Jacqueline || BWWM

Chapter Eleven

We finish shopping a little after three thirty, and Finn drives me home. Jace is already at baseball practice, and Jaylin is nowhere to be seen. Leaving the empty house to Finn and me, talk about a nightmare come true.

Don't get me wrong, I like Finn. I like him a lot, but I'm just not ready to be alone with him. In a house at that.

It's just too much, too fast.

This is why when we get 'home' I insist on carrying my many bags to my room all by myself, despite Finn offering to help a dozen times.

Luckily though, he drops it and tells me he'll make us a snack, and plug my phone in for me while I organize my new stuff.

So here I stand, thirty minutes later, in my once empty box that's slowly starting to represent a room.  I've got posters of historical people that I find influential on the wall by my bed. My dresser is filled with my new clothes, with what little makeup I bought sitting on top of it. The black backpack I bought for school lays by my closet door, alongside my other school supplies.

With a last look at the room, I stumble downstairs to see Jaylin and Finn hunched over a phone.

I shrug at the image and grab a red apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.
My eyes wander aimlessly around the room, and I lean against the counter, enjoying the sweet taste of my snack.

Shopping is done. Settling in also done. All that's left to do now is get a job.

No one has asked me to get a job yet, Beatrice even gave me plenty of money to buy everything I could possibly need, but in my experience, it's always good to have extra cash saved up. So with every new foster home, getting a job is my number one priority.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

I look up from my apple and my eyes accidentally meet Finn's awaiting ones. He still sits at the table with Jaylin, but his eyes are only on me. And boy do I hate it, so I turn my head towards the ground slightly—limiting our eye contact in an easy an awkward manner— and nod my head.

"Really?"

His stare continues burning an overwhelming hole in the side of my face until I almost give up and look back at them. Last second I chicken out and mumble a quiet, "Nothing much."

Out of the corner of my left eye, I spy him quirking an eyebrow up, easy going smirk in place. "I find that hard to believe."

You know how they say: curiosity killed the cat? 

"Why?"

I'm that stupid cat.

"I'm not entirely sure about this theory yet, but you don't seem like the type of person to have an empty mind."

True.

I am always thinking about something, wherever it be something about my past or questions about my future, my mind never seems to rest.

I nod my head in angkowlegment, almost as if I'm saying 'good theory'.

"I..ah...want to go job hunting."

Jaylin's head snaps up like a rubber band up at my news. "Like, right now?"

Why not?

After all, don't they say: there's no time like the present? "Sure."

"Great, Mom's car keys are in the drawer to your left." She smiles wide, like really wide. Kinda like the smiles clowns wear, but so much prettier.

I blink a couple of times—not out of disrespect, but doubt— to make sure the sight in front of me is real. It really is.

"Thank you." I return the smile, genuinely happy that she's making an effort to be nicer. "But no thanks."