New Beginnings Are Good...Right?

~*~ Chapter One ~*~
My life had always been relatively normal. I have three brothers and sisters and my parents are still married. I thought my life was perfect. Well, I thought my life was wonderful. I knew that my life wasn’t perfect, but it really was wonderful. My name is Alicia and I am 17 years old. Here is my story:
“Come on girls, let’s get warmed up before everyone gets here,”
I was at my cheerleading practice and the squad had just started our warm-up with our easiest routine and finished with our hardest. When we were finished we heard clapping from behind us. We whipped around to see Mr. Taylor, the principal, and a lady whose name we found out later was Mrs. McNamara.
“That was excellent! Could you show me that last routine again?” asked Mrs. McNamara, “If you do that perfectly, I think you are an absolute shoo-in,”
“Okay girls, let’s do that last routine again,”
We managed to doe the routine perfectly. This time though, it was a little harder to do, because Mrs. McNamara had pulled a video camera out of her bag. She told us later that she wasn’t the only one who decided who entered the competition or not, so she had to video tape the hopeful entries to show the rest of the committee members.
“I don’t think that the committee is going to turn you girls away though, you are absolutely amazing!” she said, clearly impressed.
“Thanks a lot! Are you staying to watch the game? It’s the biggest game of the season,” Clarissa said sweetly, as she tried to suck up.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it,” Mrs. McNamara said giving Clarissa a weird look, “My son is playing, and he goes to Renfrew Collegiate Institute,”
“Oh,” Clarissa said abruptly almost like Mrs. McNamara had like a disease or something. You see, R.C.I is our school’s biggest rival, the school is a couple of hours away from us, but during the sports season they might as well be next door.
* * * * *
The game was awesome! It was really close, but our team managed to get a field goal with 2 seconds left on the clock. Later on after the game when Melissa and I were walking to her car, we saw a bunch of guys hanging out in the parking lot; we’d never seen them before but considering they were completely clad in blue and white it was safe to say that they went to Renfrew, “Whew!” Melissa exclaimed, “I’m glad I don’t live in Renfrew and I don’t have to go to R.C.I,”
“Yeah, I am soooo glad we go here, what would we do if we went to that school, ours is way better!” I exclaimed realizing that I had a biased opinion but not caring in the least bit!
When I got home from the after party, 1I had a smile on my face a mile wide.
“I was going to ask you how your day was, but I don’t even need to ask, I suppose it was good?” asked my mom.
“Terrific! You know how we had to try out for the Provincial Championships coming up? Well, originally we were going to have to wait until the end of the week before we found out if we made it or not, but the lady liked our practice so much, she told us today that we made it, she didn’t think the rest of the committee would turn us down. Isn’t that great?” I said so fast that I don’t think she even understood me. “And our team won! It was awesome! We won by one point with 3 seconds left!
Without waiting for an answer I raced up to my room. I was so psyched I couldn’t start my homework. I sat down at my computer and just about started the Internet when my phone started to ring, “Hello?”
“Hi Alicia! Aren’t you excited?” shrieked Sam.
Samantha and I talked for almost an hour; we were so excited that we just couldn’t’ stop talking! Finally I heard my mom yell that it was supper.
“Samantha? I’ve got to go, I’ve got to get downstairs for supper, see you tomorrow. Could you give me a ride? My parents can’t drive me,”
“Sure,” said Samantha.
As I ran downstairs I could hear my parents in the kitchen, “I think we should tell Alicia,” I heard, my father say.
“Ah, Howard it would crush her! She’s so happy can’t we tell her later?” my mom asked.
I ran into the kitchen, “Tell me what? I want to know what you are talking about,”
“Alicia, honey. I guess I’m just going to have to tell you straight out, there is know easy way of saying it. You were adopted when you were just a few days old,”
I sank onto a chair in disbelief. I couldn’t believe it; I had always thought that my three siblings were my real siblings. They were my real siblings, and nothing anybody said or did could ever change that, but still! It was so weird. I was the first-born of Howard and Alice Purcell. Now I knew that I wasn’t, Joel was, I wasn’t even the fourth born.
I tried to act as if nothing had happened; I wanted to deal with this news by myself. “Oh, is that all?” I asked with nonchalance.
“Yeah. Aren’t you upset?”
“No, should I be?” I asked. “I know that you are my parents, it doesn’t matter to me that the government needs papers to prove it! To me, you are my parents, nothing can change that,” I tried to act coolly, nut inside I was ripping apart, these were my parents, yes. It was just weird knowing that all these years I had been wrong about them.
My parents stared at me in disbelief. “Are you sure that you are all right?” asked my father.
“YES!” I said irritably, “I am Alicia Mary Purcell, daughter of Howard and Alice Purcell,”
I turned and walked up to my room. As I walked through the living room, I heard the big grandfather clock chime; I looked at it as I did every time, it’s face said 11:30pm.
As I walked past my brothers’ room I could hear scurrying feet running away from the door. I knew then that they had been listening at the top of the stairs. I softly knocked on the door, “It’s okay, and I know you were listening, but you have the right to know. Mom said that supper was ready, so you had better get down there before she yells again,” I said with a big smile. My two brothers and my sister ran past me shoving and jostling each other, all trying to be the first in the kitchen.
