1 1.

As the cab drove through the last streets before arriving at the halfway house I felt myself getting more relaxed to get back to my invisible life again. Funny, I never imagined this would be the place I'd long for.

Lisa, one of the workers on shift today, opened the door. The blonde-haired, golden-tanned worker greeted me enthusiastically as always. As I walked into the hallway to take the steps that led up to my room, a familiar face appeared from behind Lisa.

"Lilly?!"

Lillith heard me and we ran the few steps we were removed from each other and embraced each other. "What are you doing here," I wanted to know as soon as we parted from our hug.

"Guess what, I'm your problem once again, I live here now!" Lillith said and as we inspected each other Lisa looked at us, trying to figure out how we knew each other.

I turned to Lisa and then made sure I looked friendly despite feeling tired. "Lisa, Lillith, and I have known each other since we can remember, she's like family to me, is it okay if we catch up in my room?"

There were many rules in group homes, some made sense, but other rules were just plain annoying. One of those rules stated it was forbidden to be in each other's rooms. I knew this, however, sometimes exceptions were made, depending on the person working and circumstances.

Lisa looked from Lillith to me and back before she sighed and said yes, immediately we walked to my room and closed the door.

"So, tell me," I started while Lillith inspected my room.

There wasn't much to expect, most of my room was empty, the walls were white and the few clothes I did have were in the travel bag. I sat down on the windowsill, overlooking the graveyard while I waited for Lillith to answer me.

"Well, my aunt and uncle are still too busy trying to manage everything with the company and getting everything ready before starting the adoption process,'' Lillith admitted.

I met Lillith when we were five. While they lived in Versailles, her grandparents lived on the same street as mine in Amsterdam. While Lillith's older brother Jake was snowboarding in the snow behind my grandfather's place in Amsterdam I said hello to Lillith and my mother allowed me to play with her.

Ever since we have stayed friends, after Lillith's parents died we met again in the second halfway house I was placed in, this time in the United States, where her dad had family, Lillith and her brother were sent there so she was closer to the remaining family she had. This was the third group we found each other in and while Lillith told me what had happened in the meantime, l couldn't help but remember all that had led up to this moment.

When Lillith was done telling me about the time we were apart she wanted to know everything about me from the time we were apart.

"Well, after I was sent to the last group home, They started labelling me as a problem because of my anger issues, And after being here for a while I was sent to summer camp till today, honestly, I hated it there."

"How so?" Lillith wanted to know and seemed genuinely interested.

"Honestly, I feel like I'm not like the other girls. I have my period, but I still look like a child, I don't seem to have anything in common with the other girls and I just feel like an alien.'' It was harder to admit this out loud than I expected and Lillith hugged me as soon as I quit talking.

''You're beautiful Jade,'' she said in her native French tongue while we parted and she looked me in the eyes.

When we were young, we taught each other the languages we knew, since I was trilingual and she was bilingual, we had plenty of choices in what language we wanted to speak. Because of that, we always switched between languages, it was nice to have that with someone. 

Through the years, it was the only way we could feel at home anywhere, talking in our native tongues was the only way we could remind ourselves where we came from.

This year we would both go to seventh grade, our first year in high school. I secretly didn't know what to really expect, and neither did Lillith.

When it was bedtime we went to our rooms, Lillith had the room next to mine so we sat on our windowsills while we kept talking to each other till Lillith got tired. While Lillith went to sleep I was in my room. I've already read all of my books and forgot about how I felt this week at camp and this would be the start of a new chapter in my life. Even though I didn't know why, or how, our time at high school would open an entirely new chapter for both Lillith and me.

All of that was far away tonight, a few weeks in which we still would have summer vacation, living in the same house, we had all the time to talk by, and with Lillith here I felt less alone, less of an outcast. I felt a little hopeful even.

After we talked for hours I grabbed my diary and wrote.

When I finished writing I hid my diary under the floorboard under my bed, the spot no one knew. This was one of those nights I couldn't fall asleep, for hours I kept thinking about how the new school would be this year. I knew Lillith and i wouldn't attend the same high school, it was a pity, but at least we lived in the same house, I knew everything would be a bit easier because of that. 

While it sucked that her parents died in a plane crash and that she was separated from her brother, the both of us at least had each other for now. She felt like family. I was curious about what high school would bring us.