The Troubled Teenager

[Fenrir13]

Isla sat at the dinner table with her new mum and dad and idly played with the sphagetti noddles, wrapping them with her fork in thought. The orphanage staff had said they were a good fit, but she was still sceptical. Maybe they just wanted her gone since the system was overcrowded anyway? She wanted to give the new parents a chance, really, but as the depressed teen she was she wasn´t very optimistic. "Your pasta isn´t bad.", she said quitely and took a fork full of noddles, chewing them thoroughly. "Really not bad.", she added and if they didn´t say anything there would be an awkward silence. Isla wasn´t good at conversation. At fourteen and a half she was still pretty small and thin. She was wearing jeans, sneakers and a grey sweater. Her hair was dark brown, long and kinda messy. She should brush it more often. Islas eyes were grey, narrow and sad. The teen continued to eat slowly, looking around the room ocassionally and taking the decoration in.

[Wizard9876]

Her new parents in question were Eric, an older man who typically kept to himself, and Dana, a rather cheerful young woman whose idea it was to adopt a child into their lives. Eric didn’t want to disappoint his wife, so he had reluctantly agreed, promising he’d do his best to help raise whoever they had decided on. When they had seen Isla, they almost immediately wanted to adopt her after seeing how sad she was. Dana wanted to brighten the girl’s life and bring her the happiness she needed and deserved, while Eric thought she’d need proper discipline as well.

“Thank you dear,” Dana smiled as she ate as well. She knew the teen would need some time to open up to them a bit more, and she was willing to give her the space she needed.

[Fenrir13]

(Could you describe how your characters look? And also the house they are living in, as Isla was trying to get an impression of it.)

[Wizard9876]

(Eric has graying hair and blue eyes. Hes on the larger side, keeping fit even at his age. Dana is thin with black hair and green eyes. She also wears glasses. The interior is rather compact, though has enough room for all of them. The walls are full of pictures of the couple with the living room having a couch and tv)

[Fenrir13]

(What do they wear?)

Isla was thankful she was given space, but also tried her best not to appear too cold. "Is this you on your honeymoon?", she asked, pointing to one of the pictures were they seemed younger. The couple really seemed to like having pics of themselves around. She sighted. "You look really happy.", she stated and shrugged. She would have liked a bigger house but it was definitely an upgrade compared to the boring orphanage.

[Wizard9876]

“Yes it is, and yes we’re very happy, even happier now that you’re here with us,” Dana smiled as she continued eating. She was fascinated by the girl, seeing as they had never raised a child before, and wanted nothing more than to give her the life she deserved. “Tell me, what do you like to do for fun?”

[Fenrir13]

"Um, listening to Lacuna Coil and drinking beer or smoking with my sort of friends, associates. I guess the latter is taboo now? I wasn´t allowed to do that in the orphanage either, but the people there hardly cared what we were up to outside of it. I think. Never got into trouble for it.", she told her new parents with shocking openess. "I guess I am gonna be really bored in my freetime, unless I find a new hobby. Maybe I can find a few new bands on youtube. You have a computer right? In the orphanage we had to share one...so I don´t really have a lot of skills with it. Would you buy me a guitar? I always wanted to play for somebody. That would be awesome.", Isla said, actually sounding a little excited now.

[Wizard9876]

As Dana listened, she’d take note of both Isla’s reactions, and Eric’s own reactions. The teen opened up a bit more than she thought she would’ve, but maybe she was very trusting? Or perhaps finally had someone to talk to, either way she seemed glad to share her interests. It didn’t seem Eric was too fond of that comment about drinking or smoking, both things neither of them condoned for teens, and he opened his mouth to speak before Dana stopped him.

“Let her finish first,” she whispered to him and he reluctantly nodded. When the girl did finish, Dana smiled. “We’d be happy to get you a guitar, we can get you one for your birthday. As for a computer, we have one upstairs but it’s only for work. But, depending on how you do in school, we may let you use it a few hours a day.”

“We should go over some rules since we have you,” Eric spoke up, going down the short list he had made in his head. “Firstly, you may have smoked and drank at the orphanage, but in this house thats prohibited, and I do mean that. As for school, we expect you to have at least a B or above in every class, and you’ll only be allowed to bring friends over if that grade average is maintained, understand? Curfew is 10pm, no later. On the weekends, I’ll give you 11pm.”

[Fenrir13]

Isla heard the new rules and didn't really like them. She guessed her wild days were over. She started to scowl and didn't finish her spaghetti. "Those are some strict rules. Oh boy. What when I break one of them? I mean I got an f - in sports because I couldn't be bothered. The boys only want to play football anyway and that sucks. They are always so brutal!", she argued. Then she left to her room without another word. Her sympathy for her new parents had expired and she didn't want to rekindle it. Jerks.

[Wizard9876]

Eric never got to explain what the punishment was for breaking the rules before the girl stormed off, earning a frown from Dana. He shrugged and started to get up to leave as well, though was stopped.

“There’s no reason to be so strict immediately, we need her to warm up to us,” Dana explained. “Now she’s going to think we don’t want her here.”

“She needs rules,” Eric argued. “She can’t think she can do whatever she wants just because she could at the orphanage. She’ll learn eventually, one way or another.” Afterwards he’d head to his room.

Dana sighed, putting away the dishes before going in the direction of Isla’s room, knocking on the door.