Nico di Angelo sat silently in the back of the car, his social worker glancing back at him every once in a while. As if to make sure he hadn't disappeared. He was good at that, disappearing. He leaned his head against the window and stared out at the dull trees and identical white picket fences that surrounded perfect little houses. The car was silent, but it wouldn't stay like that for long, David was a talker.

"This family will be good for you, Nico. They're the Jacksons. Sally is a single mother with a boy about your age. She's engaged to a man named Paul Blofis."

Nico raised his eyes to meet David's to acknowledge that he'd heard him.

"Sally is a good woman. I met with her myself the other day."

Anger bubbled in Nico's stomach. The other day while Nico was stuck in a group home. "You always say that." He muttered under his breath. Still, he knew that David could hear him.

"She really is a wonderful lady. I know you've had a tough time in your previous homes but I checked her out myself. And I'll visit you every day for the next week. Percy's a nice boy as well, I can assure you. Paul is a kind man as well. He's a teacher at Goode High School, where you'll be attending on Monday."

Nico pressed his lips together and said nothing as he continued to stare out the window. He knew enough to not get his hopes up. Every single home he'd been to ended in disaster. Every. Single. One.

"Ah, here we are." he pulled into the driveway of a small house, "Mrs. Jackson and her son live with her fiance." he stopped the car and turned to look Nico straight in the eyes, "If you need anything, ever, you know my number."

Nico nodded and unbuckled, sitting up and ignoring the concern in David's eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He grabbed his trash bag with all of his possessions and slipped out the car door.

The house was like any other ordinary house. With lightly peeling white paint on the garage door and hydrangea bushes in the front yard. Nico followed David up to the front porch which was cleaner than a lot of other houses he'd been to. He relaxed a bit. He usually knew right away if a family was going to be an immediate problem. At least he'd have a few days of peace.

David knocked on the door and a lady with long brown hair opened the door. She had eyes the color of the sea that sparkled in he light. She didn't smoke, Nico could tell. She didn't take drugs. "Hi, Mrs. Jackson?"

"That's me, and you must be David and Nico." She smiled warmly down at Nico. "Come on in, I made cookies."

David gave a pointed look at Nico who merely rolled his eyes. "We're very grateful that you could take Nico in such short notice. It just have been difficult." Nico and David kicked off their shoes.

"Oh it was no problem. We already had a guest room ready." She led them into her living room. "Have a seat. Do you two want anything to drink?"

"No thanks, Mrs. Jackson."

"It's Sally." She looked at Nico. "What about you?"

Nico ignored her, staring down at the carpet.

David placed his hand on his shoulder. "Nico's just a bit shy. He'll warm up soon enough."

"I understand. I was shy when I was younger as well." Sally placed a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table in front of Nico.

"They're blue . . ."

Sally laughed, a warm tinkling sound, "A habit I suppose. Percy's favorite color is blue."

"Where is he anyway?" David asked.

Sally glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave. "He should be coming home from his friends' house any second now. I told him to be home five minutes ago but he always loses track of time. I'll text him if he isn't back in the next five minutes."

David nodded. "I'm just here to make sure Nico gets settled in, but we already went over everything yesterday."

"Right." Sally stood up as David did and shook his hand firmly.

David looked one over at Nico. "You good?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah."

David nodded and followed Sally to the front door. "I'll see you tomorrow Nico. Be nice." The door clicked behind him and Sally wandered back over to where Nico sat on the couch.

Sally approached Nico and sat beside him on the couch. "Do you want to see your room? It's upstairs, right next to Percy's room. You're welcome anywhere in the house."

Nico nodded and stood up, adjusting his grip on his trash bag. He followed Sally up the stairs. "Right there." She pointed to a closed bedroom door. "I'll come get you for dinner in a bit."

He said nothing, just opened the door to his new bedroom and closed the door tight. Nico dropped his bag on the floor next to the bed. He was so tired. He pulled back the blankets a bit awkwardly, feeling like he was going to get in trouble for touching something that wasn't his. He curled up under the blankets and stared at the wall. Today was a bad day. One of those days where everything was falling apart and he didn't even know why. He grabbed his headphones out of the trash bag and plugged them into his smartphone. It was a belated birthday gift from David when once again, the awful home he'd been placed in didn't allow his to make phone calls.

He turned the volume up until he was sure that it would drown out the world and blasted music until he was numb inside. Nico relaxed against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. He shivered and pulled the blankets tighter against himself. Should he unpack this time? Or leave everything in his bag? How soon would he be leaving? That was the question. He supposed it would be one of his longer stays. His families always got tired of him, no matter how put together they were. He rolled over and hoisted his bag onto the bed. He reached inside and pulled out a few photographs. He dropped the one of his father right back into his bag but placed the one of Bianca and his mother onto the side table. He didn't have a picture of his half-sister Hazel. Not yet anyway.

He tensed as his door opened and whipped off his headphones. The music boomed loudly from the small speakers. A boy who was very obviously older than him entered. "Hey." He grinned at him. "I'm Percy. You're Nico, my mom told me. She also told me to get you for dinner."

"I'm not hungry." Nico looked away. This boy was hot.

Percy laughed. "Too bad. Mom'll freak if you don't go downstairs. Even if you don't eat she likes spending quality family time together."

"I'm not part of your family."

Percy leaned against the foot of the bed. "C'mon. You don't even have to say anything. Just sit there and brood."

Nico grunted and moved his trash bag to the side so he could climb slowly out of bed. "Whatever."

He followed Percy to the dining room where Sally and Paul were already sitting. "Hi Nico." Sally said. "This is my fiance, Paul Blofis. He's going to be your English teacher." She gestured to the man beside her.

Paul gave him a small smile. "Hi."

Nico nodded at him and sat beside Mrs. Jackson. "How much do you want, Nico?" Sally asked.

"I'm not hungry."

Sally's face fell. "Oh, okay."

Percy gave Nico a pointed look from across the table as he scooped a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

Nico hesitated. "I guess I could eat a little."

Sally grinned and spooned a bit of food onto Nico's plate. "Your first day of school is tomorrow." She said. "Percy will show you around. I know it's difficult starting at a new school. Percy's been to quite a few as well."

Nico nodded and nibbled on the edge of a piece of bread.

Sally continued, "I tried to get you into some of Percy's classes but he's two grades above you. Unfortunately the only class of his I could get you into was advisory. But you will have lunch together too."

Nico kept nodding along. "Um, actually Mrs. Jackson-"

"-Sally."

"Right . . . Sally. I was actually hoping that I could see my sister, Hazel sometime this week. She likes to check in when I move homes."

"Yes of course. Your social worker didn't mention a sister."

"Hazel's my half-sister on my dad's side." Nico said.

Percy leaned forward in interest. "Is she in foster care too?"

"No. She lives with her boyfriend's grandmother. So . . . yes technically she's in the system, but she's not leaving anytime soon."

Sally nodded and chewed a bite of chicken. "Well I'm really excited to meet her." Nico looked at her warily. "Oh, don't worry. I won't be hanging around while you two talk but I definitely want to meet her."

Nico relaxed. "Okay. She'll probably want to meet you too. She'll be glad you're not a druggie."