My life had always been so care free, but now I knew that it was changing, and at the moment I didn’t know whether it was changing for the better or not. When I got to my room, I threw myself on my bed and cried myself to sleep. I know that it sounds kind of ridiculous, but I wasn’t crying because I was adopted I was crying because all of a sudden I felt like my whole world was crashing down around me. I was wondering how people would react to the news, really it was none of their business but they might react a little weird.
When I woke up in the morning I could hear movement in the kitchen, then slowly huge wafts of bacon and sausage fumes filled my nose. When I looked at my alarm clock it only said 6:30, it puzzled me because I was the only one in my family who got up that early. I knew that my mother was there, but I also knew that there was someone else because I could hear another voice, I just couldn’t place it. Quickly I walked downstairs, when I walked through the living room, I caught a glimpse of a blanket and a pillow on the couch. By the front door there was a pair of sneakers. The voices got louder, but I still couldn’t place the second one. As I walked into the kitchen, the voices abruptly stopped.
“Good morning Alicia,” my mother greeted me.
“Morning Mom,” I said cheerfully, “Samantha? What are you doing here so early?”
“You’re mom called me last night, she was worried about you. You went into you’re room and never came out, not once; she hoped that I might come over and talk to you. I spent the night on the couch,”
“Did she tell you everything?” I asked.
“Yes, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone unless you want me to,” she told me, “Are you coming to school today?”
“Yes, I can’t afford to miss any cheerleading practices, and it doesn’t matter if you tell anyone, it’s no big deal” I told her.
“Don’t worry about it, if you don’t want to come, you don’t have to. I’ll tell Clarissa that you are sick and couldn’t come,” Samantha said reassuringly.
“I’m going and that is final,” I said with a laugh.
I ran upstairs to get ready, the entire time I was thinking about how food of a friend Samantha was. She was a late sleeper, and always had been; yet she had gotten up early so that she could talk to me as soon as I woke up.
“Samantha? Are you ready to go?” I asked.
“Yeah sure,”
“Bye Mom,” I said as I grabbed an apple.
“Bye honey, see you tonight,”
As Samantha and I walked out the door, she asked me if I wanted the others to know.
“Yes, some of them are my best friends and there’s no reason for them not to know, it’s not like I’ve got some contagious disease or something,” I said laughing.


~*~ Chapter Two ~*~
Practice that morning was extremely grueling. It seemed like all of the hard work we had done before the tryouts were just like us goofing around. Now that we knew we had a spot in the Championships we had to work ten times harder to make sure that we stayed in shape and to learn the routine.
During math class, Mrs. Goldman gave me a hard time, she yelled at me because I didn’t have my homework done, then she yelled at me because I asked Dixie for a pen when she was talking. She told me that she was talking and that I wasn’t allowed to talk to my friends during class time. I went ballistic; I told her that I didn’t have my homework done because I had had a rough night at home and that if she wanted me to do my work, I needed to borrow a pen from Dixie. Then she told me I was rude and belligerent, she also told me that I had a bad attitude. I told her that from now on I wasn’t going to ay one word to anyone, not even her. I don’t think she quite believed me, until she asked me to answer one of the questions. I refused to answer the question; she got so mad that you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.
“Go to the office! NOW!” she yelled.
“If she goes, we go, and it won’t be to the office, it will be out of this stupid class of yours!” Dixie said coolly and half the class agreed. “She said she had a rough night last night and she meant it. Now would you just back off?”
With that kind of speech Mrs. Goldman didn’t know what to do. She just kind of looked at me and then at the rest of the class. “Your lucky I don’t report you to the administration Dixie Cooper!”
“Just teach the lesson!” a voice called out from the back of the room.
“Sure,” Mrs. Goldman said. She started her lesson all over again; it was extremely boring. As soon as the bell rang I raced out of the room, I didn’t want her sympathy, in fact, I didn’t want anybody’s.


~*~ Chapter Three ~*~
The rest of the day passed by in a blur, I didn’t speak to anyone unless they spoke to me. All of the teachers knew that I had a different kind of night so they basically knew that I wouldn’t have my homework done and they left me alone. I was seriously thinking of skipping cheerleading practice because I had absolutely zero concentration, but I knew that I had to go.
By the time I got to the gym, everyone was already there. As soon as I walked in, the entire group fell silent. I looked around at all of the guilt-stricken faces, and now I knew that they had not been talking about the Provincial Championships. My guess was they were wondering if I was up to pulling my weight in the group.
“What are your problems?” I asked, “Just because I’m having an off day doesn’t mean that I can’t pull my weight around here! It doesn’t really matter, let’s just practice, okay?”
“All right, let’s start with the Redmen Rock cheer,” Clarissa said, “Samantha and Alicia you guys stay as close to the front to be ready for your flips all right?”
“Yeah sure,” we mumbled together.
As I prepared for the flip, I knew that I shouldn’t go through with it, I needed lots of concentration, a commodity I just happened to be short on right now. As I took off, I knew that my timing was off, but I didn’t stop I prepared to finish the flip despite the warning bells that were going off in my head. I flipped…and I landed with a sickening crack.
