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My phone vibrated against my dresser, pulling me from doing my hair. It was 6 in the morning so I already knew who it was.

"Good mornin', beautiful." Angel yawned.

I placed the phone against the mirror so he could see me while I got ready. "Good morning, handsome. Tired?"

"Hell yea, mane. Ion know who bright ass idea it was to stay up all night.

"Yours, Angel. It was your bright idea." I laughed.

He shook his head. "Why you ain't ti'ed?"

"I didn't go to sleep. I'm just gonna sleep on the flight."

"I'ma just sleep in class. I might not even take my black ass to school." He yawned again. "Shit it's already bout to be 6:30."

"Get up and go to school, Angel. It's Friday. You can sleep throughout the weekend."

He mugged me. "Easy fa' you to say. You ain't gotta go ta' school fa' the next two weeks. I do."

"Get up and get ready."

"I ain't goin'."

"Yes, you you are."

"No, I ain't."

"Angel."

"Audriana."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Okay, whatever. Do what you want."

"I will."

My mom popped in my room, telling me to bring my suitcases down stairs so we could head out soon. I nodded, letting her know I understood, before turning my attention back to my FaceTime call.

"Good mornin', Mrs. Ibanez."

"Good morning, Angel." She smiled before exiting my room.

I threw my mascara and lip gloss back into my make-up bag before stuffing it into one of my suitcases.

"I have to take these suitcases down stairs so I'll be right back."

Angel yawned for the third time. "Just call me when you get in the car or somethin'."

"Okay, I'll do that."

"Aight."

Picking up the phone, I hung it up before sliding it into my carry-on bag. I put my carry-on bag over my shoulder before grabbing my two suitcases and my one luggage bag and heading downstairs with it.

I was determined to make one trip because these stairs are a motherfucker.

"Watch out!" I yelled before tossing my suitcases down the stairs.

McKenzie walked by and the biggest suitcase hit her right in the shin, making her fall. I busted out laughing, I couldn't help it.

"Kill me before I get adopted. How selfish." Kenz laughed out, pushing my suitcase off of her leg and standing up.

I was still laughing. "I said watch out."

"I didn't know what the hell you were saying that for. I just thought you were being a dumb ass per usual."

"Haha." I said with a straight face. "I should have chucked it at your head."

My mom came out of the kitchen. "I got sausage, egg, and cheese bagels, and waters for us. Come on, girls. If we don't leave now, we won't make the flight."

❦

As soon as we stepped into Mrs. Loreaux's office, her face held an expression that made my stomach turn.

Something didn't feel right.

"We have a problem." Mrs. Loreaux started.

I knew it.

My mom furrowed her eyebrows. "What? What's the problem?"

"When the case first opened up, Detective Wisden and I went against the state rules and gave you custody of McKenzie right away."

"Okay, that's because I asked for her and no one else-"

"We understood that. And giving the condition that McKenzie was in, we wanted nothing more but to give her to the family that she looked at as her own. We didn't expect for the judge to question if Ms. June was an addict and if she harmed McKenzie. We expected to provide her with the evidence and for Ms. June to prosecuted, but..."

My mom sat up straight in her seat. "But what?"

"But, the judge wasn't too convinced with our evidence. She might want more."

"Which means what? Get to the point."

"Which means that by the end of tomorrow, the judge could ask for more evidence which would release Ms. June from jail, and she could ask for McKenzie back for the time being or McKenzie will have to go to the state."

McKenzie's eyes began to water. "Are you kidding me? I don't want to go to that lady and I don't want to belong to the state. I want to stay with them, they're the family I know."

"I understand that, McKenzie. But, this isn't turning out exactly how we expected it to. We-"

My mom stood up. "So this is your fault. This is all your fault."

"No-"

"Yes! It's your fault. You guys don't care about those kids. All you care about is yourselves. I'm taking her and I don't care what any of you have to say! Let's go girls. Now." My mom walked to the door.

Kenz and I looked at each other before looking at Mrs. Loreaux.

"I said let's go!" Her yell startled both of us, but we did as told, walking out of the door behind her.

My mom ignored Mrs. Loreaux's yells so we did the same.

❦

Toriana, Audriana, and McKenzie filed into the court room. While Toriana and Audriana took their seats in the first row, McKenzie had to take her seat next to Mrs. Loreaux, in front of the judge.

Lola June was brought out from a side door in an orange jumpsuit, her hands handcuffed behind her back, and shackles around her ankles. Her face lit up once she seen her daughter, but quickly turned into sadness.

McKenzie and Mrs. Loreaux discussed a few things, Detective Wisden joining the conversation every now and again.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure McKenzie leaves here with you." Wisden assured Tori.

