Chapter 3

Aurora Bell

Last day of exams came and went and I got the last exam done. Sophia and Jack both left after Sophia got done with her one exam for the day.

When I got out of my last class after taking my last exam I had a few different texts from not only Sophia and Jack but from their mom Amelia also.

Sop- Hey chickadee we are off with the parentals. Please be careful while we're gone and make sure to txt me. Gonna miss you like crazy. Love ya bich.

Me- Hey bich don't worry I'll make sure I txt like 10 times a day so you know I'm still alive. I promise to be super duper careful while your gone. Have fun and send lots of pics. Gonna miss you also, love ya more bich.

Sophia's text's are always funny because like me she doesn't like to cuss unless she really has a good reason to. So instead of saying bitch she's always called me a bich as a sort of joke. It started on my first day of school in freshman year.

Sophia was having a bad day to start with and she'd asked if she could sit by me in a class that we shared. I didn't realize that she was talking to me because I was use to everyone always ignoring me. So after not answering her she said I didnt have to be a bich an ignore her I could just say no.

After I realized that she was talking to me I apologized and told her I wasn't use to people talking to me and she was more than welcome to sit by me. And that was the start of our friendship and our running joke of calling each other a bich.

My other two texts were from Jack and Amelia.

Jack- Hey tiny tot hope your last exams went good. We're off with the family. Please be careful while we are gone. Especially when you go to The Clare Glens. There is some dangerous spots around there so take your pepper spray that I gave you with you and be careful. Stay on the trails and don't go off of it. Make sure to txt me everyday and I'll see you when we get back. Love ya tiny tot.

Me- Jackie my exams went good and I'm pretty sure I aced them. I promise to stay on the trail and to take my pepper spray with me and keep it close. I will be very careful I promise. You and Soph forget that I'm use to being alone and I can take care of myself. I'll text you a few times a day. Have fun with the family and take lots of pictures. See you when you get back. Love ya Jackie.

Amelia- Hey sweetheart I hope that your exams went well. I wanted to thank you again for the painting. My husband loved it as much as I did and said that you did an absolutely amazing job on it. Everyone else that's seen it said the same thing. It will be hung up on my living room wall for everyone to see. Be careful while we are gone and text or call if you need anything.

Me- Thank you so much for the praise. I'm glade that your husband and everyone else likes it. Art has always been something that I've loved to do. I will be careful while I'm out site seeing I promise. Jackie has already told me to make sure that i've got my pepper spray that he gave me with me. I'll have it on me and close so I can easily access it if I need it. I hope you all have fun on your trip and I'll see you when you get back.

It has been nice to have Soph and Jackie worry about me and care about me. It took awhile to get use to it, after not having anyone to care about me for so long. I've never had a parent or a parental figure to care about me and it feels kind of strange.

Being in foster care most of the foster parents just took kids in for the checks that they got and didn't care at all what happened to us. It was rare to be placed in a home where people cared about you.

Having Amelia texting me to praise me on the painting and to make sure that I will be safe was a new experience. In a way I felt like there was a family connection to her and it didn't make since. Maybe it was just because Sophia and Jack were like siblings to me.

After checking my texts and texting back, I headed back to my apartment. After being over here for a few months I had gotten my driver's license and learned how to drive and got a cheap car so I didn't have to take a cab or bus. It was actually cheaper as well.

On my way back to my apartment I decided to stop by the local grocery store. I needed to get groceries and snacks and drinks that I can pack up to take with me when I go site seeing.

I've got a book bag that I'm going to fix up to carry with me and a little cooler with wheels to take with me with drinks and sandwiches in. I've already got most of what I need packed up. I'm only taking a day trip but I want to be prepared so I've got a duffle bag packed up with extra clothes and toiletries.

I've got a first aid kit packed in my bookbag already and an extra one thats bigger in my car. At the store I'm getting snacks, gatorade, water, stuff for sandwiches, wet wipes, pain medicine and allergy medicine.

I sat last night and made a list of things I thought that I may need so I can be prepared. Some may say I'm going overboard but I'd rather be way to prepared and not need the stuff then to go under prepared and need something and not have it.

Always being by myself taught me to be prepared. I was so use to being alone that I always made sure I was prepared so if something happened I didn't have to worry about trying to find help to get what I needed I would already have it.

I'm still the same way but not as bad as I use to be now that I've got Sophia and Jack. Im starting to get use to them being there when I need someone.

After getting my groceries for the next week, as well and my snacks and drinks, I head home. It's just a short trip to my apartment and then I gotta carry it all in.

It takes me a few trips but I get everything in and get it all put away. I fix up grab bags of snacks for the week so that they are all ready to go and I just have to grab a bag and put it in my bookbag and go.

I didn't tell Sophia or Jack but I have most of the week off of work. I worked last night and then I work tonight which is the big Friday night crowd and that's good money and good tips, and then I work Saturday and Sunday as well.

The weekends are our busiest times and I always walk out of there with a few grand a night in tips. Thankfully, after I count all of my tips for the night, my boss Sam will take all but a hundred dollars and put in an envelope with how much I made and what night it was on it.

Sunday night when we are done for the night and closed he will add up all of the envelopes together and write me a check so that I don't have to carry all of that money around with me. Between Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday I can at times make close to five thousand altogether.

That's a lot of money to keep locked up in my apartment or to carry around with me until I can get to the bank on Monday. Between what I get paid for full time work and what I get in tips I've got a pretty good nest egg built up.

Im saving up so that when I decide where I want to move once school is done and I can afford to buy me a cute little house. And still have money put back so that I can get my photography and art to start selling.

Now that everything is good to go at home and for my trips it's time to get a shower and get ready for work. I can't wait untill this weekend is over so that I can start site seeing and taking pictures.

I have a feeling that this week is going to be amazing and that something big is going to happen. I don't know what it is but I have a feeling that my life is about to completely change. Weather it's for the good or the bad, who knows.