Beautifully Broken

The Shuffle

Jen POV

I wake up at 6:30 am, I roll out of bed and get my day started. The kids get ready for school, and they are out the door at 7:15. My husband is out the door by 7:30, and I am finishing my breakfast by 8. I make everyone else's breakfast first, then I either eat what was left over, or I make myself something different. Today was a make something different kind of day; I made myself oatmeal and sat down to eat. I look at the piece of paper on the counter and grab my cellphone. I'll call when I finish breakfast.
I put my bowl in the sink and grab the card and begin to type the number into my cellphone. "Hello"
"Hello, is this Justin Mazanek?"
"This is Justin. To whom am I speaking?"
"This is Jennifer Harris."
"Oh! Hello Mrs. Harris, have you and your husband had time to discuss?"
"Yes, we have. We would like to foster him if that is still possible."
"Yes, that is still possible. Do you know the earliest you would be able to take him in?"
"We can take him in as soon as tonight if needed."
"That is fantastic, let me call his group home, and we will see when is the best time to move him, and I'll give you a callback. Will that work?"
"Of course."
"Okay, Thank you so much; I will give you a call later today."
"Alright, thank you so much!" I end the phone call and walk upstairs to where the kid's rooms are. We have a small living room area that all of their rooms attach to; I walk into the room between Carson and Chase's rooms. I see a bed set up along the wall and a box of decorations from the room we previously reserved for foster kids. There is a note set up on the bed. I walk over and open it, it says. "Surprise, I got up early this morning and set up the bed and got the decorations from the old room just in case he comes tonight. I don't know if you have free time to decorate today; if not, we can do it later tonight. I only have to go to work till noon today so that I will see you in just a few hours. I love you, and no matter what happens, I know we can handle it." I read the note and smile. I look at the clock on the wall that read 9:30. I go downstairs and do some freelance work waiting for Justin to Call me back. I watch the time slowly go by. Around 11 am, I get a call back from Justin. "Hello"
"Hello, is this Mrs. Harris?"
"Yes, this is she."
"Hi, Mrs. Harris. This is Justin calling you back in regards to fostering Ryker Matthis. His group home said tonight is going to work best if that still works for you."
"Yes, that still works for us."
"Fantastic." I can hear him frantically typing on the other side of the phone. "I will email you guys a copy of his file so you can read that today if you wish. Can I bring him at around 6 pm tonight?"
"Yes, that should be able to work."
"Alright, I will plan on seeing you guys around 6 pm tonight with Ryker."
"Alright, thank you so much!" I hit the end call button just in time to see my husband walk through the door. "Surprise, I got off a little bit early." I smile, illuminates my face. "I know you're happy to see me, but there's something else. What happened?"
"Guess who I just got off the phone with."
"Who?"
"CPS, Justin is going to bring our new Foster, son, tonight at 6."
"Seriously?" I see his eyes widen. All I can do is nod my head. He lifts me and spins me around. "I can't wait to meet him! Let's get lunch and come home. You can tell me all about the conversation." I nod my head as he takes my hand, and we walk out to the car. "Okay, so is he older or younger than Alana?"
"I don't know; Justin said he would send over his file so we can check when we get that."
"Okay, so what do you know about him?"
"Well, I know that He's fifteen, He's a boy, and His name is Ryker."
"Ryker, I like that name."
"I do too. Do you think he's gonna be a good fit?"
"Well, I trust Nicole. She hasn't let us down. The last two times she thinks a kid would be a good fit, we ended up adopting them."
"Yeah, do you think the kids will be okay with this?"
"I think they will; they dealt with Parker pretty well. I can't imagine this going any differently." I look at the clock in the car. "It's almost their lunch break; maybe we should sign them out and give them a heads up over lunch."
"Okay, if you think that's best, I'm going to have to agree with you. I think it might be good to give them a little heads up." we drive to school and sign the three of them out for a little bit. All three kids walk into the office very confused. "Come on, and we're all going out for lunch." They all give us even more confused looks. We load up into the car and drive to Mcdonalds. "As much as I'd love to say that you guys are just being nice and taking us out to lunch randomly, I think that's a lie." Carson says, "What's going on." Chase adds. "Well, we have some exciting news."
"If we are moving again, I am going to cry." Alana says, "I just got my room set up exactly how I want it."
"We've been here for three months. How did you just finish unpacking?" Carson says. "I didn't just finish unpacking; I just finished getting everything set up. There's a difference."
"Kids," Clark says, trying to stop an argument before it fully starts. "Sorry, Dad." Carson and Alana say in almost unison. "Thank you, What your mother was going to tell you is we are getting a new foster placement!"
"Really, When?" Chase asks, "Tonight, He'll be at our house at 6, so we need all of you home right after cross country. I want you all home by 5." They all nod their head, acknowledging what I had just told them. "Do you anything about the placement?" Alana asks. "well, It's another boy, He is your age, and his name is Ryker."
"Ryker Matthis?"
"Yeah, Alana, do you know him?"
"Yeah, we've been friends since middle school."
"How do you know him?" Clark questions, "Ryker's family moved here when we were in fourth grade. He and Caleb are best friends, so I spent a lot of time with him before I moved in with you guys."
"That's so nice. Do you know anything that would make his room feel more like home to him?"
"No, not really. I know he likes to draw, or at least he used to. So maybe some art stuff or something like that."
"Okay, that's good to know; thank you so much, Alana." She smiles at me. We all finish our lunch, and Clark and I take the kids back to school. As we were pulling up to the school, I say, "Now remember, you can't tell Ryker anything if something happens, okay?"
"We know." They all say, "I want a yes or no answer out of all of you."
"Yes, Mom, we know we can't tell him." They all say at the same time. "Good, I love you guys. I'll see you when you get home; at what time?"
"Five o'clock," They all say. "Bye mom, Bye dad," They say, closing the back door of the van and running back inside of the school.

