Broken Silence Page 3

  Me: Should I dress up for dinner? I’m back btw.

  Sophia: not necessary. It’s just a mall restaurant. :)

  Sophia: your clothes were delivered, check your closet!

  I was excited to see how they looked, maybe I would change anyway. I went to my closet and saw that she put the boxes on the floor. I pulled out and hung up my shirts. The deep colors were even more eye catching in person. I set aside a deep purple for my first day of school. Thankfully the school didn’t have uniforms. I grabbed out a dark teal t-shirt, skinny jeans, and my new black converse and changed. I would save my leather jacket for later. I went back into the room and unloaded all of my new CDs. I picked out one of my favorites and booted up my computer. I spent the next hour downloading all of them so I could listen without the actual CD. I heard a quiet knock on my door and turned around to see Sophia. She was dressed more casually today, in dark jeans and pretty silk top.

  “Are you ready to go soon? I’m getting a bit hungry.” She rubbed her stomach and I gave a small laugh. I appreciated her quiet sense of humor. It lightened the mood without being over the top.

  I stood up and grabbed my wallet and jacket and followed her downstairs. She led me through to the door to the side of the kitchen, which led to the garage. I took one look at her car and did an internal squeal. It was a gorgeous bright blue convertible mustang. I wasn’t exactly a car buff, but it was gorgeous. She gave me a wink when she noticed me drooling over her car.

  “The backyard is through that door, if you ever want to study or read outside. I have a pretty nice patio. There are also sliding doors in my office that lead straight to the patio. Don’t be afraid to use them either.” She explained as we got into the car.

  The mall was really busy today. When we tried to get into the restaurant the hostess said our wait would be 45 minutes. Sophia seemed annoyed, but probably because she was hungry. I couldn’t judge, if I didn’t eat regularly I turned hangry. She just made a reservation for an hour and led me further into the mall.

  “We can do some shopping after I hit up the cookie store. I’m to hungry to wait an hour and who doesn’t love cookies?” She led me to the cookie place she was talking about. It had cookies the size of my face, they were seriously huge.

  “Can I help you, ladies?” A nice middle aged woman asked.

  “I want chocolate chunk. Charlie, what about you?” She asked me. I pointed to the peanut butter cookie and she ordered that for me. I appreciated she didn’t fuss or try to make me talk like all of the other foster families. My last foster mom would have ordered for herself and if I didn’t say what I wanted I wouldn’t have gotten anything. I clearly didn’t cave, so she used that tactic fairly often. I think she thought I was just being a rebellious teen. It was quite a bit deeper than that. I was about to take a bite when I heard my phone going off. I pulled it out to see a text.

  Abby: Hey! It was nice meeting you today. I’m sorry if I was a bit to enthusiastic, my friends always tell me to calm down. It’s just how I am.

  Me: No worries. I appreciate you talking to me.

  Abby: Oh, good! What are you up to tonight?

  Me: Dinner at the mall with my foster mom. You?

  Abby: It’s family game night at my house. I hope she takes you to Dominic’s! It’s sooooo good! Ttyl!

  Me: She is, that’s what she said too. I hope it’s as good as you both say. Ttyl

  I looked up and noticed Sophia smiling. “Did you make a friend today?” She asked enthusiastically. I smiled and nodded yes. She gave me an unexpected hug that I wasn’t ready for. I forced myself to not be tense and attempted to hug her back. “I’m proud of you.” She whispered in my ear before pulling away. I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I didn’t handle compliments or kind words very well.

  “I need to check out the beauty store. You mind joining me? That should give us just enough time to head back to the restaurant.” She waited for my response, so I gave my signature nod and she led the way. She was like a kid in a candy store in this place. It had everything from makeup to hair dye and accessories. She had her little shopping basket they hand out at the doors full in not time.

  I stopped following after what felt like her fifth lap around the store. I was barely paying attention until I hit the dye section. They had normal colors, but at the end was a display of rainbow dyes. I always wanted colorful highlights but my last school was super strict on dress codes, and that included unnatural hair colors.

  “Do you want to dye your hair?” Sophia asked, startling me. I gave a questioning look that she clearly interpreted. “I don’t care, and I doubt Danielle will. It won’t violate school rules either, this school is really laid back, their only dress rules pertain to gym. Speaking of which we need to hit the sports store for your gym uniforms.” I turned back to the hair colors. I gave up, realizing I couldn’t dye my own hair. Sophia is apparently a mind reader and stopped me with a light hand on my shoulder. “I know how to highlight and dye hair, if you want the help?” She asked gently. My eyes lit up and she smiled.

  I picked out a pale purple and pink. They were subtle enough that I didn’t think it would overwhelm my appearance. Sophia made quick work of getting the other supplies she would need and we checked out. I was going to use my allowance for it, but Sophia refused. I felt my cheeks warm again at her generosity.

  We made our way back for our reservations. I noticed we arrived just in time and I was impressed that we wasted an entire hour in just one store. Then again I spent three hours in two stores this morning.

