Who Are You?

“Kellin Quinn Bostwick,” The woman at the front desk called, not even glancing up from her paper to see if I was there. I stood up reluctantly, walking over to the middle-aged woman. She had a floral patterned dress on with thick kitty glasses, a chain holding them around her neck. “Are you Kellin?” she asked, with a sneer on her overly-lipsticked mouth.
I nodded silently, holding the duffel bag containing everything I owned. “Over there,”
She pointed to a woman and two kids that looked about my age; one boy, one girl. “Um, w-what about them?” I asked nervously, and hating the way my voice faltered. The woman rolled her eyes, apparently thinking I wouldn’t notice. “Go with them,” I glanced back at the three, and skeptically crossed the room to them. The kids looked me over, the boy obviously judging everything about me. “Are you Kellin Bostwick?” The lady asked, eying me. “Quinn,” I said, automatically correcting her and instantly regretting it. “Excuse me?”
I shied away, afraid I had offended her. “Um, I pref-fer Quinn,” I repeated meekly, getting a steely glare in response. “Whatever, let’s just go. Where’s your stuff?” I cringed, embarrassed that I could fit everything I owned into one bag. “This is everything,” I explained, staring at the floor. Her hand snapped my head up jerkily, forcing me to look at her. “Look at me when I’m talking to you Kellin. I expect manners of you,”
She pressed her lips into a tight line when I didn’t answer. “I also expect you to answer me,” she said harshly. “Y-yes ma’am,” She gave a quick nod of approval and then turned on her heal, the two teens following after her obediently. I followed them too, to a large, black van, and got in behind the two kids. The ride to wherever we were going was completely silent, the three of them ignoring my existence.
We arrived a half hour later to a large, mansion-like house, painted a pristine shade of white with navy blue shudders. I followed them out of the car and inside, awkwardly standing on the step just inside of the door. “Nathan, would you please take Kellin to his room? He’ll be sharing with Victor,” the woman—who still hadn’t given me her name—said and stalked off though another french style doorway. “Come with me,” Nathan, called and ran up the grand staircase in the middle of the foyer. I went after him hastily, nearly running into him on the landing. “Watch it,” he threatened and continued up the right side. The stairs split into two wings, both leading to separate hallways. There were doors all down the length of it, coming to a stop with a single window and then continuing right to connect to the left wing.
Nathan stopped in front of the last door on the right, motioning for me to go in. I did as instructed and opened the door, a boy looking up from his bed at the sound. “It’s your lucky day Victor,” Nathan said tauntingly to the boy and slammed the door shut behind me, making me flinch. “Don’t call me that!” Victor shouted and lay back down on his bed. “Um--?” I really had no idea what to do now. I was so used to being bossed around all the time. Victor looked up, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Who are you?” he asked and sat up, tossing his ipod onto the bedside table. “K-Kellin,” I squeaked, silently cursing myself.
Victor chuckled and leaned his arms on his thighs. “Well, K-Kellin, I’m Vic and the first rule of this bedroom is that if you ever call me Victor, I’ll beat your face in,” My eyes widened at the threat, already very intimidated by him. He was attractive; chocolate brown eyes and straight brown hair, with smooth, olive colored skin. He was gorgeous, and I caught myself staring at him.
“Okay,” He nodded his head a little and then pointed behind me. “That’s yours,” he said in a much softer tone than before.
I spun around to look at the little twin sized bed that was pushed up against the opposite wall.
“We have to share a dresser though. You get the four right drawers,” I nodded and set my bag down on my bed, sitting down after it. “You don’t talk much?” I shrugged in answer, kind of proving his question true. “Not really,”
To be honest, I had just never had anyone to talk to. I was always alone, so I only spoke when spoken to and that was rare. “Did Ms. Harper explain anything to you?” Vic asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “Is that her name?” He grinned and nodded. “Yeah, so I take it she didn’t tell you jack shit, huh?” He shuffled back, leaning against the wall his bed was against. “She just said that I had no manners and to look at her when she talked,” I explained. “Yeah, she’s a bitch to put it lightly. And don’t feel bad, she hates everyone but her own kids.” I already didn’t like Ms. Harper, and Vic’s explanation over wasn’t doing anything to help her.
“So how old are you?” Vic asked thoughtfully, the first person to give interest to me in a long time. “Sixteen…but everyone thinks I’m younger,” He smiled and nodded at that. “You do look really…um, innocent? I’m seventeen, by the way. Do you know why you’re here?”
I thought about why the last foster family had given me up. I always ended up doing something wrong. I was either too moody or too quiet or too something. I couldn’t help the fact that I was fucked beyond repair. I was never going to be their “perfect son”. The last couple dragged me from my home town in Oregon to San Francisco, where they lived, and expected me to be happy about it. They also wanted me to be this cheerful, bright kid, that would do chores and win medals for them to show off; they honestly had another thing coming if they really thought I’d play sports. “Kellin?” I looked up at the sound of my name, remembering that I wasn’t alone. “S-sorry, I zoned out I guess. Um—I was with a foster family. They moved me here, realized that I wasn’t what they wanted and dumped me with social services.” He gave me a sympathetic look.
“Yeah, fosters are the worst. Especially when you’re a package deal,” he said. “You have siblings?” I asked, knowing exactly what he meant, and getting a small nod from him.
“My brother Mike; he’s fifteen, and I refused to let them take him away from me. So we’re both here,” I frowned, sad to hear that. “I’m sorry,”
Vic waved me off, apparently not one for other’s pity. “It’s whatever. I just can’t until I turn eighteen and I can get him the hell out of the system.” I secretly wished that I had a sibling. Maybe then I would talk more and I wouldn’t be so alone all the time.
