*Catherine's P.O.V.*
"Nick asked me out last night," Lucy said while we were walking towards our last class for the day. The boys were at the other side of the school, having an emergency basketball practice as they called it.
"Aww! I knew it!" I hugged her from the side and smiled.
"Me too! Now we can go on a double date together!" Bella suggested in a high-pitched voice that would have annoyed me if she weren't my friend.
Bella had been in a relationship with Cody since the start of our junior year and they were more than happy together. They had what I called 'an out-of-a-movie kind of relationship' and I was shipping them hard.
"Yeah, sounds lovely," Lucy agreed while dreamily batting her eyes.
"You really have to get together with Hayden," Bella nudged me in the ribs. "Then we can go on triple dates!" they both jumped up and down like hyper kangaroos.
"Guys!" I whined. "We are best friends. And we are not willing to change our status," I told them truthfully.
"You're so stubborn."
"Agreed," Bella said and we walked in the class.
Oh well.
° ° °
It was soon four o'clock and I was outside Mr. Crawford's office. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.
After talking to my dad's foster sister -if she is called that anyway- I was well informed about my dad being adopted, when and why my biological grandparents left him in a foster care...
Turns out that my grandparents weren't always that wealthy. They both came from poor families raised in some place outside Georgia- if I am not mistaken. After getting married they decided to move to Jamaica for better luck as some of my grandfather's relatives lived there. Unfortunately for them at the time, my grandma got pregnant with a baby they couldn't raise 'with the luxuries he deserved', as my aunt told me. Then another family adopted him, somehow the Harpers got rich, but didn't want to appear in my dad's life out of clear blue and eventually they didn't have the time either.
I took a deep breath and shifted in my leather seat placed in a huge waiting area. Mr. Crawford's secretary had informed me that he would see me in a couple minutes so I didn't bother texting Hayden about what I had learnt. He will find out later.
"Mr. Crawford is ready to see you," the secretary told me and opened a black wooden door.
Inside the office, everything was fancy. There were wooden bookcases all around the room and in the middle of it, was a dark brown wooden desk that carried a computer and huge piles of papers. In front of the desk were two big armchairs -most probably for the clients- and behind it was a black leather chair, on which was sitting a man around his forties.
"You must be Miss Jones," he told me standing up. I nodded and shook his hand as I was signaled to. "Well, did you read the email I sent you yesterday?" he asked me.
"Yes, of course. I still can't believe what happened."
"You are really lucky, miss Jones," he smiled at me and informed me about the whole thing once again.
I admit, at first I thought all of this was a joke. Something that could never happen in real life. But after hearing my grandparents' story and reading a letter my grandmother left us, I knew it was real. And I kind of felt bad for never having met them.
"Do you want to sign the papers now?" Mr. Crawford asked me taking off his professional looking glasses.
"Sure," I told him and he gave me a folder full of papers and a pen.
"You do have a bank account, right?" he asked typing something on his computer as I nodded again. "Complete any information needed, read the papers carefully and sign at the bottom of every page, please. The money will be transferred as soon as possible."
After completing, reading and signing everything, I thanked him and stood up.
"Be careful, Miss Jones, and don't spend all your money for useless things," he chuckled just like my dad would, making me smile.
"I won't," I reassured myself more than him. "Thank you again," I shook his hand and walked my way out.
I was in my car and had just started the engine when my phone suddenly rang.
An unknown number was calling me.
"Hello?"
"Hey," a male voice said hesitantly. "It's Tyler, Elsa's brother."
"Oh, um... Hey, what's up?" I said and turned off the engine as the sound coming from it irritated me. I wasn't going to drive while talking on the phone anyway.
"I am hanging at the park with Elsa and she really wants to see you..." he continued clearly feeling uncomfortable. "Since last night, to be honest. Can you please come? She's getting annoying."
I laughed at the thought of Elsa jumping around like a baby kangaroo asking to come visit me.
"Which park?" I asked not even thinking about it twice.
"The one near your house- Oh! And she wants me to buy you an ice cream, so what flavour do you want?"
"Uh, just pick one for me, I don't care. I'll see you in a bit," I told him and hang up without waiting to hear his response.
I drove down to the park I hadn't visited for ages and parked my car near the front gates.
The park wasn't really big, but it was good enough for the kids of the neighbourhood. There were a few benches here and there, four swings two of which were designed to hold little children, a big red slide and a wooden diy-like seesaw.
"Cat! Cat is here, Tyler!" I heard Elsa cheer. She run over to me with her little legs and jumped into my arms.
"I missed you, bestie," I said, making her cute chubby cheeks blush.
"I missed you too," she kissed my cheek and motioned for me to put her down.
"Tyler has our ice creams! Come on!" she dragged me by my hand towards her brother.
"Hey," Tyler laughed as soon as he spotted us running. "Elsa," he shook his head fake-disapprovingly. "The poor girl can walk on her own, you don't have to drag her."
"Stop talking and give me our ice creams!" she ordered him. He raised his hands in defence and did as Elsa said.
I sat down on the same bench as Tyler, but a bit away from him just to be sure, you know, and Elsa came to hand me my ice cream.
I ate a spoonful of it and giggled, seeing that Elsa had a chocolate moustache from her Twix ice cream.
"What flavour is it?" I asked Tyler while trying to figure it out myself. It sure was sweet and crunchy, but aren't most of the flavours?
"Maple Walnut," he answered casually and my eyes widened in horror.
"Um, shoot, I'm allergic to walnuts."
° ° °