Isla's POV

I type in the address 2124 River Rose Lane on my phone and follow the directions to get there. I arrive at a beautiful two-story brick house. I park my car in the driveway and make my way to the front door. For some reason I am more nervous than I expected. I ring the doorbell and I am soon greeted by a beautiful woman who is in her late forties.

"Hello." She says cheerfully.

"Hi, I'm Isla Camarillo. I spoke to Ms. Owens over the phone."

"Yes, that's me. Please come in." She says ushering me into the living room. "Please call me Beth. Would you like something to drink? I have tea, water lemonade..."

"No, thank you."

She looks at her watch and sighs. "I'm so sorry Isla. They seem to be running late."

"It's okay. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions while we wait?"

She gives me a warm smile. A smile that reminds me of my mom's. "Of course, you can ask me some questions."

"How many kids do you care for here and what are their ages?"

Her smile drops a little. "Well, I am permitted to foster up to six kids. I have six kids. All six are boys. The three oldest are eighteen. You will be meeting with them. The younger ones are eight, ten and eleven. I am not sure how much longer the three oldest ones will be here though." She is no longer smiling. "Like I said the three oldest are eighteen, they are not considered adults by the state. I no longer receive funding from the government to help cover their cost. Plus, the state wants me to let them go so I can foster three more younger kids. Honestly if it wasn't for a donation that I received recently I don't know how I would be able to keep them here." Tears start streaming down her face. "I've never been a foster parent for the money. I love each and every kid that comes through my door. I don't want to just kick them out because they're eighteen. Once a kid enters into my home, I keep them until they are either adopted or age out. I won't kick a child out just because they have bad behavior. I understand that this must be difficult for them. Every child I foster, I treat as if they're my own flesh and blood. That is why I'm doing everything in my power to at least keep the oldest three here until they graduate high school. I don't understand why the state doesn't understand that age is just a number. How are they supposed to afford housing and worry about high school?"

Hearing Beth talk about her foster kids breaks my heart. They don't deserve to be thrown to the curb. Beth seems like an amazing foster parent. She really cares for her kids. Not all foster homes are like that. I give her a hug. "You sound like an amazing foster mom." The front door opens and in walks three guys that I didn't expect to see.

"Sorry Beth for running late. We didn't...." Lucas stops mid-sentence when he sees me sitting next to Beth.

Lucas' POV

Beth starts to introduce us. "Boys, this is..."

"Isla." I say before she has a chance to. What the hell?

Beth looks shocked at first. "Umm... yes. She's the young lady I was telling the three of you about."

I grit my teeth. "Beth, would it be okay if we talk to her in private?" Beth seems hesitant at first but agrees and then walks upstairs to help the younger ones with their homework.

"What are you doing here? Did you already know about us? What are you playing at Isla?" I growl.

Nick and Hayden both look pale, and for a moment Isla looks scared. She stands up to face me and stutters, "Wh-what do you mean? I'm not playing at nothing. I-I had no clue about the three of you."

"I don't believe that for one moment, Isla." I say while grabbing her arm and forcing her to sit on the couch. "You don't know what it's like to live in foster care, to have a parent not want you." I growl.

"Don't go there with me, Lucas. You know nothing about anything." She whimpers.

"Your parents are dead. You weren't given up." I don't know why I said that. I am so stupid, but she doesn't understand. She doesn't understand the pain of having a parent treat you like trash and just throw you away.

"Dude, that's enough. You need to calm down." Hayden pushes me away from Isla. What is he thinking? Doesn't he know what could happen if word gets out that we're in foster care?

"Do you know what everyone will say and think if they find out that the three of us are in foster care?" I question him. "She's writing a report on this for college. Everyone is going to know the truth about us."

"Does it really matter if people know the truth about us?" Hayden asks. "You're scaring her."

I look over at Isla, the girl that I've loved for as long as I can remember. Hayden is right. She is sitting trembling with tears flowing down her cheeks, but instead of caring for her, I'm full of rage. "What about us? What will happen to us when people find out about us?"

"He's right." Nick says quietly. "This will ruin us." Nick looks torn between agreeing with me or Hayden. Hayden is beyond pissed off with me, but I don't care. I don't want to have to explain myself or my story to anyone. If I want people to know about my life, then I should be able to tell them if I want, not have them find out about it through some stupid essay.

There is so much tension in the room that you could slice through it with a knife. After what seems like hours Isla stands up and walks over to me. I can see the pain and hurt in her eyes, but I can't seem to worry about her at this moment. "The three of you don't have to worry about my essay. I wasn't going to write it anymore."

She turns to leave, but I am still fueled by anger, just can't seem to help myself. "Of course, not. You never needed too. You can afford to go to whatever college you want. You have all money in the fucking world." Yep, I just inserted my foot into my mouth.

