A/N: Hello. I originally posted this story in November 2015. After writing the first three chapters, I got kind of stuck. (Like, writer's block for a year stuck.) I realized that I wasn't satisfied with how I originally wrote the story. I believed it was becoming less focused on the b99 characters in a foster care setting and more of a middle/high school AU sort of thing. It took me awhile to realize how unhappy I was with the original three chapters and to decide what I wanted. So I decided to start over and rewrite it all over again.
I believe now since almost a year has passed, I have a (slightly) better understanding of the characters themselves and the foster care system after some extensive research.
So to those who read the original version of the story, wrote reviews, and liked it, thank you. And I apologize for suddenly just deleting it out of the blue like that. To any new readers, hello!
I umm...I hope you like this version now?
March 24, 2013; Sunday
Pembroke residence; 9:00 a.m.
In the nights that weren't plagued with nightmares of crackling thunder and crimson rain, Amy had this dream. It was a pleasant dream that would visit her every few months or so. This was the dream she was having right now.
She's standing barefoot on a hill, the grass tickling between her toes. She could feel the warmth of the rising sun against her skin as it rose on the eastern horizon. The next thing she knew, she is being lifted into the air by two strong hands. She squeals with joy as she's lifted up, knowing that no harm would come to her. From the air she could see the hills, the snowy mountaintops, the trees, and even a woman and a group of boys playing tag together on the hill. Finally she looks down and sees a man that's lifting her into the air.
But the man's eyes were blurred. In fact, all of the people standing below her had no eyes at all. It's as if someone took an eraser and swiped it against their faces. This image should scare her, but it doesn't.
She feels at peace. She feels safe.
She feels happy.
"Wake up. We're here."
Until reality hits.
Before Amy knows it, the dream fizzles away like smoke and remnants are all that is left. In the real world, she knows that she is in a car that's currently outside her new placement. She didn't need to open her eyes to know that Wuntch, her social worker, was already staring at her rather impatiently.
"Chop chop, kid. I got better things to do today." said Wuntch.
Not one for wasting time, Amy rubbed her eyes to chase away the drowsiness. She then heaved out a heavy sigh before reaching for the trash bag sitting next to her and stepping outside. The first thing that came to mind with her new "home" was the size. It was a rather ornate house compared to her previous foster homes. The brick structure stood tall, almost proudly, with its three floors on top of it. It seemed like the picturesque suburban house with the perfect foster family inside, right?
Amy was never excited to move into another foster home. A new foster home meant a new school, new foster parents to get accustomed to, and new kids who might tease her for her glasses or call her names. She used to believe her situation was temporary.
She was so naive.
The fantasies of being embraced into a warm, loving family had only waned and become more unrealistic as she aged. She's twelve years old and ten foster homes later, this one included, she hasn't found a place to call home yet. Of course, she had already charted a backup plan in the likelihood that she ages out of the system when she's eighteen. She planned to receive her G.E.D. first. After that, she knows that she wants to attend community college in New York. However she hasn't decided what she would want to major in.
Still, she doesn't know how much longer she can keep up with this charade. The future, her future, remained uncertain.
Amy was startled from her thoughts by the sound of Wuntch banging her fist against the front door. Wuntch then extended a hand towards Amy's wrist and gripped onto it tightly as if Amy was going to run. The prickling sensation of stinging ice water slapping against her skin briefly crossed her mind.
There were voices clamoring and shouting over each other on the other side of the door. Amy gripped tighter onto her trash bag.
"It's the hard knocked life for us. It's the hard knocked life for us."
"If you sing that song one more time-"
"Gross! Keep that disgusting thing upstairs!"
"Well how else am I supposed to feed him?"
"For God's sake, everyone shut up!"
The voices paused. Thirty seconds passed before Wuntch decided to try again.
"Pembroke, open up!" Wuntch bellowed. She knocked three more times.
The door swung open with force.
"Damn it, you don't have to be so loud."
A man in a worn out grey suit emerged from the doorway with his tie undone. His blonde hair stood frizzled and was slightly disheveled like he literally just woke up from bed. (Amy suspected so.) The man wore a scowl on his face until he saw Wuntch. He straightened his posture and brushed off his suit before he leaned against the doorway.
"God Pembroke, what is that repugnant smell?" Wuntch pinched her nose in good measure.