Someone beat on the door loudly, the sound resonating through the small room. “C’mon in Hime,” Vic called, a slightly short, Mexican boy walking through. His hair was spiked up wildly, a thick streak of blond through the left side of it.
“Hey Viccy, heard you got a roommate,” he said and fell down next to Vic. “That’s because all you do is gossip,” Vic said and scooted over to make room for him. “Jaime, that’s Kellin, Kellin, Jaime,” I smiled at him, getting a grin in return. “You’re cute,” he said bluntly and pulled his legs up onto the bed. I blushed and looked down at my hands; I was sure no one had ever called me cute before.
“Hey, aren’t you on dinner patrol?” Vic asked Jaime, smirking. “Fuck that, they know what time dinner is. Besides, I have better things to do than to remind all of them when to eat,” Jaime complained. “Kellin, because you don’t know, meals are on the hour. Nine, two, and six, and if you’re late, you don’t eat.” I nodded, not really surprised by the harsh rules. It fit Ms. Harper’s persona perfectly. “I’m not really hungry,” I admitted. “That’s okay Kellin. Vic’s got the place stocked. You can always eat something later.” Vic grinned and slid off the bed, walked over to the closet, and knelt down inside of it. He pulled out a large crate full of snacks and sodas, tipping it a little to show me. “Is that allowed?” I asked in disbelief. “Of course not, but Ms. Harper has no idea, and there’s no way she can find out.”
I had to admit: I was impressed. “If you get hungry, take whatever you want. I don’t mind.” I smiled and thanked him, crossing my legs under myself on the bed.
“We’ve got about ten minutes until dinner,” Jaime said, checking his phone.
“Oh, um, there’s no talking at dinner,” Jaime warned. “Why? That seems like a stupid rule,”
Vic snorted. “They’re all stupid. We just have to obey or be punished. And we have tutoring on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. But lucky you; it’s Thursday. And we already had lessons. Ms. Harper will probably have book ready for you on Tuesday.” I grimaced. School had never been a positive thing for me and I wasn’t looking forward to having at home classes either. Mostly because I always got bullied; even if there wasn’t a reason. “I’m gay,” I said bluntly, catching both of their attentions. It was quiet for a minute, the tension hanging thickly in the air, and making my heart race. “Okay,” Jaime said, breaking the silence. I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “You don’t care?” I asked incredulously.
Jaime shrugged and glanced at Vic, who was standing now, the closet shut. “We should head down to dinner,” Vic said, eerily calm and left, without waiting to see if we were following. “What’s wrong with Vic?” I asked, terrified that he would hate me now. “Don’t worry about it Kells, it’s just a touchy subject for him. Are you coming to dinner?”
I shook my head, not wanting to eat at all now. “Alright, but seriously, don’t take it personally. I’ll see you later, okay?” I smiled at him and lay back on my bed, hearing the door close. I sighed to myself, staring up at a thick crack in the ceiling. What if Vic hates me? I should seriously learn to keep my mouth shut. I just—people always found out anyways; it seemed like a better idea to just get it out there, but now I regretted it. Fuck my life. ~

Vic ~
Kellin couldn’t be gay. He just couldn’t be. Jaime shot me a look from across the table. I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to get a lecture from him. The silence was always awkward and tense; no one wanted to interrupt it though. Ms. Harper looked around the table at each of us with a cold glare, only smiling when she looked at Nathan and Sandra. I fought the urge to tell each of her falsely-perfect children to shove it, and waited for her to start our prayer. The three of them were the only hard-core Christians, but she made us all participate in before meal prayers. “Everyone, join hands,” she ordered and waited for all of us to do as she said. I let Tony take my right hand, and Jenna the left; she twined her fingers through mine. Ms. Harper closed her eyes, expecting everyone else to as well, and everyone did; except Jaime and I. “You hurt his feelings,” Jaime mouthed. I glared and did the same. “You know why I feel weird about it.”
“So what if you’re both gay?” he mouthed back. “I just—what if I end up liking him? Then what?” Jaime rolled his eyes. “Then maybe you’ll be happy for once?” he suggested. “Or maybe I’ll end up fu—,” I got cut off by the prayer ending. Jaime grinned in triumph and picked up his fork, scooping it into his mashed potatoes. “Where’s the new boy? What’s his name—Calvin?” I rolled my eyes, just before she looked at me. “Victor, he shares your room, correct?” I nodded and took a bite of my food, chewing and swallowing as she spoke.
“Where is he?” she asked. “He wasn’t feeling well and decided to skip dinner. And his name is Kellin,” She made a face and looked down at her plate. “Alright, no talking,” Jaime rolled his eyes this time, a little smile playing at my lips. We ate in the same uncomfortable silence as every other night, and then we were dismissed to our rooms.
I thought Kellin was asleep; he was curled up in a ball on his side, headphones in his ears. A little whimper passed through his lips. “Kellin?” His eyes shot open at the sound of my voice, and he sat bolt upright, wiping a tear off his cheek. “Uh, Vic—sorry, I didn’t know you were, um, when did you--?” My eyebrows knit together unhappily, having found him crying. “What’s wrong?” I asked and went to sit on the edge of his bed. “N-nothing, I’m okay,” he lied and fake smiled at me. “It’s not because of me is it?” He probably thought that I hated him. He didn’t say anything, proving what I said, and looked down at the sheets. “Kellin, I don’t hate you for being gay. I’m just—wary, I guess? Kellin—Kellin, I’m gay,” I told him, watching as his head snapped up, large, pretty green eyes focusing on me. “W-what? I thought--?” I shook my head, smiling a little. “Yeah, so, don’t worry about me being homophobic or anything. I just have issues.”
He nodded slowly, staring at me intently with this confused little look on his face. “Okay?” I smiled at him and walked to my bed. “Yeah, okay,”