“I’m a future hair stylist, I don’t even fucking need high school. They’ll give it you if I drop out.” I whispered, the guilt eating at me as I lay there, my long arms cramping from being folded tightly under my head for hours. It was the only semi-comfortable position to be had.

“You leave tomorrow morning Shane. And you’re still underage. They wouldn’t let you quit if you wanted to.” She bit out, pulling her holey blanket over her head, and I knew that was that. I had no way out of this.

I stayed up till the shy rays of sunlight replaced the silver shadows around me before getting up silently, reaching for my towel from where it hung from a hook on the door. The frayed and tattered ends caught on it, and I had to yank to get it free, the tarnished silver set of hooks clattering against the wood loud enough to make me wince. I heard Papi sigh from under her covers and cursed fitfully under my breath. Today was gonna be a great day.

Shuffling down the hallway I tried not to wake anyone else as I snuck into the four-stall girl’s bathroom and into one of the curtain-less showers. It took me two minutes to douse myself in shampoo and soap, then rinse it off with water that hadn’t come close to warming up yet. In winter it was the reason for all my colds, but I didn’t mind so much now in the middle of a West Coast August. I only partially dried myself off as I skidded to a stop in front of one of the mirrors, surveying my skinny form. My shaggy black hair had grown almost down to my shoulders since I’d chopped it last summer, though the ends had held onto the feathered spikes I’d cut them into. The purple circles under my eyes really hadn’t diminished much in the nearly eight years I’d been here, but the weather meant they sent us outside a lot more, and a light tan helped to cover them up some. As I brushed my teeth and ran a comb through my hair I wondered what it would be like, leaving the only place I’d ever been that had involved the word “Home”. Would everyone be from planet Trust Fund? Was there a Starbucks in the cafeteria? As much as I’d gotten to dealing with uppity bitches who looked down their noses at me, I wasn’t too excited at the prospect of spending the next nine months of my life living amongst them. Not having a rec room full of ratty orphans to come back to at the end of the day was gonna suck, much as I hated to admit it.