The Everyday Adventures of Sam and Megan (GirlxGirl)

Season 3: Episode 12

| October 1 | Monday Afternoon |

~ Megan's POV ~

Since the field trip, I noticed a distance from Sam she hadn't exhibited in a long time. As in, since she was in high school. It terrified me, because I had absolutely no idea what her problem was, and she refused to even talk to me when I tried to bring up school or Ava or how well my class was doing.

I had seen this look in her eyes the day of the field trip... as if she had seemed intrigued and elated to be around children. They had looked up to her and she had enjoyed it. Then, after lunch that day, it was like someone had flipped a switch. She was quiet, she was standoff-ish, and she no longer had that gleeful look when she associated or talked to the children.

Luckily, Ethan wasn't ignoring me. I had noticed they had had an exchange after I had escorted the girls to the bathroom during the fieldtrip, so I inevitably ended up asking him what they had talked about. He just revealed that he mentioned Ava's living situation, and that was it. I couldn't wrap my head around the simplicity of it, or why my fiancée was suddenly reverting to ways I thought we had abandoned ages ago.

Sam was still attending therapy and told me her and her therapist were addressing the things I desperately wanted to talk about but refused to elaborate any further than that. I hated it. I hated the way she was shutting me out and I hated that I had somehow made her feel like she couldn't talk to me. I knew going behind her back and inquiring about the foster thing was bad, and I should've known better, but I had apologized too. The only thing I could figure was that after Sam and Ethan had talked, she had put two-and-two together and realized my foster inquiry was, in fact, about Ava.

And that had managed to scare her.

"Hey," I heard next to me. "Are you okay?"

My eyes focused on Ethan who was accompanying me during recess. It sucked knowing that my mood and focus were visibly shot. I inhaled a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah, just in my head today," I confessed.

"You've seemed to be like that for a few awhile now."

I knew that. Hell, I'm sure everyone that associated with me regularly knew that. It wasn't my fault. Sam's mood affected my mood and knowing her mood was off because of me just made it worse. Especially when I could do nothing to fix it.

My silence provoked Ethan to continue the conversation and avoid silence.

"You wanna see something?" he asked.

"What?"

"Look at that." He pointed over to the swing-set. "Ava is playing."

I realized that but didn't see the big deal. She had been playing all week on the swing-set. It seemed to be her go-to activity now.

"Yeah?"

"I haven't seen Ava do anything at recess until the last week," he confessed. "I've only ever watched her sit in a field and pick grass most days."

After he mentioned it, I realized he was right. Since school had started, I hadn't seen Ava play until recently. And, not only was she playing, but she was playing with Ashton, who was playing with another one of their classmates, Ben.

"She's been doing better in class," I revealed. "It's her homework that's holding her back."

Ethan looked at me. "You think it's her guardian?"

"Absolutely."

There was a silence that held a heaviness I couldn't ignore. I knew Ava's situation, or I at least knew enough, and it managed to literally keep me up at night. I should've known better than to get emotionally involved, but I couldn't help it. She was a bright girl, but it was buried under the lack of love and emotional, and possibly physical, trauma. Imagining what she went through in her foster home made me sick. The image of her being ignored hurt my heart.