"Sorry about her," he says, sitting back on the chair.
"It's alright," I say, honestly feeling sorry for her.

"Anyway, you'll start school in a few weeks, so we'll go to get you enrolled. After that, we can go by your school supplies, and whatever you need," he tells me. "Do you have a phone?" He asks.

I nod. "I do, but it's crappy."
"I'll try and get you a new one soon, okay? Let me know if you want anything else,"
"I will, thanks,"

"Do you need new clothes?"
"I guess... a lot of what I have is pretty old," I admit.
"That's no problem, we'll go and buy you some clothes,"

We talk a bit more, and a few minutes later he stands up to leave.

"Come on Lily, let's go," he tells Lily, still standing in the corner.
"Kay," she mumbles sadly, walking out of the corner and out the door with him.

I walk around my room once more, taking it in. This actually could be mine.
I hesitantly unpack, wondering if Mark will suddenly change his mind, and send me back to the orphanage.

I don't have too many belongings, so I unpack quickly. My room looks more homey, but it's still pretty empty.

I gently sit on my bed and get out my phone, to text Ellie.

Me: hey, sorry I couldn't text u earlier, I was busy unpacking and stuff
Ellie: no worries. How are they? I asked Mrs Anderson for information but she wouldn't tell me anything!
Me: it's not a couple, it's this guy. He seems nice, he lives w his siblings, and he looks after them.

We continued to talk for a while, and I told her everything I knew. She was happy for me, but I missed her. I wish he had adopted us both.

Until the evening rolled around, I pretty much spent most of the day in my room, doing nothing. Mark came to check up on me a few times, but that was pretty much it.

I'm still looking around my room when I hear a little knock at my door. Before I could answer, it slowly opened, to reveal Lily.

"Hey, Savvy!" She grinned, closing the door and hopping on my bed. "Can we play now?"
I smile. I did want to play, but she and Charlie share a room, and I'm not sure if she'd appreciate me being there. But Lily had been asking me to play all day, so I put my worries aside and we went to her room.

Their room was pretty nice, they had bunk beds and plenty of space. Ignoring Charlie, Lily pointed to the floor where all her Barbies, their houses and their accessories were all sprawled over the floor. She created a spot for me and asked me to sit down. I did so, and I looked up to see Charlie on the top bunk bed, lying down facing the wall, seeming to be reading a book.

"This is Chelsea, this is Skipper, and this is Stacy!" She explained to me, showing me the dolls.
"They're very pretty," I say, stroking Chelsea's hair. I never had many dolls or toys growing up. None for my own or this nice at least.

"We can play with the others too," she says, rummaging through a big overflowing basket of toys. She fished out a new Barbie, still in the box, and handed it to me.

"I got her yesterday," she tells me. "You can name her!"
I run my fingers down the box. Even though I'm considered too old for dolls, I really liked this one.

I smiled at Lily. "I'll name her Lily," I tell her.
"Really?" She asks, and I nod.

"Yayyy! Thank you Savvy," She says gleefully, hugging me.
I hug her back as my heart melts.

"Can you guys keep it down? I'm tryna read," Charlie grumbles from the top bunk.

"You can play with us too y'know!" Lily says, before turning to me. "Charlie does the best Barbie voices."

"Does she now?" I smirk. Lily nods eagerly. "Show her, Charlie!" She squeals, jumping up and down.
"No," Charlie mumbled dryly.

"Pleeeease! Lily pleaded.
Charlie sat up on her bed. "I said no, Lily! Stop annoying me,"
"But you-" Lily started, but Charlie quickly cut her off. "Just shut up, Lily!" She yelled, pounding her fists on the bed.

"What's going on here?" A voice spoke from the doorway, and the three of us turned our heads.
"Daddy!" Lily whined, running up to Mark. "Charlie's being mean! She yelled at me and told me to shut up," she tattled, wrapping her arms around his legs and burying her face in him.

Mark glared fiercely at Charlie. "And why would you do that, Charlotte?" He asked lowly.
"She was bugging me to play with her when I already told her no a million times! She's being annoying!" Charlie exclaims, and Mark raises a brow, looking down at Lily.

"If Charlie doesn't wanna play, you need to leave her alone," he tells her softly, stroking her hair.
She sniffs, "But she was being mean to me! She told me to shut up!"

Mark sighed and then looked at Charlie again. "And you know not to speak to your little sister like that. Wasn't the punishment you got this morning enough to behave?" He asked.

She turned red. "It was," she mumbled, embarrassed.
"Good. Now be nice to your sister. If I hear another complaint, you're getting punished again, you hear me?" He asked her sternly, and she nodded.  Isn't that a bit harsh?

He kissed Lily's forehead, before smiling at me and leaving the room.
"Tattletale," Charlie muttered, not so under her breath.
"Daddy told you to stop being mean to me!" Lily said smugly.

