Lucky Penny (13 page)

Since Bennett aged out, I had moved into his seat at the table, which meant I sat farthest away from Derek and Marie. Looking at them across the table was gross enough without sitting within spraying distance like poor Ben. He looked ready to puke as Derek sprayed another mouthful of Marie’s disgusting pot roast at him.

“Blake, is your homework all done?”

“Yes, sir,” I said biting down on my tongue. He wasn’t asking because he was interested, so I braced myself for his next words.

“Good. You’re on cleanup duties.”

“What? It’s not my night. It’s Amy’s.”

“Amy helped me with something earlier. Don’t argue with me, boy, or you’ll be washing pots all week.”

Mason caught my eye and shook his head discreetly.
It’s not worth it.
I understood his silent message, but I didn’t want to hear it. Not tonight of all nights.

“Fine, but the new kid helps.”

Ben’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it when I shot him a look.

“I’ll help.”

“Fine. Just get it done and take out the trash while you’re at it.”

“Is it always like this?”

Ben handed me the last of the pots, and I dipped it into the water and rinsed off the suds.

“We get Sundays off.”

Actually, Derek and Marie left us to fend for ourselves while they gorged themselves at the Golden Corral, but he didn’t need to know that yet. Besides, it was the one day of the week we could be kids.

“My last placement was this real nice family. They took me to ballgames on the weekend. I liked them. I don’t like Marie. She smells. They both do, but it’s her eyes. They scare me.”

“They’re just skin and bone, kid. Keep your head down and stay out of trouble. Who knows, maybe you’ll be out of here quicker than you think.”

Ben was a sweet kid. Only eleven with a face full of freckles and blond curly hair. He looked like the type of kid a family might want, and although adoption was rare for kids our age, it could happen.

For kids like Ben, not for me.

I’d given up on that dream a long time ago.

Just as we cleaned away the last of the cutlery, the front door opened and footsteps sounded in the hallway.

“That you, Penny?” Derek’s gruff voice called out from the living room.

“Yes, sir.”

Just hearing her voice improved my mood, and I hurried to wipe the counters.

“Straight upstairs, young lady. It’s almost time for lights out.”

I hovered near the door. Penny would have to walk right past us. I had my hand buried deep in the pocket of my jeans gripping the folded paper. Her footsteps grew louder, and I turned to Ben and said, “Go take out the trash. I’ll wait here.”

I felt bad for getting rid of him, but I wanted to see Penny alone. The kitchen door clicked shut behind Ben just as Penny reached me.

Hi,
she mouthed, her lips hooked up in a smile.

Hi. Happy birthday,
I mouthed back, sliding out the handmade card and handing it to her.

My heart pounded so hard against my ribcage I thought I might pass out. I knew most girls would think a scrappy hand decorated card was lame, but I hoped Penny would like it. Derek and the foster momster hadn’t even bothered to buy her a card.

Her eyes ran over my handiwork, but her face gave nothing away.

Later? Usual place?
I looked down sheepishly, but she nudged me refusing to let me look away. I nodded as if there was anywhere else I’d rather be. As she walked off, her hand brushed mine leaving a million jolts of electricity buzzing through me.

“I thought you weren’t going to make it.” I stood up brushing off my jeans as Penny appeared in the clearing.

Our
place.

She rushed over to me and launched herself into my arms. I caught her midair, and she pressed her lips firmly to mine.

Penny was kissing me.

Me.

It wasn’t my first kiss; I’d fooled around with girls at school before behind the bleachers playing dares, but this was different. My hands held her close not wanting to let her go.

Ever.

But as quickly as her lips connected with mine, she was pulling away leaving a hollow pit in my stomach.

“Sorry,” she said breathlessly, dropping her eyes away from me.

I brought a hand from behind her back and tipped her chin up forcing her to look at me. “Never be sorry. Happy birthday, my lucky Penny.” I leaned in to kiss her again.

It was just a quick peck, but it was everything.

Before things got awkward, I grabbed Penny’s hand and yanked her over to the blanket I’d laid out. For the last couple of weeks, I had been stealing everything I needed to make tonight perfect. A blanket from a box in Derek’s garage and cartons of juice and cookies from the cafeteria at school. I’d even managed to swipe a candle and a lighter from one of Marie’s drawers. She must have confiscated it from them one of the other kids because birthdays didn’t happen in the Freeman house. It wasn’t much, but Penny’s wide grin told me it was more than enough.

“I can’t believe you did all of this.”

