The homeless Secret

“I heard the new girl Jacklynn is homeless.” I froze in my tracks. Who said that? How did they know? Oh no I can’t let that get out, I didn’t want people to know what I did outside of school. I looked around, and saw the group of girls who had been laughing at me. “Oh there she is! Jackie, come over, we were just talking about you.” Briella waved at me. I put my head down and kept walking. I wouldn’t let her get to me, especially not about this. She had put me down so much over the past few years, she was the last person I would have wanted to know about my living situation. 

“I heard she ran away from her parents.”

“I heard her parents just left her on the street.”

“What's wrong with her?”

I could hear everyone's snickers, laughing at me, talking about how my parents left me, and I was put in the foster system and then was left alone again. I had no idea how it got out, I was always careful.

“So like she sleeps on the street?”

“How come I’ve never seen her around the homeless shelters?”

“How’d she not get found?”

“I knew there was something weird about her, there was always something… something off.”

“Ooh I can write about her in tomorrow's paper!”

 It wasn’t like I actually ever slept on the street, I almost always had some sort of a roof over my head, I was always hygienic, and I was hardly ever hungry. Usually I rotate sleeping over at friends, sometimes around work.

“Ew! She used to sleep over at my house!”

“I can’t believe I ever thought she was cool”

I rushed into the bathroom, ready to burst into tears. I was making it through, I was hardly struggling, but now everyone knows my secret. Some teacher’s going to hear and report me and I'll be put into the system again. It's worse than not having a steady home to go to every night. I wiped my tears and tried to clear my voice so I could talk normally. Once I had pulled myself together, I put my hood up and went to my locker. I only had one class left, science, but there was no way I could sit through a lesson knowing everyone else knew what I had worked so hard on hiding. I packed my bag and cleared out my locker. Time to vanish again. Everything I had really needed was in my locker, and it couldn’t be that hard to disappear. It might be hard to settle down again, but I would make do. Life was usually hard, and I would just have to accept it was my life. Maybe I could try to find a small town this time. Somewhere people won’t ask too many questions. I put the final little bag into my regular book, the few pictures I had hung on my locker door and the mirror. I gave myself a once over, imagining my life could be different for once. I shook off the feeling knowing it was a wish that would never come true. Once everything was packed up I headed to the front door so I could leave. I wasn’t sure where I was headed, I just knew I had to get out of here. I sped up, head down and stopped at a halt when I bumped into a tall figure. “Where do you think you’re headed young lady?” It was Ms. Sharke, the vice principal of all people. “Umm, well i'm not feeling too well so I was just going to head home.” I muttered. “Why didn’t you come to the office so we could call your parents?” I froze for a moment. “My parents are busy at work, but I told them I wasn’t feeling well so they’ll probably be expecting me soon.” I would try anything to get her to let me go without calling my parents. Then the authorities would really find out. “Does this ‘not feeling too well’ have something to do with that rumor going around about you Miss.Blake?” I shook my head and lowered my voice. “Just some bad period cramps.” I hoped that would be enough for her to just let me go, it has worked with some of my other teachers. “Then maybe you should come lie down in the office until your parents can come get you when school is over?” I was running out of excuses. “Please Ms, can I just go lie in my own bed? I'll be able to make some soup and feel better.” She continued to be persistent. I wasn’t sure how else I would be able to get out of this, if I didn’t listen to her and kept arguing, she would get suspicious, if I listened, my parents would never show up. Either way, I would get caught. I decided to argue a little longer. “but my parents are working late, I don’t think you want to stay back after school with me that long.” Ms.Skarke furrowed her eyebrows. “Guidance would like to talk to you as well, come down and talk to Mrs.Vadres and then you can leave when the bell rings. Deal?” I nodded, “Fine.” we walked down to the office, trying to straighten my story up so Mrs.Vadres wouldn’t question it and get me into the system. “Swing by the office before you go home.” Ms.Sarke led me to the door, “Don’t worry, we’re only here to help Jacklynn.” she proceeded on to knock, and then turned the corner to the office. I was greeted by the guidance counsellor moments later, who opened the door wide with a smile, pointing to a couch in her office as she greeted me. She closed the door and sat down at her desk, and spoke up before I had a chance to start my story. “How are you doing?” I smiled, “just fine,” there was a silence.

 “So what is the real story behind this homelessness rumor?”