“YEOW!” I screamed in pain.
“Omigosh! Quick, go and get Mr. Taylor, and call an ambulance!” Shouted Dixie.
All of a sudden people were running all over the gym. Some of the cheerleaders were panicking; they had never been in a real emergency before. Melissa was the only one who kept her head.
“Get her a blanket! We have to keep her warm or she’ll go into shock! Has anyone went and got Mr. Taylor? No? GO NOW! Anyone, it doesn’t matter who goes! Just go!”
Mandy and Aisling raced out the door and Clarissa ran and got a blanket. I began to feel weird, dizzy, and nauseous. Then I passed out, it probably sounds like I’m a wimp but it just happened. I don’t know exactly what happened then, so I’m going to have to rely on other people’s stories.
The ambulance arrived about five minutes later and the paramedics rushed me to the hospital. Melissa rode with me in the ambulance as kind of a comfort, although I didn’t exactly know that she was there.
When I finally woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed with my leg straight up in the air hanging in a traction.
“Hey! How are you doing? Is your leg-feeling better? I guess you know that you broke it, eh?” my mom asked me.
“Yeah, I kind of figured that, and I’m okay, I’m just a little groggy.” I moaned.
“Yeah, that would be those pain killers they were popping into you, I heard you took a bad fall,” my dad said.
“Yeah, I tried to do a back flip, but it didn’t really work,” I said with a laugh, and then a wince of pain.
“I gathered that,” my mom said dryly.
“I just wanted to prove to them that I even though I wasn’t having a very good day that I could still do what I was supposed to, and I wouldn’t let the team down.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Do you understand me?” asked my father. “Everyone has off days,
My father was getting so angry, he didn’t want me to be hurt anymore, and I didn’t want to pretend that I was fine with the news anymore.
“I know, its just that…oh, I don’t know, people are stupid they care about the stupidest things and they place so much emphasis on family ties, and you’re family status…” I said trailing off, “Mom, Dad, I have to tell you something. When you told me that I was adopted, I wasn’t fine with it, I was upset. I wasn’t mad at you, I was mad because I knew that people would treat me like this, and I didn’t want to feel like an outcast, besides, you know how you said nothing’s changed, you’re wrong, something has changed, something I can’t explain…” I suddenly stopped trying to gauge the reaction on their faces. My parents looked at each other as I said this and then quickly looked away.
“I guess you want to know what you’re real name is, huh?” asked my dad.
“Well, I think that it is time for me to know, if you don’t mind,” I said kind of hesitantly.
“Okay, you’re real name is Alicia Moore,” my mom told me, “According to the agency you have two siblings, a brother and a sister,”
It felt good knowing about my second family, I knew that when I got out of the hospital I was going to try and find them. I was really mixed up, but I felt that I had to try and find out about my roots and to see what my family was like. Most importantly thought I had some questions that I needed answers to, like, why I was put up for adoption and my other siblings weren’t. I needed some conclusions and it seemed the best way to get those was to go straight to the sources.
“Honey, we have to go now, your brothers and sister will be getting home from school soon, they will want to know what happened,” my mom explained. My brothers and sister took a bus to school so they didn’t get home until around 4:00.
“All right, will you bring them in later today?” I asked.
“Sure, see you later,”
“Bye, I’m glad you told me about my second family. It makes this a whole lot easier,”
As my parents walked out of the room a nurse came in. “Hello, my name is Heather, and I will be here until around 8:00 tonight, if you need anything ring the nurses station, okay?”
“Yeah. Before you go, I have a question.”
“Yes?” she asked expectantly.
“How long do I have to stay in this traction?”
“Maybe a couple of weeks, it all depends,”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll ring if I need anything.”
I slept until my parents came in; they had brought the entire family. When I woke up they were all surrounding my bed. It felt good knowing that they all cared about me.


~*~ Chapter Four ~*~
After a couple of weeks in the brace, the doctor finally told me that I was allowed to move around. Heather found me a wheelchair so that when I wanted a break from my room, I would be able to move around the hospital.
One day, Heather took me to the Oncology floor; Heather said that she thought there was someone named Moore there. I had told Heather all about the recent happenings in my life, since she was the only one I had to talk to all day. I knew it was a long shot, but maybe, just maybe this was a member of my biological family.
“So, Alicia. Do you know your brother’s name?” asked Heather.
“My parents said that the agency told them that his name was John.”
“Okay, let’s ask the head nurse if that is the name of the Moore boy, okay?”
Alex wheeled me to the counter and asked the head nurse what the boy’s name was. I wasn’t really listening, but when I heard the name John, my head snapped up. “His name is John Moore and he has one sister and her name is Alex. Their parents’ names are John and Mary Moore,”
I couldn’t believe, what were the chances that I was going to find my family so close to me, it was like one in a million, and I had done it…from a wheelchair and over a broken leg! Go figure! Heather wheeled me around the nurses’ desk so that I could use their phone to call my parents and ask if they could come down and check it out with me.
