Red & Blue

1: Treehouse

"Lauren, baby, do you mind coming here for a minute?" One of her foster dads, Andre, called to her. She hops from the couch, where she was watching T.V. with their youngest child, and ran towards the man's voice.

"Yes, Papá Dre?" She says sweetly. The darker man was leaning against the kitchen counter with his husband standing next to him. Both wore unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?" Anxiety started to quickly fill her body. She really liked these people and would hate for them to send her back to the foster care center.

So, she tries hard to stay on her best behavior.

"You didn't do anything wrong, honey bun," Papá Derrick assures, coming over to her and picking her up. She wraps her arms around his neck and he kisses her cheek, making her giggle a bit.

"The reason why we called you here was because we got your progress report from the school," Papá Dre starts. "Mhm?" The girl hums.

The first man looks down at the sheet of paper, lips forming a smile before he looks back up at the child.

The look was starting to worry the six year old. "What is it? What did they say?" Her eyes go from one adult to the other. They're keeping something from me and I don't like it.

She squints a bit at them.

"Hold on, hold on. No need to get upset, baby. It's nothing bad at all," Derrick says gently when he noticed her skin was beginning to blush.

Another reason why she loves this family was because they actually paid attention to her. Down to the smallest detail. They know she came from a messed up home, so they make sure she's given whatever she's been deprived of.

He started bouncing her a little, calming her down effectively.

"It's not?" She asks, her thick brows bunching in the middle. Andre gives her the paper with an excited smile on his face.

"Read it aloud, read it aloud," he says eagerly.

Lauren's eyes scan the page briefly before she starts reading.

"To the parent/guardian of Lauren Hansen, we'd like to inform you that we recognized your child's brilliance and would like to give her a two year head start to the third grade-," the girl's eyes widen and looks over at the adults.

"They're skipping me?" She asks in disbelief. This earned her tight hugs and kisses from both of them.

"What happened?" The couple's youngest daughter comes in. Derrick set Lauren down and watched as she ran to the slightly older girl. "I'm going to the third grade, Mani!" The darker skinned girl shared her excitement and hugged her as well.

"I told you you were smarter than everyone," Mani playfully teases, sticking her tongue out. This causes Lauren to giggle. Derrick picks her up again from behind, making her squeal in glee.

"We're so proud of you, baby girl!" He says, kissing her cheek again. She giggles again, hugging him. During the hug, she noticed her sister standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Wait, what about Mani?" She points. "Awe," Andre coos, scooping his daughter into his arms.

"This calls for a celebration," Derrick says. "Ice cream, please?" The youngest asks with big puppy dog eyes and a little pout.

Andre awes again, smiling, "Anything for our third grader." He then glances over at his older daughter. "Y'all can have your own sundaes, too."

Both girls cheer, eager to leave already.