Chapter 3

I could feel the sun warming my face through my open curtains, normally I'd have them closed. I like to keep my room dark it helps me to sleep, it keeps the shadows away. But because of the storm last night I kept them open, I love thunderstorms, it's so exciting to see nature so angry.

Today is Saturday and I would normally be still sleeping, but because I had my curtains still open it was bright way too early. It was our last weekend before we started senior year at our new school. Eight AM was way too early on the weekend though. But I can't wait to go back to school I love going. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, just endless bright blue skies. The storm must have worked itself out. I reached behind me to see if my brother was still in here, nope he must have left in the night.

'Jacob, are you awake." I called him from my mind, still lying-in bed. I waited a few minutes then I heard him reply.

'No, Penny I'm sleeping, it's too early to get up. Close your curtains and go back to sleep.'

'When did you leave me last night?' I asked.

'I left about ten minutes after you passed out, it did not take long for you to fall asleep, with me next to you and with the rain it was easy for you to pass out.' Jacob said with sleepiness in his voice. I bet he has not even opened his eyes yet.

'Thanks bro, I told you it would help to have you next to me, I'm going to get up and shower. Talk you later.' I told him.

I tossed my covers to the side and slid out of bed. It was warm in my room from the sun. I made my way to my own private bathroom. I love the fact I have my own bathroom, I guess it's a benefit for having my own room. The Carter's had money, I don't know how wealthy they were, and I was never going to ask, but you can tell by the huge house and property they owned they had money. We lived in a huge house, there were six bedrooms, each had a bathroom, lots of land not sure how many acres, but I loved to run in them. Jacob and I loved to run the trails around the house.

We also had a pool, home gym, and there was even a maid's quarter with their own area set up like a small apartment. Yup we have a maid two in fact. Mary and Martha are nice but just as quiet as I am, but I know they can talk, they talk to each other, but as soon as there is another person in the room they hush up. Secretive, I think. Still, they are genuinely nice ladies, I think they are sisters. But I'm not sure. The three extra bedrooms were guest rooms, but we have never had guests, so far.

I grabbed a nice fluffy towel and headed towards my shower. I love my bathroom, my shower has a waterfall shower head on it, I can stand in there all day it felt so relaxing. I washed my long hair first, it's so long it takes a while to rinse it out, it's down to my hips now. Mrs. Carter won't let me cut it, it bothers me a little, but I don't have many rules to follow, so I don't mind having a no hair cut rule. Besides, I don't have to by shampoo. Mrs. Carter buys me a good brand, but it still doesn't help make my hair shiny or healthy looking, its dull brown no matter what Mrs. Carter paid to have done for it. I was brushing my teeth in the shower while the conditioner set, it was time saving since it was about 2 minutes for both. That's when I heard Mrs. Carter talking.

"Sweetheart, are you in the shower? If you are hurry up, I want to take you shopping for school, I'd like to get you new clothes, and Jacob." Mrs. Carter was yelling through the door. I banged on the wall two times. It was our signal for yes if she can't see my face.

"OK, I'm going to wake up Jacob." She was saying this as she walked away, I can tell because her voice was fading.

'Hey, bro wake up.' I screamed in my mind.

'What? What, what's going on why are you yelling at me?' Jacob said in a panic.

'Mrs. Carters on her way to your room, we get to go school clothes shopping today.' I was using my cheerful voice because I know he hates going shopping, but he needed clothes and I needed a way to tell Mrs., Carter that I don't like certain colors or whatever it was she was going to pick for me.

'Uggg, I don't want to go, I hate shopping it takes to long.' Jacob sounded like a baby this time.

'Suck it up bro, it's just one day.' I was almost out of the shower now and was just making sure I had all the conditioner out of my hair. When I got out, I toweled off and added a smoothing cream to my hair. Mrs. Carter insisted I use the cream if I was not going to blow dry it. I'm not that girly, I don't need a blow dryer. I just let it hang out. I was laughing at my own joke, when I do that, my brother can usually hear me.

'What's so funny sis?' Jacob questioned me.

'Oh nothing, just something I thought of, are you dressed yet bro I'm almost done, I will be out in a few, let Mrs. Carter know I'm almost done'

'Will do, and yes I'm dressed, I'm making breakfast want some?' He asked me.

