Love Me When I'm Unlovable

Chapter 14: Rita

"It's just one night," Mrs. Corbin reminds me.

I don't look at her as I stuff my duffel bag with all my stuff. It's not much; it all fits in the duffel bag neatly. "Whatever," I say.

Respite care. It's the worst part of foster care, in my opinion. Well, besides the fact that everyone abandons you. It's where another family takes you in for a day, two days, maybe a week. Of course, it's supposed to be temporary. Except with me, it's usually not.

The family discovers the peace they have without me, and I get shipped off to another family. That's what happened every time I was put in respite care. This would mark my fifth time. I hate respite with the very fiber of my being.

But I blatantly ignore Mrs. Corbin as I yank the zipper closed. I get up and hoist the bag onto my shoulder. I don't look at Mrs. Corbin as I brush past her.

"Dang, she's mad," LeAnna whispers under her breath to her mother.

I glare at her, my eyes narrowing into little slits.

"Oh, don't give me that," LeAnna says. "You deserve so much more than you got."

"Screw you," I mutter.

"And that's why," LeAnna says matter-of-factly.

"You're such an entitled brat," I snap.

"I could say the same to you," LeAnna retorts.

"Oh, no," I growl. "I am not entitled. I don't even have a family, LeAnna. And at least I'm not a goody-two-shoes standing in front of someone with my hand on my hip, glaring at them when I'm no better than them."

"I have reason to glare at you!" LeAnna replies. "You were taking naked selfies in the bathroom! That's not okay!"

"Literally, no one cares but you!" I snap. "It's not that big a deal! Everyone does it. Except for entitled douchebags like you."

"I'm not a douchebag!" LeAnna protests.

I snort. "Do you even know what that is?"

"Oh, my gosh," LeAnna sighs exasperatedly. "The fact that you're not even sorry! I wish we'd never taken you in!"

"I wish you hadn't either!" I snap back, my volume rising. "You're such goody-two-shoes Christian! You think the world is so prim and proper. You know what? You're just another white family who wants to adopt cute little charity orphans to make them feel good about themselves!"

"No, we're not!" LeAnna snarls, her tone rising.

"Then tell me, why did you suddenly get the urge to adopt little foster kids?" At this point, we're both yelling.

"I..." LeAnna pauses. "We had extra money, and we wanted to help foster kids and..."

"Exactly," I say matter-of-factly. "You wanted to help us. Here's the thing, LeAnna. You want to help us until you find out that we're not the cute little charity orphans you thought we were. I've survived on my own for fifteen years. I'll survive three more until I'm eighteen. Without your help."

I brushed past her, bumping her shoulder. This is how it ends. This is how it always ends. They see that we're not innocent little kids who fall right into their lovely little homes and just light up their world. We're damaged, and we're broken. And once they figure that out, they toss us out like we're trash. It's a cycle that never ends.

"Hi, Miss Rita," Presley says brightly. "The car should be unlocked."

"Kay," I say sullenly. I push past her, duffel bag on my shoulder, knowing this isn't just going to be a respite placement. I'm headed for my next foster family, and with it, another session of walking through hell.