Renegade Path

Focus.

It was time to settle down and wrap my mind around schoolwork again. For the hundredth time this week, Juliet and I compared our schedules. I wouldn’t see much of her in the morning, but we managed to have the same lunch period and shared all of our afternoon classes.

She reached over and plucked Pip’s schedule out of his hands. “Do you want me to show you where your classes are?” she asked.

Did Pip want the prettiest girl in the school to show him around? Of course he did. He slowly bobbed his head up and down.

The bell rang. I kissed her cheek and wished Pip luck before heading to my first class.

The first week back to school was a short one. Despite a bit of leftover restlessness from the summer break, classes had gone well.

I couldn’t wait for Friday to be over. I was looking forward to working over the weekend. Both to spend time with Juliet and to make money.

Apparently work would have to wait. After my last class of the afternoon, I received a note from the office that I needed to go straight home.

A bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. This had never happened before.

“I have to go home first. But I’ll see you at work later,” I promised Juliet on the walk to her house.

“Okay.”

I didn’t dare give her more than a peck on the cheek in front of her uncle’s house. Just in case the bastard was lurking nearby.

If I’d known the hell I was about to walk into, I would’ve taken Juliet’s hand and run far, far away instead of going home.

Many cars lined the driveway. Not unusual. We frequently had visitors. Especially when kids were removed or placed here.

Jackass Jason was in the living room with my caseworker and two men I didn’t recognize.

“Roman, come here.”

My stomach bottomed out.

They were here for me.

Memories of all the other times I’d been packed up and shipped off flooded my brain.

I hadn’t even done anything wrong.

“What’s going on?”

Jason stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. I don’t know what I did to piss this guy off, but he seemed to be enjoying himself way too much. “We executed a routine search of your room and found contraband.”

“Routine search? I’ve lived here for months and never been searched before.”

“You were overdue.”

I took a step closer to Jason. “What contraband?”

He pointed to the coffee table and for the first time I noticed the items laid out in neat plastic bags with notes written in black marker on the outside. My brain struggled to catch up and make sense of what I was seeing. An iPad. Two different cell phones. Marijuana, rolling papers, and a pipe.

“None of that’s mine.”

“It was found in your room. Under your bed. So who else would it belong to?”

“Bullshit. I’m being set up.” I turned to Ms. Simpson, seeking her assistance. She had to know this wasn’t true. “Do something. You know I’m not a thief.”

“Roman—”

“Why would I bust my ass working so many hours if I was gonna steal shit?” The injustice of it boiled my blood.

By this point in my life I already knew what was coming. Don’t know why I bothered fighting it.

I was about to lose everything.

The freedom I’d worked so hard to carve out for myself.

Any chance of going to college.

The love I’d found.

Everything familiar was going to be ripped away once again.

“The electronics are bad enough. But you’ve also brought illegal narcotics into the house,” one of the men I didn’t know said.

“No I didn’t.” My hands went to my hair, grabbing a fistful. “Test me. I’ll take any test you want. You won’t find any drugs in my system.” I pointed at the stuff on the table. “Fingerprint that shit. You won’t find my prints on any of it.”

Jason shifted and looked away. Guess none of that occurred to him.

For the first time, I thought maybe I was getting somewhere and this nightmare would go away. The two strangers looked at each other and then Ms. Simpson. She eyed Jason before addressing me.

“The items will be processed. For now, we need to remove you.”

“No!”

Run! Get out!

The two strangers tackled me before I reached the front door, slamming me into the wall. “Relax, son. Relax.”

“You fucking relax. I’m being set up.”

They zip tied my hands behind my back. I glanced up the staircase and found Pip, Squire, Janet, and the rest of the kids watching the spectacle.

Squire pouted and wiped a fake tear off his cheek. Janet wiggled her fingers at me and mouthed, “Bye-bye.”

They did this.

Tears ran down Pip’s cheeks and he shook his head.

Who would protect him from the bigger kids if I wasn’t here?

“Don’t do this.” Realizing Pip would be all alone reduced me to begging. “Ms. Simpson, please. You know I’m innocent.” With my face mashed up against the wall, my words came out muffled.