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AMELIA'S POV:
It was after school on Tuesday and Dance Elite tryouts were almost starting. Mariana and I were sitting at a sign in table when Riley walked in with a few other girls. 2:57. I thought to myself, tryouts start at 3:00pm and we only have three girls. My anxiety started to rise but Mariana brought me down to earth.
"Okay. I know you well enough to tell that you're anxious that no one will show up. Stop stressing!" She shook my shoulder in an attempt to get me to laugh and she succeeded.
"Okay okay. I just want this to work out, that's all. This is a really good place for me to make friends, so i'm sorry if i'm tense."
"Look." Mariana pointed to the gym doors opening and a dozen girls walked in ready to try out, including Riley. Before I knew it, my anxiety disappeared.
"Hey, Ami!" Riley jogged over to the table along with two other girls, "these are my friends Jamie and Sophie. They want to try out too." Jamie and Sophie looked at me with smiles, but it was hard to tell if they were fake as a barbie doll, or genuine.
"Hi." I grinned, "Uh, just write your name and your phone number on these lines, okay?"
"Got it!" Jamie replied, along with Sophie and Riley smiling. Mariana nudged my shoulder as she helped the other dancers sign in and she whispered, while giving me her famous smirk. "Told you to stop stressing."
"Hey so since we're friends, I'm automatically on the Dance team, right?" Riley laughed. It was around five o'clock and Riley and I were finishing our cell project together and it felt that we were just hanging as friends, and not doing any work. I laughed in response to Riley, "You were really good today, you don't need me to vouch for you." An hour after we finished our project, Riley and I sat on my bed, chatting and talking.
"Do you want to hang out Saturday?" She asked me. My hands got clammy and my head started to hurt.
"Uh.. I'm sorry I-I can't." I confessed. I didn't want to tell her why, but something was telling me that she was going to ask anyway.
She frowned, "Aw, why not?" My heart was beating a mile a minute. This is my only friend as of right now. I don't want to scare her away because of everything that has happened to me.
"Saturday is the day of my trial against my foster father. He.. He uh abused me, and stuff." I felt myself become anxious and overwhelmed and I wondered if telling her was a good idea.
"Oh my god. Ami. I'm..i'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, I was being nosy."
"No, no Riley. It's okay. Trust me. It'll hopefully be over on Saturday so we won't have to talk about it anymore." I half heartedly smiled. Just then, she pulled me into a hug. But it was different than Stef or Lena's hugs. A friend was hugging me. A genuine friend.
"What was that for?" I asked.
"What? You need a reason to give someone a hug?" She smirked.
We laughed and talked each others ears off until Stef and Lena had to drive Riley home for the night. I walked into my bathroom to hop in the shower before bed until Jesus met me in the hallway.
"Hey. That Riley chick is cute." He said.
I scoffed, "Nope. Not going to happen Jesus! She is my only friend right now and no way in hell are you dating her. And besides, you're two years older than her."
"Age is just a number." I brushed the comment off and walked away to lead into the bathroom.
Showers were like an escape from reality to me. An escape from wondering where my next home might be. An escape from the terrors that haunt me at night. An escape from my anxiety and doubts. I was letting the water rain over my head as I heard a knock on the door.
"Hey love, you alright in there?" It was Lena.
"Oh! Sorry I'll be out in a minute!" I really lose track of time when I shower.
"No worries baby. Just come down and meet all of us in the living room."
I had dried myself off and put warm sweats on and rolled my hair in a towel and then headed downstairs to find my foster family sitting in the family room. Stef and Lena were on the couch, Mariana sitting in the loveseat, and the boys sitting on the ground.
"What's going on?" I questioned.
"Come sit between us baby girl." Stef patted the gap in the couch between her and Lena. I sat down with paranoia running through my head. Why does this seem serious? What are they going to tell me?
"So since the trial is this Saturday, we wanted to come together as a family to tell you how proud of you we are." Lena took my hands as she announced this. I took a big sigh of relief.
"What? Were you worried we were going to tell you something bad?" B laughed.
"Yeah kinda!" I laughed in response. Stef and Lena gave me what they call a "mama sandwich" which was the most comforting, close-knit feeling I had felt in a long time. Soon after, the rest of the family piled in and we all hung out and watched a movie before bed and I was still snuggling my moms. Feeling like I was right where I was supposed to be.
Fast forward three days, and it was Friday night. The time was 12:21am. Mariana was dead asleep but I, I was wide awake. My stomach in knots just thinking about tomorrow. Having to see his face and talk about the most traumatic experiences of my life. I didn't know what I was going to say, or how to word it. How he beat me until my bruises had bruises, and how he attacked me in my most vulnerable state. I quickly ran to the bathroom and I violently lost my dinner.
