Chapter Sixteen

I can't believe you got fired.

I could feel my face heating up with embarrassment and shame as I shoved the small box of my personal belongings in the back seat of my car. I could feel my stomach churning with anxiety and the back of my throat burning with the threat of tears. What am I going to do? This was not how I thought my day was going to go when I woke up this morning.

I collapsed into my front seat, hesitating a moment before I drove home. I pull out my phone and check my bank app. I have enough in my savings to pay my bills for the next three months. Other than that, I have the paycheck I got last week, and will have one more coming in a couple weeks. I breathe out a shaky breath. It's okay. I've got this. I've been in worse situations before.

I think back to when I first decided to leave my foster family.

I was seventeen, no money, no idea what I was doing. I had just bought my first car, the one I still had today. I had been saving up cash from my job I had after school as