A/N: hey guys! So here's the other story I was talking about earlier for The Fosters (I just love this show so much, don't judge me), but this time I'm actually co-writing it with a good friend of mine, who is someone I know personally, but her pen name on FF is br4ve if you would like to check her out. She has a lot of the same interests as me, and she's an amazing writer so I'm happy to be doing this story with her! This story is a bit more light-hearted than other stories I've worked on, so we hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1: Too Good to Be True

She was used to always packing up the little amount of items she had all the time. She was always going from one house to another-packing the very few tops and jeans she had in her suitcase became more of a habitual thing for her over the past 7 years.

This time, however, she thankfully was not packing up to leave one of the best foster houses she's ever stayed at.

Callie Jacob was going to be going on her very first vacation with her little brother.

Before her mom's death, she remembered going to Disney World with her mom, dad and a three-year-old Jude. She could almost envision that ecstatic feeling she used to get every time she would pass by Mickey Mouse or her favorite Disney princess like Mulan. She remembered the wide grins that were plastered on the entire family's faces, and how content they were.

It was the last trip she went on with her mom before her death.

And it was the last trip she went on with her father before he went into jail.

After that, the only trips she was venturing on were her trips to new foster homes. She was surprised that Lena and Stef were actually willing to spend this much money on a trip. None of her previous foster parents even thought about such a thing. Who was willing to spend so much money on a trip for kids that weren't even their own?

She looked up and saw the giddy smile on Mariana's face as she tore her entire closet apart, looking for the perfect dresses, shorts, and tanks she could wear for tomorrow's trip to Hawaii.

And here Callie was, having only a few t-shirts and a pair of full jeans in her suitcase.

"Aren't you excited?!" Mariana squealed as she was modeling some of her clothes in front of the mirror to see which looked good. "This trip is going to be the best! The moms haven't really taken us out of state before before."

"Really?" Callie asked with a little surprise.

"Yeah. They were afraid of wasting too much money, and you'd think that after you and Jude, they were probably going to cut my wardrobe budget too. But they're taking us to Hawaii. Well, I'm going to make the best of this trip and finally meet a hot guy to have sex with."

Callie raised her eyebrows playfully at Mariana, while slightly cringing at the sound of that word.

She didn't want to have to reminisce those scary thoughts into her head. Not now, when she's supposed to be happy.

"What?" She demanded. "Come on, Jesus had sex first and that is not fair."

"Okay, whatever floats your boat," Callie laughed as she zipped up her suitcase.

"Wait...that's all you're bringing?" She asked, as she came over to Callie's suitcase and unzipped it. "Those aren't even summer clothes. Callie, it's going to be hot as hell in Hawaii, and you're bringing jeans?"

"That's because it's the closest thing I have to summer clothing, Mariana," Callie said. "My previous foster parents didn't want to spend money on clothing so I wear sweaters over the summer too."

Mariana looked at Callie with remorse and sympathy, seeing that she didn't have anything. She looked back at the pile of outfits she had spread out all over her bed and rushed over and picked out a few pairs of shorts, tanks, and dresses that looked relatively simpler than most of her other fashionable pieces. She walked back over to her, and threw the heap in her suitcase. Callie's eyes enlarged in astonishment at the number of outfits Mariana had and how she was simply giving it away.

"Here," She said with a smile "These should fit you. We seem to be the same size.."

"Mariana, I can't take-"

"No. I want you to, okay?" She said. "Besides...those were my old ones anyway. It's really no big deal. Oh, I almost forgot!"

She rushed back to her closet and dug out what seemed to look like a box filled with swimwear. She returned back with, throwing a dark-purple bikini in her hand.

"You're going to need this too," She said. "It's my least favorite one, so you can have it."

Giving an uneasy laugh as she stared at the swimsuit, that seemed dangerously revealing to her, as she normally doesn't wear things like those. "Mariana, I-"

"I know it's not in your comfort zone, but come on! You're going to Hawaii! Make the most out of it."

She stared at the clothes in slight uncomfort. "I don't know, I mean these colors are just too bright and I don't normally wear dresses so..."

"Dude, these are like my most boring and dull ones. I picked them specifically for you, since I know you seem to enjoy wearing dull and dark colored clothing. Come on, please wear them? For me?"

She slightly laughed and gave Mariana a small smile as she reluctantly dumped the new clothes in her suitcase. "Thanks. I'll give them back after the trip, don't worry."

"Don't bother. I have plenty more where that came from," She laughed, immediately rushing back to model some more of her dresses in front of the mirror and asking Callie suggestions as if she was another Lexi to her. While Callie couldn't help but feeling the least bit flattered by that, she knew that this was only temporary. Her blossoming friendship with the girl she used to like the least out of everyone else, her dangerously close bond with one of her foster brothers, two ladies she's almost comfortable calling her moms. It was all temporary.

But a voice inside her head was screaming at her to make the best out of the situation.

