Throw Away Teen (34 page)

“And who’s paying for college?” I asked.

“They’ll put you through college, but you have to stay in school until you’re out of the system and you’ll still have a few hoops to jump through even after we adopt you.”

“No way.” I opened my jar of beans and pushed a white one forward. “Is that for real, Carol? Will the state put me through college?”

“Yes,” Carol said. “I didn’t know you wanted to go there. You never told me that.”

“You never asked,” I said, “and I didn’t know it was an option.”

I’d have to look at my contract and see what Ted had put in about Running Start classes. Warren had told me about the program he was doing. He took his classes at the Academy, then went to Everett and took more at the community college. By the time he finished his senior year, Warren would have an Associate’s degree as well as his high school diploma. And Liz thought I could do that, too. Amazing!

Carol went with us to karate. She watched my entire class and afterwards, Sensei told her what a good student I was and he didn’t say a word about my melt-down when Ringo took over the week before. We headed to McDonald’s for ice-cream sundaes. Dallas brought them over to us and I introduced her to Carol. “She’s Ringo’s sister, but she’s cool anyway.” That got me an icy blue glare, until I added, “This is Carol, my caseworker.”

Dallas totally chilled. She smiled sweetly at Carol. “Did B.J. tell you that we made the cheer squad? I never would’ve tried if she hadn’t been sure that we could do it.”

Yeah, right. Blah, blah, blah.

By the time Dallas went back to her station behind the counter, a person would think I walked on water whenever it rained in Western Washington. I was so not taking Carol to the church. Introducing her to Father John would be a total disaster if he went off about how I helped pass out the programs before the show started every Sunday, much less how thrilled he was that I got Liz and Ted to stay for supper at the homeless shelter.

I was halfway through my hot fudge sundae. Carol kept staring at me and stirring cream into her coffee. “What?” I finally asked her.

“It’s about Gabe,” Carol said. “I may have found him a home. He’s visiting some people in Tacoma who have horses.”

It felt as if the ground opened beneath my feet. “Why didn’t he tell me?” I swallowed around the ice cream lodged in my throat. “How long has this been going on?”

“It’s not a hundred percent certain yet,” Carol said, dumping in another packet of sugar. “All Gabe talks about is the horses and the family just goes off about what great care he takes of them. I’m not lining him up to be a stable-hand. He needs to be part of their lives, not just the kid who comes to shovel out the stalls every week.”

“Good luck with that,” I said. “Gabe loves horses the way most guys love cars. He’s always wanted a place where he can have one. What about Irene?”

“She’s staying with her aunt for a while.” Carol sighed, still stirring her coffee. “I don’t know about that one either, B.J. The woman has three sets of twins under the age of eight and Irene is a lot of help, but I’m insisting she go to school every day.”

“It’ll be okay.” I leaned over and took the spoon away from Carol. “Drink your coffee before you turn it into syrup.” I went back to my ice cream. “Irene’s wanted to live with her aunt for a long time. Our old caseworker wouldn’t even let them try it because of all the little kids. And Terry?”

“Now, that one surprised me,” Carol said. “Her mother came through and wanted her to return home.”

“What about her stepdad? Is that loser out of there?”

“B.J., be nice. He couldn’t have been better to her. He’s fixed up a room for her downstairs in the basement, so she has her privacy. Terry has her own bathroom, TV, phone, lap-top, all new clothes. The works.”

I moved my sundae away and propped my chin on my fists. “And he has free access to her bed.” I knew Terry wouldn’t appreciate me spilling to Carol, but if it kept her safe from perverts, I didn’t care.

“What?” Carol choked and then spit coffee on the table. “Are you serious?”

“Hello.” I got up and went to grab napkins. I came back and wiped off the table. “I lived with that girl. And the reason why she got stuck in Evergreen was because she wouldn’t sleep with the jerk. Now, she’s back where he can get at her all the time.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?” Carol demanded.

“Nobody else believed her,” I said. “Why would she trust you?”

For that matter, I didn’t know if me trusting her ranked right up there as a good idea. She was a caseworker, after all. And with thirteen years in the system, I knew all about them.

