Halfway There // Liam O'donovan

18

_CRUSHED_
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LIAM'S POV
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Toby still hadn't returned from his foster home and all his comics (the ones he said are worth a lot) were left in his room. Evie and I decided to use this as our advantage and sold them all. We quickly ran back into the house, though, before anyone noticed. I showed the cash to Frank who just shook his head disappointed.

We sat down in the kitchen as Mike was slamming buckets of paint down on the table. He was calling today 'fresh-life day' or something.

"What Mike is trying to say is- you can't paint your own rooms!" Gina said, and started handing out paint brushes.

"Jeff doesn't want a change." Harry sighed.

"And my room's already a work of art." Sapphire said, making me roll my eyes.

"Well, maybe Evie wants to paint her side?" Mike suggested.

"I'm not really bothered." Evie shrugged.

"So, if we're going for a fresh start, then can I change rooms?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah, cos there's Poppy and Rosie's old room." Gina suggested. Carmen nodded eagerly and grabbed a paint bucket.

"Er, Mike, do we have any stripy paint?" Tee asked, looking hopeful. Then Mike started laughing, I didn't understand the joke, and I don't think Evie did either so we just exchanged a confused look.

"Can I paint my room the same colour it already is now?" Gus asked.

"Yes.." Mike said, "Um- make sure you use dust sheets, guys, and clean the brushes when your done and don't spill too much paint. Please. "

"I wouldn't mind changing rooms." Said Tee, "I wonder what they're doing with Toby's?"

"Isn't he coming back?" Carmen asked.

"No, I bet he's been fostered." Johnny said, sadly.

"Yeah. Otherwise he'd have been back by now." I said, standing up from the table. "There's still loads of stuff in his room."

"What stuff?" Carmen asked.

We all went upstairs and raided his room, taking lots of his cool stuff.

"Toby's not coming back." I told Gus.

"He's moved on." Evie added and we left the bedroom with armfuls of stuff.

However later on, Toby came barging into the living room looking fuming. "Who took my comics?" he snapped. Everyone looked up and hid the stuff we'd taken from Toby's room.

"Evie and me." I admitted, she hit my arm and I just gave her a 'dont worry' look. We walked around the pool table to face the music.

"What?" Mike asked.

"They sold them to a shop!" Toby said. How he knew that was beyond me.

"We thought he weren't coming back!"I protested.

"Is that mine?" he asked and snatched something out of Sapphire's hands.