I took a deep breath and waved good-bye to mom and dad as the bus accelerates. So as usual I sit next to my longtime best friend Natalie Foster, we’ve been close friends since Kindergarten.
“Uh, Olivia…they’ll be back in two weeks”, Natalie assured me.

“I know it’s just—“

“—It’s just Europe” interrupted Natalie
There was a long pause, as I looked out the window of the bus and Natalie was watching me fiddle with my new bracelet.
“Cool bracelet, where did yah get it”? Natalie asked as she was curiously admiring my shiny bracelet that I had been spinning around my wrist.
“My foster Mom and Dad gave it to me this morning, they said that they were strictly instructed to give it to me the morning of my first day of high school, because the bracelet was custom designed by my biological mom and dad in hopes that it would be a major clue to help find them. And that they will be eagerly waiting for me to find them some day.

“Can you believe it my mom and dad should be flying over the Atlantic Ocean right now! I’m so excited, said Olivia with a somewhat excited but quiet tone.

Just before Natalie could whisper back to me, Mr. Angelo our eighth hour Biology teacher had put an end to our conversation real fast.

Mr. Angelo was lecturing the class about DNA and RNA when Ms. Caledon knocked on the classroom door.

Ms. Caledon was my favorite teacher, we always talked about anything energetic and exciting after school, or during lunch, and sometimes even between classes, she’s like family to me. I trust her a lot.

Mr. Angelo walked over and opened the door and noticed that Ms. Caledon had very sad looking eyes. Ms. Caledon whispered something to Mr. Angelo about Natalie or me because I followed Mr. Angelo’s eyes back to the corner where our table was.

A few long seconds later, Mr. Angelo told the class to talk amongst themselves, and Mr. Angelo started to walk over by Natalie and I. He bent down to my eye level and mentioned to me in a concerned voice that Ms. Caledon needed to speak with me in the hallway.

I slowly stood up and walked out the room. I fiddled with my bracelet again only because I was somewhat nervous but didn’t know why.
Ms. Caledon started to ask me if I knew my biological family’s last name. I looked at her and stuttered, Cal, why do you ask? At this moment I was so confused as to why she was asking this, because Natalie was the only one at school who knew I was adopted, or so I thought.

“Olivia, your last name, Cal, is shortened from Caledon, I didn’t want you to know this until you were at least eighteen”

“But then that would make you …mom?” Ms. Caledon held out her arms and started to cry a little.

“How can I be sure you’re who you say you are?”

Ms. Caledon pulled up her sleeve a little and asked,

“Does this help?”

It was the exact bracelet that I was wearing! Then I gave her a hug. About thirty seconds later I stepped back and asked her why she was telling me this now rather then when I was eighteen.

She looked at me then started to cry a little more, she then started to tell me that my parents plane that was due back from Europe at 4:30; flew right down into the Atlantic and that everyone on board drowned because they think there wasn’t enough time to prepare for the impact which destroyed the plane.

“STOP LYING TO ME!” I screamed at the top of my lungs I felt kind of bad because I think I may have disrupted the other classes going on around me. I felt angry and confused and not to mention torn. I didn’t want to believe this was really happening to me.

Just then the bell rang and school was over. Students started to fill the hallways. Everyone was laughing and joking except me.

I turned my head and looked at Ms. Caledon. She held out her arms to embrace me and tell me it was going to be okay. I fell into her arms and started to sob. By now students were on the buses on their way home…to a family.
“Olivia it’ll be okay…I promise.” She assured me.

“No. No, it won’t,” and broke away from her arms. I turned around and started to slowly run down the hallway to my locker. I turned around and saw Ms. Caledon was far behind me, but as I reached my locker I was upset to see that my locker was locked and was almost sure It would take a couple of times to pull the lock down.

I quickly tried to do my combination; 16-10-02 and pulled the lock. S***, it was stuck, I should’ve known it would be.

“Olivia!” Ms. Caledon was trying to get my attention.
“WAIT, PLEASE!” I guess Mrs. Hendricks the English Teacher, and Mr. James; my History teacher must have heard Ms. Caledon loudly call my name, because it didn’t take long before Mr. James was standing outside his Room. Mrs. Hendricks was standing in front of the doorframe to the stairs and I didn’t even try to go through I just stepped back a few steps towards my locker.

“Olivia? Are you Alright?” asked the school nurse Miss Morgans. Miss Morgans must have been making copies of the orange Incident Report because she had a stack of bright orange forms in her hand.
“Olivia?” Miss. Morgans voice seemed to echo in my head as she repeated my name.