When they finally got to the hospital I was shaking with excitement. Heather had called John’s parents and they said that they would come down to the hospital. Heather had not told them why she wanted them, all she said was that John was all right, and she had to talk to them. I was so thrilled! I had thought that I was going to have to wait until I got out of the hospital to find my family, but here I was.
In a way, I guess I kind of hoped that they weren’t my family, because they told me that John had acute lymphocytic leukemia. John’s family lived two hours away…and guess where! Yep, Renfrew, which meant if I was living there I would be going to that school that I had just been so glad that I didn’t have to go to. They had brought him to our hospital because it had the best cancer treatment facility in the province. I asked Heather if she had asked John and Mary to bring Alex or not. She said that they were pulling Alex out of school to come down here.
By the time the Moore’s got down to the hospital I was a nervous wreck! It seemed that I had been nervous a lot lately. The family was pretty worried too, I mean if you’re son was in the hospital with cancer and you suddenly got a call from a nurse saying that you better get down here quick, what would you think? When the Moore’s walked into the room, my mom nearly fainted, I don’t think she thought I was right. When Mary heard my mom gasp she whirled her head around “John!” she stuttered, “I know them from somewhere, but I can’t place it! Where?” By the look on John’s face I knew that he recognized them, he just didn’t know what to do.
My parents had called an agency worker to come down and help us make sure that these were my parents. I didn’t think that we would need her, but my parents insisted. When the lady spoke up, I was glad she was the one who would do the initial talking. “Are you two John and Mary Moore?” she asked.
“Yes, is there a problem?”
“No, no problem. We just thought that you would want to meet someone, but first let’s go to your son’s room, shall we?”
The seven of us trooped to John’s room. Heather stayed behind so that we could have some privacy. I told her that I would tell her everything once it was over.
Once we were all settled in, the lady began again. “Mary, John, this is Alicia Mary Purcell. Actually to you, she would be known as Alicia Mary Moore,”
“What?” asked Mary stunned.
“That’s right,” I said as tears welled up in my eyes, “I couldn’t believe that I would ever find my family in the hospital, but here we are,”
Mary and John looked at each other with looks of pure joy! My parents looked at each other in disbelief. They had wanted me to know that I was adopted, but I think they hoped that I would be satisfied knowing. I think they thought that I would kind of forget about them, well not forget exactly. I think they were worried that I would get so wrapped up in John and Mary that I would forget about them. I think deep down, they knew that I would never intentionally hurt them, them were just wary.
Mary looked at me as if she wasn’t kind quite sure what to do. I was kind of bewildered too. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to walk up to her? Was she supposed to come to me? It was very confusing. I knew that I should go and talk to John and Mary, but I didn’t know exactly what to do or say. I don’t think they knew what to do either. I didn’t know how I should talk to them, I didn’t know what I should call them. I didn’t think that I would call them mom or dad, at least not yet. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I had wanted to meet my parents, but this was just getting too complicated!
My mom and dad suggested that we all go and get some lunch and try to get acquainted. I didn’t really feel like eating, but I went anyway. During lunch, we never talked once about any of the things that had happened. John stayed in his room, because he had just had a round of medication and didn’t really feel like eating or even looking at food. During lunch, there were a lot of awkward silences. As soon as I finished eating, I got out of there, so did Alex. We went up to John’s room to talk without the parents.
“Hi, can I come in?” I asked cautiously.
“Sure, come on. I’m glad we met today, my parents… um… I mean our parents told me that I had an older sister. They just never told me how old you were, or what you looked like. I’m really, really happy that you found us.” Alex said. When she finished she was out of breath.
“Yeah, I’m glad I found you too. I found out a couple of days ago that I had been adopted, and that I had two more siblings. I have three other siblings, two brothers, Geoff and Joel, and a sister named Elisabeth.

~*~ Chapter Five ~*~
Alex and I talked for a long time, at one point we heard our parents coming down the hall, but when they heard us, they quickly walked away. I think that they were glad we were getting along so well.
“So, how old are you anyway?” asked Alex.
“I’m 17 and I am turning 18 in a month. How old are you?”
“I’m turning 17 in about 3 months and I am in grade 11. By the way, I have been meaning to ask you, how did you break your leg?”
“Well, I’m on the cheerleading squad and I was trying to do a double back flip. I was kind of upset though, because I had just found out that I was adopted and the way people were treating me was starting to get annoying. Anyway, I tried to prove that I wasn’t any different by doing the flip, I was angry and wasn’t concentrating, and I landed wrong and broke my leg,” I explained. “I was pretty upset because my squad is going to the Provincial Championships and now I won’t be able to go.”
John was finally starting to wake up by the time Alex and I finished talking. “Hey sleepyhead,” I said.
“Hi, are you going to be my sister now?” he asked sleepily.
“Yes, I am your sister. How old are you John?”
“I’m 7 ¾, how old are you?”
“She’s 17 and she is turning 18 in a month,” interrupted Alex.
We sat talking for another hour or two. When our parents came in they were laughing hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Yeah! Tell us!” demanded John.
