The dumping ground - life as a care kid *COMPLETE*

Trouble

"You two better have an explanation! Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?!" I could tell Mike was angry but also worried. A lot of times when he worried, he'd get angry. I don't know why though, I guess because he cared about everyone so much.

"We... were... in... the... garden!" I said slowly, making sure he heard every word. What can I say, I told you I get sassy. "It's not our fault you and May-Li didn't come and look, is it?"

Mike seemed to realise I had a point. "Alright, fine, we should've looked in the garden. I'm sorry, I just get worried."

"Mike... would it be okay for me and Amelia to stay at my Dad's house for a couple of Days? He's already agreed. I just think Amelia needs a break. Please?" Rick asked. Mike instantly looked disappointed and I knew what was coming.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that. If you wanted to stay at your Dad's house for a while, it'd have to be done properly, like arranged by your social worker and it would take a few days. I'm sorry guys." Mike looked at us apologetically.

"Mike please? Is there no way?" Rick asked, slipping his fingers inbetween mine.

"I'm sorry, kiddo."

I didn't really care to be honest - we were going to run anyway.

"Rick, it's fine. Lets just go upstairs." He seemed to remember that there was another way of going. He smiled at Mike before pulling me out of the office and up the stairs. Once we reached his room, I closed the door behind us once again.

"I need to tell you something," I said as I sat down on his bed. "When we were leaving your room to go to the office, Johnny stood infront of me and kind of... well, threatened me? I don't know if you can call it that."

"What!? What did he say? Did he hurt you!?" Rick started panicking and came and sat down next to me.

"Rick relax. He just said that I need to pick either you or him. But I'm scared..."

"Scared of what?"

I looked at him and gulped before speaking, "scared that if I pick you, he'll get revenge. You know Johnny and you know that's likely."

"You're right...Amelia you have to pick him. There's no other option. We don't know what he would do if you picked me."

"No! Why would I pick him?! I hate him Rick, I'm obviously not going to pick you. Actually, I don't care what he would do if I picked you, because I'm not going to pick Johnny anyway."

"So you would pick me, even at the chance of Johnny being horrible to you? Imagine what he could do!" What did he expect? For me to pick Johnny, the boy that is practically a bully?

"Rick I honestly don't care! Besides, if Johnny hurts me or anything, he'll be the one in trouble - Not us. Anyway, are we running away or not!?" I pulled him off the bed and grabbed his backpack. He joined in and started filling it with stuff; his ipod, phone, chargers, water bottle, toothbrush and a few days worth of clothes. We then ran off to my room, making sure not to be seen, and packed my bag with the same stuff.

"Ready?" Rick asked, gripping my hand as we were crouched down by the front door, ready to go.

"Ready." I looked behind us one more time, and as soon as I saw the hallway was empty, we were off. It strangely felt so good as soon as we stepped out the door. I guess it was knowing that me and Rick were alone. We could do whatever we wanted on the way to his Dad's. I knew we would be in for a world of trouble as soon as we got back to the dumping ground, but I was trying my best not to think about that, because for that moment it didn't matter, I didn't care. It was hopefully at least two days away and all I cared about when we were walking down the quiet street was the fact that we had left the dumping ground. We had a break from Johnny. No more worrying about awkwardness. It was going to be so much fun. Me and Rick, staying awake until midnight, possibly sleeping in the same room, no stupid rules. I couldn't wait. I was honestly more excited than an eight year old on Christmas. To me it was better than Christmas.

We were free.

Or so I thought.

"So... Are we together then?" I asked, walking down the road hand-in-hand. He went silent for a while, I guess he was thinking of what to say.

"Well I know I want us to be, but it's up to you," to me it was obvious, I knew I wanted to be with him, but something was constantly running through my mind, telling me not to be with Rick. It was a voice saying 'pick Rick and you'll be sorry,' and I bet you can guess who's voice that was. Yep, Johnny's.

"Well.." I trailed off. My back started aching after just five minutes. Pulling my backpack around with me was too hard. At first it was fine, I barely felt it, then it seemed to get heavier each minute until the point that it felt like I had not only mine but also Rick's backpack on my back.

"I understand if you don't," he sounded disappointed. I really wanted to say a straight 'yes' but it wasn't that easy. I didn't care what Johnny would do. Well... I didn't care what Johnny would do to ME. The thing that was stopping me from saying 'yes' easily, was the worry of what Johnny would do to Rick. I wasn't worried about myself, I was just worried what Johnny would have up his sleeve for payback to Rick.

"No, no! I do, I promise. I just wasn't concentrating." Now all I had to do was work out a way not to let Johnny ANY where near Rick. If Rick got hurt, it'd be my fault, and I didn't want that. I had to keep Johnny from doing anything to Rick. I had to. But how?

"Amelia you don't seem too sure, maybe you need time to think about it," Honestly, he sounded annoyed. But what could he possibly be annoyed about now?

"I'm sure, Rick, Okay?" The walk seemed to be never-ending. Although I knew it hadn't been long since we left the dumping ground, it honestly felt like it'd been hours.

"Alright... I just don't want to rush you-"

"Rick! Leave it, please!" I didn't mean to raise my voice but unsurprisingly my tone hurt Rick. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout."

"Is something bothering you? You seem quite stressed Amelia. You can tell me, I promise," It seriously felt like my shoulders were about to drop off. My backpack somehow had gotten ten times heavier. I tried putting it higher on my shoulders, to see if that would help. Not at all. I just had to put up with the fact that I had to carry it - I needed it.

"It's just Johnny. I can't help but worry what he's going to do when we get back."

"I know, me too. But let's not think about that whilst we're away from him. This is our break."

As soon as Rick finished his sentence, someone with a familiar face walked past. At first I couldn't get my finger on who it was, but then I realised. And I knew we were in so much more trouble.

"Amelia, Rick... what are you two doing?"

****Who do you think it is?

I'm sorry its been so long, I've been busy with my instagrams and school eg. Yeah Guys I don't know if I've already said but my instagram is @drawing_matter so please follow it, thanks :* But sorry its been so long. I did notice though that since I last updated ive gotten 200 views thank you