My entire body aches and I don't have it in me to smile right now; hell, I'm trying hard not to break down right here on the asphalt. The woman in front of me has a look of sympathy, yet at the same time she carries an underlying tone of caution. As she talks to the guy that is filling in for my social worker I scan my surroundings and contemplate the easiest offense I could commit right now that would land me back in the suffocating, but ultimately stable juvie cell I had become accustomed to. I can't be that selfish though, I have to leave this place and find Lauren; I can't let her down again.
"Amy, this is Penelope. She's agreed to look after you until we can sort out somewhere better to place you." The guy, I think his name is Jeff, says and the woman, who I'm guessing is Penelope, gives me a polite smile.
"When can I see Lauren?" I completely disregard what Jeff just said, my thoughts solely on Lauren. Jeff looks uncomfortable for a moment but he sends Penelope a reassuring smile and turns his attention to me.
"Given your history, your foster father has informed us he doesn't want you around Lauren. Unfortunately, we are inclined to agree that it is best if you don't see her until you are in a more stable position,"
"I don't give a damn, what he wants. I need to see Lauren, I need to know that she is okay," I reply angrily, refusing to let that bastard keep her away from me.
"I can assure you that she is perfectly fine, now please cooperate so we can focus on getting you placed as soon as possible," Jeff responds and I see Penelope shift uncomfortably.
"How about we get you back to the house and settled in, and then we can talk about the heavier stuff?" Penelope asks with kind, hopeful smile.
I don't respond, instead shifting the weight of my bag on my shoulder. Pain shoots up my side when I settle the bag wrong and the full weight of it hits the ever darkening bruise on my torso. They couldn't just let me leave in peace, no, those girls just had to get one last laugh in; one last beating for the road.
I tense my jaw with as much force as I can muster to hide the pain, but it only adds pressure to my bruised cheek and pulls at my busted lip. My eyes water and I remain silent, watching as Penelope faces softens in what is likely to be pity. I probably look like some little, wounded puppy that couldn't possibly look after itself.
The car ride to Penelope's house is awkward and the conversation is entirely one sided as she attempts small talk but I resign myself to staring out the window wondering how my life got to this point. After a while we pull up to a modest but nice looking house and Penelope gives me a reassuring smile before gesturing towards the house,
"Come on, I'm sure the twins would love to meet you,"
I tighten my grip on the strap of my bag but follow Penelope up the front steps and into the house.
"Shane, Soleil, there is someone here I want you to meet!" Penelope calls out once she enters the house and I hear the thudding of people making their way down the stairs. Before long a dark haired boy and girl stand before me with curious looks on their face, they can't be any older than 15 and it's easy to see that they are the twins Penelope was referring to earlier. Penelope points to Shane and Soleil each respectively and introduces them but I already had a good indication as to who was who.
"Who's this?" Shane asks, tilting his head to the side a little.
"This is Amy, she's going to be staying with us for a little while," Penelope replies and I shift my weight, uncomfortable at the new found attention.
"How long will she be staying?" Soleil asks and Penelope looks conflicted.
"We're not sure yet,"
"What happened to your face?" Shane addresses me directly this time.
"She was beaten up by a few of the girls at the detention centre," Penelope senses that I don't want to answer and responds for me.
"You were in juvie? What did you do?" Soleil asks in surprise but Penelope cuts in again.
"There will be plenty of time for questions later, for now we need to get her settled in. If you'll follow me Amy, I'll show you where you can put your things down,"
I glance towards Shane and Soleil with an attempt of a smile that probably looks more like a grimace and follow after Penelope.
"Do you mind if I use the bathroom?" I ask after dropping my backpack on the couch where I'll be sleeping.
"Yeah, of course you can," Penelope replies and gives me directions.
Moving as quickly as I could without causing alarm I locate the bathroom and as soon as I enter the room I collapse back against the door. Everything that I have been holding in erupts from me as the tears begin to fall, I try to quiet my sobs and control my breathing but it's just too much right now. Hopefully Penelope doesn't hear me, I'm sure she would be understanding but I don't think I can deal with her trying to help me right now. My mind wanders to Lauren and even though it just makes me want to cry more I pull myself together and reluctantly climb to my feet, walking over to the sink to wash my face. By the time I walk out of the bathroom I follow the sound of people and find Shane, Soleil and Penelope setting out plates and preparing dinner. Soleil catches sight of me and enthusiastically pats the place across from her and I give her a weak smile before sitting down.
We are all about to start eating when we hear the sound of the door opening and shutting before an auburn-haired girl that looks about my age walks into the kitchen and sits down.
"Hey, how did the audition go?" Penelope asks and the girl grins like the Cheshire Cat.
"The guy really liked my song; he wants to put it in the showcase,"
"Are you kidding? That's amazing," Penelope replies in praise and the girl finally notices my presence.
"Who's this?" She asks curiously and Penelope is quick to answer,
"This is Amy; she will be staying with us for a little while,"
"Oh cool, I'm Karma," The girl smiles at me and hands me a bowl. I smile at Karma as I take the bowl from her but another woman walks through the door and kisses Penelope.
"Molly, excellent timing. This is," Penelope begins to introduce me but against my better judgement I interrupt.
"You're gay?" Penelope looks startled for a second but quickly recovers.
"Yes, is that going to be a problem?" She asks in a serious tone.
I stick out my bottom lip a little and shake my head, "Nope," before returning my attention back to my food.
Molly is clearly still out of the loop before she laughs somewhat uncomfortably before asking, "Sweetie, who's this?"
So there we go guys, I hope I didn't butcher anything too badly. I didn't want to be identical with The Fosters but I wanted to stick to the basic plot line for the pilot. I haven't technically brought Lauren in just yet but I will say this now anyway, for storytelling purposes I'm changing Lauren's age so that she is a couple years younger than everyone else. She will probably have an attitude that is similar to Jude but as the story progresses I'll bring normal Lauren's attitude into it a little more. Anyway, I hope you guys don't hate it. -Zahli