I don't know yet???

four

She knew someone was going to leave eventually.

    That was the expectation when she arrived. Group homes were way stations. She just didn't think that she would get so attached.

    And it wasn't even like Charlotte got to leave, which was what she had wanted from the start. But she didn't get one step closer to what was hopefully a happy home. It was Cole and his siblings, and while Charlotte was glad for him, the jealousy certainly outweighed that.

    Charlotte had been there for three months by then; it was the end of November. She never liked November all that much. There were no holidays but Thanksgiving, which she thought was a stupid holiday (it wasn't like she had much to be thankful for), and then her birthday wasn't until January.

    The thing was, Charlotte had started to like Cole. He was pretty nice. A little sarcastic and just a bit insubordinate to Chuck and Georgia, but he always looked after his siblings and stood up for all the younger kids, even if he did listen to secular music and scoff at rules he disagreed with before demolishing them completely.

    Besides, Kassidy had started to become really good friends with the twins and Jude and Blake got along great. It was sad that they were all leaving, since her siblings had never really had friends before. The goal of the group home was to make it feel like they had a family, and Charlotte had finally felt like they were all getting somewhere.

    And, sure, Charlotte liked Eleanor. Eleanor was kind and compassionate and very hyper-aware of people's feelings. But she had lots of friends and nobody seemed to care that she was a foster kid. Chuck and Georgia basically saw her as perfect, and Charlotte never liked being the least-favorite. She'd definitely be the least favorite after Cole left.

    After that, there would be more kids, new kids, and there was no telling what they would be like. Vicious, cruel, little psychopaths. Charlotte had heard all about psychopaths from the other kids at school. They sounded kind of scary.

    The last family dinner was one of the most tense moments Charlotte had been through at the house, and that was including the arguments she had overheard between Georgia and Chuck (they had been growing more frequent, but Charlotte chose to push that information to the back of her head). Charlotte felt like both adults would be smiling if the rest of the kids wouldn't have started yelling about it.

    Overall, there was a silence that settled among them for the first half of the meal. That was until Eleanor looked up from her almost empty plate with the distant grin of memories settled gently over her face. "Y'know, we're gonna miss ya," she said.

    Cole nodded. "Thanks. And I you, I guess."

    "Make sure t' call," she said. "I wanna know what it's like to have a more permanen' sorta place. You're lucky you're the firs'."

    Cole smiled slightly. "I guess I am. And I do promise I'll call. We all will. But, hey, you'll find I place soon, I'm sure. It'll all be over someday. It's not all Hell forever."

    "Cole!" Georgia exclaimed, her mouth open in a surprised "o" shape.

    He just laughed a little, his stormy-sea eyes glittering. "No consequences. Not today. Last chance, I guess. You know me, always gotta take it."

    Georgia glared, muttering something under her breath. Charlotte guessed it was something along the lines of, "I'm glad you'll be gone."

    That scared Charlotte a little. She just wanted to please them. She just wanted someone to want her, but no one ever seemed to. And sure, Cole caused trouble for Georgia and Chuck, that's why they disliked him, but he'd been living there for so long. How hard must Eleanor have worked for them to care?

    "I bet it'll be a nice house," Eleanor said. "I trus' tha' it will be."

    "Yeah, me too," Cole agreed, though he pulled a hand back and ran it through the dark hair just behind his ear. A telltale sign of lying.

    He didn't believe he'd end up somewhere nice, no matter how much anyone hoped or prayed (especially Eleanor, who was really the hoping and praying type). Charlotte wondered if it was because he didn't trust it, or if it was just because he didn't think he deserved it.

    Charlotte wasn't sure she deserved it, but her siblings did, and she would be by their side no matter what. Piper and Faith and Blake were all she had left after she left her old neighborhood and her old school (even though she didn't really have many friends).

    Dinner went out as quietly as it started, with Cole in charge of washing the dishes one last time. It was sad, but it was happy, and once again, Charlotte felt the twisting, stomach-centered feeling of jealousy.

    The social worker who was going to bring Cole, Jude, and Kassidy to their new house showed up at exactly 7:00. She was wearing a blue pantsuit and a pearl necklace, her all-grey hair tied up in a tight bun, wrinkles lining her permanently-frowning face.

    "Are Mr. and Mrs. Murray present?" she asked as soon as Charlotte pulled open the door.

    Charlotte nodded, and Georgia and Chuck were there before she even had to call them.

    "Hi," Chuck said, extending his hand. "I'm Chuck, and this is my wife Georgia."

    "Lovely to meet you," Georgia said, smiling phonily.

    "As you," the social worker said, her voice monotone and her face remaining harsh.

    "I'll go get the kids," Georgia said. She sauntered off, and there were echoes of her shouting all throughout the house. Sounds of fast footsteps came towards them, and then Jude, Kassidy, and Cole were all standing there, little black bags of belongings in their hands.

    "Are you ready to go?" the lady asked.

    Cole nodded. "Yep, of course." He stepped outside, Kassidy and Jude directly following him. "Goodbye!" he shouted. His voice echoed far into the distance, and he smiled, widely but sadly. "It's not the end," he uttered, sighing, and then turned away as the social worker shepherded them into the car sitting in the middle of the driveway.

    With the final slam of a car door, Charlotte felt her heart sink. She watched as the headlights slowly disappeared, while she heard Georgia and Chuck heading back to their room. They moved on so fast. Would it be like that with Charlotte?

    She promised herself she would be there when he called.

    Nobody had ever really called Charlotte before. No one cared about the poor girl, no one cared about the foster girl, no one cared about the quiet girl.

    At least no one really cared about Cole either.

    Charlotte wasn't alone anymore, and maybe that was all the really mattered that night as she slammed the front door shut and rushed upstairs, curling in under her pink silky covers and letting silent tears stream down her face and onto the white sheets, never to be seen again.