Her Runaway Mate

Ch. 1 - New Beginnings

Aria POV

My name is Aria Johnson and I have lived in the foster system for practically my whole life. Both of my parents apparently died in a car wreck somewhere in Europe when I was a baby and since I didn't have any family then I was sent to live in foster care. Fun fact, I don't even have a middle name.

I'm now 17 and all I have is two good friends and their families to keep me going. Rachael is 17 and her boyfriend Christopher is 18. I have been best friends with Rachael since we started kindergarten together when we were 5. I was lucky that my foster homes and the group home were always in the same district and that Rachael's family never moved, otherwise I'd be all alone.

I'm not super close to Christopher's family, but I'm extremely close to Rachael's. Rachael is the oldest of three. She has two younger brothers that are twins, Cain and Rowan. She also has her dad David and her mom, who I'm close with, Aurora.

Aurora and David always talked about how they wanted to adopt me or at least foster me to get me out of the homes that I'm in, but between the three kids they didn't have the money to adopt and because of David's rough history they weren't approved to foster me. They make up for it by letting me hang out at their house constantly.

The foster homes I've been have all been rough along with the group home. I guess I'm lucky though in a sense. A lot of young girls in foster homes have to deal with sexual abuse. I have only experienced physical and emotional abuse in the homes I've been in, I don't know what I would do if that wasn't the case.

Whenever I get moved into a new foster home, David and Aurora always make me tell them anything bad that happens. In normal situations, I wouldn't be moved out of them for a few punches, but whenever David and Aurora find out about them I somehow get moved back to the group home almost instantly.

That's where I have been the past two years. The abuse here isn't fun, but I won't tell David and Aurora about it. They would try to have me moved to a different home but the closest group home from her is four towns over. I would be in a different school district from Rachael and transferring my last month of senior year is not something I want to do. So I deal with it.

It's about 11pm right now when I'm walking home from work. I work at a little cafe that's open late since we are near a college. I feel like someone's watching me as I make the 3 mile trek to the group home so I decide to pick up my pace a bit.

As soon as I get to my front door I rush inside and slam it behind me. The group home leader Vanessa walks out to the hallway in her nightgown and that's when I know I have fucked up. "What bills do you pay here?" She questions me and I instantly shrink back towards the door.

"None ma'am." I quietly whisper out. Smack. I instantly feel a stinging sensation and try to reel in my pain.

"That's what I thought." She spat in my face. "Go to the basement. Vinny and Trevor will be there to deal with you in a minute after I wake them up."

I rush to the basement and sit in the wooden chair that is always down there. Vinny and Trevor aren't necessarily my friends, but we try to watch each others backs. They have never sexually assaulted me, but we have an agreement that they can physically abuse me so they don't get into trouble with Vannessa.

I hear footsteps coming downstairs and see Vinny and Trevor who look absolutely exhausted. "What happened?" Trevor asked first and I looked down at my feet.

"I felt like someone was watching me so when I got inside I accidentally slammed the door." I told them quietly and when I looked up I saw Vinny shaking his head.

"That's like her number one rule Aria. Don't slam doors." Vinny said upset. They both hate having to hurt me, but Vinny and I arrived here together so we are definitely closer than Trevor and I.