Eve

I winced as the light reflecting from Beth's cellphone hit my face while she talked. "I'm sure you'll love it with us, and Morty's only a year younger than you, so I think you'll get along quite well."

I tried to tune out Beth's nervous babbling, but she insisted on sitting in the back of the car so we could talk. "Summer's always wanted a little sister, so if you ever can't come to me, you should definitely ask her," Beth continued.

I smiled and nodded along, trying my best not to seem rude. I've made that mistake far too many times with new foster parents, but Beth seemed nice so far, so I had to try. Beth had been recommended by my new agent, Donna Guterman, after the last one dropped my case.

I've had like three different foster agents in the last six years alone, with ten different homes, so no one really stuck around for me. But that was okay with me. I've always been independent, even from an early age. My parents just thought it was my autism making me adjust to the adults around me, so when the car crash happened, I just kind of stopped relying on others, which I didn't mind. Damn, Beth's looking at me expectantly. Shit, what was she saying? "Sorry, I just zoned out. What did you say?"

"Oh, no worries, dear. I was asking if you brought stuff for school with you so I'd know when you can start with Summer," Beth responded.

"Yeah, I did," I replied. I couldn't help but notice Beth glance down at the paperwork on her lap. My forced smile stared back up at us from my files, with the word "autism" standing out in bold. I didn't know if I should be happy she's being nice about me or if I feel like she's babying me. Shit, she's going to make me jump right into school. Sometimes they let me have a few weeks to settle in, but not with Beth.

A silence filled the car for longer than was comfortable before Beth finally spoke up again. "So, um, Niamh, there's something we should probably tell you before we go in."

"Call me Eve," I cut her off. No one calls me that, not since my parents kicked the bucket, or well, him. Beth's smile faltered before she continued.

"Well, Eve, we haven't told the kids that we're taking in a foster kid. We went on holiday before picking you up, so the kids and my father have been home alone for this weekend, but they seem a little, um, rude. Just cut them some slack. It's a surprise to them." Well this is gonna be interesting

"We're here," Jerry said, stopping the engine and cutting Beth off. We pulled up outside a sweet Suburban house. I'd spent the last year in apartments, so this would be a change, but shit, this place looked like a dump. From the looks on Beth and Jerry's faces, it didn't usually look like this. Before I knew it, they'd gotten out of the car, rushing to the doorway, looks of rage covering their faces.

I slowly got out of the car, grabbing my bag as I went, and joined them at Beth's heels. Just as I blinked, something happened. The whole house changed into what I presumed it looked like before. What the fuck? I felt off, as if I'd just woken up from a nap. Weird.

As we walked, I took in the house. It was nice, a little plain, but I didn't mind. Finally, as Beth spoke, I took in the three people standing in front of us, the other three people who were going to be my family for probably less than six months. As Beth and Jerry looked around confused, I examined them. Summer looked to be my age, if not older, like Beth had said, with long hair the same length as my own, just without my bangs. Beth's father seemed to just be an old man with a white lab coat on, and Morty seemed to be a timed young boy, a year or so younger than me with my color hair.

"And so we thought we'd help out and foster Eve here. She's going to be staying with us for a while, so hopefully, you'll treat her like family," Beth said, and I stepped forward, offering my hand to Summer in greeting. "I'm Eve," I said, but all she did was step back, laughing awkwardly before waving. "Hey, I'm Summer." What the fuck? The other two had done the same, so I didn't even try.

"So, you think adding a new kid to the mix will help save your dying marriage?" Beth's father snorted with burp, looking me up and down before facing her. "That's a new low, even for Jerry." God he's disgusting.

I frowned up at Beth, trying to hide the slight thing of hurt at his words. So there goes this family.

"Dad!" Beth almost yelled, her eyes narrowing.

I tuned them out. I needed to figure out whether I was sharing a room with Morty or Summer, and based on Summer's reaction just now, maybe Morty might be better. I perked to attention as Rick took out a massive thing of cash. "Ice cream sounds good. What do you think?" Beth turned to me, and I nodded. "Totally."

As we left, I glanced back at Morty and Summer, as Beth's dad had already left. These were an odd bunch. Who doesn't even hug their parents after they've been away for a long time? And for Summer to leave me hanging? Living here is going to be weird, but maybe that's what I need, or maybe I'll be gone in a month. We'll see.