Nicole sat in the reception area at Nebraska House. That's where she had to be. Her new foster parents didn't know anything about Cherub. Neither did the people at Nebraska House. As far as they knew, she was recently orphaned and was just left there. No one knew anything about her past life.
And now her past life, the life she had been so used to, was gone. All because she did something stupid.
Nicole saw a couple of people with a social worker. They went straight over to her. Nicole stood up.
"Nicole, these are your new foster parents, Glen and Sarah Fitzgerald. They'll be taking you to your new home," said the social worker, smiling at her.
Nicole looked at her new foster parents and smiled at them. They sorted out some paperwork with the social worker for a few minutes before leaving with Nicole. Nicole put her bag on the floor at the back of the car before climbing in. Glen sat in front of her in the driver's seat and Sarah sat in the front passenger's seat. When Glen got the car started, Sarah turned around to face Nicole.
"You're going to settle in quickly. You'll get your own bedroom and we got you into a good school," she said.
For a second, Nicole forgot that kids at Nebraska House shared bedrooms. She remembered that before she could say anything. In reality, since she past basic training over a year ago, she had her own bedroom with an ensuite.
But she couldn't say anything about that. Would Sarah and Glen really believe her if she did?
Sarah and Glen's house was only a twenty-minute drive from Nebraska House. It was a small two-storey house in the middle of a terrace. Glen parked the car outside the house on the side of the road. Nicole got out of the car, pulling her bag with her, and shut the door behind her. She stood at the side of the road, facing the house. It was tiny compared to campus but what was she expecting?
She followed Glen and Sarah up to the front door and they let themselves in. When Nicole stepped inside, she automatically compared the inside of the house to the inside of the main campus building.
What a downgrade Nicole thought.
"Let's show you around," said Sarah, taking Nicole's hand.
There was a sitting room, a kitchen and a small bathroom under the stairs on the downstairs of the house. Sarah brought Nicole upstairs where there were a couple of bedrooms and a bigger bathroom. They went into a box room at the front of the house.
"And this is your room," said Sarah, ending the tour. "I'll leave you to unpack and then you can join us in the kitchen for some lunch."
Sarah left Nicole alone in her new room. She didn't have much to unpack. It would look suspicious if she had so much stuff after being in a care home. Anything she bought while living at Cherub was donated to charity. Nicole only had a few outfits.
She took her time unpacking. Her room only had a single bed and a wardrobe. The uniform for her new school hung in the wardrobe. There was less space than her room on campus.
Nicole felt a tear go down her face. And then another. And another. She was crying. She lived on campus pretty much her whole life and she threw that life away after making one mistake.
Before she went downstairs, Nicole went to the bathroom to clean herself up. She didn't want Sarah and Glen to know that she was crying. She went into the kitchen. There was a plate of sandwiches on the table. Glen handed her a plate.
"Take as many as you want," he said.
Nicole took the plate and sat down at the table. She took a couple of bacon sandwiches and started eating. Sarah and Glen joined her.
"How do you like your new room?" asked Sarah.
"It's better than what I used to have," Nicole lied. It wasn't anywhere near like what she had but she kept quiet about that.
"Hopefully you'll like your new school. You be starting first thing in the morning," said Glen.
Nicole didn't reply. School was what scared her. She wasn't sure how to adjust. Schooling at Cherub was fast paced and, since passing basic training, missing weeks at a time was normal to accommodate missions. But she wasn't at Cherub anymore so she didn't have to go on missions. She didn't have to catch up after missing school for weeks, sometimes months, at a time.
Nicole finished her sandwiches in silence.