"You like lemonade, right?" I bring Freddie a cold glass of Mariana's homemade lemonade, he nods, without the shade from the trees or the distance between us, I can see him a lot more clearly, "We have the same nose."
"Greg said we looked alike."
"You call him Greg?"
"So, do you," Fair point, "At the risk of sounding rude, why am I here?"
"I just thought, maybe you needed someone to talk to."
"Why?"
"Freddie, your dad just got five years for what he's been doing to you. It's not something you just shake off."
"I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine."
"You're right, I'm sorry but, I don't need your pity." He practically slams his glass down and we're met with a short awkward silence.
"Um, so how's the emancipation going?"
"It's not, I can't afford it," He sees my expression, "What?"
"I've seen your house and your clothes, you have money."
"Greg cut me off, and grandma won't cough up, and she's getting sicker, if I don't manage to make some money before she kicks the bucket then I'm gonna be moved into a foster home."
"She's sick? Freddie, why didn't you say?"
"She's been dying for years now. Yeah, it's sad but she's a crazy old lady now, she'll be much happier when she's gone."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, not your fault."
"Why don't we have some kind of fundraiser, like a car wash or something?"
"That sounds great, but I don't really have the time for that. Thank you though, it's a kind offer. Listen, the lemonade and the sandwich were great, but I gotta get going."
"Okay, thanks for talking to me. I'm always here if you need someone." I give him a hug, and as I do, I feel the doubtful touch that I gave off when Greg hugged me, I didn't trust him, and I can tell Freddie feels sceptical about me, "Goodbye." I shut the door. I would feel sceptical if I were him, I understand.
"Hey, has Freddie gone?" Moms come downstairs, "Was everything alright?"
"Yeah, he just seemed a little cold."
"He's not going to warm up to you immediately, give it time sweetie."
"He can't afford his emancipation, he's going to end up in foster care." I take a seat next to Callie in the living room.
"I know it's sad honey, but there's nothing we can do." Mama sits next to me.
"I just wish I could try and help him like he did for me."
"Okay, troupes! Single file." Mom shouts early on a Saturday morning. I sluggishly trail behind my family down the stairs, mom had us all up at six AM.
"Why do we have to be up so early? It's summer." Jesus yawns causing the rest of us to as well.
"Are you back talking me, Cadet?" Mom gets up in his face, "There's a surprise out front." She breaks her commander character to smile at us. She opens the door to reveal a gigantic bus.
"You got an RV?" Jude says.
"Oh God, we're that family, aren't we?" Mariana's horribly embarrassed, so is Jude. But I think it's hilarious.
"Where did you get this?" I ask as I help load the luggage compartment.
"A guy at work wasn't using it, he owed me a favour."
"You couldn't get a Ferrari or something?" Jesus says.
We all pile into the huge RV. It doesn't take too long to get to the RV park, and the views are beautiful. We stop off on our way up to just take it in, Callie's got her big fancy camera too. We spend about a half hour sitting on the side of the road staring up at the sky, the sun is setting. It's beautiful, not like anything I've ever seen before. I love sunsets. And sunrises for that matter. No matter what happens, the sun always comes up the next day, I find comfort in something so reliable, even if it is a cliché.
"Okay, now watch this!" Mom keeps showing us all the cool things that the RV does, she pushes a switch on the inside and then makes us all go outside to watch. The whole left side of it slowly expands by a few feet.
"Ain't that somethin'." Jesus says.
"Come on, Jesus, get into the spirit a little," I nudge him, "Come on, show me how to build that fire you've been talking about.
Jesus' and I get started on the fire while Mariana starts unpacking and making her bunk as cosy and girly as possible, Callie and Jude go for a swim and the lake while Brandon and moms go fishing for dinner. I find myself enjoying everything way more than the others, they've all done this kind of thing before, a few times actually, but it's all new to me. The closest I've come to a vacation is when I was allowed to stay at Sophia's when there was a rat infestation at one of my group homes. Most of the other girls had to go back to Juvie or stay in other homes.
"Why do we even need a fire if we have a stove in the RV?" Jesus asks mom.
"It's part of the experience!" I say, "Come on, Jesus, you're not going to deprive me of having s'mores for the first time."
"You've never had s'mores?" Mariana comes out of the RV.
"No, I tried to recreate them using a cookie and an old marshmallow once, but I got in trouble for being in the kitchen after lights out."
"That happened to me once, except I was trying to make dinner for me and Jude because our foster dad wouldn't give us any." Callie laughs a little, laughing at things like that makes it easier to remember that it's in the past.
"Got it!" Mom yells, we all look back at her wrestle fish a gigantic fish as mama practically passes out from laughing so much, "Dinner is served!"
"I think I'll stick with my beans." Mariana squirms at thought of eating the fish.
"So, if he doesn't get five hundred dollars, he can't get emancipated?" Jude asks.
"Yeah, I said we could do a fundraiser, like a car wash, but he said he doesn't have time for that,"
"Not on his own, I'll help, I'll rope Noah in too and you get Taylor, Daria and Sophia to help."
"Can you imagine Daria washing a car?" I laugh at the thought of Daria doing anything for someone else.
"Well six is enough people, we could raise five hundred dollars easily."
"Really? You're up for it?" He nods, "Thanks, Jude."
After eating the fish that mom caught, I get to try my first s'more. It was kind of a big build up for an incredibly average snack, but I pretend I love it just to make Mariana happy. We spend the next couple of days going hikes, swimming in the lake and just sitting around and talking. It's nice to get to talk about happy things, funny things, things really are getting better, just like mama said. There's no shower on the RV so we have to go through the woods to the camp parks facilities, mom insists that we always go in partners but on the last night, Callie and Mariana were too exhausted from the hiking to get out of bed. So, I go by myself, I know the way now and it's not dark out, but when night falls, I know that the camp lights will be on to guide the path.
After my shower, I gather my stuff and head back to our camp. As I walk through the woods, I hear an unnerving snap, someone stepping on a twig or something.
"Hello?" I call out, I feel one of those stupid girls in movies who calls out to the monster just before it jumps out and eats her. Monsters aren't real, at least not the kind of monsters in the movies. There's no reply. I ignore it and keep walking, then I hear another snap, then another silence and suddenly I hear someone's footsteps. I can't tell what direction it's coming from. Without warning, my body is met with great force and I'm pushed to the ground face first.
