Identity

chapter seven

(it already says it at the beginning, but just so y'all know there's a big time skip)

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Five months. Five months since that day. Six months since May died. And it's been absolute hell. The Millers had only gotten worse. They drank more and beatings were worse and more often.

He still missed May. It took about three months for the hollow feeling to go away. There were some mornings he couldn't even get out of bed. He got punished for that though. But it was a bit better now.

On the bright side, he was sixteen and he had just started his junior year of high school.

There were now eleven kids, including him. There was no one from when he'd first gotten here since they'd all been adopted, but all the new kids were nice.

He and Bella didn't text anymore though. They'd texted a lot for the first month she was gone, but it became less and less. Now they only ever texted occasionally, but Peter didn't mind. It meant she was happy with her new family.

When he woke up, he was greeted with the sight of four boys around him. There were still only three beds, but two of the boys were small, so they slept at opposite ends of the same bed. Peter still slept on the floor though.

He went to wake up the girls next. There were still only three beds in their room too, but they all decided to share them so they all got a bed too. These kids were a lot nicer than some there had been throughout the past five months.

One of the girls reminded him a lot of May. She had the same long, brown hair and kind eyes.

Pushing the thoughts out of his head, he focused on getting ready. He made breakfast for everyone, still being the oldest there, and they all left. The Millers were never seen in the mornings anymore, always too hungover to come out of their room.

The weather was starting to get cold again, but he knew he couldn't afford a new coat. Maybe, when there had only been five other kids, but not now when he was buying food for eleven again.

He dropped most of the kids off at the elementary school and continued the walk with Will and Max. They were in middle school and went to school right across the street from his high school. Just like Bella used to.

School was slightly less boring than it used to be. He had more fun classes and his teachers were nicer than last year. And even better: he didn't have to deal with Caleb because he moved. There were still some school bullies, but none as bad as him.

He talked to Spencer a bit in one of his classes, which was nice. There was rarely a time Peter got to talk to him anymore.

It was bad enough that Adam didn't talk to him anymore, but now he had to sit by himself at lunch too since Spencer sat with Adam. Usually, he went across the street to a park and ate there.

After school, he went to pick the kids up, dropped them off at home, and went to work. He cringed at his own thoughts. He called the orphanage home now, but it still felt weird even after six months.

The library brought him a sense of comfort and peace, just as it always had. He sat at his small desk on the far side of the building and started on another Bruce Banner book.

Technically, since Peter's job was to help people, he wasn't allowed to have earbuds or headphones in, but there were hardly any people back in this corner of the library, so he snuck them in any way. If someone did need help, it'd be fine: he could just take them out.

Work went by pretty quickly, as there were only a few people who needed help. Overall, it turned out to be an average Friday. Or so he thought.

He grabbed his backpack, putting all his homework and the book inside. He didn't take his headphones off though so that he could listen to music on the walk home. After zipping up his backpack, he threw it over his shoulder and prepared to leave.