What was he supposed to say? It wasn't like he had any choice in the matter. His grandparents were the only relatives he knew of, not that he'd seen them all that often. Even so, of course he'd rather stay with them than risk an uncle he'd never met, or worse, adoption. At least this way he wouldn't have to see those stupid pitying glances every time a new family came in to see him and heard his sob story.
Naturally, he cried the entire night his parents died. It didn't matter what was said; he missed her. He loved his mom, and loved his dad too. Though he hadn't been the best, he was still his father. And now they were gone. He'd heard his parents argue over the money and the man named Mr. Sawyer. That first night, he got up and wrote a note to the man responsible for his parents' death:
"Dear Mr. Sawyer, You don't know who I am but I know who you are and I know what you done. You had sex with my mother and then you stole my dad's money all away. So he got angry and he killed my mother and then he killed himself, too. All I know is your name. But one of these days I'm going to find you and I'm going to give you this letter so you'll remember what you done to me. You killed my parents, Mr. Sawyer."
Along with the letter to Mr. Sawyer, he wrote another letter. He planned on running away, and left the letter for whoever found it, explaining why he ran away. But he never left. He had nowhere to go. He wanted to find Mr. Sawyer and give him the letter, but he didn't know how to find him. So he cried some more.
His grandparents loved him; that was certain. They told him so, hugged him, let him cry and did whatever they could to make him happy. But did he want to live with them for the rest of his life? Not really, but there was no other choice. So he told the judge he'd live with his grandparents and move to Tennessee.