Taking My Shot- Adopted by Hamilton

Chapter 12-It was Interesting

"Ri come on somethings bothering you, what is it?" He asks, I can tell he's worried but I don't want to tell him about the Jake thing, that'll just worry him more.

"I'm just scared I'm gonna be lost and behind in classes," I say, trying my best to sound believable, and my acting that day must've been really good because Lin believed me.

"You'll be fine Ri, you're a smart kid and remember if there's anything you need help on just ask," he says keeping his eyes focused on the road but giving me a smile.

"Okay if I have problems in APUSH I'll make sure to consult you," I laugh.

"Hey just because I preform history eight times a week doesn't mean it's the only thing I'm good at!" Lin laughs as we pulled into the school parking lot.

"Oh you're right, but I don't have theater until next trimester," I laugh opening the door to get out of the car, feeling slightly better because Lin made me laugh.

"Hey," Lin says grabbing my arm as I'm about to get out, "I love you." I'm taken aback, I mean I knew he cared about me, he helped me when Mr Brown had me in that ally, he decided to foster me after only knowing me for a couple of hours, he spent 10 hours by my side in the hospital after I nearly died, he spent so much money on me for food and clothes and anything I needed and he spent the last two weeks making me laugh, taking care of me and being by my side through all my ups and downs. I look at Lin, one of the only people to care about me in my life and here he is telling me he loves me.

"I love you too," I say, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. He smiles and I smile back at him.

"Have a great day!" He says.

"Thanks, you too!" I say, as I close the door and walk into school. It feels weird to be back, so much has changed since the last time I saw this place. I'm looking around for my friends when I see him, Jake. We lock eyes and he starts to walk towards me with murder in his eyes, I'm frozen in place, waiting for him to strike when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I jump and turn around and see its Alex, I let out a sigh of relief and hug him.

"Hey, you're at school!" He says, hugging me back.

"Yep," I laugh and I turn around to see Jake gone, I'm relieved but I also know he's here so I still have a sick feeling in my stomach. The bell rings, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to Alex.

"Ready to go to choir?" He asks and I smile, nodding, and we start heading towards the choir classroom. "So what's the story we're going with?" He asks, knowing I'm not ready to tell people what really happened.

"I got really sick and moved into my new foster home. As we were moving I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle," I say, he nods and we reach the classroom door.

"You ready?" He asks, grabbing the door handle. I nod, knowing that on the other side of that door I'll be bombarded with questions since all my friends are in this class. He opens the door and I walk in and all talking stops. I look up and see all my friends looking at me with their mouths wide open, and then as if a bell went off, they all run to me at once.

"Riley!" They all scream as they envelope me in a big group hug. Like I expected they ask lots of questions and I give them the story Alex and I agreed on. They also don't know that my new foster family is Lin and Vanessa because if they did they'd freak out and Lin hasn't said anything about it so I wasn't sure if I should say anything. Choir went by pretty fast and second period was here before I knew it; Math. It was one of my least favorite classes, I suck at math and it's full of people I don't know and don't like, except for my friend Isaac. So as soon as the bell rings we take off to math together and Alex heads off to gym. I do wish Alex and I had more classes together but I'm glad we don't have that one together because watching me in gym is like watching Bambi try to walk on ice; except mine is more funny and not as cute as a small deer. So math drones on and after that is break, Isaac and I head out to our spot by the tree in the court yard to meet up with all our other friends. Slowly but surely everyone shows up and even Alex is hanging with us, and everyone quickly accepts him into the group. The bell rings too soon for my liking and I head off to Science with Jed. Class goes by slowly with me taking notes and Jed making me laugh all period about how the teacher's glasses make him look like a hamster. The bell rings and then I head off to gym, now it's not that I don't like running around and playing random sports for no reason and getting sweaty- oh wait, I do hate that. But it's not just that, I'm also very bad at sports and athletic things in general. So I head to gym with Jed, Conner and Penny since we all have that class together. Soon enough gym is over, and I'm a sweaty mess and my leg is throbbing. Yes, in hindsight I should've just had Lin write me a note and then I could've sat out and not have been sweaty and gross, but I didn't want to deal with people judging me, so I tried to tough it out but now I'm regretting it. I hobble to lunch and see Alex waiting by the tree for me, when he sees me his eyes get wide since I'm limping, and he runs over to me.