"Aaaand this here is my humble abode..." I finished our little tour with my room, gesturing to the beat up furniture and mouldy walls with a flourish.
The poor kid looked around with wide eyes, this was probably one of the first time she's witnessed the possibility that not everyone is as lucky as her.
"My bathroom is bigger than your bedroom," she said in awe.
"Is it now, well what a lucky one you are small human," it seems the nickname had stuck, despite now knowing she's called bandit.
"You can come live in my bathroom! Even if mummy and daddy chooses someone else, I can sneak you in!" She exclaimed, starting to pace and formulate a little plan in her head.
"I don't think that's possible," I said chuckling, "but thank you for your consideration anyway." I fell into my bed, putting my hands behind my head and crossing my ankles, just as the Ways came into my room escorted by the witch.
"Taylor!" She snapped at me, "did nobody ever tell you not to kidnap people's children!"
"Says the women running an orphanage, seems like you didn't get the memo either.." I replied in a bored tone.
I heard someone snigger, the sound of a woman say 'shh', a slap and a manly voice say 'ow!'. So I assume Gerard found my comment quite funny then...
"Taylor would you kindly stand up and talk to this lovely couple here, so they can get to know you better," Hopkins said with a stressed tone. It's safe to assume I won't be getting any dinner tonight...
I rolled my eyes and stood up from the bed, glancing at Gerard and Lindsey, waiting for someone to say something.
"So..." Gerard started awkwardly, "tell us about yourself."
"There's no point, you won't pick me. I'll rot in here till I turn 18 before Hopkins here kicks me to the curb, and you'll choose someone else. Although I do recommend Zoe, she's a great kid, like a sister to me, and she deserve to get out of this Hell hole."
Gerard and Lindsey looked at each other as Bandit jumped up and down in front of them.
"I want her to be my big sister! Tay Tay is the best!" She demanded. I could tell from the beginning that Bandit had Gerard wrapped around her little finger, Lindsay however, seemed to be the parent of the family. I guess Bandit got her strong will from her instead of Gerard, which I found incredibly amusing.
"Well we're going to have to talk about it together Bee, this is a big decision we have to make," Lindsay said.
"Take your time, it's not like any of us are going anywhere," I said, I'm not too sure whether the statement was meant to sound smug or bitter but I get the feeling it sounded more like the latter.
Hopkins ushered them away from me as fast as she could, probably worrying about her reputation being tarnished, that didn't stop the three of them smiling broadly at me before leaving.
They're all really nice, if it wasn't for Zoe I may have sold myself a little better but I wanted her to have a loving family so much that I didn't care.
Thoughts of her made me wonder where she had gotten to, but before I had a chance to worry she barrelled into my room with the biggest grin on her face.
"Oh my god! Gerard and Lindsay Way are adopting someone at our orphanage! This is amazing," she gushed, jumping up and down in the middle of our room.
"Let's hope they pick you hey?" I said, smirking at her reaction.
"What about you?" She stopped jumping and asked.
"I'll be fine here, it's only a few months until I turn 18. Besides maybe you can sneak me in to live in their bathroom, I heard it's quite big," I joked, remembering my conversation with Bandit.
"Well I guess we'll have to see what happens, they may choose you."
"They won't," I said definitely, Zoe was about to say something else but I cut her off, "wanna jam to some music?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Sure," she shrugged. I plugged my iPod into our portable speaker and started blasting an old school playlist.
We started to dance around our room and singing along, enjoying the rare amount of fun we have. After a couple of songs, I pulled out my cigarettes and sat on our windowsill to have a smoke, earning a disapproving look from Zoe.
"You shouldn't do that..."
"I started a long time ago kiddo, it's hard to stop."
"Are you smoking young lady?" I heard the shrill voice of the witch behind me. I turned around to see the Ways again standing behind a fuming looking Hopkins.
"No, I'm communicating with the devil, what does it look like?" I said in my sassiest tone. I saw both Gerard and Lindsay look to each other and smirk, it seems as though they don't like the witch either.
"Put that out now!" She yelled, going red.
"I mean I'd rather not, they're getting expensive now, that's kind of a waste..." I trailed off when I saw the murderous expression in her eyes, so with a sigh and a smirk I put it out on my windowsill and threw it down into the garden. If push comes to shove, I can go down there later on and smoke the rest.
"And turn this racket off," she yelled, walking over to the speaker and turning it off.
"Aw c'mom that was a good tune!" I complained, it was Iron Man by Black Sabbath, which is an awesome song.
"Gerard and Lindsay Way have something they would like to say to the both of you," she said, changing the subject and looking towards the two of them.
Gerard looked at Lindsay, obviously signalling for her to do the talking, something tells me that he doesn't really do awkward situations.
