In the Best Interest of the Children

A/N This is a new story that I'm working on. I know that I should be working on my other stories but this story just had to be written. Its rating is Mature, that's going to be for future chapters. Its also M/M. Please review and let me know if I should continue. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 In the Best Interest of the Children

Cody's POV

I didn't know what was happening, one minute I was sleeping in the living room on an air mattress, the next I was being woken up. I was being woken up by a woman saying that I had to get dressed and leave with her. I got up and tried to find my mother.

"Evan please I need you to get dressed and pack a bag." the woman told me.

"My name is Mrs. Lawrence, I need you to listen and please get dressed."

I grabbed some clothes from a suitcase I was living out of and walked into the bathroom. I knew why Mrs. Lawrence was taking me. Someone had finally called them, child protective services. I often wondered who and when the call was going to be made. I almost had the courage to call a couple of times but then I always thought my mom could change, that she would stop using drugs, that she would stop hooking up with different men. I sometimes I hated myself that I wasn't brave enough to make the call. I was fifteen years old and I couldn't even talk to an adult about what was going on with my mom. I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed my suitcase.

"Is that everything?" the Mrs. Lawrence asked, looking at my suitcase. I nodded and the lady shook her head. I watched as Mrs. Lawrence took a quick look around the small living room.

"I have been living out of a suitcase for months, same with sleeping on an air mattress." I told her.

"That's going to change Cody. No child should have to live like this." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I was happy she at least understood. I had prayed for years that someone realized that I should be living with my mother.

I walked out of the apartment to see four cop cars. One car had my mom's boyfriend in the back and in another car had my mom in it. I shook my head and followed Mrs. Lawrence to her car. I saw cops caring out brown bags that I knew had the drugs in there. I could hear mom trying to talk to me from the cop car.

"It's going to be okay Cody. I'm going to take you back to my office and explain to you what's going to happen." Mrs. Lawrence told me.

"Okay." I said. Mrs. Lawrence drove away. It took ten minutes to get to her office which was the local social services. Mrs. Lawrence took me to her office and informed me that she had to make some phone calls.

I was reading one of the few books I owned sitting in Mrs. Lawrence's office. Mrs. Lawrence had been in a meeting, I guess talking about me. She had finally came back into her office with a smile on her face.

"Okay Cody, I think we found a placement for you and if you're lucky it even might turn permanent." Mrs. Lawrence told me.

"It is it a foster home?" I asked.

"Well yes in a way, but this family hates being called a foster family. They treat all the children that come into their homes like their own children and has even adopted one of them. It's getting late so why don't we head over to their house okay." said Mrs. Lawrence. I nodded and grabbed my bag. I was tired and I was sitting in her office for hours, I just wanted to find a place to sleep. I got back into Mrs. Lawrence's car and looked out the window as she drove.

"The drive is about an hour and a half long so if you want to shut your eyes for a little while you can." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I nodded as I slowly closed my eyes.

I woke up and looked out the car to see that we stopped in front of a building. It was dark so I couldn't see much of the building but it didn't look like any apartment building.

"Is this where the family lives?" I asked.

"No, one parent works here and they like to meet the children here and take them back to their home because its another two hour drive from here." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I got out of the car and walked up to the building. I was close enough to see the words on the building. It read In the Best Interest of the Children Association.

Evan's POV

I laid in bed thinking. It was dark in the room but I could tell by taking a peak outside the shaded window that it was morning. Today was the day I was going to be shipped off to live with an uncle because no one else in my family wanted me. I sat up in bed and looked over to my bags that were packed. I quickly grabbed a back pack, dumped out the stuff and quickly filled it back up with things I was going to need. I had made a decision last night that I was not going to live with my uncle. I rather live on my own, even on the streets than live with him or any of my family. Uncle Andrew was going to take me to live with him today because my uncle Tom didn't want to deal with me anymore, that was his own words. I no longer lived with my mom because she was too sick to care for me. She now lived in a nursing home. Uncle Andrew could be verbally abusive, never getting physical but I didn't want to take that chance. I had lived with him before for a few months and I barely could take it. I was sixteen years old but I felt like an adult. I had been taking care of myself since I was thirteen, since my mother's accident. My mom was in and out of the hospital, leaving me to go from family member to family member, sometimes I stood in the house alone. Finally child protective services got involved and told my mom that she needed to find a permanent place for me to live. That's when she let her brother, uncle Tom take custody of me. That turned out to be a huge bust.

