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“It’s just for a few months,” the social worker told Reim as he sat in the backseat of her car. “Just until your parents get back into the country.”
“Yeah,” said Reim, though the eleven-year-old boy couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. He was supposed to be staying with Rufus Barma while his parents taught abroad, but—but one thing had led to another, and Mr. Barma’s car had slipped on the ice while he was trying to deliver roses to the woman he was in love with, and now he was hospitalized and, apparently, not legally allowed to house children.
So Reim had gone into the foster care system. He was not happy about this fact, though apparently the family who was going to be fostering him was friends with Mr. Barma, so hopefully things wouldn’t be too bad…
They arrived, and the house looked nice. Big, with a manicured lawn and oak trees as well as fruit trees dotting it, a colorful garden outlining the pristine house. Reim was almost afraid to touch anything, though he still picked up his overnight bag and followed the social worker up the too-large path to the front door.
She only needed to knock once before it was opened by a sickly-looking woman with a long, blonde ponytail and a pale face. The woman smiled, though, and greeted them, and Reim stayed quiet through introductions unless he specifically was spoken to. He wanted to make a good impression, after all, since he was an almost certainly unwanted guest, and here only because it was this family’s grandmother that Mr. Barma had gotten into the hospital while attempting to deliver roses to, and this had allowed people to realize that he really shouldn’t be taking care of children at his age, and in his condition, and so he’d pulled a few strings and gotten the Rainsworth family to agree to take Reim in.
The woman—Ms. Shelly Rainsworth, daughter of the woman Mr. Barma was so desperately in love with—seemed glad to meet Reim, and, after the social worker had left, led him upstairs to the room that he’d be sharing with the older boy the Rainsworths were fostering: Xerxes Break, who was apparently bad-tempered and whip-smart, and who was not in the room when Reim came in and saw the bunk beds.
“You’ll be on the top bunk,” Ms. Shelly told him, “if that’s alright with you.”
Reim, who had never slept in a bunk bed before and was honestly excited to try it—especially in the top bunk —nodded excitedly, and carefully climbed up the ladder to put his things down.
“I’ll let you get situated,” said Ms. Shelly.
“Thank you,” Reim said politely, and, once the door was closed and he was alone in the room, he climbed back down the ladder, carefully took off his shoes, and climbed back up to investigate the top bunk.
It was made neatly, with dark blue sheets and a spaceship patterned bedspread, and two pillows, so he took his worn old doll, the March Hare, out of his bag and carefully tucked it under the bottom pillow, and then took a book and slipped it next to it, and then relocated his pajamas to under the blankets.
Bed thus prepared, Reim left his bag on top of it and climbed back down. As he pulled his shoes back on, the door opened, and an older teen boy and a girl maybe a year or two younger than Reim himself came in. Neither seemed all too surprised to see him, though Reim was a little shocked.
“Hello,” the girl said. “Are you Reim?”
Reim swallowed, and stood. “I am,” he said, holding out his hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The girl shook it, and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said. “I’m Sharon Rainsworth, and this is my older brother, Xerxes Break.”
“Hello,” said Xerxes, smiling in the pleasant way of a wolf meeting a sheep. “Nice to meet you.”
“You as well,” said Reim. “I suppose we’ll be sharing a room for the foreseeable future.”
“S’pose we will,” said Xerxes. “Ms. Shelly’s a good woman, and so are Mrs. Rainsworth and Sharon.”
“I can tell,” said Reim. He smiled. “I’m very grateful to be staying here.” Especially since his parents had been saying things about staying another semester abroad, since he was so well taken care of over here. He seriously doubted they ever listened to anything he said.
“We’re glad to have you,” said Sharon. “If you want, we could give you a tour of the house?”
“That would be great, thanks,” Reim said, making sure to keep his smile up. He was a guest, and Xerxes already seemed unhappy that he was here already. He needed to stay polite and good-tempered no matter what happened…something he was very good at, due to his prolonged exposure to Rufus Barma.
So he followed Sharon and Xerxes through the house, making sure to be perfectly polite and friendly. Xerxes, he noted, seemed to prefer it when he was friendly to Sharon, though if he got too close to the younger girl, the teenager would get protective—overprotective, really. It was honestly pretty funny, though Reim made sure not to show it. First impressions were important, after all.
The house was big—bigger than he’d thought at first glance—and by the time dinner rolled around, the tour still hadn’t completely finished. Ms. Shelly and Mrs. Rainsworth, though, seemed glad that the three children were getting along—though, to be completely honest, Reim had his doubts about that. He and Sharon definitely got on nicely, but he was sure that Xerxes completely hated him for it.
Xerxes didn’t deny this, though. Reim got the feeling that he worshipped the ground Ms. Shelly walked on, and didn’t want to disagree with her on such a trivial matter, which was also pretty funny in its own right, though, again, he kept his mouth shut.
After dinner, they played a couple board games, and Xerxes and Sharon colluded to win every time (though they didn’t actually win every time), and Sharon even invited Reim to be on their team a couple of times. Eventually, though, Sharon and Reim were both sent off to bed, though Xerxes, because he was a teenager, was allowed to stay up longer with the adults.
He came into the room before Reim fell asleep, though, and, once he’d gotten into the lower bunk, said, “How long have you been in the system?”
“I haven’t, really,” Reim said. “My parents left me with Mr. Barma about a year and a half ago, and then after he got in the car accident they said he wasn’t fit to take care of children, and so sent me here. That’s all.”
“Lucky you, then,” Xerxes said. “I’m only going to say this once: I’ve been in the system since I was younger than Sharon is now, and I’ve seen shit kids like you and her wouldn’t believe. If you bring any of that shit in here…if you endanger Sharon, or Ms. Shelly, or Mrs. Rainsworth in any way, I, personally, will make your life a living hell. Am I clear?”
“Crystal,” said Reim. “I’m not a troublemaker.”
“Sucks to be you,” said Xerxes. “I totally am.”
Reim was no troublemaker, but, he quickly learned after a few weeks of living with the Rainsworths, he was absolutely an enabler. He and Sharon got on well, which meant he spent a lot of time with both Sharon and Xerxes, and they both seemed to enjoy getting into as much trouble as possible, which Reim ended up dragged along into more often than not.
It was fun—like being friends, or having siblings, and, after two years, when his parents finally returned to the country, both Sharon and Xerxes were sad to see him go—Xerxes especially.
Reim had grown incredibly fond of the older boy after two years of sharing a bedroom and spending nearly every waking moment together, but he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that Xerxes still resented him—for being thrust into his life, for being close with Sharon, for being a naive kid.
And yet, as he was leaving, Xerxes, scowling, hugged him tightly, and said, “You’d better write every day until you get your own phone, and if you don’t come back to visit Sharon and I will hunt you down personally.”
Reim hugged him back tightly. “Wow, you almost sound like you’ll miss me.”
Xerxes muttered something under his breath. Sharon, who almost certainly did not parse it, since even Reim barely heard what he was saying, ooh’ed at him mockingly.
Reim couldn’t help but grin, though he knew Xerxes couldn’t see it. “I’ll miss you too,” he said.
And he came back to visit the next weekend.