Parking Lot Kids

Chapter 6: Chiquitita

Senior Year: Summer of Senior Year/Move In Day

Remus

The summer spent at the Lupin's house was a new experience for me. The family had money. Loads of it. Hope Lupin was an up and coming artist. Her art decorated the hallways, walls in almost every room and every shelf that had space for it. She was proud of her work. Lyall on the other hand did not make art, but instead promoted it and showcased it to hundreds of people each day. That's how they met.

During my first week at the house, they told me almost everything about themselves in hopes I would reciprocate. They probably were taught to do this from the book they hand out at the foster parent 'meet and greets', "How To Get Close To Your Foster Kid". I have learned all the shitty tips and tricks from my years of bouncing around the foster system.

But it didn't make sense. If they had more than enough money, why did they take me in? Was I just some exotic creature to show off to their fellow rich friends, or were they trying to make themselves look like upstanding citizens? It was frustrating constantly worrying about the why.

If Linda could hear my thoughts, she would tell me, stop being dramatic! Let the damn couple love you! But I wasn't dumb. I was a hotheaded boy that was less than one year away from being 18. An official adult that the state didn't need to care about anymore. If this couple really wanted to have a family they would have gotten one of the thousands of younger kids that are more suitable to start a family with. I was not.

The fortunate outcome of this situation was I had my own room. I finally had a place of my own, a place to sleep in silence. The quiet felt uncomfortable and unusual at first compared to Mrs.Penny's house, which had a total of 13 kids, but it became the new norm for me. It allowed me to play the music from my shattered phone (which the Lupins offered to replace, but I denied) out loud, and allowed me to read pages and pages of my books.

As August rolled around, the question of school came up. My grades weren't the problem. In fact, my grades were strangely exceptional. It was my explosive temper that gave me the record of detentions, suspensions, and even one expulsion that made schools wary of admitting me.

The last couple of weeks of summer was spent with countless interviews with school boards, the Lupin's desperately trying to defend my case while I sat there mute. Part of me did feel bad for being a burden to them, but I was a lost cause. I couldn't even defend myself.

It was late August, when Lyall brought up the idea of homeschooling. It was immediately shut down by Hope. I wasn't supposed to hear or see the argument but I couldn't sleep that night. From what I could see from my hiding place around the corner, things got pretty heated between them. Hope kept bringing up the point that I needed other kids my own age to interact with, while Lyall was hopeless I would get accepted into any schools especially, since most school years were starting soon. The argument died down eventually, but the tension was still palpable. They came to the conclusion that if I was not accepted in any school by the end of next week, I was to be homeschooled.

I was racked with guilt. I felt like I was ruining this couple's marriage. Maybe I didn't know why they had taken me in, but I vowed to myself that night I was going to make things easier for them. Throughout the next week, at every interview I promoted myself as the "Reformed Delinquent". A teen who finally had trust in himself and started acting his own age.

It was three days before the week had almost come to an end when Hope got the letter that I had been accepted to Hogwarts. I wasn't as thrilled as the Lupin's were when she had ripped open the letter. To me this was some rich ass bullshit school, where I was going to be forced to board with spoiled snobs. I was not going to fit it in.

The rest of my summer break was spent preparing myself to live in a dorm room for a whole school year. Buying school books, school uniforms, and other tacky shit for this tacky school. Lupin's kept encouraging me to buy decorations and other stuff for my room but shit was expensive, and I didn't want to be in debt to someone when things went south. They always did.

Moving day came and all my new belongings were packed up into Lyall's gleaming silver Audi. We were one of the first families to arrive at Hogwarts or as I like to call it, "School of Entitled Douchebags and Daddy's Money". I thought the books and uniforms were bad, but the school itself was a whole other level of tackiness. It looked like some castle that witches and wizards lived in. Some dumbass fantasy shit.

To go along with never ending tackiness, Lyall and Hope both felt the need to help me move in. They moved all my luggage into my dorm and even started to unpack some of the suitcases and fold my clothes into a dresser. Eventually the time came for them to leave, so I walked them out to their car. As Hope opened the passenger door she quickly turned around to me, and gave me a tight hug. She let go, and for the first time I saw someone who looked proud at me. "Goodluck Remus," She smiled proudly. "If you ever need to talk to me, you have my number! See you in about a month".

Ah, yes, how could I forget? The monthly therapy sessions I have to attend with Hope and Lyall. Another shitty tip from the foster parent guide book. I kept myself from rolling my eyes and waved goodbye to them.

This was going to be a shitshow.