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Sophia's sitting in the waiting room to be picked up. Officially picked up — picked up to be adopted! She looks to her left where her bag is sat next to her, it's the only thing she has left of her mother — though she doesn't remember her.
She remembers being five and only then understanding what it means to be an orphan. What it means to have a dead mother she doesn't even remember and a father she doesn't even know the first name of.
Because when she was brought into class for the first time she looked around, and every kid had at least one parent with them. Wether it was a mother, or a father, everyone had someone.
Sophia didn't.
She had friends, and people didn't bully her for it. Everyone was nice enough — and they still are. But it was different. It meant not being able to take friends home, it meant having a strict curfew and no allowance at the orphanage.
And then she noticed that mostly younger kids got adopted. She never did. She was always too old, and she only grew older by the day. Now, though, she thinks about Macy — her best friend, who she might have a small crush on, if she's honest — whose parents have always been nice and welcoming.
And she thinks about the first meal she had with her and her family. And about the warm laughter and inside jokes, she can only hope that the family waiting for her is the same.
Because now, at the ripe age of nine years old, she finally got adopted, she got picked. It makes her smile as she swishes her legs back and forth and she clutches Pebble a little tighter. She found pebble outside a few years ago, laying on a rock, that's why she's called pebble.
Pebble is a small stuffed animal, she's a light purple frog plushie with bright yellow eyes. And she's her favourite.
She looks down at where her legs are swishing. She's wearing white tights who tuck nicely down her black boots, they're about shin high and the clasp keeps breaking. A little past her knees, she sees her pink and yellow dress hang over her tights loosely. Her dress swishes together with her legs. It's short sleeved and underneath it she has a white long sleeve.
Her hair is in two braids. A week ago, Macy's mom taught her how to, because then she'd gotten the news that she was getting adopted. And she wanted to look nice, Macy's mom had been glad to help her, though this morning, she braided Sophia's hair herself. Because Sophia wanted to make sure it really looks good.
They're tied with pink ribbon bowed hair ties James from school gave her once, he said that his sister didn't want them anymore and he had taken them for her. She smiled when he gave them to her. They match well with her autumn brown hair, she thinks, as she pushes back a strand of hair that had fallen loose.
Summer break starts in two weeks and she's excited for the summer. Because it will get sunnier and there will be birds waking her up instead of rowdy kids — will her new parents already have kids? Or will she be the first? — and she supposes that's nice. But she also doesn't like her coat.
It's old and not that warm anymore, though she only got it when she was seven. Maybe she'd be allowed a new one when winter came. But for now she can bask in the summer for a little longer.
She's scared of having to leave Macy, she doesn't know how far she will move and if she'll have to go to a new school. And she doesn't know if her new parents will be nice and worth leaving Macy and her mom for.
It's then when the door opens, and Amanda comes out. She's carrying a clip board and a huge smile. Sophia smiles back just as bashfully as her legs' swinging slows a bit. She's always liked Amanda, and Amanda was steady and had been there from the beginning. She was the closest thing she would ever get to a mom, she thought. Because now she was getting an actual mom!
"Hi Soph," Amanda greets, "your dads will be here in about five minutes — though there's no pressure to call them that immediately." She smiles, kindly, and also notices the small confusion on Sophia's face. Though Sophia recovers quickly and smiles. She doesn't really care if she's getting two dads, or a mom and a dad, or two moms. She's just happy.
Though she's also really nervous and scared. "Okay." She finishes on and Amanda smiles at her kindly again. She'll miss Amanda, maybe, probably, she thinks.
As Amanda sits next to her her thoughts drift to what her life would be now. Her legs are swishing again, though now with a bit more of a pace. She smiles privately to herself, she doesn't know how many friends she'd lost through adoption, never seeing them again. And now it's finally her turn!
After a few minutes of her reminiscing about what her life could be, what her room would look like, the door opens for the second time. And she's met with the sight of two men.
They're smiling at her, and she smiles back, her swishing slows down a bit. One of them has curls with hair a bit lighter than hers and the other has plain black hair that likely got ruffled by the wind or a cap or something.
Amanda stands up to greet them. She reaches out her hands and shakes their hands one after the other.
"Sophie, you can stand up. This is Shane," she introduces, "and this is Ilya." Sophia smiles kindly at them, she still has to make a good impression.
The blond man — now known as Ilya — crouches down a bit first. He holds out his hand to her as well and smiles proudly. "Hi, I'm Ilya, but you can also call me papa if you want to." He says.
