399 Direction (1/2)

With Marie driving, we didn't have to walk up to the school from the lower lot. She parked close to the building and hopped out, opening up her trunk for us. I also got out and then the four in the back squeezed out as well.

We heard a couple of laughs not far away and spotted some of the softball girls.

"It's almost like a clown car." One laughed as the twins stretched out. Being six feet tall, they really were squished into such a small space in a small car.

I felt guilty, glancing at the front seat.

Marie shot them a look and the other girls scattered.

We grabbed our bags and started to go our own ways.

"Look out for Zeke today!" Dave grinned at me and Noah right before we split from them. "Maybe walk by his locker at lunch to get a laugh."

Noah nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Try not to die before the game." He laughed to himself and we walked towards our class.

"We're not really going to walk by his locker later, are we?" I asked. "What if Zeke thinks we had something to do with that too?"

Noah shook his head. "We might as well sneak a peek. He'll probably think we had some part in it anyways. This is how birthdays are in the house." He slung his arm around my shoulders. "Better get used to it."

I sucked in a huge gulp of air. "You mean...you think I'll still be with you guys for my birthday..?" My birthday was months away. Half a year. All the way in October. That means all of summer break and the start of the new school year with the Atkins.

"Yea, I really think so!" Noah nodded. "I know we never got around to looking up adoption requirements this past weekend, but we can start today. Zeke's locker is near the library. Just on the way. So we'll take a look at what Dave put together for him and then go to a computer in the library."

"Can we eat in the library?" I asked. I was also wondering if I could get a chance to look up Patterson. Maybe if Noah wants to go eat, I'll have a chance.

"We can just eat on the bus ride to OLU." Noah shrugged. "We leave right after anyways." He made a face. "I swear my math teacher hates me because we've been missing so many afternoons." He smiled at me. "But I can count on you to tutor me if I need help before finals right?"

I nodded. "Sure. I don't mind. Math is easy."

Noah rolled his eyes.

I laughed to myself. With him loving baseball so much, you'd think that he would see how much math was involved in the sport. But I guess Noah is more of an "all instinct player" than anything.

We went to our classroom and sat down. We had a packed morning before we could make any progress with anything else. The closer we got to lunch, the more my stomach filled with butterflies.

A lot of 'what ifs' were making it hard to concentrate during class. What if foster parents can't adopt? What if they don't really want to adopt me? What if I have to wait until they find my dad? What if Noah gets into a fight with his parents if they say no?

I was scared to find out, but anxious to find out at the same time.

We dumped the books we wouldn't need today for homework and then headed for the library. Noah led the way, making sure to pause by a tree in the center of the quad area.

He pointed to some outdoor lockers. "Oh geez! Look what Dave did."

I turned and was about to ask what, but it became obvious. Glaringly obvious. There was only one locker that had pink barbie wrapping paper plastered to it, with matching balloons all tied to it. A few girls were taking pictures and posing at the locker like it was part of a photo shoot.

Noah shook his head. "I can only imagine what Zeke will do next." He chuckled. "I bet he's too scared to go to his locker with all those girls surrounding it."

I didn't think so. Zeke wasn't afraid of anything, let alone some girls that wanted to take pictures with all that pink.

"Let's get going before he catches us over here. It would be too suspicious." Noah turned.

"Why would you be afraid to get caught if you weren't afraid when you committed the crime?" A stern voice asked.