Heyo, human beings from outer space!
I feel like it's been forever since I last updated.
So, I'm pretty sure the title of this story is a song. Or maybe like five songs. But I made up my own lyrics for my own song to put in this. It took me two minutes. I didn't put a whole lot of effort into the song.
Anyways, I really don't know what this is. I wrote another gut punch story to publish a few days ago, but I decided not to publish that one yet because the previous story was a gut punch. I don't want to punch you in the gut two times in a row.
So yeah.
Read on if you dare.
"Ben, stop flirting with the orphanage people and hurry up," Anakin whined.
"Anakin, you're sixteen, stop behaving like a child," Ben ordered before turning back to Mother Satine of the Shili Orphanage.
"I'm not acting like a child," Anakin pouted, crossing his arms and glaring at his older brother.
Ben didn't reply. He ignored Anakin and continued speaking with Satine.
Anakin grumbled and let out a very childish sigh. "Fine, I'll go... explore or something."
Once again, Ben didn't reply. Anakin kicked at the dusty ground and turned to a dim hallway. Ben had already dragged him down a few hallways, but the orphanage was larger and Anakin hadn't explored most of it.
In all honesty, Anakin found it sort of sad that a small town such as Shili had to have an entire orphanage. Actually, it had two: a girls' home (which he was at) and a boys' home. Anakin didn't know much about Shili, since he'd only been there twice, but he'd heard things about it. Shili wasn't a rich town. Quite the opposite, actually.
Anakin sighed again and turned down another hallway. A minimal amount of dust coated the floors and walls, and the building even smelled clean. Even with that observed, the building still felt very old.
Ugh, why couldn't Ben have at least chosen a boys' home? Why on Earth did he want to foster a girl? Why not a boy? Anakin didn't want a little girl with lip gloss and nail paint and frilly dresses. Bleh! He'd puke if he had to live with one of those girls.
A small, sweet sound wafted through the halls. Anakin stopped, trying to place that sound. It was soft enough that he couldn't tell what it was, but it was sweet enough that he couldn't help but follow it. He wanted to know what it was.
Anakin followed the sound down winding hallways. It got louder, then softer, then stopped. Anakin turned around and went back. The sound began again and he turned down a different hallway. It grew louder, then stopped. Anakin stopped, too.
The sound drifted through the halls again. Anakin groaned. It was playing games with him. He started walking down another hallway.
Music. The sound was music. A chorus of young voices.
Anakin turned down a final hall and the song became clear. He walked up to a door and stood before it.
In hand-written letters, a sign above the door read "Reach For The Stars Children's Choir". Children's small handprints decorated the sign.
"Reach for the Stars when the sky is dark
"Reach for the stars to make your mark
"Reach for the stars when there is no way
"Reach for the stars on each new day," the chorus of voices sang brightly.
"When the stars twinkle in the sky they are shining for you. For you and it's true. Reach for them: they shine for you. Believe in yourself, your time will come. Believe in yourself because the stars believe in you," a single voice solo rang out from the rest of the choir. Then the chorus of voices joined the solo singer and the song continued.
Anakin just stood there listening. The song slowed and held out a chord in conclusion. Anakin leaned against the door and smiled to himself. His arm hit the doorknob and the door suddenly flung open, dumping Anakin inside.
All heads turned to watch Anakin stagger to regain his balance. He stared back at the group of children standing on risers and the woman in the front holding a director's baton. Anakin awkwardly let out an "uhh," and then started clapping.
"Thank you," the woman nodded, speaking in an accent. "Do we have the pleasure of being eves dropped on by Anakin Skywalker or Ben Kenobi?"
"Uh, I'm Anakin," he grinned sheepishly. "How'd you know it was me or my brother?"
"We were informed of our visitors," the woman crossed her arms. "I am Sister Shaak Ti–"
"You said that wrong," a little girl in the front row pointed a stubby finger at Anakin. Light spots splattered her tan skin.
"Um, sorry?" Anakin raised his brow.
"You said 'me and my brother' but it's supposed to be 'my brother and me,'" the girl said matter-of-factly.
"What? Why does that even matter?" Anakin snapped.
"It's called 'glummer,'" the little girl glared at him.
"Grammar," Shaak corrected her.
"Grammar," the girl repeated.
"Well you can't even say grammar," Anakin challenged.
"That's not grammar it's pro-nun-see-a-show," the girl sounded out the word very carefully.
"Pronunciation," Shaak chuckled.
"Yeah, that," the girl glared up at Anakin intensely.
"Pfft," Anakin laughed and rolled his eyes. "How old are you anyway, five?"
"Seven," the girl growled.
"Now, now," Shaak intervened, though she sounded quite amused with the conversation. "Miss Tano, we've talked about this."
"Hah, that's right, don't get snippy with me," Anakin taunted in her face.
Shaak rolled her eyes at how childish Anakin acted.
"Why you little–"
"That's quite enough, Miss Tano," Shaak scolded. "And you, too, Skywalker,"
"Well," Anakin hid his embarrassment of fighting with a five-year-old or whatever, "your choir sounded nice."
"Thank you," Shaak nodded. "This is our signature song. We wrote it in this room after we created our choir and gave it the name."
"Who was the soloist?" Anakin asked.
"I was, doofus," the girl, Miss Tano, waved an irritated hand at Anakin.
Anakin was about to snap back when the door opened and in came none other than Ben.
"Anakin," Ben glared at his brother. "Where did you run off to? We need to go, and you need to help me prepare the new room. We're picking up our foster child next week."
"Ugh, whatever," Anakin groaned, shuffling to the door.
"Oh," Ben smiled when Anakin moved to reveal the child behind him.
"Hi, Mister Kenobi," Miss Tano smiled like an angel.
Anakin rolled his eyes.
"Well, Anakin, I see you've met our new foster child," Ben glanced at Anakin.
"What?!" Anakin sputtered. "Her? Snippy?"
"Ahsoka Tano," Ben corrected. "We're picking her up next week. Now we have to go."
Ben dragged Anakin out of the room, through the hallways, and outside. He tossed a charming goodbye to Satine before stuffing Anakin in the car and starting it up.
"Alright, I'm ready," Ben sighed. "Bring it on."
"Ready for what?" Anakin raised his brow.
"Ready for you to start complaining about fostering and our new foster child," Ben replied. "You always complain, and I'm ready for it now."
"You know what?" Anakin smirked. "Maybe having Ahsoka as a foster child won't be so bad."
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Word Count: 1,320
Published: Jun. 1, 2022
Yeah, I really don't know what this is but it was pretty fun to write and I don't hate it.
Oh! I wanted to thank you all for 4.1K reads! Eeeek! THANKS!!! But I'm almost afraid to offer a special story in celebration. I get no feedback on that kinda stuff.
But if you want one, let me know. I'm totally okay with doing one or not doing one. It's up to you readers.
Requests are open, feel free to message me or make a comment if you have any ideas!
Thanks for all the reads, bye peoples!