Alone

Disrespectful

   The ride to Tyler's house was quiet. I think about why Tyler would even want to protect me. Maybe he didn't, his mom probably told him to. Whatever. I don't really care about him anyway.

   I close my eyes, letting the beautiful darkness take me away from this horrible day.

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                    Tyler's POV.

   It's true, my mom did tell me that I needed to keep a close eye on Summer. It's not like I needed her to tell me that though. I would have done that anyway, and not just because she's in foster care.

   Although I'm not doing a very good job at that. Stupid Lukas and his friends have to go and mess with her. I should have never trusted them...

   I look over at her to ask her if she was okay, but then I saw she was asleep. Although she's my age, she's really short. She's so tiny, you could probably mistake her for a kid. She has long, dark hair that almost reaches her bottom. She has her tips bleached, or frosted as some may say. Everything she does is pretty adorable, she's like a human version of a puppy. Or kitten. I'm not sure, my parents never let me have a pet.

    I get to the house and park in the driveway. I tap her gently, and she jumps up, looking everywhere frantically. She has this look in her big brown eyes, almost like fear. I don't know what happened to her to get into foster care, but I can tell it effected her. This look of sadness takes form on her face when she realizes where she is.

   We get out of the car and go into the house. Candy comes running to Summer, and just about jumps into her arms. I walk into the kitchen where I smell mom making dinner.

   She smiles at me. "Hey sweetheart, how was school? Did you watch over Summer? Was she good?"

   "Yeah mom," I say, not bothering to answer the rest of the questions. I grab an apple and run up to my room.

   I was just starting on my homework when I hear a soft knock on my door. "Come in," I say as I turn around in my spiny chair to see who it is. In walks little Summer, holding her math binder. I let out a laugh and ask, "need help?" She nods and sits on the edge of my bed.

   I turn my chair towards her and we start to work on it. She seems distracted most of the time though, but I can't really blame her. She's still trying to get used to this whole foster care thing. We are almost finished when we hear my mom call us down to dinner.

   We go down and take our seats. Summer sits next to me, obviously not used to the rest of my family. My mom sits across from us, and I notice her checking out Summer, giving her some long looks. Summer doesn't eat that much of her food, which makes sense because of her tiny form.

   I eat all of mine, making small talk with my mom. Summer doesn't say much throughout the conversation. Suddenly my mom changes the subject. "So how do you like it here so far Summer?"

   Summer looks up. "It's good," she answers quietly.

   "So do you mind telling us what caused you to come here?" My mom asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

   I felt my eyes widen. She didn't just ask her that, did she? That's so personal, and I doubt summer would want to tell. I look over to summer, and her eyes are wide as well. She shakes her head.

   "Summer, we only want to help. You can tell us anything." My mom said, but by the tone of her voice, she wasn't really asking.

   Summer looks down for a second, then suddenly stands up, grabbing Candy and running off to her room. Mom makes a disgusted face and mutters, "That girl needs to learn some manners."

   I stand up. "Mom what the crap? You can't just ask her something like that, and expect her to tell you! Are you going crazy?"

   She gives me a soft look. "No sweetheart, I'm only trying to help, and how am I supposed to do that if she's being a stubborn little brat?"

   "She's not stubborn, she simply just wants her privacy! How can you even say that?" I'm angry now, and I can't really help it.

   "She's not even helping clean up after dinner. How was she even raised? By a bunch of animals?"

   I don't know what to say to that. My mother is completely disrespecting her. I quickly clean up the dinner, then go to my room. I take a shower and put on some loose shorts. I walk by Summers room, thinking about walking in, but then I hear her sniffling. I lean my head against the door and hear sobbing. I decide that she wants to be alone, so I go back to my room.

   Tomorrow will be better, I hope.