Adoption Adjustment ch 9

Kennedy had once again found himself in the girls restroom at the park, he had attempted to pull his hand free of the redheaded girl and had almost succeeded before she had stopped walking, turned around still holding his arm and said. “Stop.” In a firm voice before continuing on their trek. Once inside he was free from her gorilla like grip, a thirteen year old girl had no right being as strong as she was, he thought, not wanting to turn that on its head and directing it at himself for weakness.

“Look, I didn’t want to dress like this.” He said to his foster sister as she moved over to the sink to wash her hands. Watching her walk away made him realize this was exactly where he was intending to go; he half jumped with his first step towards the trash can to see about pulling out his pants, looking almost like he had started to skip. Kennedy figured the chocolate might stain, but he could rinse off everything else and be fine for a day.

“You should want to, you look cute I think. I thought you were cute when I saw you, but this is a different kind of cute. Why are you looking in the trash can?” McKenzie asked, her hands dripping water on the floor after washing them.

“It's… it's empty. I was going to get my pants.” Kennedy said, looking inside the large bathroom trash can that had a fresh plastic bag inside, completely devoid of anything.

“You shouldn’t be taking things out of the trash, and you shouldn’t keep looking in there. Someone might come in and think you have watched too much Sesame Street and are looking for Oscar.” Kennedy balled his hands into fists, the muscles in his arms straining as he turned on the girl who was five inches taller than him.

“I’m not a little kid! I’m not a little girl!” McKenzie could feel the rage coming off of the feminized older boy, but it didn’t seem to last much longer than the time it took him to say those words, him almost deflating like a balloon. In his current state he looked like the things he was claiming not to be and one that was overdue for a nap. Messing with him was a lot of fun and after today he wouldn’t try to do things like lock her in the basement anymore. She crossed her arms and tried to give him a stern expression.

“You look like a little girl, your whining makes you sound like a little girl, Max thinks you are a little girl, Miss Joleen and Mr. Bishop think you are one. If it is a duck then it is a duck.”

Kenedy furrowed his forehead. “That isn’t the saying.”

“It means you are a little girl, you are my ten year old foster sister. Now unless you want me to tell everyone you have been pretending all day, you will continue to be what people think you are till we get home.” He swallowed hard, shaking his head hard enough that his hair started to flop around. Her telling everyone would be so much worse, he still would be dressed the way he was, but everyone would think he was a pervert. Not the kind people just avoided, but the kind that brought the police around. He could end up being thrown out of the house he had just gotten in and his last chance before being put in juvie till he was eighteen.

“Do you want me to go that bad?”

McKenzie touched her palm to her chin, two fingers pressing on her lips.“No, you don’t have to go anywhere. Today was just for fun and…” She shrugged. “Making sure you know you can’t push me or Abby around. That and it has been funny.”

“For fun! You think…” Kennedy tensed his arm up, swinging it in the air in no particular direction in frustration. “Making me dress like this is fun for you and funny!?”

The thirteen year old girl pressed her lips together, before they formed a tight smile as she nodded. “I didn’t start it, but I have loooooved it. Who knows, maybe Mom will have to work late and we can go shopping for clothes and you can wear a pretty dress tomorrow too! I can see you don’t think it is funny, but just imagine doing it to someone else. Besides, it isn't like Mom is going to let people keep thinking about that, she will just say it was a prank or something.”

It wasn’t funny, not even a little, she was playing with his life, but he could imagine Tommy, another foster child at a place he stayed, all tall and mean but being in a pink frilly dress would be funny. This was different! “I don’t want to wear this dress, or any dresses.” He mumbled, already knowing he was beat. Kennedy couldn’t afford to have the bossy girl tell anyone, let alone everyone.

“That is because you are a tomboy, but it is nice to see you are coming out to show everyone who you really are.” She said with a big smile as she leaned closer to give Kennedy a kiss on the head. “Now before we head back out, I want you to tell me what your name is, how old you are, and that you are a pretty girl. It is important you say that, because everyone thinks so, so you should know it too. OH, oh, and you still have to say I’m your big sister.” Kennedy looked over to the side at the bathroom stalls, considering the same option he tried for with the older woman with glasses. It wouldn’t work. McKenzie would crawl under the door he was sure and pull him out with her gorilla grip and then might do exactly as she threatened.

“I’m Kennedy Towns, I’m ten years old and a pretty girl.” He said glumbly, letting out a huff before looking at the girl in front of him, looking like she wasn’t pleased. “And you are my older sister.”

