Ten minutes. What can I do to look "presentable"? Don't I look good enough right now? My hair won't cooperate if my life depends on it and I don't exactly have any nice clothes. The first thing I have to do is wash my hands after Mrs. Miller put hers all over them.

After that, I decide that this is good enough. If they've waited nine months to adopt me they should be able to deal with my below-average looks.

Are they going to come into my room or do I have to meet them downstairs? Will I leave today or do we have to wait some more? To preoccupy myself for the next eight minutes I try to tidy up my room a bit more- just in case. I straighten my books, fluff my pillows, straighten my books again because they didn't look quite right after the first time. And finally, I hear the front door open.

I haven't been this terrified in a while. What if they don't like me? No, Evelyn. Don't think that way. They've read your file, they've seen pictures of you, they've had months to decide. It'll be fine!

As about three sets of footsteps draw nearer, the sound echoing up the stairs, I get a sudden rush of panic. I need to act natural, so I sit on my bed.

Legs crossed?

No, that looks too planned out.

GRAB A BOOK, LOOK LIKE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN SITTING AROUND WAITING.

I rush to my bookshelf with a movement faster than I even thought humanly possible and grab "The Hobbit" from a shelf. I trip on my rug and fall face first onto my bed, but I scramble into place. My hair is in my face, the book is upside down, all this happened in a span of about seven seconds.

That's when my door opens. It's Mrs. Miller, a polite smile on her face. The face she puts on when we have guests. And behind her are the two guys I bumped into at the park. What are the odds?

Mrs. Miller is the first to speak, "Evelyn, your book is upside down, did you know?"

"Um, yeah." I lie through my teeth, trying to preserve my already long-gone dignity, "I'm... training my brain. Reading upside down; it's healthy." I put my book down on my bedside table. My now unorganized shelf is making my skin crawl but I focus on the people at the door.

The black haired one pipes up, "Hey, Evelyn. I'm Gerard." He comes over to shake my hand. My nervousness melts away at his voice. This guy is adopting me. I'm going to have a family, a real home.

I ignore his hand and go in for a hug. He accepts and hugs me tightly, tears spill from my eyes. I'm overwhelmed, I'm in disbelief, I'm ecstatic. "Thank you so much." Is the only thing I can get out.

"No problem, Kiddo. I can't wait to get you home." Home. He hugs me tighter and I feel comfort like I've never felt before.

When we pull away, I wipe my eyes. He turns to the man awkwardly standing still in the doorway. "This is Mikey, my brother. Your uncle, I guess. He came along for, I don't know, moral support."

"Hi." He waves at me. He's a bit taller than Gerard and has different coloured hair, but I can tell they're brothers.

"I'll leave you to get to know each other a little bit, shall I?" Mrs. Miller declares, scurrying out of the room. "Get packing, Evelyn."

It's silent for a few seconds, so I decide to go over to my bookshelf and packs those first.

"So," Gerard says, "that was you in the park earlier, wasn't it?"

"Uh, yeah. That was me." I say, mentally facepalming as I stack my books neatly into the only bag I have. I cross to my bedside table and put my laptop in the bag, as well.

He follows up with, "Can I ask what even happened?"

"Well, I was just thinking about... stuff and then I walked into you which startled me and I was not mentally prepared to have a conversation with a stranger... so my fight or flight instincts kicked in." I move on to my dresser drawers to pack my clothes.

"You definitely fled," Mikey nods.

"Yeah," Gerard agrees, laughing a bit.

"So... why were you two at the park?" I ask. They don't exactly look like people you'd expect to see in a park in the middle of the summer. Black shoes, black jeans- and that's when I realized why they were so familiar. Was this the Gerard and Mikey Way? From the stories online?

"My house is just a twenty minute walk, and it's a nice day." He said. "So, do you need any help packing?"

"Uh, no. Thanks. I'm almost done anyway."

So let me sum up what happened within the next twenty minutes:

I went to the bathroom to pack my hairbrush, makeup, toothbrush, and other toiletries.

Gerard noticed my posters above my bed. I probably would've completely forgotten to pack them if it wasn't for him noticing.

("Bowie? You've got good taste, Kiddo.")

I asked him what he does even though I'd already figured it out myself. He told me he was in a band with Mikey and two other guys ("Have you ever heard of My Chemical Romance?" "No." I couldn't exactly tell him what I spent my nights reading.)

Gerard asked me what I like to watch on TV. I told him I don't really watch TV, so we talked about books instead.

("I like fantasy, anything that can take me to another world for a while, you know?" "Yeah, I know.")

"Hey, Eve, Mom wants you guys downstairs. There's stuff you gotta sign." Micah says, directing the last part at Gerard.

This is it, after these couple of papers...

"Evelyn, you are now officially a Way."

• • •

Word count: 1000 (satisfying)

am I dragging these chapters out too much?? I just like writing useless details.. I guess filler chapters are what I'm good at.

but they can't all be filler chapters!

ok so hopefully things start happening soon...