And she could feel it inside that she was slowly giving in, even though she tried so hard to.

Because for the first time in years, she was actually excited.

"Come on kids, we need to get to the airport in five minutes so hurry it up!" Stef yelled from downstairs. Callie was packing up Jude's suitcase for him in his bedroom, amused to see Jude jumping around everywhere in excitement. Stef and Lena were nice enough to surprise the both of them with some outfits to wear for the trip. Luckily, Lena knew Callie's style of clothing so she didn't have to wear all of Mariana's girly, quite revealing garments.

"Alright Jude, I think that's everything," Callie sighed, zipping up Jude's suitcase. She saw the excitement and content on his face, and that made her smile since she had never seen Jude that happy after living with the Olmsteads.

She immediately tried to erase the thought from her head. She didn't want to recollect those horrible memories. Not now, when things are actually going for well for once.

"Aren't you excited, Callie?" He squealed. "We get to go to Hawaii! We've never been on vacation before! Stef and Lena are the best moms ever."

She laughed and ruffled his hair, kissing the top of his head. "Don't get too excited, you don't want the jinx fairies to come in and ruin it."

"Jinx fairies?" He retorted with an amused grin on his face. "What am I, nine years old?"

"Lighten up kiddo, I'm just kidding," She said, setting down his suitcase for him. Even though she was joking about the jinx fairies, she wasn't joking when she said not to get too excited.

From Callie's past experiences, getting too excited or too happy over something only resulted in more tragedy.

Jesus strolled into the bedroom with a beach ball in his hand. He had that devilish smirk playing on his face as he rolled past Jude and he could tell that something was up too. Callie simply stared at the two boys in confusion as they were exchanging suspicious glances.

She wasn't aware of how close they had become already.

"Hey, Jude! Think fast!" He yelled. Before Jude could say anything, Jesus slammed the beach ball onto his face.

"Oh, you're gonna get it this time!" Jude screamed back, and before she knew it, Jude was chasing after Jesus down the stairs like little five year olds which made Callie roll her eyes playfully. She didn't like the fact that he was getting so close so quickly with this family. It's like he had forgotten that this was a temporary situation and he was already considering Jesus like a brother and had already started calling Stef and Lena his moms.

Who knows when they'll get kicked out? How is Jude going to take it when they leave this place? He's already been hurt so many times. She didn't want him to get hurt even more.

But she knew that no matter what she could say, this family had already made it's way into Jude's heart.

So she was going to make sure that this family won't make into hers, no matter what happens.

"Okay, I'll just carry your suitcase down the stairs too! No big deal!" Callie yelled, knowing that Jude couldn't have possibly heard lifted the handlebars on both her suitcase and his, struggling to get it out of the room, muttering curses under her breath as she accidently pulled the wheels over her feet.

"Uh, need help?"

She looked up and saw Brandon giving her a bewildered look as she was struggling to carry two suitcases, probably wondering why she needed that much stuff. Her cheeks subconsciously flushed into a shade of light pink, so she turned look away from her foster brother.

"Uh, no I'm good, thanks," She lied, as she tried to pull them down her stairs, but couldn't find a possible strategy to get them both down since they were both quite heavy.

Hearing a laugh coming from Brandon, he grabbed one of the suitcases from her hand and started to easily carry it. She could feel her cheeks heating up in embarrassment because of the fact she couldn't roll two suitcases that in reality wasn't as heavy as she had thought.

"Uh, I could've so done that by myself," Callie defended as Brandon started walking down the hall with Jude's suitcase.

"Uh huh, seems totally legit," He remarked sarcastically, which made Callie nudge him playfully on the shoulder.

"So...you excited?" He started.

"Yeah sure," She shrugged. "I mean, I haven't been on vacation in a long time. Normally, foster parents don't invest money and time into things like this, so it's cool of your moms to do all this."

"You know..." He began as his eyes fixed on the brunette, stopping in the middle of the hallway. "They're your moms too."

She didn't say anything and instead met his eyes feeling slightly remorse. A part of her wanted to call Stef and Lena her moms, but a part of her knew that nobody could ever be a mom for her.

In the end, the only person that's going to fight her battles is nobody but herself.

So to Callie, Stef and Lena were just generous people offering her shelter, food and nice facilities. That was all there is to it.

"Brandon! Callie!"

The two broke away from their staring contest and looked down to see a stressed Lena looking at the two of them.

"Come on, let's go!" She yelled. "We have to leave now!"

The two rushed down the stairs and set down the suitcases next to the several others that were by the door. All of the kids came and rushed into the foyer, Mariana fixing her hair and makeup, Brandon counting all the luggage like the responsible kid he was, Jesus carelessly texting someone who was most probably Lexi, and Callie checking on Jude to make sure he was okay and had whatever he needed.

"Alright, do we all have everything we need? Make sure you have everything, and I mean everything," Stef said sternly. "We are not coming back here as we are running late already."

All five of the kids checked their luggage and each gave Stef and Lena a confirmed thumbs-up.

