Dana decided that it would probably be a good idea to let me stick out the last few days of school. But there was a catch. She decided to let me shadow a student at another school for a day, and I agreed. I was sort of sick of my old school anyway.
"Hi, my name is Dana, I'm taking care of Penney for a while and she's supposed to shadow someone today?" Dana said to the lady at the front office. The lady smiled and handed me a manila folder. "Your shadow's Asia, she's one of our top students."
Dana and I turned our heads to a girl with short hair and obnoxious magenta contact lenses. She wore a rainbow skirt and an oversized blue sweatshirt, and she bounced up to me and frantically waved.
This girl was chaotic, that's for sure.
"I'm Asia! Asia Allburn, she/they. What's your name?" the girl said.
"I'm Penney Van Aller, she/her." I said. I took another look at Asia and realized she was actually kind of cute. Dana seemed to notice and elbowed me in the side.
"No, I don't have a crush on her, please be quiet." I whispered. Dana laughed, grabbed her purse, and got up. "I have to get to the theater, school ends at 3:10 and I'll pick you up then. Have fun!"
"Bye!"
___________
Dana's POV
"So, I dropped Penney off a few hours ago. "
"Where?" Alex asked. "I thought she was gonna come here with us until we figured things out and school started back up! Come on, I wanted to hang out with her!"
"You can hang out with her later, I found a school I think she'll like and she's shadowing a girl her age today. She seems nice, her name's Asia. I really hope she and Penney become friends, I think Penney needs some friends."
"I'll be Penney's friend!" Presley said cheerfully.
"I think Dana meant friends outside of here, we all know damn well we're all Penney's friends." Rob said.
"What if you guys...became Penney's family?" I asked.
There was about two minutes of dead silence before Sophia raised her hand.
"I don't quite follow?"
"I want to foster Penney. I think she deserves a good home, it's pretty obvious she's not had a good life." I said.
"I think that's a great idea!" Alex said. "I think she'd really appreciate that. You'd make a good mom."
"Well, I wanted to tell you guys before I told her, because my foster license went through yesterday. I applied as soon as Penney went to bed the night I took her in." I said. I checked my watch and said, "I have to get going in about a half hour to pick Penney up, I'll ask her in the car on the way home."
_________
Penney's POV
Asia was amazing. And maybe Dana was right, I did sort of have a slight crush on her. But Asia doesn't need to know that, not yet that is.
I was walking out to the parent pick up area and saw Dana waving from a car. I hopped in the front seat and buckled my seatbelt.
"How was your day? Was it fun?"
"Really fun! I really like this school, and I think I may want to go next year! I sat with Asia and her friends at lunch, and they're all really nice people!" I said, starting to go on a tangent.
"Well, you can tell me and the others all you want when we get to the Winter Garden, but there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Dana said.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Penney, I was wondering if you wanted me to foster you. My foster license went through yesterday, but I wanted to ask you before I made things official. So...what do you say?"
I smiled at Dana and threw my arms around her.
"I think I'd like that."