Adopted by Dakota Johnson

chapter 5: The start of a new life

The next day when I woke up, I almost forgot where I was. I then recalled everything that happened yesterday and I still couldn't get over it. It was only 7:45 but I decided to already get out of bed. Usually I wouldn't get up this early but I was super excited about today. Today was going to be great. I just knew it! I decided to see if Dakota was already up. It turns out she was already in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Good morning, Reagan," she said in a cheerful voice. "Good morning, Dakota." "I made you some chocolate chip pancakes," she told me. "Oh thank you. That looks delicious!" "Enjoy!" I sat myself down and started eating my pancakes. "Just wondering, how early have you been up?" I asked her. "Since 6:00 in the morning." "Damn, I don't know how you do it." "I'm pretty much used to it since I have to wake up early and go film in the studio most days," she told me.

"so I was thinking of enrolling you in school this week," Dakota said changing the subject. "Wait, what?" I yelled nearly choking on my pancake. This was a topic I was hoping to avoid. "Don't act so surprised. You need to go to school sooner or later." "Well, I was thinking of becoming a dropout. Since i'm fourteen, it's not like there's a law that I have to go to school." "No child of mine is going to become a drop out. You're going to school if you like it or not." I knew I couldn't argue with her at this point. The last thing I wanted to do was make Dakota upset. "Okay fine. Whatever you say."

"I'm glad you agree with me. Now I have to go run some errands. You can come along if you want or not." "I think i'll just stay here," I told her. "Are you sure?" "Yes, i'm kind of tired." "Alright but before I go I want to show you something first. She went upstairs and came back with her computer. "Since you don't have anything to do I was thinking you could use this," Dakota said as she placed it on the counter top. It turned out to be a MacBook. "You can use it any time you would like. I know life can get boring sometimes." "Thank you for the offer," I said. "You're welcome. Just promise me that you won't watch any porn." "You actually think I would do that shit?" "I'm just saying, Reagan. Believe it or not a lot of teens watch it and I don't want you to be one of them." "Don't worry, I wont." "Good. I'll be going now. See you in an hour or so." "Bye Dakota."

After Dakota left I couldn't help but feel a little sad. It was already morning and she had to leave. Maybe going to school wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. It's not like she would have time to spend with me anyway. Instead Dakota would probably be busy with filming. I decided to watch a ton of YouTube videos until she came back.

An hour and a half later Dakota was home. "Sorry I had to leave you here so long. A fan came up to me and we started talking. I ended up losing track of time," she said. "It's fine, really. I was here entertaining myself watching YouTube." "Well i'm glad you weren't too bored. Today I was planning for you to meet my family. They're coming over here." "Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that. I'm so excited!" "It's great that you're happy." "Now that i'm with you, I won't ever be sad again," I said. "Aw you really mean that?" she asked. "Of course! I couldn't ask for a better life." "You saying that just made my day a whole lot better," Dakota said pulling me into a hug.

"So when are we meeting your family?" I asked. "In a few hours. We got a lot of time so don't worry." "I can't wait to meet them. I just hope they'll like me." "They will! Who wouldn't like you?" "A lot of people, Dakota. You would be surprised." "Well I just hope you make a lot of new friends at your school." "I probably won't since i'm socially awkward when I talk to people my age." "I know how you feel. When I was a kid I hated school. It was a living hell. I just want you to get a good education." "Yeah you're right. It is important to get a good education."

After talking about school I told Dakota more about my likes, dislikes, and interests. It seemed like she enjoyed getting to know me. Dakota really does care. "If you have any problems or anything just tell me. I might not be able to solve the problem but I'm always hear to listen," she reassured me when I told her my concerns about starting school.

We ended up watching a movie until it was time to get ready because her family was coming over to see us. As excited as I was, I also felt a little nervous. I'm not very good when it comes to introducing myself and meeting new people. I didn't have too much time to think about this because before I knew it they were already here.

I came down and went to introduce myself. Dakota's siblings and parents were here so it wasn't too many people. I first introduced myself to Dakota's sister, Stella. "Hey, I'm Reagan. It's nice to meet you," I said. "It's nice to finally meet you too! I'm so happy that you're part of our family now. I hope I can get to know you better so we can become close." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was one of the nicest things I've heard someone say to me. "I hope so too," I replied facing her with a smile.

After I introduced myself to everyone we all sat down in the living room. Dakota's family members kept asking me questions about how my life was like before and how I feel about all this change. It was very overwhelming yet so exciting! I was finally part of a family who really cared about me. I never knew what that was like until now. "You're so lucky to have people like this in your life," I said turning to Dakota. "They're your family too now. We both are lucky."

Meeting Dakota's parents and siblings was one of the best nights of my life. They kept welcoming me to the family. It was like something out of a dream. Before they left Dakota's sister, Grace, had something to give me. I opened the box and found a silver locket. "This is beautiful! Thank you so much." "I hope you can remember this night. I wanted to give you a little something for joining our family." "I will never forget this night, ever! It will always be in my heart."