"Alright guys," Lena said with an excited grin as she stared at all the kids. "Let's go to Hawaii!"

And with a chorused cheer, the Fosters left to go to the airport so they can begin their very first vacation together as a family.

What had surprised Callie that whole ride to the airport was that she had actually been cheering along with everyone else.

"Welcome to American Airlines! In a few minutes we will be preparing for take-off to Big Island, Hawaii. Thank you."

Callie was putting up her suitcase in the luggage compartment, and helping Jude with his as well, since he wasn't tall enough to reach it. She ruffled his hair playfully as she saw the content on his face which just made her smile.

Unfortunately, her and Jude hadn't gotten seats assigned next to each other, and had to sit next to Mariana instead while Jesus had to sit in a three-seater with Stef and Lena. She tried to think of it positively, that she had a whole two seater all to herself, so she rested her legs on the empty seat next to her with a relaxed smile on her face.

Well, she thought.

"You, uh, have your feet on my seat."

She looked up and saw that it was Brandon who raised his eyebrows at her. She silently cursed under her breath when she saw that his flight ticket had the seat number that was right next to hers. With a playful roll of her eyes she set her legs down, allowing herself to let out a laugh, and with that soft chuckle of his he took a seat down next to her. He immediately took out a folder and Callie noticed that it was a folder piled with several sheet music that were filled with complicated chords and notes.

"Do you ever take a break?" She asked.

"Well, I don't have anything better to do," He said as he started studying the notes while plugging earphones into his ears.

"Come on, the grim reaper can wait," She said, stealing his sheet music out of his hands. "You're on vacation. Take a freaking break."

"Actually, this is my own music," Brandon said, taking the sheet music back. "I've been writing a few songs on the piano and I just recorded them before the trip so maybe I'd get some more inspiration on the plane ride since there's nothing to do. Between you and me, I snuck in my keyboard since it was small enough to fit in the suitcase."

She laughed and shook her head in disbelief. "Wow. Well I can't really say anything, because I snuck in the guitar too."

He laughed. "Have you been writing anything?"

"Sort of," She replied. "I mean, I've been trying because I've been pretty inspired for some reason but everytime I try to write I just feel like it's missing something."

"Well, maybe we could write a song together if you want," He offered.

She looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be fun," He smiled.

She smiled back. "Can I listen to that?" She pointed at the headphones. He gave her one ear and she began to listen to one of Brandon's songs. It was similar to first one he showed her months ago, the song that was based off of when the twins were going to stay with him. There weren't any words, there wasn't anything else in the recording but the sound of the piano chords blending together to create a beautiful sound. She began recognizing the chords since they were similar to the guitar chords and a number of ideas were already popping into her head.

"It sounds really nice," She told him. "It's a lot different from what you play for your teacher."

"Is...that a good thing?"

"Yes, it is," She laughed. "There's a lot more emotion to it than you struggling to make the song perfect. I like it better that way."

"Thanks," He smiled, staring down at her. Before they knew it, the plane had already began soaring through the air and since it was a night flight, Callie saw that Jude and Mariana had already fallen asleep on each other which just made her laugh.

"So, where did you get the inspiration to write this song?" She asked. "Is it about anything or did you just write it?"

"Actually, I..." Brandon began but his voice trailed off as soon as his gaze fixed on her. She could sense that there was something holding him back, like he wanted to say something but he wasn't brave enough to say it. There was a trace of apprehension and sorrow that flickered across his eyes and she knew that she probably asked the wrong question.

"You know, there are actually some guitar chords that I think would go well with the chorus..." He said, immediately changing the subject. "Wanna know?"

She didn't want to pressure Brandon into telling her what the song was about. If he's ready to trust her, then he'll tell her.

"Yeah, sure," She said nonchalantly. "I actually think maybe an A-minor chord would go really well..."

And for a good hour or two, instead of sleeping the two had been already been writing chords down and ideas for the song even though they didn't have a single instrument to play with in front of them. Soon enough, she ended up falling asleep on Brandon's shoulder with the sheet music still in her hand and a small smile resting on her face. She started to feel somewhat happier by the minute, thinking that maybe, just maybe this might just be a good vacation after all.

However, from Callie's past experiences, she knew that nothing was going to stay the same forever.

There was a horrible feeling inside of her that something bad was going to happen.

And she had no idea that she was actually right.

A/N- So we decided to leave it off as a cliffhanger to show that this story won't be ALL light-hearted and will include some major drama in future chapters. But since it's only the first chapter, we decided to make it light-hearted and calm, but things will REALLY heat up in future chapters so stay tuned!

Let us know what you think of the chapter by taking some time to leave a review! Feedback always helps, and it encourages us to write more. :) thank you!

Also, I updated on Broken a few days back, but I didn't really get any feedback on that chapter, so I would really appreciate it if you all would take some time to review :) thanks!

Thank you guys so much for reading, and we'll see you in our next update!