Shadow rode the bus home in bitter silence. He was still pissed at Rouge. She had no right to judge him, especially since she was no good herself. It was a long bus ride and Shadow hated it more than ever.

Eventually, though, the bus made it to his stop and he got off with the rest of the kids on his block. He walked off down the street to his house. He unlocked the door and went in.

It was exactly how he left it, of course. Messy, and empty. Shadow, for all intents and purposes, lived alone. He was what the state called an "emancipated minor". It was agreed upon that he could live on his own as long as he responsibly finished his schooling, and once he was done with that, he'd no longer be a ward of the state and he could do whatever he wanted, whatever that was. Shadow couldn't see that far. He never once visioned a future for himself. It all seemed so pointless. Maybe he was throwing his life away like nearly every adult in his life told him, but really, Shadow didn't have a life to throw away to begin with. Everything was as empty as the house. He sulked off to his bedroom so he could do the work he needed to do.

Every month or so, Shadow had to bring in a mandated progress report so the courts and his behavioral specialist knew how he was doing. It was pretty ridiculous, but, it's what kept him here alone, so he did not mind at all. It was in his backpack, which he set down and noticed something. It wasn't closed all the way. It was a drawstring bag, so just carrying it usually kept it shut. He pulled it open and dumped out the contents of the bag. Loose papers, some pens and pencils, a book, his folder containing the progress report, whatever binder he'd grabbed to feign productivity, and... nothing else. His notebook was gone. "Shit." Shadow whispered to himself. Someone must have taken his notebook. Even if they hadn't, his notebook was somewhere that was not here. If it was not here, it was where someone could find it. If someone could find it, Shadow would be in serious trouble. That notebook was no lighthearted journal. Shadow looked at the time and scowled. He had no time to look for it. He had to finish his report and take it to the office. School would be closed by then. He had no choice but to let it go and hope nobody found it if it wasn't stolen. Still, it was likely hopeless, as Shadow was 99 percent sure that he didn't lose the notebook. He slammed his fist against his bedpost and grumbled before getting to work on his progress report.

After a bit of work, Shadow finally finished his stupid report and sealed it in the envelope. With a magic marker he wrote his name on the envelope and tucked it under his arm he grabbed his cell phone and left.

The office he needed to turn the envelope into was a decent walk away from where Shadow lived, since there weren't any branches in his neighborhood. There wasn't anything in his neighborhood except for the pawn shop that Rouge's father owned. It made doing anything rather difficult, but, Shadow made do. He used the time to think of who could have taken his book. It could have been anyone on his bus, really. He didn't know when it was taken, aside from that it must've been on the bus, so nobody could be ruled out. His bus was full of the usual miscreants you'd find where he lived, but he supposed a few kids wouldn't stoop so low. He also tried to remember who wasn't on the bus and checked them off his list. Reasonably, it couldn't have been anyone sitting in front of him, since he didn't see the theft happening. It only left a few suspects. He made a mental note of who they were and made sure he'd remember to check them tomorrow at school. For now, he'd just have to ignore it and hope he can stop whatever they want to do with the notebook.

He entered into the office and looked at the receptionist. "Hey, I'm just here to drop off my report, as usual. Here," he said handing her the envelope.

The lady responded only with a nod and mindlessly set the envelope into a mail basket. She handed him a new folder and envelope, containing a new blank progress report.

Shadow took them and left.

Since he had nowhere else to be, Shadow walked home quickly and with only a little worry about his notebook. There was nothing he could do about it now. Once he was home, he wondered about his options for what to do now. For one, he needed to clean, so he did that as quickly as he could, before going to his room. He really had nothing to do now. His computer was busted, and he was fighting the state to get him a new one, because he really did need it, for school. What the state didn't know is his teachers had offered him the ability to hand write essays, he just wasn't doing them. He looked to see what binder he'd grabbed. He chuckled coldly at it. It was his math binder. What the hell, he thought, and picked it up. The way he'd been chewed out today, he was probably better off doing his homework for tonight at least. He sat down on his bed and started to do the homework on his lap.