Chapter 2

About 3 o'clock in the morning Kevin woke up. He laid in bed thinking about Lily. He wondered what she looked like. Did she know that he was her father? Was she being treated right? He wanted to know everything about her. He felt like he was missing something all these years. He was lost without his little girl, and each day it slowly tore him apart. But he remembered those two weeks he had with her, he cherished those memories. He felt such joy when he was with Lily. He knew that it was going to take a lot of work raising a child, but he was going to do it. But in a blink of an eye, she was gone. He needed her back in his life. He wanted to be a father again.

He got up and went into Brian's kitchen and looked at the clock. It was 3:53. He couldn't sleep any longer so he went into Brian's den. He sat down at the computer and turned it on. He wanted to begin searching for his little girl. He knew that Nick was right, being busy was no excuse.

Jacksonville, Florida

"Lily! Come on! We're going to be late!" Joanne yelled.

"Coming! Just give me a second!" I yelled back.

I quickly searched through my boxes, taking everything out.

"Got it," I said to myself as I pulled out my wallet that was hidden underneath my clothes.

I opened it see a picture of my real mom. It was the only thing I had of her. All I knew was that her name was Robyn, and she was the most beautiful person in the world.

She had given me up for adoption when I was just a baby. Joanne and Alan were good parents, but I had never called them mom and dad. I don't know why, but for some reason it just didn't come naturally.

I had always wondered why she had given me up for adoption. Especially since she used to visit me. I remember she would pick me up and we would sit on the swing in front of my house. I remembering calling her Mommy, until I was five. That's when Alan was transferred to a new job. After that I never saw her again. And as for a dad, I had no idea who he was or even what his name was.

"Lily! I'm leaving!" Joanne yelled.

I threw my wallet into my backpack. Then I ran down the hall to the front door.

"Sorry," I said as I walked out the door.

"Don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?" Joanne asked.

"No, I don't," I said as we got into our old beat up car.

The car ride to the junior high was silent.

I hated the first day at a new school. It seemed like just as I got adjusted to my school, we were moving again. I had been to about five different schools, making this one the sixth.

"Let's go," Joanne said as she pulled into the parking lot.

I grabbed my black backpack and got out of the car.

"Ready for your first day?" she asked.

"I guess," I said quietly.

"I know you hate this, but hopefully this'll be our last move," she said.

"I hope so," I said.

We walked into the office and sat down. Then a man came out and walked up to us.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Countrymen," he said as he shook my hand.

"Hi. I'm Lily," I said.

"And I'm Joanne," she said.

"Nice to meet you guys," he said as he smiled at us. "Let's go back to my office."

We followed him back to his office. We walked into his dinky little office and sat down. In front of us was his desk that was covered with all sorts of papers.

"Sorry about the mess," he said as he moved some of the papers to one side.

"That's okay," Joanne said.

"So Lily, are you ready to finish 8th grade?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Well here's your schedule for the rest of the school year," he said as he handed me a piece of paper.

I took it from him and looked it over.

"And as you can tell by the sign on my desk, I'll be your counselor," he said. "So if you have any problems you can come to me? Or maybe you need help with something like homework? Or if you just need to talk, my door is always open. And I'm always ready to listen cause I've got two good ears."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Do you have any questions?" he asked.

"What time does school end?" Joanne asked.

"Three thirty-five," he said.

"Okay," she said.

"Is that it?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said as she stood up. "I'll see you then."

"Okay," I said.

"Nice meeting you Mr. Countrymen," Joanne said as she shook his hand again.

"You too," he said.

"Bye Lily. Have a good day," she said.

"Bye Joanne," I said.

"Okay, are you ready to go to your first hour?" he asked as he stood next to me.

"I guess," I said.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," he said as he put his arm around me.

"Thanks," I said.

"Okay, let's go," he said as we began to walk to my first hour.

Before we walked in Mr. Countrymen stopped me.