“We were just laughing at the irony of meeting each other in the hospital. I mean we haven’t seen each other in any other place. When you were born Alicia we could see each other through the glass window in the nursery and now, we meet again in a hospital. It’s too bad it wasn’t the same hospital, then we could really call it ironic,” explained Mary.
All of us kids looked at each other with eyebrows raised high, we nodded and pretended that we understood. We couldn’t understand why that was so hilarious, but I think it was just the tension of the moment.
“By the way Alicia, how did you break your leg?” asked John (senior).
“Oh, I’m on the cheerleading squad at school and I was trying to do a double back flip, when I landed, my footing was off and I landed on my leg,” I explained.
“Did I ever tell you that I was on the cheerleading squad in high school Alex?” asked Mary.
“No, you didn’t,” Alex said.
“While we’re all here, we have to talk about a few things.” My dad said grimly.
“Agreed,” said Mary.
“One of the things that we have to talk about is who is Alicia going to live with? I think that you should go home and pack up some of her things so that she can come down to our house and see where we live.” John suggested.
My dad jumped up, “No! I don’t think that she should go by herself,”
“Howard, we already talked about this, we agreed that Alicia should have a chance to meet her parents and get acquainted with them, without having to worry about whether she will offend any of us,” my mom said quickly.
“Her parents? We are her parents and nobody is going to change that! Not if I can help it!” shouted my dad.
“Howard! This is a hospital. Please keep your voice down! This should not be talked about in front of the children,” my mom said.
“What? This is my life you are talking about, and the lives of John and Alex. They have a right to say what they want to do, and more importantly remember me in your decision and at least take our opinions into consideration” I said quickly. “Let me say this, and then John, Alex, and I will leave!”
From the tone of my voice, both of my set of parents knew not to argue. “I think that I should be allowed to go and see their house, I mean what can it hurt? Besides, it will give us a chance to get to know each other better. You already told me that you were going to help me find my parents. This is helping me; I really need to know all about them, and what better way than to spend a couple of days with them? I hope that you take my feelings into consideration when you make your decisions, and not just your own!” After that Alex and I helped John into a wheelchair and wheeled him down to the playroom. It was a room just down the hall from his room, and it was for all of the kids on the Oncology floor.
John, Alex, and I spent the rest of the day in that room. We met one of John’s friends, Richard, who was also battling leukemia. Our parents talked and talked. They talked well past midnight; they talked about everything, from my adoption to where I was going to live. I hoped that they were going to listen to what I had said, about taking into consideration the feelings of everyone involved, not just theirs. All of the questions that I had had about the adoption suddenly vanished, it was like just meeting my family had answered them all. John, Alex, and I all slept down in the playroom. Around 1:00 in the morning my parents came to tell us that John was going to have to go back to his room and that the rest of us were going back to my house. We had to wait around for another hour and a half because I had to get discharged, return the crutches I had borrowed, and then buy a new set that I could take home with me.
The next morning was absolute chaos. When I woke up in the morning all of my siblings were sleeping in various places around my room. During the night, the rest of them must have got up to see if we were home and found Alex and me in my room. I didn’t think that they knew who Alex was, unless she had woken up in the middle of the night to tell them, which I thought very unlikely. I had a chance to sit up for awhile and think about my predicament. I didn’t want to have to choose between my two families, it would hurt everyone involved and I didn’t want that to happen.
Once the rest of the kids began to stir, I got up and went down to the kitchen, where I found my parents talking again. “Good morning,” I said announcing my presence.

~*~ Chapter Six ~*~
“Morning Sweetie,” said Mary.
After a chorus of good mornings I asked the question that I knew had been on everyone’s minds. “What am I going to call Mary and John? I mean, I can’t keep on calling them by their first names, can I?”
“We’ve already talked about that, and have decided that when you are comfortable with us, then you can call us mom and dad. Ultimately it is up to you, until you are ready, you can just call us John and Mary. We hope that one day you will be able to call us mom and dad. But until then Mary and John are just fine,” said John as he walked over to the coffee pot.
I didn’t know what to say, I was kind of shocked that they had already talked about everything. “Were you guys up all night?” I asked as I noticed three empty coffee pots on the counter.
“Yeah we didn’t want to go to sleep until we had this all figured out. By the way, if you want, you can go to the Moore’s and live there until the end of the school year, on a trial basis only. Then they will bring you back here if they need to, and we can figure that out then,” my mom told me.
I was about to say something when my brothers and sisters came in. It was chaotic as five children and four adults all tried to find something to eat, but eventually everyone had their fill and after another three more hours everyone was ready for the day.
As my new family and I prepared to go, I could see the tears in every eye of my family. My youngest brother grabbed my coat as I was putting it on and pulled me down so I was looking him in the face and asked me if I was going to leave him. When I looked in his face, I almost took my suitcase back upstairs to unpack it.
As I got in the Moore’s flashy sports car, I paused to look back at the family that I had lived with for nearly eighteen years. I knew that I would be back, I just didn’t know when or for how long. During the trip to the Moore’s Alex filled me in on all of our aunts, uncles, cousins, and our grandparents. I realized that Alex would probably end up being one of my best friends if we ever got the chance to get to know each other well enough.