The florescent lights above my locker seemed to get brighter, as I turned to look at Ms. Caledon. The walls seemed to be closing in on me and everything started to spin. My head started to feel tight and everything started to get blurry. Miss. Morgens must have said my name again because I thought I heard my name repeated for a third time, but I couldn’t tell for sure because the words seemed fuzzy. The hallways started to dim and I felt as if I was sitting in a hundred degree sauna. I started to fall backwards but caught myself with my forearm against my cold locker. I was starting to gasp for air but couldn’t breath fast enough. A woman yelled my name a fourth time and everything went black.

The next thing I knew I was looking at the tiled ceiling and Mr. Andrews the Vallyside High school Principal was putting a cool damp rag on my forehead.
Ms. Caledon was talking to a man about what she had witnessed happen, as she was explaining I must have dozed off because I didn’t remember being transported to the ambulance by the paramedics on a stretcher because all I heard where the sirens. My head felt like someone had been hammering on it with a heavy book over and over again.

“My head hurts”, I whimpered as I put the back part of my hand over my forehead.

“Olivia can you hear me or see me?” I nodded at Ms. Caledon thinking that she had just asked me that question, which she didn’t

The question was repeated and I turned my head and looked at an EMT.
“Okay Olivia you’re free to go, but remember to take it easy for another two weeks and Ms. Caledon no Physical Education for at least three weeks, she needs time for her head to heal, a concussion like hers needs plenty of time.
As Ms. Caledon my biological mom brought me home she gave me a quick verbal tour of the house.
As I walked into the door from the two-stall garage I took a good look around. I was in what I think was supposed to be a hallway but was far from that; there was a bathroom to the immediate right and a doorway to what I think was the basement. As I kept walking I noticed a short hallway past the door to the basement. I turned down the hallway and looked on the wall and saw a picture of Ms. Caledon, my mother, sitting and a man standing behind her with his hand on her shoulder.
I didn’t realize she was standing behind me until she said, “I loved him very much, and he passed away from brain cancer six years ago.”
I even thought I heard her sniffle a little.
I walked through the little hallway, and on my left was a huge open entryway into the living room. In the living room on the left wall there is a huge bay window with a maroon cushion to accent the maroon and grey couches and drapes. There was a huge grey oval area rug in front of the fireplace along the adjacent wall to the right of the bay window. On the tile flooring in front of the fireplace there were two different sized maroon candles on the left and three different sized maroon candles on the right. The candleholders were three distressed metal prongs that were twisted up from the base and were wider in the middle then rejoined at the top. After I studied the fireplace I turned to my right and walked into a part of the kitchen with a huge oak table with six oak chairs circled around it. On the chairs there were crème colored cushions with a checkered white pattern on them. The walls were painted a crème color but were very subtle, though. There was a huge china cupboard filled with four of each type of crystal dinnerware; wine glasses, plates, salad bowls, and teacups with matching saucers. The wall straight in front of me had a sliding glass door with hanging blinds. The doorway led to a huge deck with a hot tub and stairs led down to a cement poolside that was shaped like a lima bean. The water sparkled in the afternoon sun and an inflatable volleyball was just floating freely under the open volleyball net stretched across the pool. in the open calm water. To the right of the sliding doors inside the kitchen, a lighter shaded granite counter was jutting out into the kitchen. So if I turned to the right again I would be looking at the door I came in. I turned down that small hallway again and went passed the living room into a huge foyer straight in front of me was the front door. To the immediate left there was the staircase to go upstairs. I went up the stairs and realized that Ms. Caledon was following behind. At the top of the stairs to the right was a linen closet. The room to the right of the closet was a huge bathroom with a separate shower and a Jacuzzi. On the wall straight in front of the top of the stairs are two rooms which must be guest rooms, but the doors were closed. On the adjacent opposite wall was a bedroom, which was the master suite, and to right was my room.
“So this is where you’ll be staying…for good…so I guess make yourself at home.” The tone in her voice was welcoming but yet irritated as if she wasn’t ready to accept me to live in her home. “Your room is right upstairs, it’s the first room at the top of the stairs.” Her voice trailed off as she walked into the kitchen.


“Good Luck Olivia”.

”Thanks Natalie I’m gonna need it. If it’s positive mom’s gonna have my head.”

“So what time is her meeting at school done?”

“I don’t think for a while yet, she’s the math teacher and math team coach…I’m pretty sure it’ll be a while. Their putting the math team schedule together, she also said she would call on the way home.

Waiting for the test was the longest five minutes of my life. But what I was about to find out was not what fourteen year old freshmen who skipped 7th grade should be finding out. Natalie who was downstairs was sitting on the couch was waiting for the five minutes to be up. It was 4:32 and mom still hadn’t called so I figured there was still plenty of time.