Her smiles widens just the slightest and a faint blush creeps on her cheeks. She still takes his hand. His hand is big, and calloused. But it also feels warm and safe. Her gaze now drifts to the other man now asking her attention.
"Hello, I'm Shane, or your dad or daddy." He smiles, and she can see that he's a bit more nervous. She doesn't mind though. She looks between them for a few seconds.
"I'm Sophia." She says easily, simply, and nervous. The blond man immediately beams at her, and she can see the black haired man — daddy, she reminds herself — staring at them both fondly.
After a few more minutes of introductions, Amanda ushers them to the counter to make them sign a few papers. Sophia just watches from a few meters away as they both sign their signature.
She wonders if this is what made it real, if she's now officially theirs. She hopes she is, they seem nice, and don't live too far away from Macy and from school. And they have a dog! She loves dogs, their dog is called Anya.
They also both play hockey in a big league on a team together. She watched a few games in Macy's house, waiting for her to get back from ballet with Macy's dad. Macy's dad liked a team called the Centaurs, she remembers, though she doesn't know which team Ilya and Shane play for.
When they're done with signing, Ilya and Shane both turn around again. And Ilya reaches his hand out again as Shane grabs her bag for her. Pebble is still tightly clutched in her other hand as they walk out.
"Shane," she hears Ilya ask as he gets in the car. She's seated in the middle backseat while they climb into the front. She sees Shane look over at Ilya and raise his eyebrows. "Yes, Ilya." He answers.
"Can we get ice cream on the way home?" He asks, it makes her smile, because the way he asks reminds her of the way Macy's three year old brother asks his parents for things.
Shane looks back, smiling at Sophia with mischief before he looks back at Ilya. "Yes," he breathes, "we can get ice cream."
She smiles even louder now, and looks down at Pebble. She doesn't really remember when the last time she had ice cream was. "Do you want ice cream? Or do you not like it?" Shane asks, and she can see Ilya roll his eyes at Shane.
She just nods and feels Ilya beam at her again, "see, Shane, every child likes ice cream!"
"I didn't." He simply answers, and she looks back and forth between them. "As a kid, I mean."
"Whatever, Hollander, Sofiya is better than you anyway." She smiles as Shane — daddy — starts the car. She wonders for a few seconds who Hollander is, because they only said that they're names were Shane and Ilya. She doesn't know who Hollander is. Maybe it was an inside joke, like Macy also had with her family. Just as Sophia now, she thinks, Sophia has a family too now!
She gathers up the courage to ask it, "who is Hollander?" She asks, cautiously, as if the words could break in her hold. But she mostly just wants to be polite.
"Oh," Shane breathes, "that's my last name, and yours now too, but Ilya sometimes call me by my last name, and I call him by his. Because we're hockey players." He explains, and she nods her head as the information processes.
She remembers Macy's dad talking about hockey a few times over dinner, she doesn't really remember what the names were, but they weren't common first names. Other people also probably called hockey players by their last names.
"Have you ever watched a hockey game?" Ilya — papa — asks, and she debates what to say. Because she doesn't know if they want her to be able to play and know hockey, or if they're fine with the fact that she doesn't know about it.
"Kinda, I sometimes go to my best friends house and her dad likes hockey, he's a fan of a team, I forgot the name." She ends on, and she looks at Shane and Ilya. Ilya smiles at Shane knowingly and Shane rolls his eyes fondly back.
"Where does your best friend live?" Ilya asks. And she sees the look he gives Shane.
She doesn't know their adress. She knows how to get there. But she doesn't know where they live. "Close by school," she finishes on. Because, again, to some questions she doesn't know the correct answer to. And she's not lying, Macy does live close to school.
"Amanda gave us her mom's number, so we can arrange a play date if you want to. At our house or hers, it doesn't matter." Shane explains and she nods, taking the information in again.
"I like her parents, they're nice. She also has a little brother called Sam, he's only three." She says, because he doesn't really know if what he asked was a question.
Ilya responds, and the rest of the drive is pretty short. She tells them about the time she was at school when Sam scraped his knee. And because Macy wasn't there that day, she told the teachers for him, it happened during break, so all classes were outside at the same time.
She also tells them about Pebbles and about how she found her on that rock. She doesn't tell them about that she can't actually braid that well. But that's okay because Shane is already parking and the next thing she knows, they're outside.
The shop is called Ottawa cream, which she thinks is a really boring name for an ice cream shop. But that's okay, because the name of shops don't really matter.
Inside it's colder than outside and she bashes in the smell of the ice cream. It smells cold, but through that it also smells good. And when they're at the front of the line she picks chocolate.