Chapter 2
When Marc woke up the next day, he was only slightly confused. He figured the stress of the day had made him forget his arrival. Most likely Jake but he didn’t want to think about that right now.
His self proclaimed “new mother”, Monica, greeted him in the morning and told him she’d be heading to work.
When he walked into the kitchen he could tell that the oldest(Fiona, he had gathered from the others) was the one who really took care of the family. She was busy packing lunches when the two tween boys ran past her to pester their new sibling.
“Your name is Marc?”
“Why’d you have to come to *our* house?”
“Are you staying here forever?”
“You can’t stay in our room.”
“Can you help with my homework?”
“Lip. Ian. Leave him alone and eat your breakfast.” Fiona had a stern look on her face and they hastily returned to the table to clean their plates.
Marc gathered the dirty dishes and began washing them before Fiona had the chance.
“You don’t have to do that.”
He tensed and backed away from the sink. “I’m sorry. I-“
“Don’t apologize. I was just gonna say that I usually let them soak since we have to get ready for school.” She held out her hands, placatingly.
He nodded. They started to grab their bags and coats to head out.
None of them were looking in his direction but he still felt eyes on him. He knew what they must be thinking. ‘Something is wrong with him.’ ‘I wonder what must’ve happened for him to be so messed up.’
He tried to steady his breathing as he followed them out the door and on the path to school. This is a new start. His mother isn’t here. No one knows about Steven.
He’ll be alright.
————————————————————————————————————————————
He blinks and he’s back at the Gallagher residence, sitting on the couch.
They were watching tv. He looks down and it seems like he was in the middle of braiding Debbie’s hair(When had Steven learned to braid?). Carl is sitting next to him, he thinks Fiona is cleaning the dishes from the clanging he hears from the kitchen, and Lip and Ian are working on their homework on the coffee table.
“What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?”
“Huh?” Marc looked over and Ian was staring at him expectantly.
“I-… 177-“
“No. Say it in that funny voice from before.” Ian groaned.
“…..I can’t.” Marc untangled himself from the couch, much to Debbie’s dismay, and ran to the bathroom.
They knew. They knew. Marc couldn’t stop himself from crying. He hadn’t even been there one day and he already messed up. They were going to send him back to Putnam where he belonged.
————————————————————————————————————————————
Fiona hears a door slam from upstairs and goes into the living room to see what happened.
Marc was gone. Debbie was on the floor with half of her hair braided. Carl was asleep on the couch. Lip was hitting Ian in the arm and exclaiming “What the hell, man?!”
She focused her gaze on Ian then. “What did you say to him?!”
“Nothing! I just wanted him be British. He didn’t care when he did it at school or when he was helping me with my other problems. He seemed all happy even.” Ian defended.
Lip spoke up. “He went quiet alluva sudden, then he stopped doing it. He started acting like this morning again…Did we fuck up?”
Fiona was about to scold him for the language but decided that it was less important. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.
For a second, she thought that maybe Marc was like Monica. He wasn’t though. This was different.
“No. Just sit here and finish your homework.”
————————————————————————————————————————————
A knock on the door had interrupted his sobs.
“Can I come in?….Please?”
He muttered a quiet yes.
The door gently opened to reveal Fiona. She shut the door and sat down beside him. She left a good amount of space between them so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
They both sat in silence. Both waiting for the other to start the conversation.
“…I’m sorry. There’s-…I….“ He couldn’t say it. It felt like a death sentence.
“That wasn’t you at school today…or when we got home,was it?”
He solemnly shook his head. “This was it.” he thought.
“He seemed nice. Even helped watch the others while I cleaned up. What’s his name?”
Marc lifted his head. A bit of the tension began to leave his body.
“Steven. With a V.”