Don't Give Up On Me ✔

Chapter 5 ~ Star Trek you idiot

Lucas' POV

Today is finally Thursday. Hayden, Nick and I need to talk to Beth about staying with Isla this weekend. Who is Beth? Beth is the caretaker at the foster home that me and my two best friends live at. Hayden, Nick and I met each other in a different foster home while we were in seventh grade. The foster home was in a different state and I wanted to eventually get back to my home state. The foster home we lived in at the time didn't want to foster three teenage boys. They said that we caused too much trouble, but in reality, they like most and prefer younger children. My case manager knew I wanted to go back to my hometown, so she started talking to people there to see if there was a foster home that was willing to take me. When Beth heard my story and found out about Hayden and Nick, she welcomed us with arms wide open. Nick and Hayden were glad to be moving far away from where our previous foster home is, even though that is both of their hometowns, but that is a story for another day. I was just thankful that I would have my two best friends by my side and was able to come back home. This town has always been my home. While I have some sad memories about this town, some of my best memories were made here too.

We've been with Beth for a little over four years now. She is like a mother to me. She'll never replace my mom though. My mom was a great lady, but she became sick. Treatment didn't work, and I lost her at the end of my sixth-grade year. My dad couldn't handle the grief of losing the love of his life. He started drinking, and was in an accident one night. He was killed instantly leaving me with no one in this world until I met Hayden and Nick.

Our new problem is that now that Nick, Hayden and I are eighteen, Beth no longer receives funding from the government to care for us. After we turn eighteen, we are supposed to leave her care, but she received a very large anonymous donation over the summer. She could have used to upgrade the house, but instead used it on me and the guys to be able to keep up living with her for a little while longer. Beth is trying to keep us with her until we can finish our senior year up. While the money is helping her out a ton with our expenses, she is receiving a lot of pressure to let us go so she can accept three other children that need a place to stay. Beth can foster up to six kids, so us staying is taking the spot of three other kids.

This is also part of the reason why the school has given us the title of 'bad boys.' We are not the 'bad boys' that everyone thinks we are. They think we are mysterious, but the truth is we don't want anyone to know that we are in the foster system. We moved here at the beginning of summer before our freshman year. We were hanging out at the beach and kids from the school saw us and rumors started immediately. Some said we were just released from juvie. Others said that we had moved here because we had been expelled from every school in the area that we previously lived. There were rumors that we were in a gang, we killed someone, did drugs, fought, and beat people up just for the fun of it. We should have probably put a stop to the rumors, but we figured it was better to let people think what they want to think than to know the truth. The girls were instantly drawn to us. We would constantly reject them, but they never stopped. Then they started telling each other that we slept with them like it was some prize to hook up with one of us. Sure, we flirt and occasionally we make out with a girl if we're at a party, but I haven't slept with anyone and neither has Nick or Hayden. I have my eyes set on one girl and one girl only, Isla.

"So, who wants to tell Beth that we will be staying with a friend this weekend?" Hayden asks.

"I think Lucas should tell her since it was his idea to stay there all weekend." Nick grins.

"Fine, I'll tell her." I tell them. "It's not like she's going to say no." I hope she won't say no.

We walk inside and our greeted with the wonderful smell of chocolate chip cookies. We walk into the kitchen where Beth and the other three kids who live here are sitting.