Crap.

That's what I feel like. Crap. After getting home from the furniture store, I stormed to my room. One look at the calendar sent whatever happiness I might've had sailing into the unknown.

I don't feel bad because Caylen got his face attacked by a headboard. He's actually really proud of that bruise. I don't feel bad that Shauna had to pay for the headboard that attacked Caylen's face.

April 3rd. Yesterday was Jill and Preston's birthday. They were so excited to be teenagers, and they had to wake up to my absence. And I didn't even tell them, I didn't visit, I didn't call, I didn't even remember. I'm a horrible person.

But I'm also a very confused person. Shauna said I'd be going to school on Monday. And go shopping on Monday (which she probably doesn't want me to do now). I'm also wondering why none of us are in school.

I quietly walk to Lenny's room, where Rob and Shauna are unboxing the bed frame. I'm a little embarrassed as I ask, "Uh, Shauna? Why aren't we in school?"

"I forgot it was a teacher in-service day. You're going tomorrow."

"I'm sorry for today. Everything."

She sighs and stands up, her eyes meeting mine. "I'm sorry too. I overreacted."

"I have something to ask you...."

Her gaze hardens a little. "What?"

"Yesterday was my best friend's birthday, and I left without even telling her. Would it be possible to go visit the orphanage...?"

She sighs sympathetically. "I'm going to have to trust you, Natalie. If I say it's okay, you can't die, and you can't expose the agency."

"I'll have to try extra hard on that first one."

She smiles. "Take Caylen with you. You should try not to handle agency-threatening situations alone."

"No problem. I'll have him run there with me."

"Don't stay too long. Be back by 2:00 o'clock."

"Okay then."

She turns her attention back to the bed, and I leave the room calling, "Caylen! We're leaving!"

"I know!" he answers from somewhere in the house. "I was eavesdropping!"

I laugh out loud. It feels good.

At the door, Lenny holds it open for us, and says, "Don't come back, runts." I walk out before I can smack him. The door slams shut behind us.

Once we're outside, he says, "So we're running?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"Maybe."

I giggle and start running. I hear his footsteps as he catches up with me.

"Natalie? Isn't the orphanage on the other side of town? How long will this take?"

"Oh, half an hour."

His eyes bug out. "No! I can't! The only sport I've ever done was pranking!"

"Really?"

"Yes." He's wheezing for breath already.

We keep running all across town, with Caylen complaining that he can't breathe the whole way. He made me take a least fourteen breaks, which was hard, because I couldn't wait to get back to the orphanage. I wanted to get some sort of birthday gift, like Jill did for me, but I have no money.

I reach up and feel for the earrings she gave me. With a sinking feeling, I realize one is missing. It's probably traveling through the criver.

Finally, we arrive at the orphanage, Caylen gasping for breath. He must be exaggerating at least a little bit, or I've truly begun to kill him.

Slowly, I approach the door, but Caylen rushes in front and repeatedly pushes the doorbell.

"Caylen!" I try to scold him, but it's so funny, I laugh instead.

Cathy opens the door and sees me. "Natalie-!"

But Caylen interrupts with, "You got any water?!"

Cathy laughs. "Natalie made you run, didn't she?"

"I didn't think he would die!" I protest.

"Come on in," she says.

Inside, I finally see Jill, who runs and traps me in a big hug. "Natalie! What the heck?"

"Happy birthday, Jill!"

She grabs my arms and interrogates me. I wince because of the bandaged stitches and she looks toward it. "Double what the heck! That wasn't there before!"

"Yeah, um, minor cut," I say. Cathy smiles at that statement before leaving the room. She must think it's normal.

"Yeah!" Caylen says. "I heard her whole arm was dripping blood!"

"Who are you?" Jill asks. "When did this happen? Why is your face damaged?"

"Jill," I say, "slow down. This is Caylen." I stop to think. "I cut my arm early this morning and he almost got killed by a falling bed frame later in the morning. No big deal."

She blinks, but then calls, "Preston! Guess what?"

Preston rounds the corner, and his five lights up when he sees me. I'm not sure how he'll react, because he isn't one to get overly excited, unlike Jill.

"Hey! Why didn't you tell us you were leaving?"

