restaurant, and I was at home with the babysitter, since it was their date night. Sometimes I wish that I knew them, but other times I think that it’s much easier to not have to be haunted by the memories of my long-dead parents. I can pretend that I knew them, but I didn’t. I don’t know if they were funny or serious, strict or easygoing. But I guess that’s okay. It doesn’t matter now, anyways.
I live in a community home. It’s like an orphanage, if those still existed. But we have “parents.” They drive us to school and help us with our homework, cook us dinner and buy us clothes. Everything would be perfect if they didn’t have to take care of so many. Or if we were really theirs.
As it is, we can be adopted. But that rarely happens. They want babies, and there are no babies here. Just kids, 5-16. There are eight of us, including me. None of them are related to me, and all of them are girls. They don’t let girls and boys live together, since they worry that we’ll display “inappropriate behavior.”
Nobody has been adopted from here in years. The last girl was 5 and her name was Ava. She was cute, as all of the little ones are, but she had something special about her. She had wavy golden hair. Her eyes were the colour of emeralds, and just as shiny as one. She was the cutest kid I’ve ever seen.
Of course someone would adopt her. Not one of the kids who’s been here for nine years. I just want a proper family, you know?
A knock on my door jolts me out of my thoughts.
“Come in!” I call, hoping it isn’t time to go to school already.
The house mother, Darcy, opens the door.
“There’s some people here looking to adopt someone!” she gushes, sounding overly excited. “Brush your hair and come downstairs!”
I roll my eyes. They’re probably looking for a cute little kid, one who won’t talk back or argue. That’s what they all want. I’ve learned to accept that. I’ll be here and in other community houses until I’m 18.
I brush my hair and my teeth, making sure I looked neat and clean. Sighing, I went downstairs. Darcy is standing in front of five boys, talking. They all look to be in their early twenties. Why would they want a kid already?
“Oh!” she says, noticing me. “This is Violet. She’s 14.”
They nod, smiling at me. I smile back at them politely. They seem nice enough, but I doubt that they’ll pick me.
Soon enough, all of my “siblings” are downstairs. She must have told them to come down too. Darcy introduces them one by one, telling them our ages and names. There’s Caroline, Brooke, Christina, Kenzie, Amanda, Jess, Ashley, and me, of course. She also gives a brief description of our personalities.
“So I understand that you’re interested in adopting one of them?” she says, trying to be casual but failing horrendously. Her voice is high pitched and squeaky and hurts my ears.
“Yeah, I think we are.” Says one of the boys with brown hair and brown eyes. He’s pretty cute, but way too old for me. He’s around 21, and I’m only 14. The rest of the boys don’t say anything. They just look around awkwardly.
“I think the boys and I should talk.” The boy who spoke before speaks again.
Darcy nods and looks around at us, grinning from ear to ear. The boys walk into the kitchen, and we can hear hushed voices before they come back.
“So we’ve decided, yeah, we’d like to adopt one of them.” Liam says, smiling.
“Oh? Which one?” asks Darcy.
“Violet.” The one with curly hair says.
I gasp involuntarily. Nobody has ever wanted me. I’m just a normal girl, really. Except for the fact that I don’t have parents.
I’m rather plain, to be perfectly honest. My hair is a boring brown, and my eyes are blue. There is nothing special about me. Furthermore, what do five teenagers want with a fourteen year old girl? I don’t think that anything good is going to come of this.
Darcy makes a face at me when I gasp; snapping me back into the moment.
“Yeah, that’s great! You just need to sign some papers…” Darcy chirps to the boys.
They smile at me and follow Darcy into her office. Meanwhile, the girls surround me.
“I can’t believe they’re adopting you!” exclaims Amanda.
“I know!” I’m grinning from ear to ear. I can’t believe it!
“You’re so lucky, Violet!” one of the little girls, Jess, says. “I wish One Direction would adopt me!”
“What?” I ask, confused. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t place where I’ve heard it.
Jess starts to explain who One Direction is, they all walk into the living room. The other girls scatter, going upstairs to finish getting ready, I guess.
“Vi, why don’t you go pack while I talk to the boys?” Darcy suggests. I nod and walk up the steps wordlessly.
Believe it or not, I’m going to miss this place, and all of the girls. We’ve grown pretty close. Especially Jess. We’re practically like sisters.
I walk down the hallway to my room and begin packing. I don’t really have much, but even so, it takes a good twenty minutes to get it all packed up and ready to go.
I’ve lived here for nine whole years. Darcy and Tim are the closest thing to family that I’ve ever had, and I know I’ll miss them dearly.
Jess opens the door and walks in, her short legs propelling her over to me.
“I don’t want you to go!” she cries, attaching herself to my leg. I bend down and pry her off, scooping her into my arms.
“I know, Jessy.” I say, rubbing her back in small circles, comforting her.
“Are you ever going to come back?” she asks, her small face streaked with tears. It hurts to see her like this, but I have to go. They adopted me. I don’t really have much of a choice.
Darcy knocks on my door.
“Are you ready?” she asks.
“I guess.” I sigh. “Can I have a minute?” she nods and leaves, closing the door.
I plant kisses all over Jess’ face.
“I won’t forget you, okay?” I say, hoping she understands.
“Really soon you’ll be adopted into a family and they’ll love you so, so much!” I assure her, stroking her hair.
“Really?” she asks, looking up at me.
“Yeah, I promise.” I’m close to crying myself. I already miss Jess.
I grab my bag, with her still in my arms. I say goodbye to everyone, and there’s lots of hugs and promises to keep in touch. I’m sure we won’t but it’s nice to promise. I know I’ll talk to Jess, though.
I walk downstairs, with her still clinging to me. I see the boys at the bottom of the stairs.
“Ready?” Curly asks. I nod, not trusting my voice at the moment. I hand Jess to Darcy, who followed me downstairs. I whisper into Jess’ ear promises of seeing her again someday, and I tell her that I love her one last time before kissing her on the forehead and squeezing her hand before following the boys out the door and into their car.

Notes

This is absolutely not a run-of-the-mill (by that i mean that the girl involved doesn’t self harm. She hasn’t been abused and raped. It’s just about her growing up with one direction) adoption story. And of course, I am in no way a perfect writer. This is my second fan fiction. So bear with me.
~Brit <3