"Yes, we came here looking for one child to adopt but after talking to the both of you and hearing Bandit's thoughts on the matter we would like to adopt the both of you. You both seem too close to separate and we think you're lovely girls that will fit right into our family."
Zoe's jaw dropped in awe but I stayed stoical, not trusting the fact that this entire situation was too good to be true.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Gerard asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"Well why do you care about not separating us? Nobody's cared about that in the past, we're not important enough to care about, we're orphans."
"Well we care, we aren't your normal couple, as you can imagine," Lindsay replied with a kind smile.
"Thank you so much!" Zoe exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief. The look of happiness on her face brought a small smile to my face, so I gave in for now and decided not to cause any unnecessary drama.
"Guess we should start packing then Zo," I said, smiling at her and reaching for the small suitcase underneath my bed.
She practically ran to find the suitcase under her bed and started shoving random things into it as quickly as possible. I chuckled slightly at her excitement before packing my things at a slightly slower pace.
"We'll wait downstairs whilst you're packing, we've already done all the paperwork so once you're finished we can go," Gerard said before he turned away with the rest of his family and the witch to go downstairs.
"I can't believe this!" Zoe laughed as she pranced and twirled around the room, throwing things into her suitcase.
"It does seem a bit too good to be true," I replied, a little more subdued.
"Be happy for once please Tay!" She exclaimed.
"I am happy Zo." I forced a smile in her direction which seemed to satisfy her. Truth is I was happy, for Zoe at least, but my guard was still up. It's not something that could be helped, I just don't trust people very easily.
I felt a little guilty for not trusting the two people that got me through the majority of my teenage years, but I didn't truly know what who they were, just their stage personas.
Still, I wasn't going to mess this up for Zoe, so I was going to at least try.
"Are you finished packing yet?" She jumped up and down in front of me and asked the same question she had asked two times now.
"Yes, yes, I'm finished!" I sighed, throwing one last thing into my suitcase, giving in.
She squealed and jumped around some more before grabbing her bag and bounding out the room. I chuckled and followed her out the room, only to be stopped dead in my tracks when I saw three girls backing her into a wall.
"So the little emo got adopted did she?" The girl in the middle mused, grinning maliciously. Zoe had told me about this one, she was called Olivia, and she was a bitch from what I had heard.
"I can't believe she managed to get out of here before us," the one on the left sneered.
"Her new parents must be even bigger freaks than she is..." the last one laughed.
Zoe looked terrified as her back hit the wall and Olivia brought her hand up, claiming to need to teach her a lesson.
"Do we have a problem here girlies?" I said as I crossed my arms and leant against the wall to my left.
I was calm and careful, but it was a dangerous calm. I made certain that my steely gaze met with Olivia's eyes as I stared her down.
I know for certain I can be extremely intimidating when I want to be, and I definitely wanted to be. I wasn't going to stand by and let these girls make Zoe feel unloved and unwanted just because they were insecure themselves.
"Who are you looking at, freak?" Olivia stuttered out, clearly scared but trying hard not to seem so.
"Petty insults don't work on me," I started, taking a step towards her, "now I'm going to give all of you five seconds to leave before I make you sorely regret your decision to cause trouble here."
The three of them looked at each other before practically running away. Once they were gone, I looked towards Zoe who gave me a small smile.
"Are you okay?" I asked, keeping my distance. I knew that once her anxiety kicked in she didn't like to be touched and I tried my best to respect her boundaries, despite my want to hug her and tell her everything will be okay.
"Yes I just need a minute," she said, a little breathless.
"Deep breaths Zo," I said in my version of a soothing tone, "don't let your anxiety get the best of you."
She used the breathing technique I taught her and two or three minutes later she was good to go, albeit a little shaky.
"I'm okay," she said, "thank you Taylor."
"No need to thank me Zo," I said with a smile as I picked up her bag and gestured for her to lead the way.
"Everything okay?" Gerard asked when we reached them, sensing some form of discomfort from Zoe. She nodded and looked at the floor.
"Yeah everything's fantastic," I started sarcastically before turning to the witch, "you know maybe you should be teaching some of the children living here some manners. You know, letting them know that bullying is bad etcetera etcetera..."
I glared at her accusingly, whilst she looked at me dumbfounded.
"You know what, forget it..." I have a short laugh, exasperated.
"Let's get you two to a better home," Lindsay said sympathetically, give Hopkins an accusatory look. Gerard gave the witch a glare before sadly looking around the orphanage, probably wishing to save all the other children suffering here.
With that, the five of us left with two bags full of random items and belongings, all wondering what the future could hold for us after such a dramatic change to all our lives...