This seems to strike a nerve with her because she turns around and glares at me. "You're just like the rest of them Lucas." She laughs humorlessly. "I actually thought you were a decent person. I didn't believe any of the stupid rumors that people say about you. I didn't think you were a bad guy. Keyword Lucas, didn't, but it seems like I was the one to be fooled. You and Chelsea would be perfect for each other. Y'all only worry about what others think about you. Well guess what? You don't have to worry about what I think of you, because let me tell you what I think of you. You are an insensitive jerk. Please don't worry about me anymore. I want nothing to do with you. And for your information, I would never tell anyone something about you that you didn't want them to know. As for me being able to get into any college that I want because I have money, I didn't want to buy my way into college. I wanted to earn my way, but that doesn't matter anymore anyways. I now have the responsibility of raising my sibling instead of being able to go to college."

She grabs her stuff and starts making her way to the front door. She turned to look at me once again, "I hate you Lucas." She hates me?

Beth walks into the room as Isla is about to leave. "Leaving so soon, Isla? Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Isla tries to put on her best smile, but I can see right through it. "Thank you, Ms. Owens, but I must get home. Thank you for your time and I wish you the best." I watch as she walks out the door and gets into her car. She's trying to fight back the tears, but it's no use. I fucked up.

Before anyone can say anything, I run upstairs to my room. As I lay down on my bed, Hayden barges through my bedroom door. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He growls as he pulls me up by the collar of my shirt. "Why the fuck did you do that to her? Why the fuck would you mention her dead parents? They haven't even been buried yet. I thought you loved her. If that's the way you show love, then you have a real fucked up concept of love."

I shove Hayden off me. "We have kept it a secret for the past three years that we are in foster care. We don't need someone screwing it up our senior year."

Hayden looks like he could kill. "Screwing up?" I'm caught off guard as he punches me in the nose. "The only person who is screwing up anything is you. You screwed up Lucas. You just hurt the girl that you are so called in love with. Any chance you had with her you just lost." He lunges for me again, but Nick grabs him before he can get a hold of me. "Why would you do that to her? Don't you think she broken enough without you needing to break her more? What makes you think that she would ever betray yours or any of our friendship?"

Nick releases Hayden. "You need to calm down Hayden. Lucas is just trying to protect us."

Hayden looks at Nick in disbelief, "Seriously? You're going to take his side? Fuck both of y'all. It will serve y'all right if she never talks to either of you again. Who give a fuck if people know that we're in foster care? It's not a lie. I'm not ashamed of it, but I guess y'all are. Well guess what. I'm done with both of y'all."

Hayden walks out of my room and slams the door. "I'm not saying I fully agree, but I get it." Nick says sitting beside me. "I do think you were a little harsh with Isla. I mean she's been through a lot recently."

"Nick, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want to be alone."

"Fine, but if you want to talk you know where to find me." Nick says before exiting my room.

Fuck. What did I just do? Hayden is right. I just screwed up with Isla. I don't know what I was thinking. Isla wouldn't harm a fly. She cares too much about people and I just threw her dead parents in her face. I was scared, but instead of trying to talk to her I yelled at her. Oh, Isla please forgive me.

Isla's POV

I don't get it. Why was he so mad? I've never been afraid of Lucas until today. I had no clue when I set that meeting up that I would be meeting with him and his two best friends. I had no clue that he was in the foster system. I thought he was a good guy. I feel so stupid. Everyone was right. He is just a complete ass.

I pull into my driveway with tears still streaming down my face. There is no way to hide this from Kaira, but I can't tell her the truth. I keep my promises and I told the guys I wouldn't tell anyone, even though Lucas was an ass about it.

I walk into my house. Kaira has already put my brother and sister to bed. "Hey how did your meeting.... Wait, are you crying? Isla, what happened?"

Trying not to cry, "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything. Do you want me to call the guys and have them come over?"

"No." I hiss. "I never want to talk or see them again."

Kaira grabs my arm in the exact same place that Lucas had grabbed. I yelp in pain because it has started to bruise with how hard Lucas had a hold of me. "Isla what happened? Just tell me. I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

"I don't want your help. I don't want help from anyone. Just leave me alone. I was better off alone. I was better off with no friends. Friendship hurts a lot worse than being bullied." I cry. Kaira tries to hug me but I pull away.

She looks surprised. "Isla is that what you really want?"

Without looking at her I answer her. "Yes, Kaira that is what I really want."

Kaira sighs, "Well, if that's what you want then I'll leave. Maybe the real reason you don't have friends is because of yourself. Maybe Chelsea is right. Maybe I am wasting my time trying to be friends with someone who doesn't want to be friends." Venom laces her words.

"Get the hell out of my house!" I howl.

She throws her key at me and runs out of my house. I shut and lock my front door, then I slump down on the floor and cry. What is wrong with me? I just lost all four of my friends in a matter of hours. What did I do to deserve all of this? I lost my parents and now my friends. I sat against my front door and cried for hours until I had no tears left. When I check the clock it's two in the morning. I make my way upstairs to my bedroom and lay on my bed. I'm so exhausted that I don't even bother to change out of my clothes. I let sleep overtake my body. Tomorrow is my parents' funeral, and I will now be facing it without my friends. I don't know how I'm going to make it through tomorrow, but I'm too tired to think about that now.