Chapter 1

Bianca POV

"You guys have been living with relatives for the past four years, correct?" The driver said peering over his should at Bianca and her siblings. Bianca knew the man, Mr. Matthews, was only trying to be nice, but he was a large man, with a bald head and square chin, and he was scaring Bianca's little sister.

Nobody else would have been able to tell that she was scared of him, because it was only the slightest tense when he looked at her, but Bianca could tell. She had this way of being able to read people. She could tell when someone was lying, and she always knew what her brother needed, even though he almost never spoke.

"You guys will love Victoria and Jim, they're first time foster parents, but I know they will take really good care of you. They were super exited to find out that they were finally going to be able to have some kids, even though they knew they probably won't be able to adopt you."

Bianca looked down at her sister who was sitting next to her. Her light brown hair was in two French Braids reaching down to her waist, ties with two bright blue ties. Bianca braided her sister's hair every day. She also helped her get dressed, do her homework, and wiped her tears. Her sister never knew their mom, but Bianca was trying to be the next best thing.

"We're almost there," Mr. Matthews said. "Now I'll stay for dinner, make sure you guys get settled, then I'll leave, but I'll be staying at a nearby hotel. You guys can call me if you need anything, but I'll be coming back in the morning to check on you guys. On Monday you guys will be going to your new school."

Bianca looked out the window and saw a large park with a playground and trees, lots of trees. Bianca then memorized the turn they took before Mr. Matthews finally said "this is it." as he pulled in front of a tan house with a mowed lawn and perfect flowerbeds.

Bianca got out of the car and immediately opened the truck and got her blue backpack. Bianca didn't let anyone except her brother touch her blue backpack, and she did want to make a bad first impression if one of her foster parents were to look inside. She then grabbed her school backpack and suitcase. Mr. Matthews then got out of the car and help her brother and sister with luggage.

They walked up the front walk and when they got to the door, a couple, who looked to be in their early thirties, answered the door. "Hello, you must be Bianca, right?" Bianca nodded. "How old are you?"

"I'm 12. This is my sister Colbie, she's 5, and my brother Luke, he's 9."Bianca said as she pointed to her brother and sister.

"I'm Victoria," said the woman, "and this is my husband Jim. Why don't you come in, and we'll get you all settled, then we'll eat some dinner." Victoria took them inside and up some stairs, to two bedrooms. "Bianca, you and Colbie will have to share a room I hope you don't mind. The bathroom is across the hall here and Jim and I are down the hall." She said pointing things out.

Bianca entered the room. The room was spacious enough. When Bianca had lived in the group she had shared a room smaller than this with 3 other girls. Bianca scanned the room. The walls were baby blue with gray carpet. There were two twin beds, a dresser and a desk. On the far wall there was a single window. On the left wall there was a closet.

"You girls get settled in; I'm going to go talk to Mr. Matthews for a little bit. "Victoria said as she left the room. Once she had left Bianca shut the door.

"Which bed you want?" Bianca asked Colbie, but she knew it was a dumb question because the bed on the right had a purple bedspread.

"The purple one!" Colbie yelled as she ran and belly-flopped on the bed. Bianca smiled as she walked over to the other bed and placed down her school backpack and suitcase, taking up her blue backpack. Bianca scanned the room. She walked over to the desk and tried the drawers. Both were too small. She would need all the space in the dresser and under the bed was too obvious. She walked over to the closet. It was too small to hide the backpack well, but when she looked up she saw a panel, probably for the attic. Bianca ran over to the desk and grabbed the chair and pulled it in the closet. She removed the panel and was about to shove the pack into the hole when she stopped and quickly retrieved a plastic baggie from the pack before shoving it the attic and replacing the panel.

Bianca took the plastic baggie over to her bed, opened the bag and took out the photographs. The first was of their parents and a group of their friends when they were eighteen. Her parents had their arms around each other. Her dad had black hair like her and sea greens eye and tan skin. Her mom had honey blond hair and grey eyes. Bianca looked like her father with her mother's eyes and her brother looked like their mother with her father's eyes. Also in the picture were her Aunt Piper, Uncle Jason, Aunt Cally, Uncle Leo, Aunt Hazel, Uncle Frank, Uncle Nico, and Aunt Reyna. There were about 20 pictures total, all of Bianca's parents and other relatives.