"Now remember Lily, if you have any problems or want to talk, I'm always here," he said.

I smiled and shook my head okay.

Then he opened the door and we walked into the classroom.

He introduced me to the teacher. "Lily, this is Mrs. Brown, your business teacher."

I stared at her. She was kind of an old lady with large glasses and semi-white hair that was poofed out to no end. She looked kind of scary and mean.

"Hi," I said as I forced myself to smile. "My name is Lily Ward."

"Lily, you can take a seat in the back on the right," she said as she pointed.

I looked around the classroom noticing everyone was sitting in pairs.

I slowly walked back to my seat in between the rows. As I passed by everyone began whispering and staring. I instantly because self conscious.

Then I sat down and took my backpack off. Once Mr. Countrymen saw that I had sat down he left the room.

Mrs. Brown continued to teach her lesson as I sat there. I looked around the classroom and noticed that I was the odd one.

Then I noticed some of the students kept turning around to look at me. I tired to ignore them, but I could see them out of the corner of my eye.

Once the lesson was over with, she told everyone to take out their packets and complete the last page.

Then it became quiet while everyone did their work. I just sat there watching everyone. Then Mrs. Brown called me up to her desk.

"Lily," she said.

I got up and walked to her desk. "Yeah."

She handed me a white packet. "It's due Monday."

I took it and walked back to my seat.

What the heck? It's my first day of school and first hour and I already have homework. Oh this should be fun.

I flipped through it trying to understand what to do. I didn't understand any of it. I read over the directions a couple of times and then I sat there completely confused. Not a word of this packet made any sense to me.

I picked the packet up and walked up to the teacher's desk. She continued grading papers and never looked up. I stood there waiting for her to say something, but she didn't.

"Mrs. Brown," I said.

"Yes," she said as she graded.

"I don't know what to do," I said quietly.

"Well, read the directions," she said as if I were stupid or something.

"I did," I said.

"Just try," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Right, I'm just going to know this stuff, cause yeah, I've never seen it before in my life," I said quietly to myself as I walked back to my desk.

I sat down and threw the packet into my bag. Then I rested my head on my backpack. I watched the clock as the seconds ticked away. About a minute before the bell was going to ring, I looked at my schedule to figure out where I was going.

The bell finally rang and I thankfully walked out of the class. I went to my second hour and the same thing happened. I was the new girl so I sat in the back, excluded from everyone. They all studied me and asked questions amongst themselves. But never once did any of them have the courage to come up to me and ask me, or introduce themselves. So I sat there and took in my surroundings. I had decided that I hated the school. After two hours, I hated it.

Orlando, Florida

Nick got up at 8 o'clock and walked into the kitchen. He got himself a bag of Lucky Charms and began eating out of it. Then he walked into Brian's den looking for a video game.

"Kev? What are you doing?" he asked as he saw Kevin sitting at the computer.

Kevin looked like he was a zombie, staring at the computer.

"Searching," Kevin said.

"How long have you been up?" Nick asked as he sat on the couch while continuing to eat his Lucky Charms.

"Umm. . .since about four this morning," Kevin said as he typed something into the computer.

"You've been searching the entire time?" Nick asked.

"Yep," Kevin said.

"Have you found anything?" Nick asked.

"No, not yet," Kevin said. "And I'm not giving up until I find her."

"That's great Kev. But just to let you know, you look like you're half dead," Nick said.

"I feel half dead," Kevin said as he stared at the computer screen.

"Well, maybe you should try and sleep again. I'll continue searching for you," Nick said.

"Really?" Kevin asked.

"Sure," Nick said. "Just give me their names."

"Okay," Kevin said.

He wrote the two names down on a piece of paper and handed it to Nick.

"All right, so I'm looking for a Robyn Lee Anderson and a Lily Anne Richardson," he said.

"Thanks Nicky," Kevin said.

"No problem. Anything to help out my older bro.," Nick said as he took Kevin's seat at the computer.

