Chapter One

Seymour Birkhoff sat at a lunch table, watching the other kids of his school excitedly talking and eating their lunches. He sat alone at a table in the corner of the room. It wasn't uncommon for some reason Seymour just did not quite fit in. It had always been that way since he had started sixth grade. While all the other kids were making friends and social groups, Seymour was too awkward. He was far smarter than them- he just seemed to understand everything- and they didn't like him showing them up.

Lunch was excruciating for Seymour. He wanted to have friends, but he couldn't quite figure out the social skills side of things. He walked to class after lunch and took his seat as the other kids came into class. Seymour was somewhat excited as he typically was for his science class. Once the bell rang, Seymour excitedly listened as the teacher started the lesson. He only got a few minutes into the class before the classroom phone began to ring. As the teacher talked the kids began to talk amongst themselves, whispering about what could possibly cause the teacher to get a call in the middle of class. After a couple of minutes the teacher hung up and slowly walked back through the class, stopping next to Seymour's desk. Seymour didn't even look up- he was embarrassed enough already. "Mr. Birkhoff." the teacher addressed him, "You are wanted in the principal's office."

All the other kids laughed and pointed as Seymour walked out of the room after packing up this backpack. He swung the backpack over his shoulder; he had never been more embarrassed in his life. He had enough problems with his classmates and this definitely wasn't going to help anything. Trudging slowly down the hall, he flashed his hall pas to the monitor. Finally he opened the door to the office and went up to the secretary. "Seymour Birkhoff" she asked him.

Seymour nodded. "Yes." He replied, rolling his eyes.

"Have a seat. I'll tell Principal McMillan that you are here." The secretary gave him a smile.

Seymour couldn't figure out what was going on. Normally the secretaries were so crabby to the students, like they were perpetually annoying them, but today they were smiling and talking gently to him. Even an idiot could tell something was very wrong. When his eyes caught a police car pulled up outside the school, his heart began to pound. "Mr. Birkhoff." Principal McMillan came out of his office and greeted the young man. "C'mon in."

Following the principal into his office, Seymour was surprised to see Judy Walker, one of the school's social worker waiting in the office. "Seymour." She greeted him with a nod.

"Have a seat." Principal McMillan gestured to the seat.

Seymour sat down and Principal sat down behind his desk. Everyone was silent for a minute or two before Principal McMillan asked "So how are things going for you Seymour?"

Birkhoff shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Okay I guess." He replied.

"Getting along with your classmates" Ms. Waller questioned.

"I guess so." Birkhoff was slightly irritated to be in the principal's office.

A knock at the door startled them. "Come in." Principal McMillan calmly replied.

When police officers knocked on the door and then walked in, Seymour's heart began to pound. When the police were involved it was never good. "Principal McMillan, Ms. Baker, you must be Mr. Birkhoff."

Seymour nodded. "That's me." He replied.

"Mr. Birkhoff," the policeman's tone caused a shiver to run down his spine. "I'm here because there was an accident this afternoon."

Seymour's heart began to pound. "What?" he asked.

"Earlier this morning your parents were traveling east when they were t-boned by another car. The force of the accident forced their car down an embankment into the river. When we removed the car from the river, there were no survivors. I'm really sorry son." The second officer explained.

Frozen, Seymour couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He was completely in shock; Seymour was an only child of two only children. His parents were all they had. "Seymour are you okay?" Ms. Waller asked.

Seymour still did not answer. His normally excellent mind was having trouble processing the fact that his family was dead. Wanting to respond to them, Seymour just couldn't bring himself to say it. "I'm really sorry Seymour." The principal told him.

Wetness on his cheeks surprised him. "What will happen to me?" he finally managed to ask.

"Do you have any family?" the officer asked.

Seymour just shook his head. "No. My parents were both only children, I'm an only child and my grandparents are dead." He answered.

"We will have to work that out." Ms. Waller told him, "Do you have any friends you could stay with?"

Again Seymour shook his head. "We will have to contact DCFS to determine where we can get you somewhere to stay." Officer Wipinski (the first officer whose name he read from the name badge) replied.

"I'll take you to an intake center to try to get you settled." Ms. Weller offered.

That evening Seymour found himself settled in a room with three other kids. Scotty was 15, Micah was 17 and Sam was 16. None of them paid much attention to Seymour. They had all been in foster care long enough to have a pretty aggressive, anti-establishment mentality that did not match well with Birkhoff's limited social skills.

Briefly as Seymour had been processed into the system he met Ms. Granger, the DCFS social worker that was assigned to his case. Since Seymour was the only family she helped him set up funeral arrangements for his parents for a couple days from then.

Now that he was alone in the room, his roommates watching TV, Seymour had a chance to think about everything. He thought back to that morning when he and his parents were eating breakfast. At the time he had been rude to his parents- he was becoming a teenager after all. Now he really regretted having trouble accepting he was truly alone- he was the only person in his family alive.

The next morning when he woke up, Seymour couldn't bring himself to get out of bed. In reality, he didn't have much to look forward to. With a groan he stretched out pulling the blankets up tight against his neck. The bed was warm and safe unlike the cruel world that had taken his parents from him. A knock on the door surprised him- his roommates were already gone to school. "Seymour." He recognized the social worker's voice.

Jumping down from his top bunk, Seymour ran a hand through his hair to straighten the mess it had made in sleep. Opening the door, he recognized the social worker waiting for him. "Yeah?" he asked her.

"I just came to see how you were doing." She replied.

"Alright." Seymour answered, walking into his room.

"Do you have any questions for me? Anything you would like me to get for you?" the social worker asked, following Seymour into the room.

"Nothing I need." Seymour replied "But I would like to know what's going to happen to me now." He sat on the bunk below his.

"Well it depends." She replied sitting on the other bunk across from him. "We will put you up for foster placement and adoption."

"So what if no one wants me?" Seymour wanted to figure out what might happen. "Let's be honest- I'm a 12-year-old boy with anti-social tendencies. Who will want me?"

The social worker gave him and smile and squeezed his shoulder. "Don't worry Seymour, we'll get it all figured out."