  The hostess led us to a table in the back. As we sat down Sophia pulled out a small notebook and pen. The waiter asked for our drinks and I wrote down my choice so Sophia could order.

  ‘Thanks for bringing this, it makes it easier.’ I wrote for Sophia. She seemed so surprised. “Why wouldn’t I bring a way for you to communicate?” She asked, sounding genuinely appalled. ‘My other foster families didn’t communicate with me at all, aside from telling me what to do.’ I wrote down and gave her a shrug. Her facial expression immediately morphed into anger. “That is terrible. You matter, Charlie. I won’t ever do that to you.” She vowed in a serious tone. I felt a tear slip down my cheek before I realized it. She quickly wiped it away and gave my hand a squeeze. She was too nice for words and made me feel accepted for the first time in years. It was something I never expected when moving here.

  The rest of our meal went smoothly. She asked me about my interests and my favorite movies. We filled out several pages before we finished eating. The restaurants was as good as they described. I felt the barrier I had built around myself fracture the tiniest bit. I felt a strange sense of belonging that I didn’t think I would get to feel again.

  On the ride home I wanted to check with Abby about the dress code. I would hate to get in trouble the first day.

  Me: Does the school have any dress code policies on unnatural hair colors?

  Abby: Nope! They are really open minded for a high school. Are you dyeing your hair?!

  Me: My foster mom is going to do a two toned dye.

  Abby: Send me a picture when it’s done!

  I smiled to myself again. Abby seemed really nice, I hope she doesn’t just get bored with me too quickly. It would be nice to at least have one friendly face at school.

  “Ok, I unfortunately have to make a work call when we get back. But I vote we dye your hair after breakfast tomorrow. Find me a picture of what you are thinking and have it ready. I promise I won’t mess it up, I actually was a hair stylist before I decided on law school.” I gave her a shocked look and she laughed. “I did it to afford my own place and so I could make money on the side during law school. Stylist hours are so flexible that it was the perfect way to get through college.” She explained. I was even more excited to add the color to my hair now.

  As soon as we got home I ran up to my room. I turned my music on shuffle and used my tablet to find what I wanted. I fell asleep fast, all the walking and shopping wore me out. It w
as the first night in a long time I didn’t have a nightmare.

  Chapter 3

  ‘I am torn between the highlights, or doing the top one color and underneath the other color.’ She looked so serious that I almost had to laugh. Sophia was intently staring at the choices I gave her of how to dye my hair. I was torn so she was my tie breaker. The highlights were cool, but I thought the bottom part of my hair being dyed would look badass in a ponytail. “Ok, I think the two toned dye is my winner. What is your final decision?” She was using a game show host cheesy voice. I pointed to the same one and she quickly got to work setting out all we needed. “How do you feel about scissors getting involved? This would look best with a light layering, so that people can see both colors.” I quickly jotted down ‘that sounds perfect!’ and she grinned. She ran off to her bedroom that was down the hall I didn’t notice the first night.

  The layout downstairs was a bit odd. The stairs were near the front door, but behind the stairs was a hallway that wasn’t easily noticed. To the left was the living room and the kitchen was straight ahead past the stairs. Her office was in the same small hallway as her bedroom. I really did love this house, it was bright and homey. It was so vastly different from my childhood home that it actually put me at ease.

  “Let’s do the haircut on the patio. You haven’t seen the backyard yet anyway. Oh also, I meant to tell you that I have a housekeeper that comes on Sundays to do some deep cleaning around the house. She should be here soon, but she let’s herself in and does her thing.” She burst back into the room, startling me from my thoughts. She quickly led me outside through the garage.

  The backyard was gorgeous, though I wasn’t shocked at this point. It was decently big, there was an inground pool on one side of the yard and the other had a small garden shed. She had a flower garden lining the fence line. The patio was spacious and had a small bar on one side and a large patio set on the other. It had what looked like a retractable canopy for shade or rain. She had it against the house today since it was cool and not overly sunny.

  “Sit here.” She said as she pulled out one of the chairs. I sat down. My hair hadn’t been cut in two years, and it was long to begin with. It now reached down to my lower back. I was blessed with good hair at least. It wasn’t frizzy and had a slight wave to it if I put the right product in. I wasn’t very talented with curling or styling my hair, so I was thankful it was easy to manage and generally wore it down or in a pony tail.

  Sophia trimmed off a few inches and layered it. She asked me if I wanted bangs and I found another picture to show her my preference. She gave me bangs that swept to the side and gently blended into the rest of my hair. I loved how it looked when she was done. I was slowly starting to feel like a brand new person. Maybe Danielle had been right to find me a new foster home. Change could be therapeutic in its own way.

  “What do you think?” Sophia asked, looking extremely proud of her work. I was in her master bathroom using her mirrors to check out my new hair. It looked ridiculously good! The light purple was on top with the pink underneath. The layering she gave me allowed the pink to peek through.

  I looked like an entire different person. I gave her a happy smile and a thumbs up. She looked so happy with my response. It was odd to me how genuinely happy she was to spend time with me. I took out my phone and took a quick selfie for Abby. Her response was instantaneous.

