Chapter 1
Max was struggling to keep her head up and keep walking. She had been feeling quite disgusting for the past 3 months but she was to scared to tell her care worker because no body in the foster system wanted a sick kid. It was bad enough she was almost a teen because all foster kids knew that no one wants a teenager. She stepped over the puddle but ended up just tripping and falling into the next one. She got to school with a soaking wet uniform. Her teacher, Mary Margaret was not going to be happy. She slumped into class as the bell rang and found her seat. Her current foster mom wasn't to helpful with homework so when Miss Blanshard asked for the homework Max only gave a half written paper. She kept her head down in class and never made eye contact. The lunch bell rang and as she was ducking out she heard her name being called. She groaned and turned on her heel walking back towards the desk. "Max have you been feeling okay lately? You seem to be very distant. As well as you seem fairly pale." Max just shrugged it off. "im just tired. My family has three young kids ri- we have 3 under 5 and its very loud at my house." Miss Blanshard sighed and let Max out side. The 10 year old sighed, no body at her school knew she was a foster kid but they did know that her clothes were very dirty and torn. Her hair was usually up in a ponytail because thats all she knew how to do. Her homework was never done because she never had help from her foster parents and she had been diagnosed with a learning disability. She sat down on a bench and watched her foster parents biological children eat they lunches. Everyone in the house knew that Adam and Michelle favoured their real children over any of the foster siblings. Not that there were that many. Just her and whatever young kids got left but they always got adopted. She could feel the contents of her stomach rushing up her throat as she ran into the bathroom. Of course with her luck she ran into Miss B as she ran and of course Miss B followed her into the bathroom as she barely made it into the stall to throw up. Her foster parents were called and of course they were not happy about it. She got in Michelles car. "I said that was your last chance. Im calling you're caseworker tonight to get you another foster home. Ive dealt with your crap for 5 years and im sick of it." They pulled into the driveway and Max got sent into her "room" which was part of the attic. Not really suitable for a kid to be living in but at least she wasn't treated like Harry Potter. She didn't have to take care of the family. Just do the chores and get ignored. It was better than her last house. She got in bed and stared at the ceiling. She was sick of the shit her foster mom put her through. She was glad she was moving. Unfortunately
the last foster home near her was a single women and her caseworker was dreading putting her in that home. She put her headphones in and blasted her current favourite band, Twenty One Pilots drowning out the screaming and crying from the younger kids. She could feel herself starting to drift off so she didn't fight it. She just let it happen. She woke up to her door slamming open and her foster dad screaming at her to wake up and get her shit together. She sighed sitting up, her head spinning she had to lay back down for a few minutes to get her head together. After the room stopped spinning she sat up slower and stood up grabbing her bag from under the bed. She shoved most of her stuff in the bag and went downstairs to get a garbage bag to put the rest of her stuff in. "Maxine are you almost ready to go? its getting late and i want to get home before midnight." Max nodded, went up the two flights of stairs and shoved the rest of her stuff in the garbage bag. Throwing the garbage bag over her shoulder and putting the backpack on she went downstairs and followed Caroline in the car. "Are we going to the ladies house now?" "Yes and don't call her the lady. You know her name fine well and its impolite. Buckle up lets go." Max buckled her seat belt and turned to look out the window. She watched the house she had spent half of her life in fade out of view. They passed the library and the school and the main town centre. Her favourite hiding spot and her only friends house. Henry had been missing from school today and of course he missed the day she finally had been given up on. The car pulled into the parking lot and she got out of the car grabbing her two bags. She followed Caroline up the three flights of stairs, having to stop a couple of times as she could feel the world starting to spin. She finally made it up the stairs and Caroline knocked. The doorknob turned and the door opened.
