Rose had hardly slept that night. She daredn't move from where she was huddled in the 'play' room, she sensed her social worker was angry and didn't want to confront her, not even when she was desperately in need of using the toilet. The clock on the wall read 6 Am so Rose decided to push down the anxiety and stood up she placed her blanket back onto the floor but kept a tight hold of her stuffed monkey, although she was 13 years old age always had her stuffed monkey with her, even at school said monkey was at the bottom of her bag.
"Hi Kiddo. Are you okay?" Amanda asked the teen
"Can I use the toilet please?" Rose said in barely a whisper, her voice shaking as she spoke, she knew where the toilets were so when Amanda had told the teen she could she kept her head down and took herself out of the office and down the hall. When the brunette had returned to the office Amanda stopped her before she went back into the 'play' room
"We have a couple arriving at around mid-day from Seattle, they might be fostering you. Do you want to know more about them?" Amanda asked Rose who nodded slowly.
"Their names are Maya Bishop and Carina Deluca. Maya is a firefighter and Carina is a doctor. They don't have any other children but they want to meet you and I'm hopeful they will foster you" Amanda explained to the teen who nodded again.
"I've got meetings until twelve so you're going to be staying in there, I'll have someone check on you but I thought we could go to the cafe across the street and have some breakfast," Amanda asked Rose who shook her head, she was hungry but she didn't need food, the girls at school had told her that multiple times, they've told her she's fat, ugly, stupid, pathetic and so much more which Rose believed. She believed every single word. School isn't the only place she had been told she's fat. Previously foster parents have said so and they've said she's not 'worthy' of food, David has been one of the parents but Rose often stole food from the cupboards if she felt really hungry.
"You need to eat something Rose, you didn't have much last night" Amanda exclaims worried about the teen's health. She was clearly underweight and when she ate around Amanda she had taken ages to eat at least half of what was on her plate
"Okay," Rose simply mumbled. She let out a sigh not wanting to get into trouble for disobeying her social worker. Amanda had a bit of a temper when she was angry, Rose had seen this multiple times, mostly when she had to pick Rose up during the middle of the night or when she'd been called from Rose's school. Rose and Amanda headed out of child protective services and over to the little cafe across The street. Rose didn't hate the place but everywhere she looked there was food, of course, there was it was a cafe. The brunette girl looked at the menu and sighed opting for a slice of toast just to get her social worker off her back, with the toast she chose a glass of water.
"I don't want to be getting a call in the middle of the night if Maya and Carina foster You. I can't really drive to get you right away and we won't be able to get you a social worker in Seattle until they agree to have you for longer than a month." Amanda reminded Rose who knew this more than anything. She'd had multiple social workers over the 13 years of her life some weren't as nice as Amanda.
Rose just nodded as she listened to Amanda talk, taking small bites of the toast and each time her stomach turned. She wished she didn't have to eat any more but she knew Amanda would worry if she didn't eat eventually the pair finished and headed back to the office where Rose went straight back to the playroom so she could be alone.
Rose was bored, she was also nervous about the fact potential foster parents had been driving overnight to meet her. They sounded like nice women but everyone does until they get you home. Rose looked out of the window and sighed, it was a nice day she just wanted to be out, maybe to read under a tree in the park, she loved that, reading in the park on a nice day. She was currently reading Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.
A few years ago Rose's foster parents brought her some books when they found out she loved to read. It was one of the families that she loved dearly but her foster mother fell pregnant with twins and her foster father had a tragic accident which meant they couldn't foster her any more, she understood. They already had a three-year-old and a five-year-old so adding twins to the mix was going to be hard enough but they tried to make it up to Rose before putting her back into the system.
Rose still had what they had brought her, the books, and her first pair of proper running shoes which were now pretty tattered with her using them whenever she needed to run which she liked to do a lot, she also knew that if she was to run then it'll help her lose weight and the framed photograph of Rose with them, her three-year-old foster sister was sitting in her lap, her foster mother on her left and foster father on the right with her five-year-old foster brother leaning onto Roses shoulder. Rose shook her head to stop herself from thinking and pulled her shoes onto her feet making sure to lace them up before she grabbed her bag and shoved her blanket and monkey into the bag, she pulled her old cardigan on and slipped her bag onto her back before she snuck out of Amanda's office. She had to be sneaky if she was going to get out without being caught.
Quickly Rose headed to the stairs knowing if she took the elevator she would most likely get caught. Carefully running down the stairs Rose made her way out of the building, the sun shining down on her as she took off running, she ran until she was at the park so where she found a tree which was empty and placed her bag down before she sat beside it and pulled out the book.
Rose lost track of time and her social worker was definitely going to be looking for her now, it was coming close to mid-day so Rose had to run as if her life depended on it so she flung her bag onto her back; Made sure her laces had been tied up before sprinting back to the CPS building. Rose hadn't been watching where she was going and ran straight into an older Blonde woman. She was in trouble now, they were going to shout at her for the accident.
Maya and Carina smiled at the teen, but they both saw the fear in her eyes, how freaked she looked before looked up to the two woman
"Im sorry. I'm sorry! I have to go!" Rose said frantically her voice trembling as she stepped back quickly and without another word, Rose ran into the building and straight to the stairs. She hadn't even heard the couple say anything before she took off. As Rose arrived outside Amanda's office she saw the black-haired woman angrily pacing the room 'shit' Rose thought to herself as she opened the door, hands shaking preparing for the shouting to happen
"Where the hell have you been? I left you for my meetings and I came back to hear you were missing! Do you know how bad that makes me look?" Amanda raised her voice, rose stepped back as her heart rate picked up. She ran from the office into the playroom next door and hid in the corner of the room, her knees brought right up into her chest as she hid her head in her knees as she tried to stop her breathing from going erratic. Amanda rolled her eyes in her office just as Maya and Carina knocked on the door after they had been shown where to go. The door between the rooms was open along with the blinds.