  Abby: Dude, that looks amazing! I like the bangs!

  Me: Thanks, I love it. See you tomorrow!

  Sophia said she would have dinner ready in an hour, so I hurried upstairs to get my backpack ready for school and pulled out my schedule. I had all of the usual classes. I had history, algebra, english, biology, gym and my last class of the day was titled the arts. Sophia had explained yesterday that it was a mash up of theater, art and music. The school wanted to offer well rounded options. I had never heard of any schools being so open. I knew nothing art, but I was excited about the music and theater classes. I realized I still didn’t know how I was going to get to school so I went to see if I could help Sophia in the kitchen and bring it up.

  I made my way downstairs and quickly jotted my question on the notebook before making my way into the kitchen. I caught her attention and gave her a questioning look.

  “You want to help?” She sounded surprised. I guess most teenagers didn’t care about helping out. “Can you pull the rolls out of the oven and set the table?” She asked as she stirred something on the stove.

  I opened a few cabinets until I found the plates and quickly had them on the table with a plate of rolls. Sophia walked in not long after and set down a huge dish of pasta and broccoli. It looked really good, which had me wondering if there was anything she wasn’t good at.

  “I can never make a small amount of pasta. If I try and cut it down, I don’t have enough. Every other time I make enough to feed our entire block.” I chuckled to myself and Sophia gave me a startled look. I blushed again. It was probably the first time she heard me laugh since I had been here. I wasn’t one for openly laughing lately, but Sophia somehow brought me out of my shell a little. She grabbed the notebook, apparently noticing my question. “I will drive you this week, then at the end of the week we can talk about other options if you don’t want rides anymore.” She said with a shrug. I gave her a happy smile and she didn’t hesitate to return it.

  When I tried to go to bed a bit early, so I was rested for my first day of school, I couldn’t sleep. I was tossing and turning for what felt like hours. My anxiety about a new school started to really hit me. I checked my clock and saw it was already 11:30. I was going to be so sleepy tomorrow if I kept this up. I got up and grabbed my book and turned on the lamp by my bed. I only made it through a few pages before I finally fell asleep.

  “Have a good day, honey. The office is near the front entrance, so go there first.” Sophia said with a wave and she drove off. I took a deep breath and walked inside. I entered the office and realized how much bigger this school and student body was than my old one.

  The campus seemed huge. It was one main building in the middle, and off to each side was a smaller building connected by a covered walkway. The other two buildings connected to the school’s gym, forming a diamond shape.

  I walked into the office and handed the secretary my papers. She looked at it and gave me a warm smile. Danielle had made sure my enrollment was finished and indicated that I didn’t speak. Maybe that would be easier for the teachers to understand. I’m sure they communicated that to each of them. Or at least I really hoped they did.

  My old teachers weren’t as understanding since they knew I used to speak just fine. It’s the funny thing about when a tragedy hits a small town. The town and gossip moves away from the tragedy, forgetting all about it. Those trying to help had no trouble telling me to move on. My past was something I relived every night, so it was hardly something I could forget and move on from quickly, if ever.

  “Ok dear, smile so I can get your ID picture.” She held up a webcam and snapped a photo. She clicked a few buttons and my ID came out from the small printer next to her computer. She punched a hole and threaded a school lanyard through it. “Make sure you keep this handy. Today you will have to verify yourself and show it to your teachers, and every day you scan this in the cafeteria before you pay. Here is a campus map and here are your enrollment copies. I circled your locker on your map, your combination is written at the bottom. Hand a copy of your enrollment form to each teacher today. If you have any questions head back to me and I will try to help. Here are all of your books. Have a good day miss James.” She finished with a smile and handed me a stack of books before she quickly went back to her computer.

  I followed the map to my locker, thankfully they put my locker next to my first class of the day. I made my way down the hall until I found the locker. I checked the combination and entered it in and tried to open my locker. It wouldn’t budge. I tried the code again and still it wouldn’t work. I was about to head back to the office w
hen a voice stopped me.

  “I had that locker last year, give it a hard tap right here and it loosens the hinges.” The guy behind me pointed at the spot he wanted me to tap. I tried it out and the locker finally swung open. I turned around a gave him a big smile. I quickly put away the books I didn’t need until after lunch. I gave the guy a quick wave and hurried to class.

  I followed my map to find my history class. I walked in just before the final bell rang. I spotted the middle aged teacher and handed him my form. He quickly read it over and directed me to an empty seat in the middle of the room. I sat down, thanking God that he didn’t try and introduce me to everyone.

  “Hey.” The guy next to me gave a small nod. I just smiled quickly and focused my attention on getting my notebook and history book out. “Do you like living here?” He asked, not so subtly trying to get my attention again. I nodded my head again. Maybe it wasn’t a good thing the professor didn’t mention me.

  “Hey, new girl!” a girl that sat on my other side greeted me. I gave her a quick smile. “Where are you from?” I pulled out my notebook and wrote down my answer and showed her. She gave me an odd look, but wasn’t put off. “Do you like it here so far?” I gave another nod before she gave me the usual annoyed look and turned away. Well that was quick.