Ryker POV

I look around the room, slightly confused about where I am as I sit up, everything from the night before comes back to me. I hear a knock on the door then Mrs. V walks in. "Good morning, boys." She says quietly. "Good morning," I reply, still trying to wake myself up. She hands me a pile of clothes, "These should be your size; I packed up the clothes you were wearing yesterday. They are sitting upstairs next to your bookbag."
"Thank you so much, Mrs. V" She smiles at me as she walks over to Caleb's bed. "Caleb, Baby Boy, you need to wake up."
"I don't want to." he groans. "I know you don't want to, but you have school." He stretches and wakes himself up. I slide off the air mattress, which was actually more comfortable than my bed at the group home, and head to the bathroom to get ready.
After getting ready, I walk into the living room. "Ryker, it's time for breakfast" I walk into the connected kitchen and see Mrs. V standing by the stove. She hands me a plate with pancakes and strawberries on it. "Eat fast. You three need to leave for school soon."
"Three?" Michael questions, "Yes, you three. You were fine all day yesterday, and last night, you're going to school."
"But Mom," Michael wines while batting his eyelashes at her. "Nice try, but the Mom card isn't going to work this time." She says before kissing the top of his head. He groans in response. "Fine, I'll go get ready." She smiles at him as He rolls his eyes. Caleb comes and sits next to me. "Mmmm, Pancakes! Thanks, Mom!" He says as he begins to salivate over the plate of pancakes in front of him. We eat breakfast silently beside the occasional laughter or comment from Paisley watching her show on the Ipad in front of her. "Boys, it's 7 am; you guys need to leave now if you don't want to be late!" Mrs. V yells as Caleb quickly shovels the last few bites of breakfast into his mouth. Caleb quickly sprints to the door, hoping to beat Michael to the keys. When we get to the door, Michael is standing there holding the keys behind his back to keep them out of Caleb's reach. Caleb is a few inches taller than Micheal, so he struggles to keep his younger brothers' hands off the keys. Caleb finally gives in and quits trying to grab the keys. The rest of that morning kind of felt like a blur, I knew what was going around me, but my mind and heart were off dreaming. The same thought that plagued my head the night before pledged it now. 'Is this what a family should feel like?' 'Will I ever get a family like this?' 'Do I even deserve a family like this?'
I was shaken out of my thoughts by the sound of the bell ringing, signaling that its time for lunch. I throw my notebook and pen into my bookbag before heading out into the hallway. I meet up with Violet, and we walk to lunch. We see Caleb sitting out alone on the grass, where we usually sit. "Where's Alana?" I ask, "I don't know. I know Chase left during Math today; I wonder if her parents pulled her out too?" Violet replies as we walk over to Caleb. "Hey, where Alana?"
"She texted me a little bit ago. Her parents came to pick her, and her brother's up. She didn't know why, though. She said she'd be back in a little bit, though." We both shrug our shoulders. About twenty minutes into Lunch, we see Alana come sit down next to Caleb. "Hey beautiful, you did come back."
"Yeah, mom and Dad just needed to talk to us about something." Alana seems a little bit distant from everyone when she gets back. "Hey, Ali, are you okay?" Caleb says, pulling her closer to his side. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was good news. It's just, I can't talk about it yet," she says, snuggling closer into Caleb. She looks over at me, "Ry, what happened?"
"Nothing. Just got into a little fight last night, that's all." I see Caleb glaring at me. "Okay, so it might have been more than a little fight, but I should have just walked away." Caleb rolls his eyes at me. "What! I don't know what you want me to say."
"I want you to tell her the truth."
"What truth! The fact my roommate beat me up last night because I interrupted him when all I wanted was my backpack because all the food was locked up and I hadn't eaten in 10 hours!"
"What happened?" Alana softly asked, slightly shocked at my sudden outburst. "Alana, it was nothing. You should know that better than anyone."
"What is that supposed to mean?" She asks, getting slightly defensive. "Don't pull that crap with me. We both know group homes can be really rough. Just because you have a family now doesn't change the fact that you were once a stray too."
"No, it doesn't change the fact I know what you're talking about; I just don't like living in that part of my past."
"Well, sorry, we don't all have that luxury, princess." Just when she was about to open her mouth, we heard the bell go off. I quickly grab my bag and walk to class, hoping to avoid any further conversation about the topic.