“That didn’t sound like you meant it or were happy about it, try again!” She tried to keep that stern look on her face, but she was practically vibrating with glee. Much like her little sister Abigail, McKenzie thought about how the girl acted like that most of the time when she got excited and how she used to most of the time before she learned that was how kids acted and she didn’t want people to think of her like that.

“Fine.” Kennedy held up one finger, walking over to the sink to splash some water on his face, hoping that would help him wake up. Shaking out his hands he took one last look at the stall doors, to McKenzie and then to the metal door to the outside of the dim room. “My name is Kennedy Towns and I’m ten years old! Everyone says I’m pretty and I think so too! And, and, I just love my big sister McKenzie, because she tells me what to do and I wouldn’t be able to do anything without her.” He said in a cutesy voice that was so sweet if it was a candy bar someone would get a cavity.

“Perfect! Take my hand and we can go get some lunch!”

Kennedy sat down on the bench between McKenzie and Abigail and sadly Max who sat across from him, along with a few other kids he didn’t know the names of. It felt like he was sitting at a kiddy table, that really wasn’t anything new, but still with how he looked it made it feel worse. He was given two chicken strips, a few squirts of ketchup on the paper plate, along with a few pieces of watermelon, a fruit snack roll up and a juice box. The exact kind of meal a seventeen year old boy wanted to see in front of him. He ended up dipping the chicken tender into the ketchup after the first bite into the cold piece of meat. It was okay, but not very satisfying to him. He considered himself lucky that his stomach still wasn’t upset so he could eat. Though he would rather have more chicken and that chocolate milk he had earlier instead of the fruit punch.

With one chicken finger gone and a few pieces of the watermelon in his stomach Kennedy rested his head on his hand as he sipped from the juice box. He looked across from him, Max already had his plate clean and had gotten up to get two more chicken strips. “Why did you sit down next to me? You were playing soccer.” After Kennedy’s question his words came out like an accusation. ‘The brat was thirteen, why would a thirteen year old want to sit next to me when he thought I was…’ Kennedy thought back to their conversation earlier, fighting with his sleepy mind. ‘Did he think I was nine? Ugg that hurts. I don’t want to sit with him at all and I’m four years older than him.’

Chewing the piece of chicken in his mouth Max pointed what was left of it in Kennedy’s direction a few times before he swallowed. “I was hit in the face with a ball, caused my nose to bleed a little and Mr. Bishop thought I should sit down for a little bit. I didn’t do that, just kinda walked around till I saw you. The very girl who struck me with love.” The boy held his broken hand over his heart. Kennedy frowned, he wanted to glare too, but the best he could manage was to look at him from under his half closed eyes. He was actively having to spend energy to stay awake and with everything he had forgotten how the boy had said they would get married and had even kissed him. A boy had kissed him, it didn’t matter if it was on the cheek. The very thought of it caused a blush to come to his cheeks and a desire to wipe away any lingering germs.

“I don’t love you or even like you, Max. Don’t say things like that!” Kennedy felt an elbow hit him in the ribs, an aggressive blow from the red headed gorilla to remind him to act like a little girl he was sure. With the blush on his cheeks and him bowing his head slightly from the physical blow Kennedy looked like an embarrassed girl to Max who was trying to deny her own feelings. It made him smile as he thought maybe she wasn’t too young to like boys.

Seeing all of this Abigail darted her eyes between Kennedy and the boy she just learned the name of when Kennedy said it. She opened her mouth in a wide grin. “Max and Kennedy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage and then, and then comes baby in a baby carriage!”

“Abby no!” Kennedy proclaimed, looking to McKenzie for help and then to Max as he felt more and more distraught. McKenzie leaned back to peer past Kennedy and make eye contact with her little sister.

“Abby, do you want to be the flower girl at their wedding? Because I want to be the maid of honor.”

“Nooooo.” Kennedy whined, pushing his plate away as he rested his elbow on the wooden table before he slumped his head down against it so his face was in the crook of his elbow.

“I…” Abby said, thinking about what she wanted. “I want to hold the rings.” McKenzie quirked an eyebrow up.

“That is the ring bearer and it is usually a boy's job, but I’m sure we can talk Max into letting you do that instead of being the flower girl.” 

Abby scrunched up her nose, looking over at the boy across from them. “No, I want to hold the rings and the flowers.” 

Max leaned back, using his hands to hold onto the table so he wouldn’t fall from the bench seat as he laughed. Kennedy with his head down, the light from the sun blocked by the table and his arm he closed his eyes, wishing all of this was just a dream. Sitting there like that he drifted off to sleep, finally losing the battle with the last things he heard being the boys laugh.