When we pulled up to the house, it started pouring outside but I hardly noticed it, as I stood dumbstruck in the front yard. The house was humongous!!! John turned to me, and I can still see his face, and he asked me how I liked their humble adobe. Then he ran inside to get out of the rain laughing uproariously all the way in.
After John and Mary had gone inside I turned to Alex and asked why they gave me up for adoption when they were so wealthy. I think Alex knew that I was going to ask the question because she replied almost instantaneously. She told me that they hadn’t always been this well off. She said she could remember times when they had hardly enough food in the house to feed everybody. After she told me that, I knew how impolite it was of me to ask that question.
When Alex and I went inside I found out that Alex and I had rooms that were right beside each other and had a door leading to the other room through the wall. Alex told me that she used to use my new room as a room for slumber parties.
Alex and talked all through the night; it was astonishing how late we stayed up considering that we had only slept for a few hours the previous night. I didn’t tell Alex that night, but I made up my decision then, of where to live.
In the morning John and Mary called a “family” conference. I told them that I wanted to try living with them for a trial basis, to get to know them before I made my final decision. We ended up calling my mom and dad that day to try and figure out a fair trial period. We decided that six months would be the fairest, and that I could go and visit my other family any time I wanted, but I was supposed to try and give the Moore’s a fair chance and not compare them to the Purcell’s. I also decided that while I was living with Mary and John I was going to call them mom and dad, but I didn’t tell them straight out like that, I just casually asked mom what time supper would be. All in all it was a good first day and I realized that I loved Mary and John just as much as Howard and Alice.

~*~ Chapter Seven ~*~
I was really super nervous about starting a new school so late in the semester, but it wasn’t exactly the schoolwork I was worried about, I had always been a good student, it was more the social aspect of things. I’m not one who really cares about having a lot of friends, but I like hanging around with more than one person. Lucky for me, Alex did a good job of talking me up and when I started school after I was registered I already had a good reputation.
There was one highlight of my first day. I had to go to the office to confirm my enrollment and my schedule, anyway while I was there I almost got plowed over by this really cute guy! He had the best smile ever! It turned out his name was Eric Morrison and he was also in grade 12, although I didn’t find that out until first period when I found out that he was in my Canadian Law class. I also found out that he had a girlfriend, Caitlynd, she was captain of the cheerleading squad. Despite that Eric and I really hit it off, and we became really good friends, really fast. Well, we basically had no choice, it turned out that everyone in the Law class was assigned a partner and Eric was the only one who didn’t have one because he transferred into law a little late in the semester after dropping a French class. The teacher thought it would be a good idea if she partnered us up, she also asked Eric to make sure that I knew where I would be going for the rest of the day.
That was the only class that I had with Eric, but it was enough. He introduced me to all of his friends and between him and Alex I was settled into my school faster than I thought I would be. I also managed to snag a place in the “popular” group, which is a really good place to be when you are new at your ex-rival school. I still couldn’t quite believe that I was going to R.C.I it was a hard concept to grasp.
So I spent a lot of time hanging out with my new group of friends, and that was how I met my first boyfriend there. His name was Tyler Johnson and at first he was everything a girl could want. He brought me a bouquet of flowers for my birthday, and had a huge amount of helium balloons delivered to each of my classes. However, Eric who came to be my best friend next to Alex, got a bunch of the guys from our crowd to come to my last period class and sing me a song. At the same time, he sent me a dozen roses. It was really sweet, but everyone knew that he was only doing it because he was my closest friend next to my sister. Besides Caitlynd fully approved of his plan, she had also become a good friend of mine. So for a few months everything went great, until Tyler started fooling around with other girls. It started harmlessly enough, he was a flirt, it didn’t bother me that much, but then one day after school I just happened to take a shortcut across the football field and what I saw made me so angry I practically put holes in the ground as I stalked across to the other side.
It turned out that while I was busy working on the yearbook Tyler had been keeping busy too. With my so-called friend Maria Buenos, lucky for me my meeting just happened to get out early. While I was walking across the field I glanced up and saw Tyler and Maria kissing at the top of the bleachers. I was glad that I had finally seen his true colours, unfortunately it had taken a long time and I had wasted a lot of good times with him.
When I got home, I called every single one of my friends and it turned out the Maria and Tyler had been seeing each other for the last month and a half. In fact, tonight we were supposed to go to his house and watch some movies, but instead Alex and I are going to a party.
“Alicia, can I borrow some of your make-up?” yelled Alex.
“Sure, just a second, and if you want it you have to come get it!” I hollered back.
Alex came floating in wearing a denim skirt and a semi-formal white blouse, which looked incredible! “Okay, now let’s see you, I haven’t even saw your dress yet!” I was wearing a white spaghetti strap dress that went perfectly with my golden tan. The only reason Alex and I were going to this party was because our parents were out of town visiting John; or otherwise we would be spending some “quality” time together.
“Are you almost ready to go Alex?” I asked her an hour later.
“Yep, ready and waiting!”
We hopped into the car our parents had loaned us and raced to Eric’s house, (he was the one throwing the party). By the time we got there, the party was already in full swing. One of my friends, Robert came and handed Alex and I each a glass of Coke and then walked away. As I went to walk away, I stopped and looked back at Alex, “Alex, no drinking, okay?”
