Don't call me crazy (All Time Low/ Alex Gaskarth adoption story)

Chapter 2 - did I forget to mention...

ALEX

I looked at Sammi from the corner of my eye whilst I drove down an empty street "So Sammi, Jocie-"

"The Carer" she corrected me

"Right, so the Carer said that you will be staying with me for three weeks, with checkups every two days and if all goes well then I can officially adopt you. Sound good?"

"Sounds awesome" she beamed, this was all going so quickly. A day ago if you had told me I would be adopting a teenage girl I would have laughed in your face but now...now it was actually happening. None of my family, friends or fans knew about it...I should acutally probably tell them. "So Sammi, I hear you like music?"

"Wow, Mr. Gaskarth can read?" she replied in a sarcastic tone making me chuckle

"Well, what kind of music?"

"Rock, pop-punk etc. All that music that you probably consider "Emo"" she said, putting quotation marks around the word emo

"Actually, I listen to a lot of that stuff as well, so do my mates, I reckon you will fit in. Want me to put some music on now?"

"Yeah!" her eyes lit up at the word music

"Ok, well, there's this band called All Time Low that are pretty cool, I reckon you would like them" I wanted to know her honest opinion about the music I make. I placed 'Don't Panic' into my radio and The Reckless And The Brave began playing. She smiled and began bobbing around to it, making me laugh.

*fifteen minutes later*

So Long Soldier had just finished as I pulled into the diner and turned off the ignition "Hungry?" Sammi nodded eagerly and we both jumped out of the car and entered the diner. As we entered I heard someone shout my name

"Yo! Alex! Over here dude!" I turned to see my band mates and Matt all sitting at a table looking at what to order. Well shit. This is going to be...interesting. I grabbed Sammi's hand and dragged her over to the table but not before whispering a quick warning about Jacks hyperness "Woah! Dude! Who's the hot chick?" Jack said with a wink. I felt a wave of protectiveness go over me and couldn't help what I said next

"Keep the fuck away from my daughter Jack or I swear to god I will rip your tiny balls off!" That was not how I was going to break the news to them...oops. Everyone was silent and just stared between me and Sammi processing what I just said .

"Ok...I get that you don't want me stealing your girl but...at least make up something believable...like...she has an STD or she was on 16 and pregnant or-"

"Jack! Shut the fuck up! Do NOT speak about my daughter like that!" I clasped my hand over my mouth in shock. Again with the protectivness! Seriously Alex, what the fuck?! She isn't even legally yours yet! Everybody was staring at me again and Sammi looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. I grabbed her and pulled her away slightly from the group then close into my chest for a hug. I felt my t-shirt get wet from tears and tightened my grip around her "Hey sweetie, shhhh, what's up? Why so sad?" I pulled out, bent down slightly to her level and scraped the hair out of her eyes so I could see them

"They already think I'm a slut"

"What?! Where did you get that from?!"

"Well...they think I banged you and...and that I'm 16 and pregnant and-"

"Shhhh, thats just Jacks humor. I'm sorry, I didn't know they would be here, we can leave if it's too overwhelming?" I flattened her hair down and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. She shook her head

"I don't want you to miss out of seeing your friends and also, I'm starving and you're paying" she let out a small smile and I laughed. I kissed her head and took her back over to the table where everyone was glaring at Jack and he was looking at me worriedly. I cleared my throat and grabbed Sammi's hand as she pulled on her jumper sleeves

"Everybody, I kind of have something huge to tell you and I probably should have told you before but oh well!" I chuckled slightly only to be met by a glare from Matt and everyone else staring blankly "So um...I got a call from this woman called Josie and she...asked if I wanted to be involved in a special programme about getting teens who have been in care homes for a while adopted and I agreed...and so...this is Sammi...I going to be adopting her..." I looked down at the floor and heard Sammi sniff

"Well that was...unexpected" I heard Rian say

"Dude I thought you were gonna tell us this was the result of a one night stand when you were like...10!" Matt sounded relieved

"Congrats" I heard Zack smile

"So...I definitely can't bang her?" I snapped my head up at Jack and scowled only to see him smiling goofily at me "Joking! Welcome to the family Sammi!" he got up and rushed over to her, when he moved his hands up to hug her though she flinched back and I had to catch her to stop her from falling over. Jack looked heartbroken and looked at me for an explanation "Um...Josie said that Sammi has trust issues and it was a miracle she even spoke to me so" he nodded but still looked like he was crushed. Sammi looked up at his face and saw his disheartened expression and suddenly jumped on him, giving him, what I'm guessing, was a bone crushing hug. He smiled widely and hugged back before setting her down "Welcome to the family Sammi"

Everyone scooted up and let myself and Sammi sit in the booth with them whilst somene came and took our order, which was of course two burritos for everybody (Jack insisted that Sammi had to try them seeing as she never had before). We all started chatting over eachother, Sammi was quiet until Matt spoke to her

"So Sammi, what kind of music do you like?"

"Same as you guys apparently! In fact, Alex showed me this band called...All Time Low? on the way here. They were pretty great!" Everybody started laughing and she blushed a deep red then leaned over to me "Did I say something wrong?" she whispered. My heart felt for her

"No sweetie...kind of an inside joke, don't worry!" she nodded and started smiling again when she and Zack started talking about skateboarding. Jack got up and signalled for me to come with him  so we walked over towards the bar area

"Dude, you must have picked out the perfect kid I swear!" he sounded over-excited but then suddenly his face flashed white like he was remembering something "But..um...did you...err...see her um...wrists?" he looked down and picked at his nails

"No...why?"

"Cuz there are some pretty fresh cuts and...yeah" my heart sank and I felt tears in my eyes. I was already so attatched to this girl!

"Right..yeah...thanks for telling me" Jack clapped my back and I looked back up at him

"On a different note, did you think you would get away with hiding her forever? Seeing as we live together...that may have been hard" Shit. I hadn't thought about that. I hadn't told Jack I was adopting and that there would be a teenage girl living with us and I hadn't told Sammi that she would have to live with a 5 year old in a 25 year old man's body...this really was happenng extremely quickly. Jack smirked and walked back off to the group, anouncing that he was home and that clearly everyone missed him. Typical Jack. I then thought about telling my parents. I had a lot to explain, to a lot of people