"It's my natural body odor, Wuntch. Don't hate." He gestured to come inside. Wuntch pulled at Amy's wrist like a leash and brought her inside the house.
From the moment that Amy stepped inside, an unsettling sensation set inside her stomach. The house was an utter mess. The floor was littered with beer bottles, confetti, leftover food, and red solo cups. Streamers were hanging off the ceiling, sofa, and the walls. Also she was pretty sure she saw a rat scamper by across the rug.
She shuddered. How does an irresponsible person like Pembroke get away with something like this? This was just…no. She didn't want to know.
It took a few seconds for Amy to compose herself before she finally noticed the four kids standing uniformly in a line. The person Amy noticed right away was a girl at the far right of the line. She had dark, curly raven hair that reached down to her shoulders and she was wearing a black leather jacket that was at least a size too big. The raven haired girl's eyes met Amy's gaze. The girl frowned (not that she was smiling before) before she scrunched her nose in distaste.
There was also another girl standing next to her. This girl, however, had dark brown hair instead. She seemed to be paying no attention to Amy whatsoever. The girl was too busy filing her nails. On the girl's left a teenager with stock black hair was waving in Amy's direction. Amy gave a meek wave in return. He had a gray shirt that was adorned with a bold logo from a pizzeria called "Sal's Pizza".
Then there was the boy standing in front of her. He had short, curly, dark brown hair that outmatched the first girl. He wore a checkered pattern black and white shirt with a blue hoodie. The most interesting thing though was the small pin with the Delta Airlines logo on the front of the boy's hoodie. It looked a little worn out but she could tell that it had been cleaned.
He was staring at her. Whether it was in a good way or in a bad way she couldn't decipher. To her the kids seemed nice enough like the boy that waved at her. A part of her feels like maybe they could even be friendly.
"Your house is trashed as always." Wuntch casually commented.
"Yeah, when you turn the big 4-5 you gotta go big, ya know?" he flashed a smile. "And can I just say that you're looking as foxy as always?"
"Can it, Pembroke. I got another-" Wuntch tugged Amy closer to Pembroke. "brat to sign over to you."
It was then that Pembroke saw Amy for the first time. Pembroke leaned in towards Amy's face; his grin had twisted into a milk curling smile. Devil horns might as well be popping out of in front of his head.
"And who is this...charming young lady over here?" Pembroke licked his lips. He was staring at her like she was a piece of meat to be devoured. Amy felt some bile forming in her throat. She debated whether or not to spit in Pembroke's face but she decided against it.
"Amy, last name unknown. Female, birthdate unknown. Age twelve, was found homeless in at a playground at age five." Wuntch droned out. "Sign here."
Pembroke grazed through the paperwork and scoffed. "And I'm stuck as lucky foster parent ten, huh?" He motioned for a pen.
"I had to keep placing her at different homes. No one wanted a little prissy, stuck up brat like her." Wuntch explained.
It was then that she felt a piece of her fragile heart crack inside. Even though she was used to jabs and comments like this already, it still hurt. What she failed to notice was the curly hair boy's fists tightening at the backhanded comment.
"Done." Pembroke handed the forms back. "I'm expecting a bigger check than usual, Wuntch, especially knowing what this kid is doped up on."
"You'll get your pay at the end of the week. Just make sure she's still breathing when I get back."
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of Cassie over here." Pembroke winked at Amy's direction. Amy would have gagged but she maintained herself.
"It's Amy." she corrected but her response went ignored.
Wuntch shook Pembroke's hand before she took off without so much as a goodbye to Amy. Pembroke shut the door and clicked three locks in place before sticking the key in his pocket.
"Alright, glad that's over with. I'm going back to bed. Get back to work, wieners. That includes you, new girl." He roughly shoved Amy in the kids' direction.
"And this house better be spotless by the time I'm up!" Pembroke warned. He trudged his sluggish body slowly up the stairs.
As soon as the kids heard the door slammed shut, the raven haired girl began to march towards Amy. Her heart started beating a little faster in apprehension. Maybe she wanted to introduce herself? Or maybe she wanted to punch her in the face? Mustering her best smile, Amy reached out a hand to the raven haired girl.
"Hi, I'm-" The girl shoved a trash bag into Amy's chest instead.