“Yeah, same goes for you too,” she called back.
As I turned and walked away, I nearly bumped into Eric. “Oops, sorry,” I said smiling.
“That’s okay,” he said, as he started to walk away, “do you want to dance later on Alicia?”
“Sure!” I exclaimed, just as I caught sight of Tyler, “Uh oh,” I said under my breath.
“Hey! What are you doing here? You said that you and Alex were going to come over to my house to watch some movies, and then Alex calls me and says that you’re coming here instead.”
“You know Tyler, I don’t even want to talk to you right now” I said trying to maintain my self-control.
“Why?”
“Because I can barely stand the sight of you! By the way…where’s Maria?”
“Maria? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play innocent with me! I saw you two in the bleachers Friday at lunch!” I practically yelled, I didn’t even care that everyone around me was staring at us.
“Alicia, stop! Just listen to me, would you? I can explain! And keep your voice down, everyone’s staring!”
“So? Can you explain it, Tyler? Can you really?”
“I didn’t kiss her, she just kissed me, I swear!”
“So what were you doing there in the first place? And how come you didn’t pull away from her when she was kissing you? Oh, and just to let you know, there’s like thirty people who say you’ve been spending a lot of quality time with dear sweet Maria. I’m not listening to this crap anymore see you around Tyler. Oh, and by the way, this relationship is over!” I said as I walked away.
“Eric, can I talk to you in private? Over here?”
“Yeah, uh… sure,” he said tentatively.
“I don’t really know how to say this, but I like you… a lot, and I have since I first saw you,” I said suddenly.
“Really?” He asked incredulously, “Because, I’ve liked you ever since I ran into you in the office on your first day of school, I thought you just wanted to be friends”
“No, what about Caitlynd? When I first moved here you were going out with her, I thought you liked her?” I asked amazed.
“I did, well I still do, but not like that. We’ve been having some problems and I’m going to talk to her right now, I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes,” he called as he walked away.
I felt bad, that he was going to break up with Caitlynd, and I didn’t want her to get hurt, I mean I liked him, and I was glad he liked me, but I'm not cold-hearted, she’s my friend.
“Caitlynd, we need to talk,” Eric said when he walked over to her.
“Oh, hey! You’re right, we do” Caitlynd said seriously.
“I don’t know how to say this but this relationship isn’t working anymore, I’m sorry,” he said as he dropped her hand.
“You’re right, we both know that this wasn’t going anywhere but down, and I think you’re interested in someone else, right?” Caitlynd asked with the smallest trace of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Eric said grinning sheepishly, “You know me too well!”
Then Eric walked over and took my hand and led me to the dance floor. I was really happy but that’s normal, I mean anyone would be happy if they found out that the person they liked, liked them back. So Eric and I danced a while and then we went inside to find some drinks.
I left Eric to get the drinks and I went over to Alex to tell her what had happened.
“Alex, do you know what just happened?” I asked excitedly.
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” she said dryly.
“You know how I like Eric right? Well…I found out that he likes me too! Isn’t that great? I’m so happy! I mean I’m happy I finally found out. We just danced for like a half hour and I got so thirsty, am I making any sense?” I asked suddenly noticing the blank look on Alex’s face.
“Kind of, I understood that whole part about Eric, but what the heck are you babbling about now?” she asked laughing. “Oh, you better stop yapping he’s coming back.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.

~*~ Chapter Eight ~*~
So when we went back outside Eric and I danced for almost two hours straight, and we would have kept going if Tyler hadn’t come up and interrupted. We were dancing to a fast song and Eric had his back to Tyler, he just came up, tapped Eric on the shoulder and when Eric turned around he punched him right in the jaw!
“What are you doing with my girlfriend?” Tyler yelled.
“Uh…dancing, what does it look like?” Eric asked innocently. “Oh, and by the way word around town is that she’s not your girlfriend,”
“Oh, yeah?” Tyler asked threateningly.
“Yeah!”
“Then whose girlfriend is she? Yours?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think that’s any of your concern!”
“STOP!!!!” I yelled, “Stop arguing about me as if I am someone’s property, I’m not! And as far as I know, which I happen to think is most important; I’m not anyone’s girlfriend Tyler. Eric, can you please drive me home, Alex is taking our car tonight,”
“Sure,”
“Oh no you don’t!” yelled Tyler as he wound up to punch Eric. This time though, Eric was ready; he skillfully blocked every punch Tyler threw at him. “What…?” Tyler yelled. “Since when do you know how to fight?”
“Didn’t you know that I have been boxing since I was seven? ” Eric asked without missing a beat.
I stood there too astounded to do anything, by the time I realized what was happening a couple of the guys had pulled Tyler off of Eric. It took three guys to control Tyler who was still yelling and swinging at anyone around him. I walked over to Eric who was still watching Tyler. When Eric turned around, Tyler managed to break loose.
“Eric! Lookout!” someone shouted.