Tori nodded. Though she didn't have the best gut feeling about how today would turn out, she tried to think positively, praying to God every chance she got.

"I will be taking the case under submission." Judge Judy started. "You'll each receive a copy of the Notice of Entry of Judgement in the mail after the case is decided. Ms. Lola June will remain incarcerated until further notice. As for McKenzie June, you will be taken under custody of the state."

After dismissing, everyone started moving. The police took Lola back through the double doors she once came out of, and Mrs. Loreaux took McKenzie out of another double door.

Tori tried to follow them, but Detective Wisden stopped her.

"You can't go back there, Mrs. Ibanez." Wisden held her back.

Tori furrowed her eyebrows. "Why can't I? Where is she going?"

"DCF has to take over from here."

"So what does that mean for me? For Dri? For Kenzie? For us? That's it?"

"No." Wisden led Tori and Audri out of the court room. "I will meet up with Loreaux and McKenzie later. When I'm with them, I will give you guys a call so you can talk to her. From there, it's just a waiting game."

"So what's the worse case scenario?" Tori asked, becoming more irritated and hurt by the second.

Audri was quiet, in some sort of disbelief that she was being separated from her best friend, yet again. But this time, she had no idea when she would see her again. Or if she would even get to see her again.

"Worse case scenario is Judge Judy finds Lola innocent, Lola is released and wants custody of McKenzie back. Best case scenario, Judge Judy finds Lola guilty, the state is alerted and then you'll be able to legally adopt McKenzie."

"How long could that take?"

"Up to two to three weeks. It'll be mailed to your address."

Toriana sighed. "So I'll have to be back home in Florida to get the news?"

"By law, yes. But, if we keep in contact, which we will, I'll make sure to let you know everything as soon as I find out. I would recommend that you stay in Vegas, because if Judge Judy wants to close the case tomorrow, she can. But, I know you have to-"

"We're staying."

"Okay." Wisden softly smiled. "Great. Keep your heads up and I will give you guys a call later. Make sure to stay by your phone."

"Okay, thanks Detective."

"No problem. And Audriana, wipe those tears. Everything is going to turn out fine."

Audriana nodded, not saying anything.

"I'm so sorry, ladies." Wisden tried to give off a smile. "We will do our best to make this go a lot quicker than normal. We really thought things were going to be different, but we promise that we won't let this stop us not one bit. We'll keep in touch."

The numbness that the three felt right now was something inexplainable. Neither really had the slightest bit of assurance that something good would come out of this.

Getting back into their truck, with now only two of them, Toriana let out a loud sigh.

"I'm going to have to call off for another two weeks."

"And I'm going to have to miss another two weeks of school." Audri added.

Tori nodded, "I'll call your principal tomorrow and fill her in on everything. I just don't want this to keep you from graduating. If anything, you'll have to fly back to Florida and stay with Trin until-"

"No, mom. I want to stay here until we can leave with McKenzie."

"What did I say, Audriana?"

Audriana, now feeling even more defeated, slouched down in her seat. "Okay."

*

As I sat by the pool of the hotel we were staying at, my phone began to ring. Not wanting to really talk to anybody, I reluctantly answered.

"Hey, uncle Mike."

I guess he could notice my tone. "Hey, Audri. What's goin' on? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. In Vegas."

"Visitin' your dad?"

I shook my head as if he could see. "No. We had the meeting with the judge today to see if we could adopt McKenzie."

"Oh how did that go?"

"Not good." I sighed. "The judge wanted more proof or whatever so while her mom stays in jail, Kenz has to go to the state."

"Oh man. I'm sorry to hear that, Dri. I know how much she mean to you."

I didn't say anything. I just let a small silence take over.

"So y'all gotta come back to Miami and just wait it out?"

"I have to go back because of school, but my mom is going to stay here a little longer and see what happens."

He paused. "Aight. When you comin' back?"

"The first."

"How 'bout you call me when you land and we can go do somethin' to try and cheer you up?"

As bad as I wanted to say no, I knew my uncle was really only looking out for me and trying to help so I agreed. After that, he seemed to pick up on the fact that I wasn't in the mood for conversation so he told me he loved me and reassured me that everything was going to be okay before we hung up.

I decided to make my way back up to the rook where my mom was, waiting for someone to call with Kenz.

I honestly didn't know how to feel at the moment. I felt numb, hurt, and upset because there was literally nothing we could do at this point.

Why would the judge need more proof? Was the bruises Kenz had, her trauma, and the crack pipes all over their house not enough evidence for her?

This is why kids die when the state has them because they don't care. They don't care about what they have to go through in those foster homes, they don't know the stress go through, they don't know.

I personally don't know either, but I know it was something I didn't want my best friend to have to find out.

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