I was aware. I’d worn thrift store finds and hand-me-downs forever. Until Dex started slipping me money and gift cards to go clothes shopping and Vienna had let me “borrow” her hand-me-downs. Never mind we weren’t anywhere near the same size.
“Well, go wash up and change so you can help me with dinner.”
“Sure.” I scooped up my bag and wandered inside. My uncle was stretched out on the couch with a bottle of Jim Beam at his side. That was never a good sign. I wondered if he’d lost another job.
If that was the case, I really might run away. I’d had enough of living through their arguments and weeks of his drunken rages when he was out of work. Lots of bad things happened during those times.
I was almost seventeen. Maybe Roman and I could get an apartment like we talked about. We’d need to find jobs. I could work a few hours in the afternoons and still keep up on my schoolwork. Weekends I could work all day and night.
It wasn’t fair for me to expect Roman to do that though. Except he didn’t seem to love the group home too much. Maybe I’d ask him tomorrow.
Twenty
Roman
“What’s wrong, Pip?”
It wasn’t unusual to find him huddled in the corner of our room or even wedged into our tiny closet after school. On those days I knew he’d either had a rough day at school or someone in this house was about to get their ass whooped for picking on him.
He glanced up at me with red tear-streaked cheeks. “Where were you?”
“I had a photography project I was working on. Why? What happened?”
“Nothing.” His gaze darted to the open door. “Evie. Stay away from her, Roman.”
I crouched down next to him. “What do you mean?”
He wiped his cheeks and stared up at me with glassy eyes. “She and Squire. They were talking about getting you in trouble, so you get sent away. She’s so pissed you have a girlfriend.”
Shit. I thought Evie had finally gotten bored and gotten cozy with Squire. Figured they’d both leave me alone if they were busy with each other. I guessed two miserable souls couldn’t comfort each other, they just wanted to spread more misery.
I swallowed hard. I hated lying to people I cared about. “I’m not going anywhere, Pip.” I had no business making that promise because I had no control over what happened to me.
“But you are. Once you graduate, you’ll have to move out and then I’ll be here all alone.”
Don’t think I hadn’t considered that before. As much as I worried about where I’d end up, I also feared what would happen to Pip once I moved on.
“We gotta bulk you up a little, kid.”
“I don’t wanna bulk up. I just wanna be left alone.”
“I know.” Damn, I felt inadequate. What would Juliet say? Somehow she always made the shitty stuff in my life seem fleeting.
He turned his hopeful, puppy eyes on me. “Maybe I can come with you? Like, you could adopt me.”
“Shit, kid. If I thought they’d say yes, I would.”
At least that seemed to comfort him. I held out my hand and helped him up off the floor.
“How’s Juliet?” he asked.
I’d finally relented and shared a little about her with Pip. Nothing important. I liked Pip and would do what I could to protect him, but I didn’t trust him not to betray my secrets if things got rough. He just wasn’t made of strong enough stuff to lie for me and it probably wasn’t fair to expect him to either.
“She’s good. So damn smart.” I didn’t share the talk we had about our future. It would only depress Pip. “Come on, finish your homework. You have to set the table tonight.”
He groaned but got to work.
My body and mind clashed with the desire to seek out Squire and punch him in his smug face for upsetting Pip. I’m not proud of it, but I wanted to shake some damn sense into Evie as well. I was sure she arrived with baggage and damage of her own that led her into making stupid decisions. And while that was sad in its own way, my sympathy ended where her problems started to interfere with my life.
Pip and I went downstairs early. I wanted to talk to counselor Mike about my options for finding an after school job. And Pip had talked Judy, the counselor we’d dubbed ‘house mom,’ into buying cloth napkins he wanted to fold into swans. To bring some culture to our dinner table, he’d said. Judy was too amused to say no, and I’m pretty sure she’d used her own money to purchase the napkins.
Thank fuck for Pip and his napkin-swans too.
“Help!” a voice I recognized as Janet’s screamed from the top of the stairs.
The girl screamed help once or twice a week so no one exactly jumped to attention.
Mike groaned and nodded at Judy as she power-walked by to see what the emergency was.
Thuds and bangs bounced over the ceiling above our heads. A few minutes later Judy rushed down. “Where’s Roman?”
