Chapter 2

Manon got home only minutes before her curfew. Barefoot, but her shoes in hand and as many bags as she could carry. She was followed by a girl around her age. Manon let out a breath, dropping all the bags on the floor. "Out of every foster kid, I swear to God I have the most crap," she muttered before she turned to Elliot. "Hey, this is my friend Katy. She's gonna sleep over and help me unpack tomorrow if that's okay."

"Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Nope. Teacher conferences."

"And how do you know Katy?"

Manon glanced over at her friend. "Work. Are you going to ask about every friend I have?"

"Well, you do attend the worst high school in the city. I don't know which of your friends are the bad influences who got you into the trouble."

"Right... Okay. Well, since you're a cop and all, maybe you'll be one of the few people who understand this. Someone can influence someone else to do bad things, but they can't make them do it, at least not in the situations you're talking about. Anyway, Katy's fine. Feel free to question her too. I gotta take a shower. I smell like horse."

"Don't have to tell us that," Katy mumbled, picking up bags. "I love your trash bag system."

Manon laughed. "Throw all the laundry into a bag, yup, some system. But at least I know where all my clothes are, right?"

Kathy, Elliot's wife, came down the stairs, smiling. "Hi. I'm Kathy."

"Manon." She smiled a little, seeing Kathy's look. "It's French, I think. Also an opera, I believe. My mom was French."

"So you do know your parents?"

"Not by choice, rather by force," Manon replied, glancing at Katy again. "Well, uh, I'm tired. So I'm gonna head on up to bed."

"Of course, first door on the left is yours," Kathy told her.

Manon nodded and ran up to the room, Katy close by with more bags. Manon collapsed on the bed as soon as the door was closed. "God, I hate starting at new foster homes. It's hell every time. And he's a cop, so naturally he's gonna be weirder than normal."

"Normal? Hon, you haven't been to an even close to normal foster home."

"Yeah, we'll he's farthest away from normal so far, I'll say that much." Manon sat up quickly, rolling over. "I want pizza," she announced suddenly to change the subject.