“You’re only fourteen once.” I offered her a choice of juice. “Birthday girl chooses.”

We sat like that, in No Man’s Land in the middle of the night, until there was nothing left but wrappers and empty cartons.

Over the last year, our adventures had gotten later and later. With no Bennett to cover for us, it was too risky that someone would see us sneaking out, so we had started waiting for everyone to fall to sleep.

“I feel sick,” Penny groaned causing me to snicker.

“You shouldn’t have eaten that last cookie.” We were lying back on the blanket holding hands looking up at the stars. “I’m sorry I couldn’t afford a proper gift.”

Penny gasped and rolled onto her side, pushing up on her elbow. “Blake, don’t even… this, the card, tonight, it’s more than I ever dreamed of. Thank you for making this the best birthday ever.”

It was after two when we started to make our way back to the house. Darkness cloaked our two-story prison, and my eyes strained hard to make out the small bathroom window on the ground floor. My senses immediately went on high alert—something wasn’t right. I always made sure to leave the light on to guide our way back.

“Shit,” I grumbled to myself squeezing Penny’s hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“The light’s out. Either it blew or someone switched it off.”

“Crap, what should we do?”

“There’s a chance whoever it was has gone back to bed.” I pulled Penny close and whispered into her hair. “Come on, as quietly as you can.”

I felt her smile against my neck. Stealth wasn’t her strong point, and although she could jimmy open the window with ease and climb out the gap undetected, she’d had more than a couple of close calls over the last year.

As we crept closer to the house, my gut was yelling something wasn’t right. I’d come to trust my instincts since living in foster care. Forced into this life from a young age, all I had was myself to rely on. I had to grow up and get wise, and right now, the adrenaline pumping through my veins was telling me something was very wrong. But we had no choice but to go back inside. If we stayed out all night, someone would discover us gone anyway.

We ducked out of the cover of the tree line and crossed the yard to the side of the house. The window was on this wall somewhere, and I was pretty certain I could retrace our escape route in the black hole surrounding us. My clammy hand traced the wall looking for the frame. Just as my fingers hooked onto the sill, the kitchen light came on and the door creaked open. I froze, my heart in my mouth.

“So it is true?” a faceless voice said gruffly. “You two have been sneaking out right under our noses. Tut tut, you should know better. Especially you, boy.” Derek’s voice was eerily calm causing shivers to jolt up my spine.

Penny gasped and pressed herself into my side letting go of my hand. I wanted to reach back and take her hand in mine—it belonged there, but I knew it would only make our situation worse. So I squared my shoulders and took a step toward the half open door. Derek sneered at me. He looked like he’d just won the lotto, an evil smirk on his scruffy half-awake face.

“Inside.” He stepped back to let us past.

Penny moved with me, still pressed into my back as we entered the kitchen.

“Go to your rooms. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

We didn’t argue.

We didn’t say anything.

We walked the short distance upstairs to our rooms in silence. Derek didn’t follow, but I couldn’t shake the feeling something was still off.

Penny’s room was the second door along the hallway. I stopped and turned to her. “Barricade yourself in. Find something, anything to wedge the door shut, okay?”

I don’t know why I said the words, but I couldn’t shake Derek’s reaction to discovering us returning from No Man’s Land. Together. There had been something in his voice. He didn’t sound so much angry as he did pleased to have found us sneaking back in.

Penny opened her mouth to argue. I could tell by the way her nose scrunched up that she wanted to tell me I was being stupid, but something changed her mind because she nodded and went inside. When her door closed in my face, I went to my room, the last room on the right. I shared with Mason. Jessica, Amy, and Mia shared, and Peter shared with the new kid. Penny had the smallest room. It was more like a closet, only just big enough for a single cot and dresser.

Mase was snoring like usual. Once he was asleep, nothing could wake him. He slept through storms, breakfast, and he even slept through the one time Derek caught Bennett sneaking out. I tiptoed around his bed to my own and stripped down to my boxer shorts. Once in bed, I pulled up the comforter and stared at the ceiling thinking of Penny.

I woke startled. A layer of sweat coated my whole body like I had a fever, but I felt fine. I must have been dreaming. But then I heard it. Muffled voices. A whimper.

Throwing back the comforter, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and sat as still as possible to listen for any sounds. Mason was asleep on his back, mouth hanging open, and his chest rising and falling with each throaty breath. Trying to hear anything over his snoring and my pounding heart was almost impossible, so I crept to the door and pressed one ear against the wood.