Part Four:

Emma couldn't help but watch them at lunch. Who was that girl, and what was she

doing with Sean?

"Em. Em? EMMA!"

Emma was snapped out of her little dream world by Manny. "What's up wtih you,

Em?"

"Nothing," Emma lied, digging into her lunch and trying to forget the two

of them, talking and laughing together.

After school, Craig and Lori waited for Joey, and Lori talked about Sean.

"He's so nice, and he helped me out a lot today," she said. Craig nodded politely

at first, but she kept going on and on. Okay, he wanted to say, enough about

Sean already.

"Your girlfriend Ashley is really nice, too. How long have you been going

out for?" she asked.

Finally, something un-Sean related: "About five months."

Joey pulled up, and they got in. Lori said that her day had been "fine" and

didn't go into the same detail as Craig had.

Joey told her that while he and Craig worked at the car lot, she was going

to watch Angela. Lori didn't mind, and liked little kids.

They picked up Angela, and headed back to their house. And who was sitting

on the front porch but Emma.

"Oh, man," Joey moaned. He got out.

Emma saw the same girl Sean had been talking to in the back of Joey's car.

What the hell was going on?

Joey went over and explained to Emma that she didn't need her to watch Angela

anymore. "I'm a foster parent now, and my foster daughter will watch her. I

told your mother..."

Emma acted gracious to Joey, pretending that she wasn't at all hurt by this.

As she was walking home, she comforted with all the information she knew about

"the system". This girl, who was causing these problems in her life, would be

gone soon: foster kids never last in a home very long, she told herself.

Lori had a good time watching Angela. She'd never had a sibling before: her

mom had been pregnaut after her, but had always gotten abortions. She would also

tell her only child: "You were a mistake. I wish I'd never had you! Your father

would never have run off if it weren't for you. My life would be so much better.

The mess I'm in is all your fault." Your fault, your fault, your fault. Lori

was always blamed for everything.

When her mother had died, Lori had been sad, but happy, too. She was also

scared: who would she live with? Her grandmother didn't even know about her,

and never talked to her daughter anymore. Her mother had no siblings (that she

knew of, at least), and her father had never known her. The only person left

for her was her mother's boyfriend Greg...

Lori shuddered at the thought. She was so relieved when a caring neighbor

called social services right after her mom had died. They'd taken her away, and

told her they were going to put her in foster care. "You'll be safe, now," the

kind man had told her.

Lori knew he wasn't lying, but since she'd arrived at Joey's she'd push her

dresser in front of the door, and remove it in the morning. She knew that neither

Joey or Craig would hurt her, but...you can never be too careful.

Over the next week, Craig saw that Sean and Lori hung out more and more.

At first he'd been relieved: she's making friends, he thought.

But suddenly, they were hanging out too much, in his opinion. He watched

as they walked down the hall together, and he couldn't help wondering: what's

going on between them?

Please read and review. Thanks!