“I have to go get Terry out of there.” Carol grabbed her purse and keys. “Why didn’t you tell me before, B.J.?”

“How was I supposed to know you’d believe me? Nobody else ever did.”

Carol jumped to her feet. “You and I are due for a serious talk, young lady, about my expectations for you. I’ll be back when I get this straightened out. So, mark it on your calendar.”

“Yeah, right,” I said. “I count on you for anything and you’ll ship me off to boot camp like my guardian-ad-litem wants.”

“No, but I’m about to ship her,” Carol snapped. “You’re staying with Liz and Ted.”

And she was gone before I could ask her if she really did have my best interests at heart. Probably not. She was a caseworker after all.

CHAPTER 23

Once Carol left the restaurant, I looked across the table at Liz. “How could she do that to Terry? Why didn’t she check out the family before she sent Terry back?”

“
I don’t know, honey.” Liz got up and took my sundae soup to the garbage. Then she went over to the counter. She came back with two cups of coffee and passed me one. “Do you want to hear my question?”

“
Sure. Why not?”

“
How can she have the gall to try and blame you for not sharing Terry’s secret?” Liz glared into her cup as if she’d like to slap the caffeine. “You’re a kid. And I’m sorry if this offends you, B.J., but it was her job to step up and consider all of the circumstances, not depend on you to tell her that Terry shouldn’t go home. Besides, if you had told Carol, you probably would’ve lost Terry’s trust, am I right? And since you’ve spent so much time in foster care, I’m sure you have an opinion about people who play mud-pies with your life, don’t you?”

Before I could answer that, Dallas arrived with a new hot fudge sundae. This one had extra chocolate in the bottom. “What’s this for?”

Dallas eyeballed me. “It’s better to take morons with an extra dose of sugar.”

“
Good to know,” I said and dug in. I had to admit it was nice to have people on my side instead of the ones who thought I was always wrong.

***

After puppy class, Ringo came over to me. “Hey, do you want to grab dinner?”

I did, but it’d been a crazy afternoon. Between Carol and karate and training Guard, I just wanted some peace and quiet. Plus, I wanted to call Terry at the center and check on her. So, I shook my head. “How about tomorrow night instead?”

“
Sounds good.” Ringo leaned down and kissed me super quick. “Want to leave with me after the game? Or should I pick you up here?”

“
Here,” I said. “But you better win tomorrow or Timber will kick your butt from here to Everett.”

“
Yeah and you like winners, not whiners.” Laughing, he headed off for his truck.

With Guard in tow, I headed inside to help Liz make supper. While she put together a salad, Ted packed two boxes with canned food, soap, razors, and candy. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Are you, like, moving out or going camping or something?”

Ted chuckled. “No, honey. When the 4-H kids bring enough stuff to send Adam and Jessie, we ship it off for them.”

“
Weird. Doesn’t the Army feed them?”

“
Yeah, but there’s never enough special stuff,” Liz said. “When I was in ‘Nam, my mom used to send me my favorite perfume. And Evelyn sent me paperbacks. I loved getting packages from home.”

“
Me, too,” Ted said. “My mom always sent homemade chocolate chip cookies.”

“
And you got in trouble for eating them in bed,” I said, remembering my first day with Warren and Sarah when they talked about Liz and the cookie crumbs. “Why didn’t you save them till you got back to work?”

“
Because the guys brought the package to me and I had to open it up so we could eat them then,” Ted said. “We always send a lot to Adam and Jessie because we know they’ll share with their friends like we did.”

Wow, sometimes Liz and Ted amazed me. They’d done so much in their lives. They were the best foster parents I’d ever had. They never hit me. They didn’t yell or scream or call me names. I had pets for the first time in my life and a lot of other firsts, too. Maybe, they weren’t good about dealing with people like Jocelyn or Laurie who were downright mean, but Liz and Ted didn’t have to be perfect. Like Carol had said, I wasn’t.

“
Hey, Ted. You owe me, big-time. Dallas and I made cheer squad.”

“
All right! I knew you could do it.” Ted grinned at me. “Congratulations.”

