Renegade Path

Supervise was a bit of a stretch since I’d spent a good portion of the afternoon making out with Juliet.

“All right, I’ll call the school tomorrow.”

How embarrassing.

“Ms. Simpson,” Mike finally piped up. “Roman’s been a good resident. Haven’t had a single disciplinary problem with him since he got here. Evie has had multiple infractions. I’ve caught her lying on several occasions. And I personally spoke to Roman when he came home today, so I can confirm the time.”

About time. I wondered when Mike planned to pipe up on my behalf. Ms. Simpson’s face unwrinkled a bit.

“Very well.” She slid her pencil into her briefcase and pulled out a stack of paperwork. “I still need to write up a report and have you both sign statements.”

Great. Not like I had homework or wanted to eat dinner or anything.

“While I have you here, Ms. Simpson.” Mike pasted on a phony but polite smile. “Roman expressed some interest in finding a part-time job after school. I think it would be a benefit to him.” He lowered his voice as if I might be too tender to hear the next part. “It would be good for him to get some job experience since he’ll be aging out of care next year.”

She blew out a long breath and stared at me until I wanted to squirm in my seat.

“Your grades are good, Roman,” she finally said. “I was planning to discuss this with you at a later time, but if you continue to do well in school, I might be able to get you into a program that will help you transition out of foster care. Tuition for a state school or trade school would be covered and you’d have a stipend for living expenses as long as you’re enrolled until you turn twenty-one.”

“Really?” I sat up, more interested in the conversation. I’d never heard of this program before.

“Not many of my clients qualify for it and funding gets slashed every year,” she sighed, “but it’s an option I planned to explore for you.”

She glanced at Mike again. “As long as his grades don’t suffer, I’ll sign off on a job. It needs to be appropriate, though.”

“Of course. Thank you, Linda.”

Huh. I’d never heard anyone call her by her first name before.

It was still a long night after that. But at least I had a shred of hope to cling to. And for once in my life someone who wielded some power believed in me.

By the end of the night, Evie was the one who was sent away. Her banishment didn’t give me much comfort.

What if next time I wasn’t so lucky?

Chapter Twenty-One

Juliet

Roman didn’t show up to school the next morning. I lingered in the cafeteria. Then waited by our locker before the first bell, but he never showed.

There was no sign of Evie either. We weren’t exactly friends, so it wasn’t abnormal not to run into her. Still, after Roman’s strange phone call an uneasy sensation settled in my stomach and wouldn’t leave.

Finally, around noon he strolled into the lunchroom and headed straight for me. I jumped out of my chair, knocking it over and drawing everyone’s attention as it clattered to the floor.

I didn’t care about making a spectacle of myself. Roman caught me as I threw my arms around him. “Are you okay?”

“Better now, butterfly,” he murmured against my hair.

Kids whistled and commented on our display. To avoid attracting any more attention, he released me and we sat at the table.

“Hey, Romeo.” Vienna wiggled her fingers our way. “So nice of you to roll into school today.”

I hadn’t told her about Roman’s phone call last night. It wasn’t my place to discuss his troubles with anyone.

He shrugged off her teasing. “Long night. Did I miss anything good?”

Vienna rattled off a bunch of gossip about the morning. While he listened, he inched his fingers across the table and took my hand.

“Did you eat?” I asked after Vienna finished her monologue.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

I pushed my apple slices with sunflower butter across the table and he accepted the offering without comment.

“Okay, lovebirds,” Vienna announced. “I have to run to the office.” She leaned over the back of my chair and planted a loud smooch on my cheek. “See you in a few.”

Roman switched chairs, claiming her empty seat.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

His expression remained somber. Stoic. Unreadable. “Nothing I can talk about. I did get some good news out of the situation.”

I raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to continue.

“My caseworker’s going to let me get a part-time job and she said I might qualify for a program to go to college where they’ll pay me a small stipend to cover living expenses.”

“Roman, that’s great!” I threw my arms around his neck. Then it hit me—we couldn’t run away and live together any time soon. “Are you allowed to have a roommate?”