'Yea, you know what I like' I was smiling to myself now, because I liked everything. There's not much I don't like to eat. I'm just lucky I have a fast metabolism because I'm as thin as a board, I'd prefer a little more meat on me, so it adds curves, but I think I'm still cute. Tall and thin, that's all I am. But where the girls are concerned, I am well-endowed for my body size anyway. I'm a decent D cup. I'm thinking it must have run in the family, but oh well since we were abandoned, we know nothing about our birth parents. They just named us and wanted us to be together and not separated. I'm incredibly grateful for that. I don't know what I would do without my bro.

I put on my dark skinny jeans with a dark blue long sleeve v-neck sweater, it hugs me well and showed me off. Especially in all the right areas, you know what I mean. I love my boobs. I'm secretly a flirt. Even if I don't attract any boys, I like to think I will someday. Why not, I'm a fun person even though I don't have any friends. Someday I might.

One of the cool things about Mrs. Carter likes to buy us nice clothes, and says we must have matching undergarments, she always told me "Don't be one of those girls that wear red panties under white pants." She also says. "Don't show your under colors or panty lines." So, I had on matching blue thong and lace bra. No panty lines here. I was looking at myself in my long wall mirror. She had strange pet peeves, but they were nothing like the abuse from our past.

I love Mrs. Carter, she treats us like her very own children, not mean like the other foster parents we used to live with. I was going to make sure I didn't upset her. I don't want her to give us back. But after three years of being here and with both Mr. and Mrs. Carter trying to fight the system to get the adoptions finalized, I was fairly sure we were here for the long run.

The day the Carter's got us from the group home I overheard the Nuns talking in the hallway. They were talking about a couple in their late thirties that wanted to have older children, but they were specific. They wanted twins and even more specifically, they wanted boy/ girl twins and older teenagers. I have wanted to ask why they wanted twins, or even how they knew there would be twins at that facility. Few twins get kept together; in fact, most siblings are separated. Jacob and I were lucky; we were never separated, not even in our classrooms. But I guess if you have the money, you can find anything you want. Even twins that were boy/ girl and older.

I made my way downstairs to the kitchen where I found Jacob scarfing down his food; he always eats like he's starving and in a hurry.

"I put your plate in the microwave to keep it hot." Jacob said this aloud because Both Carters were in the room eating at the little table near the sunny room, it was called a breakfast nook. It was bright and sunny in that area. With floor to ceiling windows that had a wonderful view of the forest behind our house, the room also had house plants all over the place it was like eating in a garden but in the house. We were not allowed to eat there; they said it was adults only, time for them to be together, that made since so we ate at the bar in the kitchen. We only had breakfast together, the rest of the meals was just me and Jacob at the bar. Mr. and Mrs. Carter kept busy with work, they both had offices at each end of the house, and when they were in their office, we were not to bother them unless they called for us. They would come out and get their plates and go back to work. They were always busy, any event involving us was scheduled. Which was fine with me.

I took the plate from the microwave and sat down next to my brother. He made me bacon and eggs with toast. I noticed the Carters were eating the same thing while reading sections of the newspaper. They enjoyed my brother's cooking. After we moved in, they discovered Jacob was a wonderful cook and fired the cooks they had. It was sad to see a teenager who can cook better than the cooks they have had on staff. They were more than happy to allow Jacob to cook. He had a wonderful kitchen to use. It had the latest of anything out in the market. I on the other hand could not cook anything; I could burn water and turn toast to charcoal. So, I let my bro enjoy the kitchen.

"Penny, Jacob are the two of you ready to leave? I want to be back before dinner." Mrs. Carter said while never moving her eyes off the paper in front of her then taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yes, Mrs. Carter." Jacob replied, "I just shook my head yes even though she was not looking at me, it's a habit, I guess. I ate my breakfast slower than my brother because he was already done, but when I finished, we placed our dishes in the dish washer and Jacob let Mrs. Carter knows we were ready when she was and will be in the living room waiting.

"Oh, no need to wait in there, I'm ready. Let's get going I have several stores I want to take Penny to and a few for you Jacob. We also need to get school supplies. You know it's not every day kids skip the eleventh grade and get moved to the senior year. I'm immensely proud of the both of you." Mrs. Carter blurted this all-out, way too excited for my taste, but I replied with a smile and a nod. Because of our upbringing we never went to school all the time. many of the foster homes kept us from going. the state of Ohio assumed we were behind because of this and when they finally took interest into our case they put us in lower grades. We finally managed with the help of the Carter's to get place in the right grade. To graduate at 18 years old.

"Oh, and Jacob you don't need to cook dinner tonight I'm going order us some take out and have it delivered, you will be too tired to cook, and I don't expect you to." Mrs. Carter added. Jacob just replied with a smile, even though he loved to cook I think he likes take out even more.