"No Longer Alone": Part 4

“Hello, students! My name is Mrs. Jenkins, and welcome to 10th-grade biology! We are going to have so much fun this year! Our first unit is on DNA, and although we don’t technically start work until later on, we need to do something now in order to complete a project I’m really excited about…”

Mrs. Jenkins went on like that for a few more sentences. I mostly tuned her out, but one word stood out.

“...genetics. Today we will take a swab of our saliva and send it to a lab to get tested. In a few weeks, we should get our results back and start making our family tree!”

“I could finally find my real family,” I mutter under my breath.

“What?” The girl asks.

“Nothing,” I quickly respond. “I never did get your name…”

“I never got yours either.”

“Jaehyun.”

Right when I thought she was never going to answer, the bell rang and everyone got up as quickly as possible to make it to their next class. I was about to give up and move on when I hear a faint: “Brynn.”

“Nice to meet you, Brynn,” I whisper back.

The rest of the day was uneventful. After biology, I had math, English, Spanish, PE, and art, respectively. Lunch was a letdown. First of all, the line was unreasonably long. It took me half of the lunch period to even get any food. Second of all, once I did get my lunch, there was absolutely nowhere to sit in the cafeteria. I ended up on the floor. Third of all, the food that took 15 minutes to obtain was disgusting. It consisted of what I hoped were mashed potatoes, a piece of meat (I’m not sure what type), and an apple. I’m pretty sure it had hair on it. I’ve never missed anything as much as I missed Kareema’s cooking right now.

When the bell rang at 2:30 marking the end of school, I nearly jumped out of my seat in celebration. I wait outside on the curb for Robert to come. Five minutes turned into ten minutes turned into fifteen. Finally, I see the gray SUV pull up a few feet away from me. 

“Sorry I was late, kiddo. Work ran late.”

“That’s okay.”

“How was school?”

“It was… okay.”

The truth is, it wasn’t okay. It was horrible. Public high school is nothing like the movies. I got laughed at in at least three different classes, in 6.5 hours of school only one person talked to me, and my shirt got caught in my locker. Twice. 

“School was amazing!”

“Well, glad to hear it. But get ready, kid. Kareema’s gonna need a lot more detail than that.”

Robert wasn’t kidding. The second I stepped through the door, Kareema bombarded me with an abundance of questions, ranging from if I liked my teachers to if anybody at school picked their nose.

“Uh, no.”

“Well, what did happen?”

“My day was amazing.” It wasn’t a total lie. Okay, maybe it was. “I made tons of friends.” Not true. “I loved all my teachers.” Not even close to the truth. “And all my classes were incredible!” That one’s so not true it’s almost laughable. It’s not like I don’t want to tell my adoptive parents the truth, I just don’t want to disappoint them by not appreciating something they’ve done for me. I was the one who wanted to be enrolled in a public school in the first place. 

“That’s awesome, sweetheart!”

“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to bed now.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t even have dinner yet.”

“Oh! Right. I can take a little something to my room with me. Thank you.” I quickly run up the stairs before either of them can object.

Once I’m safe in my room, I collapse on my bed. I had to get away from the prying questions before I lost it. Adoption is not the magical paradise I believed it to be.

As I lay in bed, various thoughts circle my brain. Unfortunately, my emotions get the better of me and my eyes start getting wet. First, my best friend leaves me. Then, I get adopted! But everything backfires when I have a horrible day at school. Luckily, I have a chance to learn who my real parents are! However, I have to endure 2 more weeks to get the results. This sucks. Tomorrow’s another day, I think to myself. It will be better.

It wasn’t. And neither was the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Almost two weeks have passed since my first day, and it seems as though that first impression set a precedent for the rest of my high school career. The only good thing is Brynn, my one and only friend. She’s not a big people person, so she usually eats alone during lunch. I sit next to her and tell people we’re friends. She wouldn’t exactly say the same, but I like to say our relationship is complicated.

“You gonna eat that?” I ask Brynn at the two-week mark of our blossoming friendship.

“No, I just put the sandwich in my lunch just because.”

“Ah, I just love our witty banter!”

“Mmmhmm,” Brynn replies with a full mouth.

“Pretty exciting how we’ll get the DNA test results back in Bio tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

“Do you think you’ll find anything exciting?”

“Nope.”

“Really? You think you know all of your family’s history?”

“No. But I don’t really care. I’m sure you do though, wanting to find your family and all.”

“Wait, what? What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Please, I’ve been involuntarily sitting next to you every day for two weeks, I’m bound to pick up on a few things. Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“No…” She gets up and starts walking away. I chase after her. “Wait! You're not going to tell anybody, right?”

“If I wanted to tell people, the whole school would know already.”

“That’s a relief. I would die if anyone found out I’m an orphan.”

“But you're not. Not anymore, anyways.” She’s looking me in the eyes now. “Look, I’ve met your adoptive parents before. They’re nice people. Good people. The whole town knows them. What if you don’t open the envelope tomorrow? Leave the secret a secret.”

“What!? Are you crazy!? I have to!”

“No, you don’t. Why do you need new parents when you already have excellent ones?”

“Just because I know their identities doesn’t mean I’m gonna abandon Robert and Kareema for them.”

“Maybe not, but all that will do is make you sad. They're the parents you never had and the parents you’ll never get.”

“I guess you're right…”

“Of course I am. Now get to PE before you’re late. Yes, I also memorized your schedule. You learn a lot about a person when they do all the talking. See you!”