Kevin grabbed a handful of Lucky Charms and then walked out. He walked into one of Brian's guest rooms and crashed on the bed.

Jacksonville, Florida

Lunch eventually came around, but it didn't really matter to me. I found a bench in the quad and sat down. I took out my notebook and just began writing. I didn't know exactly what I was writing, just my feelings. Sometimes I would write poems, songs, a diary, anything. It was my way of venting.

Soon there was a group of girls hovering over me. I looked up at them.

"Hey! You're sitting on our bench," the blonde girl said.

"Yeah, this has been our bench since the beginning of the year," the tall one said.

"Everyone knows it's our bench," the red head said.

"So? Your point is?" I asked.

"Get off!" the blonde girl said.

"Find yourself another place to sit," the red head said.

"Why? I was here first and your guys' stuff wasn't sitting here," I said as I stood up.

The tall girl came up to me and got in my face. "Leave."

"I am," I said as I grabbed my bag. I shoved my way passed her, hitting her on the shoulder.

"Oops, sorry," I said as I walked away.

"Bitch," she said as she sat down.

Oh this was a great first day. I hated my first three hours and I was pretty sure that the next three wouldn't be any better. And now I had just got myself some enemies. The only good thing that had happened was meeting Mr. Countrymen. He seemed really cool and it looked like I would need him later.

Lunch ended and I went to my next hour.

Finally it was 7th hour and there was 30 seconds left. I stood up and grabbed my backpack. Then the bell rang and I quickly walked out. I immediately began walking home. As I did I thought of a story that I could tell Joanne and Alan about my first day of school.

I took out my key and opened the door.

I set my bag down and then climbed into my blue chair. I turned on my side and closed my eyes. In a matter of a few minutes I was sleeping.

Joanne and Alan walked into their apartment and saw Lily sleeping. Alan got their blanket and covered Lily. Then him and Joanne sat down on the floor and ate their dinner.

"Alan, when are you going to get a job?" Joanne asked.

"I don't know, Jo. It's not like I haven't been looking," Alan said frustrated with her. "What about you?"

"What about me? If it wasn't for me saving some money we'd be on the streets right now," Joanne said angrily.

"Yeah well that money is basically gone now. We don't even have enough for this month's rent," Alan said.

"You're worried about the rent? I'm worried about feeding the three of us, especially Lily," Joanne said.

"God, I never realized how much it would cost to take care of a child," Alan said.

I laid there with my eyes closed listening to them.

"Neither did I," Joanne said.

"Ever since we've adopted her, it's been a struggle. Paying for the adoption, her food, her clothes, and the medical bills with no insurance. It was a lot more than I expected," Alan said.

"Yeah, Lily has really stretched our budget to the max," Joanne said.

I wanted to cry as I heard them talk about me. I didn't realize that I was such a financial burden on them.

They continued talking and then they eventually changed the subject. After a while I got up and sat down next to them.

"Hi Lily," Alan said.

"How long have you been sleeping?" Joanne asked.

"Since about 4 o'clock when I got home," I said.

"Are you hungry?" Alan asked. "We got you a taco."

"Yeah, I'm starved," I said as I took the taco from him.

"So how was your first day of school?" Joanne asked.

"Pretty good," I said.

"Oh really. Did you make any new friends?" she asked.

"Yeah, I met this one girl named Katie. I had a couple classes with her, and she asked me to eat lunch with her," I lied.

"That's good. I'm glad you've made friends so quickly," Joanne said.

I continued to tell Alan and Joanne about my day at school. I had never told them what really happened on my first days of school. They were always the same. I would go to school and do the work. I never talked to anyone or sat with anyone at lunch. I just kind of stayed in the background. No one noticed when I was there or when I was gone. I hated that feeling of being alone. But I had gotten used to it, and sort of learned how to deal with it. At least I had Alan and Joanne to go home to.

After I had finished dinner they put me to bed. Then they went back out to the living room and went to sleep on the floor.