I leaned over and waved at her. “Right here.”
“What’s going on?” Mike asked. “We’re in the middle of something.”
“How long has he been down here?”
Mike shrugged and glanced at the clock. “I dunno. Twenty or thirty minutes.”
Her mouth flattened and she marched away without explaining.
Panic tightened my chest. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t know,” Mike answered.
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t a tattle-tale. Snitching on other kids always seemed wrong. But this was self-preservation. “Listen, when I got home, Pip was upset.”
“He’s always upset about something,” Mike said.
“Yeah, I know, but this was different. He said Evie and Squire were talking about getting me in trouble.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “That girl is always up to no good.” His jaw settled into a grim line. “I clocked you in when you got home, Roman and you been with me for the last half hour. I know you wouldn’t go near Evie.”
“I wouldn’t.” I hesitated. “I have a girl at school I’m into. Evie’s jealous.”
His face transformed with a broad grin. “Yeah? Good for you. Just don’t get her into trouble.”
I assumed that was code for ‘don’t get her pregnant’ especially when he slipped a handful of condoms out of his desk drawer and passed them to me.
“Uh, thanks.” I shoved them in my pocket and looked away.
I coughed to cover up the awkwardness. “So, what are my chances of being allowed to get an after-school job?”
“So you can work with your girlfriend?”
“No. She doesn’t have a job.”
He nodded. “I can talk to Ms. Simpson and see what she says.”
My overloaded caseworker wasn’t easy to get in touch with, but she’d probably answer Mike’s calls quicker than she’d ever answer mine.
“Your grades are good. She might approve a couple hours a week somewhere.”
A couple hours a week wasn’t going to earn me nearly enough money to do what I wanted, but at least it was a start.
Screaming and cursing came from the stairwell. Mike jumped up to investigate. “Stay here,” he ordered.
Left alone in his office and having no interest in involving myself with whatever drama was unfolding in the rest of the house, I eyed the phone on the desk. I’d love to give Juliet a call. Had her number memorized from the day she wrote it on my arm. My secret phone was stashed upstairs in my backpack.
Judy wrestled a screaming, cursing, and crying Evie down the hall. “Roman did it!” she yelled.
I jumped out of my chair and ran to the door. “What the fuck is she talking about?” I shouted at Mike.
He shook his head. “Nothing. We got it handled, Roman.” He nodded to his desk. “Stay put for a few minutes, okay?”
My heart thundered as he closed his door and I heard the lock click.
I was being set up.
Twenty-One
Juliet
My cell phone ran
g and I leaned over to scoop it up off my nightstand. No one but Roman, Vienna, and sometimes Uncle Dex ever called.
I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway. Uncle Dex usually called from different unknown numbers.
“Hello?”
“Juliet? It’s me.”
“Roman.” A happy sigh followed his name. I loved hearing his voice. “What’s up?”
“I’m not sure.” Tension radiated over the line, wiping the dreamy smile off my face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure. When I got home, Pip was babbling about Evie and Squire trying to set me up and now there’s some commotion going on upstairs. And the house mother mentioned my name. I’m worried.”
He didn’t talk a lot about the home when we were together, but he’d mentioned Pip often enough. And Evie had confronted me once or twice at school—although I’d never told Roman—so I knew who she was and what she was after.
“Roman, what are you going to do?”
“Nothing I can do right now. If something happens…If I get sent away again. I want you to know—”
“Don’t, Roman. You’re not going anywhere. Please,” I added. A tear rolled down my cheek, I couldn’t stand the helplessness or the injustice of his situation.
“Let’s look for a place together now,” I blurted out.
Silence.
“Juliet, I’d love that more than anything, but—”
“Maybe Uncle Dex can loan us some money.”
“I can’t take money from your family, Juliet. A job offer is one thing, but—”
He had his pride. Having everything else out of his control, I understood it. To a certain extent.
In the background there was knocking. “I gotta go, Juliet.”
The call ended.
I didn’t dare try calling him back and risk getting him in trouble. All night I worried and wondered what was happening.
Roman
I’d seen a lot of legitimate issues get swept away or ignored during my time in the system. So the attention Evie got for her false allegations shocked me into silence at first.