Bianca then put all the pictures between her mattresses, except one framed photograph. This was the only picture she let other people besides he brother and sister see. The picture was a portrait of her family by the pond near their house. It was the last complete picture of her family. The last picture taken before the late nights awake, before her dad pulled her aside and told her that things were going to be very different, before the night full of screaming, the night Bianca wished she could forget-the night her dad left her. In the picture everybody seemed so happy, like nothing bad was ever going to happen to them. Bianca remembered the picture being taken only because she remembered falling in the mud after the picture was taken and ruining the skirt her mom made her wear. Bianca knew Colbie didn't remember it at all, she was only baby, but Bianca wondered if Luke remembered the picture.

Bianca carefully placed the picture on the dresser and proceeded to unpack. She put her clothes in the top two drawers of the dresser, leaving the bottom two for Colbie. She then hung some of her nicer clothes in the closet, and put her suitcase on the floor of the closet. She wondered how long before she would need it again. She had lived in seven different places in the last 4 years, including two boarding schools and in five different relatives house. It wasn't that her relatives didn't want her and her siblings, they just couldn't keep them.

Bianca left Colbie to finish unpacking and went over to check on Luke. She saw him sitting on his bed kicking his suitcase. His sandy blond hair was in front of his face, covering his sea green eyes. "Hey Booger, kicking that suitcase will not make fairies come out and unpack it for you." Luke looked up and smiled. Bianca was one of the only people who could make Luke smile. He actually had quiet the sense of humor; he just only expressed it for certain people. Bianca walked over to Luke and sat down next to him. Luke almost never talked, he didn't like being surrounded by people, and he sometimes he cried for no apparent reason, but Bianca always knew there was always a reason.

Luke hadn't always been this way. Before her parents left, Luke had been normal five-year-old. He was really smart, her dad said it came from his mom, he was crazy little boy who believed in monsters, gods, and heroes from their dad's stories. He talked so much sometimes you'd wish he'd shut up, but it was all different now.

Bianca looked over at her brother. "Why don't you get unpacked, then I think Victoria said dinner was soon, OK?" Luke nodded. "Ok, come on get unpacked."

A little later the three of them went down to eat. They all sat around the table and ate spaghetti and meatballs. Victoria and Jim pestered the three of them with questions, but Bianca knew they were just trying to get to know them. Bianca knew where Victoria was trying to go. She was trying to get on the topic of their parents.

"So where have you guys been living for the past four years?" Victoria asked near the end of the meal.

"Well, for the fist few months we lived with our Aunt Reyna, but her job made her work weird hours so she sent us to live with our Aunt Piper and Uncle Jason. Colbie stayed with them and me and Luke went to boarding school for two years, staying with them in the summers and holidays. After two years our scholarships ran out so we lived with them for a while but they finally told us that they were sorry that they had their own 3 kids and they were expecting another and they didn't think it fair to their kids or to us to have so many kids around so no one got attention. So we moved in with our Aunt Cally and Uncle Leo. We liked it there and we lived there for about a year, but then our Aunt got sick so we then went to our Uncle Nico. He had a boy friend Will, but things between them didn't really work out, and then Will moved to Thailand to be a village doctor. We liked Nico, it was just that he had no idea how to raise kids, we only stay there for about a month before living with our Aunt Hazel and Uncle Frank we were there until about a month ago, then something happened and some people came and told us that we couldn't live with them anymore. We lived with our Aunt Reyna again til they made arrangements to come here."

"Wow, sounds like you guys have had a tough time with everything." Victoria said. She paused before asking the much-dreaded question, "So why did you have to leave your parents?"

The table went silent. "They're dead." Bianca whispered.

"I didn't know, I honestly didn't know." Jim said.

"It's ok, I just don't like sharing this because I don't like the pity." Bianca said.

Suddenly Luke stood, tears streaming down his face and ran out of the room. Bianca immediately rose and followed him. Mr. Matthews knew Luke was very sensitive about the topic, so why hadn't he told Victoria and Jim? When Victoria tried to follow her, she turned and snapped, "He needs me, not you, you don't understand him," and she turned and jogged after him.

A/N (author's note)

So what do you think? I'll try to update at least once a week, but o promises. Please follow and favorite. Constructive criticism needed. I can't get better unless you tell me ways to improve. Thank you for reading!