I went to the cupboard and took down three plates. “Well, I didn’t know I could do it.” I took the plates to the table and put them on the placemats. “And Ms. Olson says we have to go to camp this summer. I’ve never been to camp before. Sarah says she’s heard that it’s a blast. Rita and Kaitlyn told me it’s like a giant sleepover.”

“
You’re going to have a lot of firsts this summer,” Liz said. “And Sarah will too when she goes to cheer camp with you.”

“
How are you going to make that happen?” I went after three glasses and filled them with ice water. “Sarah says her mom won’t let her. They need Sarah to babysit Priscilla all week once school’s out.”

“
I already talked to Evelyn about it. We’re seeing Bruce at the tire store tomorrow and writing the checks for Priscilla to go to camp the same month that you and Sarah are gone.”

I blinked and stopped dead. “Ms. Olson says cheer camp is only a week in Pullman at the university there. No way could I leave Guard or Alfredo or Fetty for a month.”

“
Good to know,” Liz said, laughter in her voice. “Evelyn and I had lunch today. We decided Sarah needs to keep having a life and if we have to pay for it, we will. So, we’re sending Priscilla to camp for at least the month of July and we’re offering to pay for August too since Bruce obviously can’t afford to send her when he has to use his stepdaughter for free babysitting.”

“
Do you think he’ll step up better if I talk to him?” Ted asked, finishing up the boxes. “I can go see him during his lunch break.”

“
I don’t know.” Liz brought over the salad. “What do you think? Will he be more insulted if a man visits him and infers he’s not one if he can’t take care of his own kid? Or would it be worse to have his mother-in-law offer him charity?”

These two were totally evil and I loved it. I’d have Sarah with me and we’d have a great summer, but I didn’t want Liz to be taken advantage of. She was so brilliant. “Well, if you want to know what I think, it’s gotta be Ted.”

Both of them turned and looked at me as if they’d forgotten I might have an opinion.

“
Why me, B.J.?”

“
Because Bruce already showed he doesn’t mind taking advantage of girls and women,” I said. “So if Evelyn and Liz offer money, he’s gonna be up for that. He’ll think he’s smarter than they are and he got away with something. And he won’t care if they think he’s a jerk. They’re only women and what they believe doesn’t matter.”

“
And if I go to him and offer to send his kid to camp because he’s too poor to do it when he’s not, he’ll want to win my respect,” Ted said.

“
Exactly,” I said. “I can’t believe you guys had actual parents. You’d have done great in foster homes.”

“
We had Vietnam,” Liz said. “If I couldn’t finagle for supplies or extra help, the wounded at my hospital wouldn’t get what they needed. And things didn’t change that much when I was nursing stateside.”

“
I had to teach my boys to be men,” Ted told me. “If they weren’t good Marines when we were safe, how could I lead them into combat? All of us would die.”

That gave me a lot to think about through dinner. We had lasagna and garlic bread to go with the salad. At the end, Liz got up and went to the freezer. She opened it and pulled out a big square box. When she brought it over to me, I stared at it.

In the box was an ice-cream cake with white frosting. Painted in the middle, was a red-haired cheerleader leaping in the air complete with blue and red pom-poms. Over her head was a giant balloon and written inside of that, it said, “Congratulations, B.J.!”

***

On Saturday, while I groomed Windsong and got her ready for my lesson, Sarah wandered through the barn. I flagged her down. “They got me a cake last night to celebrate me making J.V. It had my name on it and everything.”

“
That’s awesome.” She leaned on the stall door and grinned at me. “Rita’s dad took all three of us to the
Cheesecake Factory
in Bellevue for dinner to celebrate us handling our first try-outs. He let us bring home these giant pieces of cheesecake.”

“
I may never eat again.” Kaitlyn groaned from across the barn aisle. “We totally pigged out. What kind of cake, B.J.?”

“
Chocolate ice-cream cake with white frosting.” I tried not to giggle but failed. I sounded like an idiot. “Ted let me have a huge piece of the leftovers for breakfast. He had one, too. And we both got in trouble with Liz. She said—”

“
Cake isn’t appropriate for breakfast,” Sarah finished. “That’s the same thing Grandma tells me in November when I come here for my birthday. But I still get to have it once a year.”

I grinned at her. “You’re coming with us to cheer camp this summer.”