Isabelle or not - The story of a teenage orphan

6

A smile builds up inside me when they call me out at breakfast.
'Ina, Luna!' I call and they follow me.
'We don't need your sisters.' The woman says. Then horror hits me. Pete and Annie are adopting me and not Ina and Luna. Oh no. Poor Ina and Luna staying  there without their big sister! Oh no!
'We have called you out, Miss Bird, because you are almost 16, almost an adult.' The woman says.
'Ok.' I say , nodding my head.
'So if you are not adopted 2 months after your 18th birthday, you will be provided with a house and some money and left to take care of yourself as you will be an adult then.'
My jaw drops. Most people that are not adopted and are just given money and a house at 18 end up homeless or drug or achohol addictions.
I reach my hand into my pocket to squeeze the charm before I ask the question I've been dreading the answer to.
'Will I be able to take Ina and Luna to live with me?' I ask because I can't bear the thought of not having their company or them trapped in this place full of bullies alone.
The woman shakes her head.
My eyes fill with tears and when the woman tells me that if this happens I may never see Ina or Luna again, I burst into full sobs.

I'm alone, across the street from lamp head oh, watching the children bully my sisters but not being there to protect them. Tears stream down their faces as the bullies repeat the words 'No one wants to adopt a ginger.' Two girls that look like Ashley, Elizabeth , Carly, Laura and Grettle with wings fly over them and tell them the words the other children are saying aren't true but I know they are true. Because no one adopted me. That is why I'm sat here, clutching my precious 1 pence and pulling my blanket tight around me.

It's  usually Ina and Luna climbing in with me but the last few nights I've been climbing in with them. To let them know I'm still here to protect them. I'm not gone yet. No. Not yet. I haven't told them about what the woman said. Luckily they haven't asked me. I hope they never do. Not while I'm still here at lamp head oh and not dead or on the streets wishing I could protect Ina and Luna.