"Whatever," she muttered, lying down again to read her book. I felt bad for her. Lily was being annoying, I don't blame Charlie for what she said.

I and Lily played barbies, and I honestly had fun. Lily was really sweet and fun to play with.
Charlie didn't speak to either of us, she was immersed in whatever she was reading. I like reading too, maybe we could talk about it.

"It's time for dinner," Ethan says, walking into the room.
"Does no one know how to knock around here?" Charlie asked, annoyed.
Ethan rolled his eyes playfully and ruffled her hair when she got down from the bed. "Sorry sis,"

We went downstairs, Lily on Ethan's shoulders, and sat down for dinner.
It was really good, Roasted chicken with a side of cooked vegetables, with salad and mashed potatoes on the side. It tasted delicious.

"Did you make this?" I ask Ethan, as Mark serves me more vegetables.
He nods. "Do you like it?"
"I love it, it's so good!" I tell him.

Both Mark and Ethan smile. "Told ya that you had a talent little brother," Mark says, winking at Ethan.

After we finish dinner, Mark comes out with an apple pie, a beautiful aroma of apples and cinnamon filling the kitchen. He served us all a big slice, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Just like the dinner, it was delicious! The crust was flaky and buttery, and the filling was all sorts of sweet and tangy, the warm spices completing the perfect dessert.

"This is the best pie I've tasted!" I say after finishing my plate.
"I'm glad you liked it," Mark said, putting our plates away. "I and Ethan baked it together,"
"Charlie, could you do the dishes please?" He asked Charlie, as she was sprawled on the couch watching a show.

"Yeah, okay," she mumbled, turning off the TV and walking into the kitchen.

"Hey," Mark says gently, taking hold of her wrist. "Are you okay?" He asks her.

She looks at him sadly, like she wants to say something. But she takes a glance at me and then nods to him. "I'm fine," she replied curtly, walking to the sink and getting started on the dishes.

He sighed, then turned to me and smiled. "So how was your first day here?" He asked.
"It was good," I say. I wasn't lying, it was. But I felt incredibly out of place like I was intruding on an already complete family.

"Good, Im glad," he says. "I'll take you school supply shopping tomorrow, we can get you enrolled too."

Charlie's POV

After I'm finally done doing the dishes, I go upstairs so I can finally finish my book in hopefully peace. Luckily, when Lily came upstairs she quietly played on her iPad and left me alone.

After a while, Dad came into our room. "Go to sleep soon, girls," he says.
"Bedtime for you, Lily." He says sternly, taking away her iPad and turning it off. There goes my chance of peace.

"Daddy please a little longer! Only 10 minutes!" She pleads.
He sighs. "Okay, only 10," he says, handing it back to her.

"Charlie, we're going to get Savannah enrolled into your school, and then we're gonna buy the stuff she needs. So be ready by 10, okay?" He tells me.

Still looking into my book, I respond. "Why do I have to come?"
"You need school supplies too, silly. So does Ethan, so we're all going,"
"Me too?!" Lily asked excitedly.

"It's gonna take a long time, sweetie. And I've already bought you everything you need, remember?" He asked, referring to last week when Lily practically bought the whole store.

"But I wanna come!" She whined, and I blew out a breath, ready for a tantrum.
"Baby, you're gonna get bored. It's not just shopping, we have to get her enrolled in school too. That'll take a while and you'll have nothing to do,"

"So I'll be home alone?" She asks excitedly.
He chuckles and shakes his head. "You'll be going to Sophie's house."

Sophie is our cousin and is around Lily's age. We live pretty close, and the two are best friends.
"Yay!"

"Surprised you want me to come," I mutter, still not making eye contact with him.
He looks at me sympathetically. "Why would you say that, Charlie?"
I shrug. "Cuz you've got Savannah now," I say, trying not to cry.

I honestly have nothing against Savannah. She seems nice, but I don't know why Mark adopted her. Weren't we enough for him? Wasn't I enough for him? I get less attention as it is, being the middle child. Now with Savannah here, I'll get even less attention. He says I'm like a daughter to him, but now since he has a real daughter, I doubt he'll see me as one.

"Oh Charlie," he says softly, and I blink away tears.

"Lil, could you go to Ethan's room for a bit? I need to talk to Charlie," he tells her.
"Okay!" She says, getting off of her bed and waddling off to Ethan's room with her iPad.

"Come down here, Charlie," Mark orders. I sigh, put down my book and walk down the stairs of the bunk bed. When I turned to face him, he immediately pulled me in for a hug. I was surprised, but I felt my body relax into his embrace. I've always loved his hugs, ever since I was little. He always made me feel safe and protected, like he'd shield me from everything that could hurt me in the world. He held me tightly, and kissed my forehead, before gently pulling me off, so I could face him.

"What's wrong Charlie? I can tell something's the matter, but I don't know what. Please tell me, I want to help."