Disclaimer: I own them Mwuahahaha…cough…okay it was just a dream but it could happen o . Right?
A/N: This part is kinda unimportant and boring, so if you want, you can just skip to Chapter 1, but if you want to know more about Brier you should read the prologue.
Prologue
"You are so lucky."
I rolled my eyes and continued packing. You could always trust my friend Isolde to see the bright side of things. She was what people called an optimist. I preferred to call her a dreamer.
We'd both been in the foster care system for so long that I couldn't remember a time when we hadn't been together. That is except for the lapses of time here and there when someone would try to play the good Samaritan or was in need of some quick cash and took us in for a couple of months. There were two types of foster homes out there that I knew of. You either got lucky and got real do-gooders who couldn't have kids themselves or you got the wife-beaters and rapist who needed cash and a little entertainment. Unfortunately for most of us, three out of four times we got to see what was behind door number two. When people want to adopt kids they go to hospitals and adoption centers or whatever those places are called to get kids while they're still infants.
I learned by the time I came back from my second "home" that no one wants the screwed-up kids that end up in the foster care system.
But Isolde still hoped that someone would take us in and adopt us for good. It was a waste of time as was my newest "trial adoption." I already knew what was going to happen. The people who wanted me would get me, tire of having me around, and send me back. This process' only function, in my opinion, was to disrupt our lives.
"If you say so," I mumbled as I dived under my bed to retrieve some of my clothes from under it.
"How can you not think so? You could get adopted! You could get a family. A real last name!"
"Aha!" I cried out in triumph as I finally reached the shirt I had been trying to get a hold of for the last ten minutes.
"I can't believe you're more excited about finding a shirt than going to a new home. 'Cause this could be YOUR HOME!" she almost screamed at me.
I sighed and turned to look at her. She was kneeling on my bed bouncing up and down a little, unable to contain her excitement. "Isolde, you know nothing good is gonna come out of this," I said calmly. "Look at me, I'm sixteen! No one in their right mind would adopt a teenager. And don't give me that look; you know I'm right. The only reason someone would want to get a sixteen year old is because they can't get a decent fuck."
"Don't say stuff like that," she said quietly. I knew she wanted to argue with me, tell me that it isn't true, that there are good people in the world, problem is she knows I that I'm right. Not that there aren't any good people around, but the fact that so few of them exist just kinda proves the rule.
I zipped up my bag and sat on the bed next to her. I leaned on her and she did the same. I'm not sure when we started doing it, but whenever one of us would go to a new home we sit on that person's bed back to back and just lean on one another for an hour until the social worker came to pick up whoever was going. I guess it's to give one another strength; at least that's what I like to think.
"Don't worry," I said finally breaking the silence as I heard footsteps coming closer. "I'll come back in a month or two. And I'll be fine. We've got two more years in this hellhole and then buh-bye foster homes. We'll get an apartment together, we'll get jobs, save money, maybe even go to college, and you'll be able to open that clothing store you've always wanted."
She just smiled at me as Helen, our social worker, came in the room. "Ready to go Sunshine?"
I grimaced at the sound of my first name. My mother must have been on some pretty heavy stuff when she named me. "Yeah I am, and it's Brier." Brier being my second name, the one I strongly preferred.
"Right, I forgot, sorry. Come on then Brier."
"I'll see you soon," I said to Isolde as I grabbed my bag and followed Helen.