I fell in love with a nerd

Chapter Two - Get a grip, Melissa

Melissa P.O.V.

I set my book bag in the corner of the room and went to sit on my sleeping bag. I glanced around the room and prayed that the weather man was wrong about the predicted rain for tonight. The roof leaked and every time it rained I feared that this place would fall down around me. Would anyone mourn if it did? What a stupid question? Nobody would give a damn, well, actually my foster parents probably would because then the checks would stop coming in. They didn't know where I was currently staying and didn't care as long as I showed up for the monthly meeting with my social worker.

Rebecca Watson wasn't a bad person and as a social worker went, she was the best one I'd had so far. I had thought about telling her everything that I knew about the Payne's, but every time I thought about it, I instantly nixed the idea. If I told them how Roland and Wendy Payne treated their foster children, then I'd be taken away and who knows where I'd end up. I was tired of moving. I was tired of changing schools. I just wanted to turn eighteen, graduate, and be free of the system. Once I turned eighteen I'd be able to make decisions for myself and nobody could dictate where I went. As soon as my birthday came, which was three months away, then I'd tell Rebecca the truth about the Payne's.

I'd been living in this shack for a several weeks now and on dry days it wasn't so bad. On wet days, I just reminded myself that the alternative wasn't worth it. Moving and meeting new foster families wasn't fun, especially when the next just seemed to be even worse than the previous. I didn't want to chance meeting anyone worse than the Payne's. Just then though, hearing thunder in the near distance, I wondered if I was making the right decision. Shaking my head at my own despair, I began working the floor board up, where I stashed my belongings. I pulled out the trash bag that I kept my clothes in and pulled out my work uniform. I slipped it on and put everything I owned back inside the trash bag, including my book bag and sleeping bag. If it rained, this whole place would get soaked and I didn't want to have to sleep in a wet bag again.

I stuffed my belongings below and replaced the board, before leaving my temporary home. I barely made it, the six blocks to the diner, where I worked five nights a week and weekend mornings, before it started raining. Don's Diner wasn't a bad place to work. Don Dillinger seemed to have a soft spot for me and always made sure to send food home with me every day. I really appreciated it and I didn't make bad tips. I kept my money in a zip lock baggy underneath the same floorboard, at 'my' house. I knew it wasn't the safest place in the world, but I couldn't risk carrying it with me and I didn't trust anyone else to keep it safe. I was saving up for a new wardrobe. As part of the foster system, my college would be paid for. I felt a kind of bad that I just got an education handed to me, while others had to work for it. That's why I'd worked my tail off, over the years, so that I could feel like I'd worked for it too.

I couldn't wait to leave this life behind. I was ready to go to a new place, where I knew nobody and I could be anybody. I didn't have to be the poor urchin that I was anymore, because nobody would know my story. For all anybody would know, I'd had a normal childhood with two loving parents. Nobody would know that my real parents hadn't wanted me. I didn't even know who my father was and my mother left me at the hospital when she was discharged, after delivering me. If mom had just put me up for adoption, I'm sure a nice family would have stepped up. When she just dropped me off, I got stuck in the state system. It was a mess and I've been bouncing around in foster homes, my whole life because of it.

I'd only been at work for an hour when the bells over the front door chimed with new arrivals and I glanced up to see if they would sit in my section. I froze and waited, praying they'd chose anyone's section but mine. Of course, my prayer went unanswered and I watched Jacob Kline sit down across from Brittany Hodges. I may not have been a part of their crowd, but the whole school knew that they were an on-again-off-again item. Brittany was the head cheerleader, so it was only fitting that she would hook up with the Quarterback. She had bleach blond hair, big boobs, and a bitchy attitude to match. Why were people like that always the most popular? Wouldn't people rather hang out with someone more real than that?