After minutes of throwing up, I sat against the wall, completely wiped and exhausted. Trying to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Keep doing it Ami. Inhale. Exhale. As I was focusing on my breathing, I heard gentle knocks on the bathroom door.
"Amelia, love are you alright?" Stef slowly opened the door to find me, Lena behind her. They lifted me up from the ground, and I started to cry. I held onto Lena tight as she walked me to their bedroom and both of them shushed me as I wept. I was embarrassed that I needed them so badly, but whenever I did need them, they were there. They loved me. It took awhile for my tears to stop, but Lena held me in her arms until I settled down. I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want tomorrow to come. I wanted it to be over, but I didn't want to go through it.
"Talk to me, baby. What are your fears?" Lena said as she rubbed my back and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
"I want it to be over. But I don't want to go through it. I don't want to see his face. It takes so much of me to talk about what happened to me." She moved her position to meet my eyes, which were still wet with tears.
"You are the strongest girl I have ever met, baby girl. You have so much power in you." She stroked my cheek with her hand. I laid back on her chest as her arms adjusted again around me.
"I love you, mama."
Lena was quiet and I had wondered if what I had just said had upset her in anyway. But when I looked up, her eyes were welled up with tears.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."
"No. No, love. It's happy tears," She chuckled and hugged me tighter. "You have no idea how much I love you, my Ami girl."
We had to be at court at nine o'clock, so the whole family had to get up very early.
"Amelliiaaa..." A voice gently said as they stroked my hair and kissed my head. I opened my eyes painstakingly to see Stef with loving eyes looking at me.
"Hi mom." I replied. The word practically jumped out of my mouth, but it felt natural. Stef's eyes widened as I said it, but then smiled from ear to ear.
"Hi, love. Time to get up. Lena—" She stopped herself, "Mama is making you breakfast."
I smiled and rose from the bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. I hopped on a stool to accompany Mariana, Jesus, and Brandon.
"Good morning, love." Mama kissed my head before going to the fridge. Awkward silence filled the room after she greeted me. I hated feeling like the center of attention.
"Okay. We all know what day it is. It's going to be rough, tears are probably going to be shed. But right now, let's just not dwell on it, okay? I need distractions. Please anything to keep me distracted."
"You heard the girl! Distractions, go!!" Stef announced as she walked into the kitchen and gave me a huge hug from behind.
"Well how about we decide who to cut from Dance Elite? Huh?" Mariana got up and grabbed the sign in sheets from the other side of the kitchen and handed them to me. Part of me didn't want to cut anybody from the team, I knew what it felt like and I didn't want to hurt anyones feelings.
"What if we let everyone on?" I asked and Mariana's eyes widened.
"Ame, I know you don't want to hurt anyones feelings but... some girls couldn't keep up with the routine and that was a pretty easy routine."
I nodded my head in agreement and sighed, "You're right. I-I just hate to see people's feelings get hurt, that's all."
Mama then handed me a plate with blueberry pancakes and crispy bacon on the side. I smiled at her and she gave me a kiss on the cheek, "Come on eat up, babies!"
We all dug into our breakfast and the clock turned 8:30am and it was time to get ready for court. I rummaged through my closet and nothing was right. I mean what do I wear to a trial for my rape and assault case? I couldn't find anything to wear. I guess this was because nobody ever took me shopping and the clothes I have is hand me downs from past foster homes.
"Do you need help?" Mariana walked into our room with her hands on her hip.
I shrugged, "I have nothing." Just then Mariana looked through her drawers and pulled out a blue flower, three quarter length sleeve shirt that was gorgeous.
"Wear this with your jeans and sandals." She handed me the shirt and I smiled.
"Thank you Mariana. Really, thank you." I have her a hug which she embraced.
"Anytime, little sis." She winked.
LENA'S POV:
As the kids were getting dressed for court, Stef and I were also getting ready in our room. I had picked out a sundress with a blazer and Stef picked out a blouse and dress pants. My nerves were getting the best of me and my partner could tell.
"You're tense, love." She rubbed and massaged my shoulders and I sighed.
"I just don't understand how it got this messy. Can you just explain to me why we have to go through all of this?"
"Well baby, Amelia got taken out of that home in the first place because they didn't realize that he was registered as a sex offender. Shame on them because she was there for a long ass time. When the system and a couple of officers went to go take her out of the home, they caught Patrick..." Stef stopped for a second to breathe, I could tell talking about our baby like this was getting her upset. "they, uh, saw Patrick on top of her. And they said it looked consensual. So that is what they're arguing. That it was rough, consensual sex. So at the least he'll be charged with statutory rape. But it just wont be enough. He hurt and raped our baby girl. I want him to rot in jail for the rest of his life." She shed tears and I opened my arms for her to embrace.
"I know, love. I know. But like Amelia says," I lifted her chin to meet my face "it'll all be over hopefully." We kissed passionately and wrapped each other in our arms.