I gulp. "I was scared. Oops."

"Natalie!" Jill exclaims. "Your earring is gone!"

"Um, yeah. Sorry. It decided to take a trip with no return."

I hear a weed whacker turn on outside and quickly shut the door. So many things could go wrong with that.

"Should we go for a walk?" Jill asks.

"No," I say, not wanting to die. Shauna specifically told me not to. I could already see the weed whacker flying at my face once I step outside. "I can only be here for like twenty minutes. Caylen took most of the time trying to breathe."

Jill gives Caylen the death glare and he says, "Speaking of which, I am going to go find the kitchen!"

"What did you get for your birthday?" I ask once Caylen walks down the hall that leads to places other than the kitchen. He'll find it eventually.

"I got a super cool package of nail polish! And Preston got some kind of fancy calculator."

"Yes!" Preston says. "It graphs coordinates and-"

"Not again!" Jill complains. I laugh, not really wanting to hear about the calculator, either.

"So tell me how you cut your arm," Jill says. "I'm not concerned for that kid's face anymore."

"Come on!" I say. "He's so cool!"

"Sure," she says sarcastically.

I tell her the story of how I went for a run and then fell in the creek, only I leave out the part about the boy who saved my life. Something is odd about him, almost sacred. I don't need her making fun of me for being in love, which she would totally do.

I ask her how she's been, and it's hard to believe it was only Saturday that I last saw her. It feels like longer. Probably because I've been in so many different places in the last couple of days. The orphanage, Wendy's car, the new house, the woods, the bottom of the creek, the hospital, the furniture store, stuff like that. Jill tells me we don't need to talk about her, and she wanted to hear about my family, and why I didn't have a going away gathering. I simply describe Rob and Shauna, only I don't tell her that Rob is the same man from the lake. I tell her that they didn't want to have a ceremony because they were picking me up so early. Luckily, she seems to believe it's all normal.

Caylen never really come out of that hallway, so I excuse myself to go look for him. I venture down the hallway and I find him walking out of a bathroom.

"What were you doing?" I ask.

"Well, I couldn't find the kitchen, so I took advantage of that sink. I was about to drop when I found it."

I roll my eyes and ask, "What time is it?"

He looks at his watch. "1:45. If we're going to get back by 2:00 we should've left."

I sigh and go back to hug Jill and Preston goodbye, and then we proceed run back home. Caylen doesn't ask to stop, probably because he knows Shauna will be irritated enough that we're not on time, and he doesn't want to make it worse.

When we get back, we're twenty minutes late, and I just hope Shauna doesn't notice us walk in.

Turns out, we couldn't walk in. The door was locked. I knock and knock, but no one answers. I ring the bell, but all I can here are the sounds of a drill coming from Lenny's room. I see a movement in the corner of my eye. Lenny stands in the window, sticking his tongue out at us.

The little brat.

"Caylen!" I say. "How do we get in?"

"I don't know! I have no keys! I can't get my security pass code until I'm eighteen!"

Behind me, I hear a weed whacker turn on. What? Something's up. I turn around and across the street, in the nasty yard of a house that I would have sworn was abandoned, is a guy whacking at weeds.

"Caylen, we need to get inside. Now."

"Tell me about it! No one's lived in that house for ages! He could be an evil man!"

We desperately bang on the door and yell and yell, but to no avail. No one opens the door. So we continue to make a racket until a girl's voice yells, "What are you doing?!"

We turn around and Caylen says, "Krista! Help! We're about to get kidnapped!"

Krista. That was the girl from Family 1 that Wendy told me about. She has brown hair, dark eyes, and she looks a little older and much more mature than me.

"Chill, guys," she says. She approaches the house, then pulls out a key and unlocks the door. Caylen and I frantically run inside, slamming the door in Krista's face.

But only a second passes before I open it and yell, "Go back home before the weed whacker kills you!"

Krista gives me a look that implies she's decided I'm insane before I slam the door in her face again. But really, I've just almost died to many times today. Maybe I'm just overthinking things, and that man was innocently whacking the weeds of an abandoned house. But I'm not ready to take any chances.

I can only hope I survive my first day of school tomorrow.