The Forgotten Child

17

"Oh, they are home." Linda smiles as she hears the front door unlock. Zayn lifts his head from the counter top and turns in the barstool he was sitting in.

"Hi boys, how was school?" Linda asks as she enters the front room. A bunch of murmurs of "alright" and "fine" were heard before the boys were entering the kitchen to find food.

"Whoa you must be the new kid." one tall guy with black curly hair says. "I'm Vance."

"Wow you really are a kid." another guy with blonde hair says. "I'm Oscar."

"M' Zayn." Zayn mumbles with a small blush.

"And I am Ken, pleasure to meet you." another very energetic boy says walking straight up to Zayn, which only caused the boy to scoot back on his chair.

"Ken, Zayn's a little shy." Linda chuckles and Ken blushes before apologizing.

"Hi Zayn, I am Carly and this is Jessica." another woman, now known as Carly, says. Zayn gives a small nod and blushes as the house goes silent.

"Whose he rooming with?" Oscar asks hoping it's not him because having his own room is nice.

"Jack." Linda says and the other two boys sigh in relief.

"You better be neat." Jack smiles and Zayn nods.

"You don't talk much do you?" Ken asks and gives small laugh when Zayn shakes his head.

"I'm sure you three boys have homework so go ahead and go get started while we explain some of the rules to Zayn." Jessica says and the three older boys nod and make their way up to their rooms.

"Alright I talked to Zayn about the basics like don't sneak out, don't be rude or sass back, try hard in school." Linda says and the other two women nod.

"Um so you won't have to many chores but like you'll have to make your bed every morning, help fold clothes, dishes. Stuff like that, but we don't expect you to have a bunch of chores everyday as you do have school." Jessica says as she adds Zayn's name to the chore list.

"Yeah and you have to be home by dinner which is usually at 6:30 and in bed by 9:30, which is about an hour earlier than the older boys, but you are quite a bit younger." Carly says and Zayn gives a small nod as he rather go to bed early and be able to sleep more.

"Is he signed up for the middle school?" Carly asks looking at Linda who nods.

"He lived on the other side of town so he was already enrolled in the middle school." Linda explains and the other two women nod. "Zayn why don't you go upstairs and unpack." Linda says with a small smile and so the boy slides off of his chair and makes his way towards his new room.

"Where's his file?" Carly asks quietly as soon as she was sure Zayn was out of earshot. Linda slid the file across the counter. Carly and Jess both read it quickly biting their lips as they did so.

"His dad abandoned him when he was a kid, his mum abandoned him under a month ago, and his dad just abandoned him for a second time." Linda says with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Aw poor kid, it says his mum was running a huge drug chain, but he refused to say anything negative about her." Jessica says and the other two women nod.

"We'll have to keep a close eye out for him." Carly says with a sigh as she closes the file.

-

The night went on pretty smooth and it was now the next morning. The women were getting the boys up and helping them get ready for school. Zayn was making his way downstairs, backpack in tote, to eat breakfast.