Post by Aly on Jun 6, 2014 13:06:14 GMT -8
"Knock, knock!" Frank was the only counselor that said he was knocking and barged right in, rather than actually knocking and asking for permission. If he wasn't one of the sweetest guys TJ'd ever met, and if she didn't think of him like a father, she might've at some point told him how obnoxious it was.
"What?" she asked instead, twisting around in her wooden desk chair. Frank plastered on a thick smile and stared at her, hand on his round belly.
"I have news," he announced a little hesitantly, leaning on the doorway that needed to be re-painted two summers ago. TJ's stomach sank a little further in her body.
"What kind of news?"
"Good and bad."
"And?"
"Dennis is leaving tonight." At Chamberlain's, it wasn't very common for anyone to go as quickly as they'd come. It wasn't an adoption agency. It was a place where kids had to go when their parents fucked up and wound up in jail or rehab of some sort. More often than not, the kids got released when they were eighteen before their parents were okay to parent again--or they ended up in juvenile hall for acting out due to lack of Mommy Love.
"His dad was the murderer, right?" TJ asked with furrowed brows. He was supposed to be executed.
"New evidence cleared his name, so Dennis is going home." This must have been the bad news, because even though the two of them never hit it off, she didn't hate the guy. And he'd only been here for a month, while TJ was stuck here with the others for...well, for her, another month.
"And the good news?" she asked tentatively, looking up to the dark-skinned sweetheart. His grin became genuine.
"Guess what I got approved!" He flashed a piece of paper around and stepped into her room fully, crouched and ready to accept the giant hug he was expecting. She didn't move, though, and merely stared at him. "Your job-thingy. You wanted to work. The supervisor says it's okay!" Frank got the hug he was expecting, but truth be told TJ had to force herself to. It was exciting and good, yes, but she knew the only reason why it got approved was because in a month they couldn't say no. The supervisor was a bit of a power-hungry bitch, and liked things to be only on her terms.
That, and, it was a bit difficult to get a job at seventeen when you literally had no experience doing anything. She might have had the ability to work, but that didn't mean anyone would want her.
"What are you waiting for?" Frank asked, pushing her away. "Get dressed! Go hit the pavement and fill out some applications!" TJ attempted to smile, and he accepted it.
"Thanks."