Eric ducked just in time, but someone else caught the punch right smack in the middle of the face…ME! I stood there stunned, not fully realizing what had happened until Alex came and handed me a tissue and told me that my nose was bleeding. Then Tyler came over and put his arm around me and said that it was Eric’s fault that I had gotten punched. He was so intent that he didn’t even see my right hand ball up into a fist. I wound up and I punched him the hardest I’ve ever punched anyone.
“Way, to go Alicia!” someone in the crowd yelled.
“Tyler, you are the stupidest person on Earth, don’t you ever give up? I’m not your girlfriend anymore! I never want to be again, get it? I never want to see you again; you’re such a jerk! And why do you even care? You’re the one who went behind my back and did who knows what with Maria!” I yelled.
“Oooohhh, I think Tyler just got burned,” the same voice called out from the middle of the crowd. I didn’t waste any time watching the stunned look on Tyler’s face I just stormed away.
Alex and a few of our friends followed me into Eric’s house and started laughing about how astonished Tyler had looked at someone turning him down, and hurting him the way I had. I could hear a bunch of cheering still outside, so my friends and I decided to take another look at what was going on.
This time, it was my turn to be amazed. In spite of the previous minute’s events Tyler was still trying to attack Eric, and Eric just stayed there blocking the punches, he didn’t even try to walk away. Then as I watched Eric started punching Tyler.
“HOLD IT! STOP NOW!!” I yelled. Eric turned to look at me so he didn’t see Tyler winding up to punch him. “Eric! Look out!” I yelled as Tyler’s fist hit him square in the jaw sending him flying back into a nearby table. As I stood there waiting for Eric to move or try to get up Tyler came and put his arm around me and started guiding me to his car. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked as I twisted out from under his arm. “GIVE IT UP! I…don’t…want…to…see…you again!” I said very slowly, “Was that slow enough for you to understand?” I asked sarcastically.
“Alicia!” Alex gasped, “Eric’s not getting up!”
“What?” I cried as I ran over to the table. “Someone call an ambulance and bring me a blanket, we need to keep him warm so he doesn’t go into shock.” When the ambulance came they said that he had a serious concussion and that he would have to go to the hospital, “Can I ride with him?” I asked.
“Sure,” said one of the paramedics.
When we got to the hospital the paramedics wheeled him into an examination room and I was told that I had to wait until he was given a room or released. Eventually I was told that I could go in and see him, unfortunately he was sleeping so I just pulled a chair up to his bed and sat down in it.
When I woke up the next morning Eric was sitting on the edge of the bed just watching me. “Morning Sleeping Beauty,” he said brightly.
“Morning” I said groggily. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” he replied cheerfully.
“Are you always this cheerful in the morning,” I asked blinking at the bright lights.
“Nope, only when the first thing I see is something as beautiful as you,” I couldn’t believe the way he just spit that out, I was even more amazed that he was able to just continue on with the conversation, “The doctor says that I can go home now and my parents were here this morning to check on me and-” he started to say.
“Why didn’t you wake me up instead of allowing me to sit there looking like a bump on log?” I asked interrupting.
“My parents said not to, they said that you guys could meet another time. Umm, do you want a drive home?”
“Sure,” I said suddenly nervous. The drive home was very quiet, we didn’t talk about any of the past night’s events, and the ride was kind of dull and awkward. It was so frustrating because I really wanted to talk about what had happened I just wasn’t sure where or how we fit in together anymore. I didn’t want to ask and see too interested because I might be totally reading in to this and I might seem too eager. So, for the time being I held my tongue hoping that maybe this would sort itself out.
Later that afternoon, after I got a phone call from Tyler and he was acting charming and just so pleasant, even better than when we had first met. But then, when I mentioned Eric he got hostile and turned offensive.
“You know, Tyler, I don’t think you are really over your whole fight with Eric yet, and I don’t want to hear from you again until you grow up and realize that you screwed up and that it’s over!” when I said that, he started laughing. “No, I am completely serious and if you’re just going to laugh at me, I don’t want to hear from you ever again!” I said slamming down the phone.
About ten minutes after Tyler called, Eric called. “Hi!” he said, brightly. “I just wanted to thank you again for coming with me to the hospital.”
“No problem. I’m just sorry that this happened,”
“It wasn’t your fault, it was bound to come out anyway. Besides, I didn’t want to fight Tyler last night, but I knew that if I didn’t someone would end up getting hurt…stupid comment eh?” Eric said after an awkward pause, “I didn’t want to walk away, because I knew that if I did that he would never let it rest, and he would keep pestering us…uh, me. I was going to stop, until he ended up punching you in the face, and then I didn’t want him to think that it was okay and all that, and then he got me even madder when he didn’t apologize after doing that, he just tried to blame it on me. Alicia, I really am sorry.”
I actually believed him too, I didn't think that he was putting on an act and I was right to think that he wasn't. “Okay, I believe you, how about you come over later and we can talk more, besides I think that we need to figure this out, we said some stuff last night and I think it should be talked about face to face. So, what do you think? Can you come over?”
“Uh, sure. What time? Is four okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, I’ll be looking forward to it. Bye Eric,”
“Bye Alicia. I’m looking forward to it as well.”



(MORE TO FOLLOW!!!!!!!!!!!)