Page 1 of Bianca's Choice

1

Bianca Amato

Acool breeze hits my heated skin, but it’s not enough to cool me down. A bead of sweat rolls down the side of my face and I quickly wipe it away. I just ran three blocks to catch this bus on time to get to the other side of town to see my brother. I look around the packed bus and wonder what my life has come to. It’s not the fact that I’m riding a bus that gets to me, it’s why I’m on the bus to begin with.

A few months ago my parents died in a car accident. Well, I say accident, but it was completely their fault. They were driving drunk and swerved off of a bridge, plunging into the river below. They were found the next morning and pronounced dead at the scene. Even now I’m pissed at how irresponsible they are, but not surprised by it. They’ve always been more concerned with the happenings in their lives than what was going on in their children’s. I know they loved my brother and me, but it was clear they loved themselves more.

I graduated from high school a few weeks before the accident, but I was still seventeen. Alexander, or Alex as I call him, and I were placed in emergency foster care and a few days later were placed with Laurie, a single woman in her fifties who fosters several teens in her home at any one time. She’s nice and takes care of her foster kids as if they were her own. When I turned eighteen Laurie sat me down and told me I had to move out to make room for another kid to be placed with her. She was nice enough to let me sleep on her couch for a couple of weeks until I could find somewhere more permanent to stay.

For the last month, I’ve been staying with some of my friends of mine from school, but it’s not what I’d call home. They are constantly having parties where people are getting drunk and high. It’s not my scene and wasn’t theirs either when we were in school together. I need to get out of there, but it’s hard to do when I’m barely making ends meet at my new job. I guess I should be happy I even have a job, but I can’t help thinking how royally my parents screwed us. Now my brother and I are split up and I feel lost on how to reunite us.

The bus pulls to the side of the road and I hear the door screech open. I hop up out of my seat and walk off the bus into the heat. At least the summer months are behind us and it’s beginning to cool off here in Atlanta. I adjust my backpack and walk half a mile to Laurie’s house.

When I get to her door, I knock, anxiously waiting for her to answer. One of my biggest fears is she’ll turn me away and not let me see Alex anymore. So far, she’s been welcoming to me and I pray her heart doesn’t change.

“Bianca, Alexander has been waiting for you to get here,” She says warmly, opening the door for me to enter.

“Thank you,” I say walking in.

“Alexander,” she calls loudly. I can’t help but laugh quietly, he hates being called Alexander. He’s probably upstairs in his room like he usually is when I get here.

“How has he been doing?” I ask.

Laurie smiles. “Oh, you know how it is to be thirteen. He thinks he knows everything and is stubborn,” She laughs. “His grades are good so far.”

I smile. “He’s a smart kid. I can’t believe he’s already in eighth grade.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s a fighter and will get past this hurdle, just as you will.” She says, giving me a concerned look.

I nod, but I’m not sure I believe her. Being ripped out of your home is hard enough, but separated from the only family you have left makes it almost unbearable. Just then Alex walks down the stairs. The minute he sees me the irritated look he’s sporting changes and he runs up to me and picks me up, twirling me around as he hugs me.

“Hey, sis.”

I laugh and pat his back. “Hey yourself. Put me down before I get sick.”

He sets me down and gives me a goofy grin. “Sorry, didn’t know if you were going to make it tonight.” Alex is a big kid, a gentle giant of sorts. He’s already over six feet tall and almost two hundred pounds, and still growing. He’s going to be huge, just like our grandfather was when he was alive.

“Hey, I told you I was coming, didn’t I?” I say looking into his brown eyes.

He shrugs and it kills me to see him so uncertain.

“Ms. Laurie, do you mind if Alex and I take a walk?”

“Don’t be gone long. Dinner should be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alex and I say at the same time then look at each other and grin. Our parents were always strict when it came to manners and how we spoke to adults. Yes, sir. No, ma’am. Please and thank yous were mandatory in our house.

When we get outside we walk over to a bench that sits under one of the huge trees in Laurie’s yard. I unzip my backpack and pull out a new cell phone and hand it to him.

“What’s this?” He asks in wonder as he stares at the new phone.

“A cell phone,” I laugh.

Alex squeezes me tight. “Thank you, sis.”

“Don’t go thanking me just yet. It’s just a basic phone.”

Alex shakes his head as he starts fiddling with it. “It’s perfect.”

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