Jessie glanced carefully at the object in front of her, eying it to see whether it was safe or not. Now, most people, she knew, did not eye a school bus this way, but in her case, you could never be too cautious. She realized that some people were staring at her so she quickly ducked her head down and mounted the steps.

She took a seat close to the front, wary of not only the prying eyes, but also of the occasional outstretched foot meant to trip her. She avoided them silently, but was relieved when she finally made it to her seat. It was by the window, she noticed, and the connection with the outside world made her breathe a little easier as the bus lurched forward and the noise in the back of the bus picked up.

A wad of paper whizzed by her ear and struck its target, the boy in front of her. He turned around and glared at her, but she just shrugged her shoulders to indicate that it wasn't her that had thrown it at him. Why did people always have to make it seem like her fault?

The bus rumbled along, creaking and groaning as though it would break down at any moment. Jessie breathed deeply, glad to have gotten out of the Blake house for a day, even if that "outing" simply meant going to school. The bus lumbered around a corner and Jessie saw the hospital for the first time. The sight of it brought a sense of unease to her.

The night had not been terrible, but it had not gone well. Jessie's previous assessment of her new home had been correct: she was going to be ignored. And when the Blake's daughter, Diana, had come home, she had not been pleased.

"I'm not a babysitter!" she had whined, glancing from her parents to Jessie so fast that Jessie feared she might cause herself whiplash. "Why can't she just stay at school or something?"

Jessie could, even now, remember the petulant look that had been written across Mrs. Blake's face as she had glanced from her angry daughter to her new, teenaged charge. She could even remember Mr. Blake's sigh as he had said, always the peacemaker it seemed, "I'm sorry, Di, but that's the way it has to be."

Diana had not acted her twenty-three years when she had turned angrily away from her parents and had stomped upstairs, muttering something about foster kids under her breath. In that moment, Jessie had felt her heart go out in sympathy for all of Diana's patients at the hospital, for she highly doubted that her new babysitter's bedside manners were much different than the ones that were shining forth at that moment.

Bedtime had not been any easier. Diana seemed to have decided that Jessie was out to ruin her life, so she had made a point to ruin Jessie's life right along with hers. She had occupied the bathroom for so long that Jessie finally slipped downstairs to wash her face and brush her teeth in the kitchen sink. Jessie had leaned against the counter, staring out of the window above the kitchen sink and wishing that she could be anywhere other than where she was at the moment.

A sharp jolt drew Jessie rudely back to the present and she realized that the bus had stopped and that everyone was standing and shuffling to get out. She also stood, swinging her backpack over her shoulder in a practiced motion. No longer filled with all her clothes, her backpack had been filled with the basic, absolutely necessary school supplies she would need to start the new semester and nothing more.

"Sorry," Jessie muttered as she accidentally bumped another student.

The boy turned and opened his mouth and it appeared to Jessie that he was going to say something nasty, but he looked at her face and shook his head slightly, apparently seeing something there that made him change his mind. "It's fine," he told her.

She followed everyone else into school, stopping in the school office where she was supposed to get all her directions and the information about the school. Her locker was easy to find; getting into it was harder. She tried three times before the combination finally worked, opening with a dull click that was muffled by someone slamming their locker above her head. Jessie looked up, startled, but the senior was already walking away, pleased with himself for scaring her.

Her eyes narrowed, but she refused to act on her violent thoughts. Slowly, her fists relaxed and she headed to class.

By the time school actually ended, Jessie was tired. She had no control over when her quiet spells came on, and there had been two today during class. Thankfully, no one had asked her any questions and she had only had to fight to appear as though she was actually listening.

When the last bell rang, Jessie was one of the first people out of the school. Once she'd reached the street corner, she slowed her brisk trot to a walk. She didn't want to appear anxious, or even excited to be on her way to the hospital. Diana would only misinterpret her enthusiasm in the wrong way.

So, Jessie took her time on the way to the hospital, spending time looking around her new surroundings. Hopefully, they wouldn't get rid of her before her birthday, so she would need to know where she lived and what she lived around.

The hospital came into view far too quickly, and Jessie skirted around the Emergency Room entrance so that she could get into the regular front door. The receptionist there directed her to the fourth floor and into the left wing.

As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, Jessie felt her senses going into overload. Nurses were scurrying around everywhere, some actually running down the halls. The nurses' station in the middle of the corridors of rooms was a bustle of activity between people answering phones and pages and others demanding the paperwork on some patient.

Jessie spotted Diana and headed toward her, but the moment Diana caught sight of her, she said something to the matronly nurse next to her and whirled away. Not knowing what to do, Jessie just stood there, feeling slightly hurt.

The nurse stepped forward with a wide, kind smile that seemed encouraging. "You must be Jessie," she said softly. "Diana's told me a lot about you."

"I'm sure she has," thought Jessie wryly, but then reminded herself that this woman seemed at least to be trying to be nice, something that no one had done in a very long time. So, she smiled politely and said, "I hope it wasn't all bad."

The smile wavered for a moment and Jessie saw that it had indeed been all bad. The nurse, however, quickly shook that off and she said, "I believe in judging people for what they are when you see them, not a second-hand account." She looked Jessie up and down. "And I see a very nice young lady in front of me."

Jessie blushed and ducked her head, embarrassed. No one but her parents had called her "nice," let alone "young lady." "Thank you," she said softly, looking up once more at the nurse.

Her eyes must have betrayed something, or the nurse was just one of those people blessed with a heightened sense of intuition, for she said, "My name's Mrs. Nash. Diana tells me that you'll be here every day after school, so would you like to help me with something?"

It was exactly what Jessie wanted. She nodded, glad to think that she could be useful instead of simply stuck in a corner to the end of the shift. "I'd like that very much," she told Mrs. Nash sincerely.

The nurse smiled as though she knew a secret that no one else did. "Excellent," she said, holding out her hand for Jessie to take. "I have just the job for you."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Please review! I love hearing from you! :D