"Rosa. Start with the cups by the door, squirt." Rosa then stomped into a corner of the living room.
"Nice to meet you too." Amy called out. Her greeting went unnoticed by Rosa, who was basically dumping garbage after garbage inside a trash bag. Amy then turned to the other girl who was still filing her nails.
"I'm Amy. It's a pleasure to meet you." Amy tried again. She held out her hand for the other girl to accept. The girl stopped filing her nails to stare at Amy's out held hand. The girl's eyebrow arched slightly. Then she did something that Amy didn't expect to happen.
She laid out Amy's outstretched hand flat and began to file it wordlessly. To say that she was shocked would be an understatement. It was an...unexpected greeting. When the girl began to work on Amy's other hand, Amy turned to the boys for an explanation. The curly hair boy smiled reassuringly with a toothy grin and gave her a thumbs up. His friend just shrugged, not surprised at the very least. All Amy could do was stare slightly agape as the girl filed her nails one by one with precise action. She felt compelled to say something to her, a thank you at least, but she was afraid of ruining the moment.
When the girl was done, she blew off the dust gathered on Amy's hands and released them. It was then that the girl finally looked into Amy's eyes and spoke.
"Your nails need some color, but we can chat about that later." she said. "I'm Gina b.t.w., and yes, it is a pleasure for you to be graced by my presence." She then walked to the couch and lounged herself there like a cat.
Not long after Amy felt two large, sweaty hands shaking her hands as well.
"I'm Charles. It is so nice to put a face to the newcomer!" His hands were furiously shaking hers. They were practically trembling with excitement.
"I'm always happy to meet new foster kids, especially awesome girls as yourself." Charles continued. "We should celebrate with dinner. I mean, all of us. Not that I'm asking you to…because that would be weird, wouldn't it? I mean you're…and I'm…Oh God, I just made it awkward. I'm so sorry. Uh, let me try again. Do you like spaghetti?"
"I've never had it."
"What?! Never?" Charles exclaimed, a complete turn around from his bumbling self a few seconds ago. He took a step back from Amy like he was personally attacked by her confession. Amy felt that she did something wrong to accidentally hurt Charles, which was never her intention. Her mind already scrambled for ideas to make it up to him. A card? Money? A scrapbook displaying his latest achievements? She didn't realize how heavy her breathing got until Charles placed his hand on her upper arm in sympathy.
"It's settled then." he smiled warmly. "We'll all have spaghetti for dinner because I just found this new recipe for spaghetti with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, and spinach that is just to die for. You're going to love it. Of course, I could never make spaghetti as well as Lynn. He's my boss at the restaurant that I work in, I should have mentioned that first. Maybe I should bring you to the restaurant at some point…"
Amy giggled and felt her nerves slightly settle down. She liked Charles. She never thought she would meet a foster kid who was so extroverted.
"Oh and this," Charles wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the curly haired boy. "is my best friend in the planet, the man of the hour, Jake!"
Oh, so that was his name.
"It's nice to meet you, Jake." she greeted and offered her hand. Jake remained silent. Just like Gina he stared at Amy's outstretched hand but in wonderment instead, like it was the first time he was introduced to a handshake. She expected him to make a sound, a noise, anything really. He just remained still as a statue and yet there was a soft expression, a slight twinkle in his eye.
"Jake-y?" Charles asked. "You alright there, buddy?"
Amy spoke up. "You do know what a handshake is, right?"
Her voice seemed to awaken Jake from his spell. He cleared his throat, as if he was preparing to speak. No words came out. He settled with pursing his lips together before silently extending a hand and shaking Amy's. He didn't realize it but he was still holding her hand for ten seconds.
"You can let go now."
Jake jumped slightly and flinched from Amy's hand as if it was poison. "Gah I-ah-uh….words, speaking, language, stuff…."
Amy snorted. He was funny, she'll give him that.
"Sorry. He's usually not like this." Charles tilted his curiously, his eyes darting between his best friend and her.
Crash!
"Agh, the rat's back!" Gina screeched. She tossed the nail file at the scurrying creature.
Rosa grabbed the broom. "I got this." The commotion snapped Jake back to reality.
"No, guys, come on! Don't kill Algernon! We're buddies!" Jake interjected. He raced to the couch to defend his furry pet.
Yes, she definitely believed she'll fit in here.
A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated!