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Thirty-Six
Nova was going to be ok. Robin was with her. Robin liked Nova. Noah was almost certain of it. Becky reached for him. "Hold Becky!"
He didn't know what else to do, so he took her for a moment. He hugged her close. She was probably his favorite of all the kids he'd met in this new place besides Patton.
He’d never say that out loud, though. She was almost a baby—that wasn’t cool. She...just…needed...him sometimes. Like Nova did.
Then he was giving her back to her mom, and Robin was holding Nova by the hand. The twins yelled goodbye to all of them then disappeared. They didn't have a problem with their new school at all. Then again, they had each other. Why would they need friends?
Nick had his hand on Noah’s shoulder as they watched Robin and the girls walk away. Noah looked up at him. There was a worried look in Nick's eyes. "You ready to head to the middle school?"
No. He definitely wasn't, but he nodded. "Is she going to be ok?"
"Robin said she'd stay until she is. She's been through the first day stuff before. The woman...is a goddess who can handle everything."
"Is she your girlfriend?"
"I want her to be. She's...thinking about it,” Nick said as they started toward the main doors.
"Why? Does she not want two more kids?" None of his mom's boyfriends had wanted them; he wasn't stupid. Although...Robin was already a mom. What would two more kids hurt her?
Then, instead of just Nick, they'd have kind of like what Patton was getting.
It would be like a real family or something.
Noah wanted to think about that some more.
He liked Robin ok, enough, he guessed. Even if the twins were total buttheads. He supposed he could deal with them.
Then again, he was being stupid.
If Robin was around all the time, Nova would get ignored again. Just like his mom used to ignore Nova when she got on his mom’s nerves.
Then again, they’d been with Robin a lot lately. She hadn’t ignored any of them. Maybe she was being nice to them because she wanted Nick as her boyfriend?
That made more sense. Although, if she wanted Nick to be her boyfriend and he wanted her to be his girlfriend, why wasn’t she already?
None of that made sense at all.
He stayed with Nick while they walked to the middle school. Where he’d spend most of his time when he wasn’t stuck being Nick’s fake kid. He used to think school was like jail, but…that was before the group home.
He took a look around. It didn't look too bad, at least.
"What do you think?"
Noah shrugged. "It's cleaner than the one I used to go to, I guess." And there were flowers out front. He didn't know what to do, so he just walked inside, the brand-new backpack Nick had bought him slung over his shoulder.
Nick knew the way to the office. "I used to get in trouble here all the time. I was legendary."
Somehow, Noah doubted it. Nick seemed like one of those good guys who never did anything wrong at all. Noah hadn’t gotten in trouble much at his old school. He hadn't wanted to cause problems for his mom, or make her mad at him. Sometimes she'd be mad at him for a week anyway. He hadn't always known what he'd done to cause it.
Nick hadn't been mad at him at all. Not even that day he hadn't wanted to empty the dishwasher and had told Nick he should do it since it was his house and all.
Maybe he just hadn't made Nick mad enough yet?
"Mr. Tyler? I'm Ashlee Holsapple, the admin here at the school. Mr. Weatherby is waiting. He's the principal here and at the high school. His office is here, as between the two buildings now as we can make it."
"Ashlee, this is my son Noah. He's in the seventh grade."
My son. Not foster son. Nick never called Noah that. Ever. It was almost like Nick meant it. He pulled in a deep breath.
He could do this. He’d just act cool, like nothing bothered him. Like he always had before, no matter how much his stomach cramped inside.
Noah could do this. What was the worst thing that could happen to him here? He got detention? Big deal.
He’d spent a week in a group home, after all. Real kid jail. This place…this place was going to be a walk in the park.
