Dare || m.c.

➵ 2.3 - jade

Jade was going to meet this Sheila Golden. She had already typed the email that she would send her. She had already read and reread the email countless times. She had already memorized the email word by word. All she needed to do was click send. She read it again one more time.

Hi,

I'm Jade, Christian and Elizabeth Evans' daughter. My dad died in a fire about three years ago and my mom passed away three weeks ago. She said I should meet you, so if you have time then let me know.

That was all. There was a lot more that Jade wanted to say to her biological parents, but she didn't want to let them down easy. The things she had to say were hateful, to put it gently. They had willingly given away their child so that someone else would take the responsibility that they should have claimed. If they weren't ready for a child, they shouldn't have had one.

"Jade?" Harry poked his head inside, looking adorable in his baggy shirt and messy hair. He was like a mini version of Ashton. If Ashton ever wore baggy shirts.

"Yeah?" Jade replied.

"Can you help me with this homework?" Harry stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him, clutching a folder to his chest. "Mom isn't home and Ashton won't help me."

"Sure, come here," Jade said. "Why isn't Ashton helping you?"

Harry padded across the room and sat in front of Jade on the bed, pulling out a paper from the folder. "He's on the phone with someone." He lowered his voice, glancing around quickly as if to make sure no one was listening. "I think it's a girl."

Jade bit back her smile. He was just so cute sometimes that Jade wished he was her brother. "Do you know her name?"

Harry leaned closer to her, his eyes a little wider than normal. "He called her Beth."

Jade laughed. Ashton was in so deep, it was hysterical how he kept saying he wouldn't ask her out. One of these days he would crack and Jade would shove it in his face. "C'mon, let's see what you have to do," Jade said and Harry handed her the paper. It was a bunch of problems with simple multiplication and division and it wasn't that difficult to explain it to Harry. He was a smart kid, just like Ashton was. When they were done and Harry was putting the paper back, he said, "Do you miss your parents?"

A lump formed in Jade's throat and she swallowed it down. "Yeah. I do."

"I don't remember my real parents," Harry said quietly and his voice trembled slightly. "Am I a bad son?"

"No, no, of course you're not," Jade said quickly. She scooted forward and put one finger under his chin, tilting his head up. There were tears in his eyes. "Harry, you were a baby when they died. There's no way for you to remember them."

"But Ashton was little too and he remembers them," Harry sniffed, a few tears slipping out.

"Hey, come here." Jade opened her arms and hugged Harry. It was hard to imagine how his parents' deaths must have affected him. That kind of trauma at such a young age definitely messed with people's head. "It's okay, buddy, don't cry. Ashton wasn't as little as you were. Plus, you have Sandra and Jack, right? They're your parents too."

"I know," he hiccuped. "I love them, but they're not my real parents. I still want to know my real parents."

"If I could, I would bring them back for you," Jade told him truthfully. She would do anything for Ashton and Harry to have their parents back, if only for a little while.

"Jade!" Harry and Jade both startled at Ashton's voice, who walked into the room just a few seconds later. Immediately, the easy look on his face was replaced with a worried frown. "Hey, what's going on?"