Unpredictable

Chapter 1: Foster Girl

"So, Sophie, your new family are the Evanses, okay?" repeated my social worker, Andi Rosala, correctly guessing that I, Sophie Smith, hadn't been paying attention the first couple of times she'd told me about them. Since we were only a couple of blocks away from my new family, I shrugged my backpack over my shoulder and decided to actually listen this time.

"They've got a son your age named Ethan," began Andi, "and his twin sister, Evelyn. I'm told she prefers to go by Evie."

"Okay," I nodded.

"Then there's their five-year-old, Kaia," continued Andi, "and of course the parents."

"You said they were gay, right?" I recalled.

"Mm-hmm," Andi nodded. "Ethan and Evelyn are Edward's biological children, from his first marriage. Their mother occasionally visits, but not very often; you'll have to ask for the full story." Yeah, like I would be quizzing them about what didn't seem like a great relationship with their mom. "Kaia is Edward and Doug's adopted daughter, I believe from Korea."

"Got it."

We parked in the driveway of a two-story suburban house, and I decided I'd be extra-wary of this family. They seemed way too good to be true. And then somebody ran straight into me, so that my back crashed into Andi's car.

"Hey!" I yelled, before realizing that the teenage boy who had hit me must be my new foster brother, Ethan. "I mean, sorry. It was my bad."

The teenage boy didn't even bother replying before racing towards the house next door, and a teenage girl wearing very little clothing opened the door and cried, "DYLAN!" after him.

Wait.

Why was she crying another name? Had we arrived at the wrong house?

"Ugh, get out, Tanya, I told you that wouldn't work, and now Dylan's not even going to stay for dinner," snapped another teenage girl, before her face brightened. "Oh, you must be Sophie! I'm so sorry you had to see that - this is my best friend, Tanya, she's got this huge crush on Dylan, our next door neighbor and my brother Ethan's best friend - I'm Evie, by the way."

I quickly straightened up, not shaking Tanya's hand because of how little clothing she was wearing. "Nice to meet you," I said quietly. "Um, yeah, I'm Sophie. Sophie Smith." Smith was the name I'd been allotted by the government. Nobody really knew what my actual last name was, because people tended not to know stuff like that when people just left their newborn babies at the hospital.

Another teenage boy showed up, glared daggers at Tanya, and then glanced over at me. "Oh, you must be Sophie. Eves, where'd Dylan go? Did Tanya scare him off again? He needs to eat, dammit!"

"It's not Tanya's fault! The heart wants what it wants!" argued Evie, and I could sense an enormous twin-fight coming on. I'd had my fair share of twin siblings, and I decided it was time to back away. Tanya clearly sensed it too.

Thankfully, Edward showed up. "All right!" he declared loudly, and man, was I jealous of his eyebrows. "Ethan, be a gentleman, for God's sake, have we taught you nothing, and take Sophie's things upstairs, Evie, why don't you and Tanya go upstairs and get Tanya into some more clothing, for goodness' sake, and Sophie, why don't you go over next door and get Dylan?"

It took me a minute to realize I'd been enlisted into chores, but I wasn't one to ignore a command. I had scars from past disobedience, and besides, Dylan didn't seem like that bad of a person.

"He, um, didn't seem like he wanted to be here very much," I ventured, rubbing my arm in remembrance of how he'd slammed me into the car.

"He's just upset because of Tanya," Edward said dismissively. "He needs to eat, and that boy can't cook anything but Pop-Tarts and pasta. Tell him we're making chicken alfredo."

"But Dad, you said we were having spinach pizza tonight," frowned Evie.

"I say a lot of things," Edward retorted.

I decided to just go and get Dylan. It was nearing seven as I approached the house next door, and to my surprise, he hadn't even locked it. However, it felt wrong to just walk on in, so I rang the doorbell.

Nothing happened, and I began to get annoyed. I rang it again. It wasn't the hunger that bothered me, honestly; I'd suffered through a lot worse than this. It was the thought of not succeeding at my task that worried me; I had no idea what my new fosters would do if I messed up. In the past there had been knives, whips, or just good, old-fashioned hair-pulling.

I rang it three times in quick succession, and finally Dylan opened the door, looking extremely irritated.

"What the hell do you fucking want, and why the hell couldn't you just fucking come in?" he demanded, and then, to my surprise, I noticed that he had a baby monitor in his right hand. And the baby was wailing to no end.

I'd been in several group homes, and so without even asking, I pushed past Dylan. I didn't know if he had a younger sibling or what, but I knew how to get a baby to sleep.

"Tell you what," I said, "I get this baby to sleep - "

"Her name is Aurora," supplied Dylan, looking tired beyond belief.

" - and you come over to Edward's house for dinner."

"Sure, whatever, but you won't be able to get her to - " Dylan gawked at me as I took Aurora out of her pale pink crib, rocked her while softly singing "Hey Soul Sister" - an odd choice, I know, but all the young ones at my last group home absolutely loved it - and Aurora's eyelids fluttered shut.

I placed her in the crib and smirked up at Dylan, who was staring in shock at me, but obediently followed me back to Edward's house.

"Why 'Hey Soul Sister'?" he suddenly asked, as we walked across his lawn. "And in answer to the question that I know you're wondering - "

"Actually, I'm not," I cut in, already knowing what he was going to say. "It's none of my business whether Aurora's your daughter, your sister, or something else entirely. And as for 'Hey Soul Sister,' all the little ones at my last group home loved that song, in particular. You learn a lot about babysitting when you grow up in the foster system."

Dylan stared at me in horror. "Oh shit, you're Sophie."

"He does have a brain!" I said sarcastically.

"No, I just meant - Tanya's just, well, we had a thing a few years ago, and she seems to think it's still going on, and I don't want it to, and Evie's just...she won't tell Tanya to stop it..."

"It's none of my business," I repeated again.

Dylan gave me a strange look as we got to the door, which was locked. "You're part of the family now, Sophie," he frowned. "Of course it's your business."

"Yeah. Sure it is," I said sarcastically. Maybe at my very first foster home, I had been that naive. But now I knew better. Fosters only ever wanted you for the money they got from the government, which was probably going to Kaia's college fund rather than anything for me. The minute I turned eighteen in three months, I'd be out of here.

I was only ever just the foster girl.