Alex now thought that of his life was split between things he hated and things that could be classed as ok. Life in Port Moody was mostly ok. He had made it into Grade 10 by the skin of his teeth and had yet another completely different school system to negotiate. He had been amazed at his moderately OK results on his placement tests, considering the colossal amount of school he'd missed in the past 18 months, he'd expected to have been put back a year. His favourite class was Japanese, a choice not available in London, Cairo or San Francisco. His excelled at languages, which was only making him miss the routine he'd had in Chelsea with Jack. On Monday they'd converse only in French, Tuesdays Spanish, Wednesdays German and Thursdays in Japanese. Fridays and Saturdays were when Jack tended to go out on dates or with her friends and Alex hung out with Tom and played football. Sundays were for chores, the supermarket shop and homework. The whole deal with getting arrested, burning down the science block and running away had cost him most of his other friends. The shooting incident at Brookland had cost him his bestie. Tom Harris had not answered one message or email since. He had made no friends to speak of in California. Here, he was still sitting on the fence. Watching as Tom interacted with his small social group.

Tom was fine most of the time, but sharing a room was causing major tension between them. It was his friends space after all and he was gate crashing. After four days of school the honeymoon period was definitely over. Maybe it was time to revisit his original plan of moving on, getting a job and lust counting hours, days, months and years until his 18th birthday and being a legal adult.

It was Thursday evening after two weeks at school and Alex had exiled himself to the basement to get peace and quiet. Tom worked to the steady white noise of ever present rock music, something Alex did not like very much. The interloper was doing chores and homework together, as he had collected two loads of washing from the piles that had accumulated on the bedroom floor, 90% of the dirties were not his. Even with all the stuff Liz had dropped off, he only had six changes of clothes. He tended to wear things for two days before changing. He no longer cared for fitting in by wearing the right labels at school. As a foster placement, he had lunch vouchers and had a tailored mission statement. That along told the popular kids he was a loser. So, here he was sat by the washing machine attempting to answer his math assignment. Problems of fractions asked as sharing items between friends. Alex hated the bland normalises of the situations discussed as nothing in his life was normal. Rather than finish the work or attempt to ignore his anger, he wrote, 'easy 1 divided by 1 is 1. I have no friends to share anything with. Thanks for driving home just what an unloveable freak I am'. At that he shoved the worksheet back in his bag and decided to see how far he got before Evie noticed he was missing.

In the early evening, the fifteen year old sat watching the tall towers and the stunning scenery eating a hotdog in downtown Vancouver. It made London look like a dump. After two hours wandering, he found a park bench to crash on, laying down to rest. Alex knew he could ring home, that Evie would pick him up, talk things through, come and get him, then ground him; but what really was the point. The sooner she decided he was hopeless the better for all concerned.

At eleven he noted two cops walking towards his bench. He stood up, pulling up his hood and started to walk away from them fast, but not too fast away. The command of 'hold it there, kid!' stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm just going to get the last bus home, officers. I did not mean to fall asleep. I just came downtown as I needed some space. Its been a stressful day." An incident after school, that ended with the potential bully cowering at his feet with fear in his eyes, at the mercy of a trained killer. Tom had not noticing his buddy's unease and the one sided conversation on the way home had been the Canadian pushing the English kid to badger the phys ed teacher about getting on the hockey and softball teams. Alex had no real interest in team sports, friends or being one of the guys. Evie had been busy in her studio, not wanting to be disturbed, the routine was to get assignments finished before the evening meal was served up.

The tall policeman was glad the 'runaway' had volunteered to go home. "OK, we'll walk you to the bus, give us your home number and we'll let your parents of guardian know you're OK and they can pick you up."

Alex had the feeling the cops knew exactly who he was and the Evie had already alerted the authorities he was missing when he skipped dinner. "My foster mom's name is Evie Blantyre…."

It was well after midnight when he stepped off the bus to see Evie's battered SUV parked. At least there were no cops in Port Moody to escort him back to his domicile.

….

The teenage boy sat in the passenger seat waiting for the admonishment to start. Only Evie's stoic silence meant she wanted an apology or some sort of explanation first. Alex had a choice, to be honest or rely on bullshit, avoidance and denial. "Its been a shit day. School was crap. I told the cops downtown that I needed space to think. I was considering that going it alone was for the best. I'm seriously getting on Tom's nerves."

The driver was surprised at Alex;s candour and was relieved he'd come home. She also noted the use of distraction, not talking about what had bugged him at school but about him cramping Tom's personal space. "Tom knew something was up today. You did not tell him off for playing his music too loud. Then you did his laundry. Tom showed me your math worksheet. Poetic truth is not what the teacher requires for a passing grade. Well, only in ethics class." She then started the engine and decided on diversionary tactics as well. "Do you need any food on the way home?"

"I half ate a disgusting hotdog earlier." Alex then wanted to run, rather than confess that he could quite easily have snapped Deke's neck today. The stakes of a game of Truth or Dare, Evie would always ask for truth. "I should have told Tom or you that Deke and his three goons tried to beat me into submission today. They think they run the school, the type of guys that bullying kids, steal lunch money, sell dope and are overall gits. Deke mistook me for an easy target. He knows I went to the same posh boys school in France; so I should be good for a few dollars. In case you did not know Tom pays him off with five dollars a week. I do not do deals with lowlifes. Helps I know karate as well. I did not hurt him or his friends much, but I scared the crap out of them. I also scared the crap out of me. I could have really hurt them. I know how to inflict agony and how to kill with my bare hands. I'm a child soldier, a killer and I have no place being in a school with normal kids. I should not be within a million miles of Tom or anyone else." Alex watched as Evie drove up here street and parked.

"First of all, I'm proud of you for coming back, for telling the truth and trusting me with this. Lets get warmed up inside. Lets discuss our options like adults, with a nice hot drink of coffee and plate of sandwiches."

…..

At seven Tom came downstairs to see his grandmother and Alex sat looking at photographs. Last night, he had only gone to bed after the cops had phoned to say Alex was on his way home from downtown Vancouver, on the bus not in a patrol car. "Morning, coming to school today Al?"

"We all are. Alex's action plan needs tweaking. I need a chat with the school psychologist and the principal. So, oatmeal the breakfast of champions this morning and lots and lots of coffee."

…..

It wasn't until lunch that Tom cornered Alex to get the low down over just had taken place at home. "I guess you're not grounded. Evie's weird that way. Talking and action plans are her thing. She only freaks out big time if you lie."

"Deke happened. Thats why I missed lunch yesterday. Oh thanks by the way, for not ratting me out about that. So, a small incident after science, where everyone disappeared so I could get the shit kicked out of me, only Deke, Richie and Samo know not to get on my bad side now. I've already cleared the air with them. No hard feelings and such like. You are off limits and I have fifty bucks to give you." Alex passed over the notes and kept walking to the cafeteria.

Curiosity got the better of Tom, as they sat to eat their rations. "So, what was with the photos this morning?"

Alex finished his mouthful of sandwich and sipped his water. "Evie was showing me pictures of her brother. Your great uncle Michael, he was in the Marine Corps. Served in Vietnam and had serious PTSD. He stayed with your gran and mom occasionally in the seventies. I got the whole life story and the moral of the tale. For you to recover from horrific experiences, you have to share, talk and move on from them. So, I'm on a journey to get my head together. I am not a child, not one of the guys here, but neither are you. So, we're family, Tom. I fit right in as Alex the crazy ex-spy."