Rose looked out the door slightly and saw the two woman she ran into. Were they her potential foster parents? Were they here to shout at her like Amanda had done
"Hi I'm Amanda, we spoke on the phone. Make yourself comfortable. I just need to talk to Rose. Sort some things out." Amanda said motioning to the two chairs beside her desk. Amanda made her way into the play room and over to rose.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to read in the park. I'm sorry" Rose said barely audible Amanda decided to drop the subject.
"I'm sorry for shouting kiddo but you had everyone worried. Do you think you're ready to meet Maya and Carina?" Amanda asked the teen who tried to push herself into the wall as she shook her head, she was scared they would yell at her for rubbing into them. Amanda took that as a no and decided to leave her to calm down. In the room next door Maya and Carina were curious about what happened, they weren't sure if the girl in the room next door was the same girl they saw out front but they saw something in that girl.
"Rose will be out shortly. I hope you had a safe drive" Amanda began talking to the couple who smiled answering the question.
"We read Rose's file and if she is happy for us to then we would like to Foster her" Carina said positively. Rose heard Carina say that and felt herself freaking out. She needed her monkey for comfort right now so she took the stuffed animal from her bag and held it close to her.
Rose's POV
I heard the brunette woman say that they would like to foster me. Even after reading my file but all I could think of was why? Why me? I pulled Misty my stuffed monkey from my bag and held her close to me. I guess now is the right time to go out. Meet the couple that want to know me.
"Rose is a good kid, she's just had a rough time. I don't know what happened with her foster father but something happened and she lashed out. I want to assure you that she isn't violent, she isn't like that" I listened to Amanda speak to the two women
"And here she is" Amanda said as I stood in the doorway
"Rose, you can come in" she said softly as I held Misty close to me. It must sound pathetic a thirteen-year-old not wanting to be apart from a stuffed animal but to me, Misty was my comfort item.
"Hi Rose," the blonde woman said smiling over at me, I recognised her but not from outside. I don't know why I recognised her, the brunette woman also said Hello but I think the language she said it in was Italian. I attempted to teach myself Italian a few schools ago because there was this girl in my class who was Italian and the language is a beautiful language.
"Rose, these are the women I was telling you about Maya Bishop and Carina Deluca." Amanda introduced the two women to me and I nodded. My voice seemed to disappear as I stood in the doorway unable to move, I couldn't move, I was scared.
"Are you okay Bambina?" Carina asked me, her voice was strangely comforting.
"Yes ma'am" i nodded anxiously
"Please Call me Carina, Ma'am makes me feel old" joked Carina which actually made me relax a little.
"And me Maya" The blonde said. I was still trying to figure out why I recognised her.
"I'm sorry for running into you" I said biting my lip.
"It was an accident. No harm done" Maya smiled towards me.
"I have to go make a call but why don't you get to know each other?" Amanda asked. I nodded bit I would feel much better in the play room, its less formal in there.
"Can we go into the play room?" I said in barely a whisper.
"If that's okay with Maya and Carina, sure," Amanda said and I looked towards them and they both nodded, so immediately I went back to the corner of the room where I had been sitting for ages.
"Bambina Wouldn't you feel more comfortable on a chair?" Carina asked and although I would be comfortable on the chair I felt safe in the corner.
"No thank you" I practically mumbled.
"Can we sit closer to you?" Maya asked, I nodded spowly. I could feel myself getting anxious, more than normal but I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"What do you want to know?" I asked quietly not knowing what to tell the couple who were now sitting at the table in the middle of the room closer to where I was.
"Do you have any hobbies?" Maya asked. This was a hard one, I wasn't sure what hobbies I have.
"Reading and I sort of like to run which is kind of why I ran into you earlier which I am sorry for. I didn't mean to run into you" I said worried once again.
"Is that why Amanda was shouting when we arrived?" Maya asked and I nodded. I was looking down, I saw Maya look like she was worried but I wasn't going to question anything, I didn't want to be shouted at again.
"How do you like school?" Carina was next to ask me a question and I shook my head, I hated school, I wasn't ready to talk about school, I didn't want to talk about school. I guess Carina seed to read how I felt about school so she dropped that subject. Quietly I asked them about themselves and I would have loved to have them as parents but they might regret fostering me, I didn't want that.
"Do you want us to foster you? Not many children get the opportunity to have a say in their fostering" Carina asked and I nodded, I did want them to foster me but I couldn't help but feel worried that something bad would happen.
"I do" I nodded slowly as I paused there wasn't a but but I was worried that they would think it was a mistake to foster me.
"But what if you realise it's a mistake?" I asked finally deciding to ask the question, Maya and Carina shared a look as if they were sorry for what I had said but I tried to ignore that.
"We won't Bambina. If we didn't want to foster you we wouldn't have driven through the night" Carina reassured me just as Amanda came in.
"How are you guys getting along?" Amanda asked and I smiled towards her. Carina told her we were getting on fine and Amanda nodded, she said she would get the paperwork sorted and we would be able to leave after all the paperwork is sorted.
"Who is this then, do we get an introduction?" Maya asked to lighten the mood and I grinned, I was quite surprised at how fast I had warmed up to the couple and how much I had spokeb
"This is Misty, I've had her since I was a baby, apparently I was found with her and my blanket. I actually was found at your fire station, I was meant to know but I kinda looked at my files" I admitted biting my lip. Maya seemed like she knew that beforehand or after she had read my file but I might have been reading too far into this.
Ten minutes later Amanda called Maya and Carina to sign the papers and organise a home visit before we were allowed to leave.