the photographer. [zdh]

nineteen

the boys had told zach they knew that i was adopted, and zach told me. now, we were all sitting at the bunks, the boys waiting for me to explain everything. they didn't force me into it, but considering that i would be living with them, i wanted them to know what they had to know.

i had only told the story a few times before. to zach, emma, samantha, and most recently, tyler.

once everyone was sitting somewhere -- zach was sitting next to me on my bunk for 'emotional support' -- i began.

"i'm sure all of you know i'm adopted, and my sister is loren gray." i snapped, looking at them. they looked apologetically at me as i continued.

"the lady at the orphanage, the same person who brought me back from the church which i wandered into. well, she told me that my parents had supposedly died in a car crash when i was a year old. i grew up there like any other kid in the orphanage; i led an extremely boring and organised life. but it wasn't necessarily bad."

"i was there until the month after my eighth birthday, when a couple came to adopt me. they were nice and welcoming at first, making sure i had everything i wanted."

"firstly, let me say that they were rich. like, filthy rich. both my foster parents were successful surgeons, earning a lot, and were rarely at home. speaking of home, their house had three levels, a front garden and a backyard with both a pool and a barbeque pit. i had my own room, and so did loren. i was comfortable there, and had pretty much everything i asked for. whatever loren and i wanted, they'd give it to us, no questions asked."

"loren and i treated each other well and we respected each other, but we were never that close. we were the same age, but we didn't end up in the same classes, we didn't hang out together like normal sisters, we didn't bond. she was always out with her friends although we were only in third grade. unlike loren, though, i didn't have any friends, so i was always alone. and in a house that big, it was rather boring being home alone."

"but in fourth grade, i met zach."

at this, i turned to smile at him as he grinned back and squeezed my hand.

"yeah, zach and i were sitting next to each other and talked a lot, thus becoming best friends. he was bullied because of his big dreams of becoming a musician, and i was shunned because i was 'the kid with the family that didn't make time for her'. so both zach and i didn't have any friends, and we became each other's first friends. zach and i would hang out regularly after school, and spend literally all our time together. but next thing i knew, my foster parents, loren and i were moving to pittsburgh."

"saying goodbye to zach was hard, but it had been a year since he was last bullied, and we were both fourteen. so, well, he had friends even after i left, and that's great," i said, leaning on zach's shoulder.

"life in pittsburgh was pretty much the same as life in dallas, so i didn't need to adjust to anything. the only thing different was that i signed up for art classes, which was where i met emma and samantha. two years in pittsburgh later, we moved back as my foster parents were stationed in dallas again. loren was seventeen and i was sixteen at the time."

"arriving back in dallas, loren moved out, and i was told that since i was seventeen, my foster parents would give me a house for my own, should i choose to move out. at the time, i had already started photography for a while, and since my foster parents didn't let me have a darkroom in the house, i thought moving out would allow me to have a fully-functional place to do the stuff i actually want to do."

"but then, zach returned, and invited me on tour with you guys, and i'm here now. my new house would be given to me whenever i return to dallas, or after i find my real parents. and i think the answer is in that thumbdrive," i finished, pointing at the little device still decrypting in zach's computer. as daniel leaned over to check the progress, i saw that it was at 95%.

"soon, leah," daniel said to me as i returned his smile. "yeah."

"probably by tomorrow," corbyn yawned. "we'd get your answers before you turn eighteen and do the dna testing!"

zach smiled as he hugged me. "soon, lels, soon."

tears stung my eyes as i hugged him back and the boys piled in for a group hug.

the answers were so close, yet so far.

maybe not that far. jay did say that my family was closer than i thought.

✎

a/n what the heck is this chapter again, i'm sorry :( i wrote this on the plane on three hours of sleep; great job hannah !1!1!1!

also HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY CORBYN MATTHEW BESSON, WE LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART (because we have 5 hearts and one for each of the boys) AND YES WE APPRECIATE YOU AND YOUR AMAZING WONDERFUL TALENTED SELF AND PERFECT VOICE SO MUCH 💘❤💓💕💖💗💙💚💛🧡💜🖤💝💞💟❣💌