"Where are you going?" Uncle Tom asked. I was standing by the front door.

"I'm going to Dunkin Donuts." I said. I tried to hide my back pack behind me. Uncle Tom nodded

"Okay, make sure your back before eleven, your uncle Andrew will be here by eleven and you have a long bus ride back to his house."

"Okay." I said. I quickly left, knowing I was not going to be back by eleven. I walked the few blocks to Dunkin Donuts and ordered a coffee and a donut. I sat down, and started to eat, I had to think of where I was going to go. I pulled out some cash that I managed to save up, which was a couple hundred and I had my mom's bank card, which I took from my last visit. I finished my food and walked across the street to the ATM machine. I pushed in the pin number and checked the account first. I smiled when I saw that there was eight hundred dollars, I knew my mom wasn't going to need the money, and she wasn't going to give me any money. I withdrew all the money and snapped the card in a half and throwing the pieces in the garbage.

I walked to a bus stop and sat on the bench. I looked at my cell phone to check the time; it was getting close to eleven so I really needed a plan to where I was going to go. Maybe I could go back to New York and find somewhere to stay or maybe find a job.

"Excuse me, but do you know if I could catch a bus to New York City from this bus stop?" I asked a lady.

"Yes, there's one that is coming in about five minute, and it only cost five dollars." the lady told me. I smiled and thanked her. The bus arrived five minutes later and I got on, making sure to pay the bus driver and I walked to the back of the bus. I used the time on the bus to think about what I was going to do when got to New York City. I looked at my cell phone, turned it off and took the battery out. I was going to take any chances of the police finding me. I had no intentions of communicating with my family again.

I had been to the city before but it was never alone. It was busy and loud. People were walking everywhere. I was walking around when I bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I heard. I looked up to see a short brown hair girl looking down at me giving me a smile.

"It's okay," I said. I stood up and smiled back.

"You look a little lost, wait are you lost?" she asked.

"No, I'm just looking around." I told her. The girl nodded. She stared at me, which made me feel a little weird.

"I know it's not any of my business but are run away or something?" she asked. I wasn't sure how to answer that but something told me I could trust her.

"Yea I guess I am. I don't know why I decided to come to the city though." I said.

"Unfortunately you're not the first to think that or runaway to the city. I'm Ajay and you?" she asked.

"My name is Evan." I told her.

"Well Evan, lets walk around the city. Its nice out" Ajay suggested.

"Okay." I said. Ajay and I walked around, looking at different stores. She didn't ask me any questions about why I decided to runaway.

We stopped at a pizza shop for lunch. I paid for two slices of pizza and two cans of soda.

"You didn't have to pay for my lunch." said Ajay.

"Its okay, I don't mind. You have been so nice to me, showing me around." I said. We started eating in silence.

"Who do you live with?" I asked.

"I live with my adopted parents." Ajay told me.

"When did you get adopted?" I asked. I took a bite of my pizza and a sip of my soda.

"I got adopted three years ago, I couldn't be more happier than the day my parents told me that they wanted to officially adopt me." Ajay said smiling.

"I should start trying to find a place to stay, at least for the night." I told Ajay.

"It's still early, why don't we walk around some more. You might find what you're looking for." Ajay said. I nodded and we finished eating our pizza.

We walked around some more. Ajay and I stopped outside of a building.

"I think you might find this place helpful" Ajay told me. Ajay smiled at me before she went inside the building. I took a look at the sign and read In the Best Interest of the Children Association. I thought about my options, more like the options I didn't have, I had to make a decision. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door, slowly walking in.

A/N Please like and review!