Third Person Point Of View

"Aurora you know you're not allowed to sit at the table wet," Agatha, Aurora's caretaker, said as Aurora came in drenched from the rain. The table at the kitchen was overcrowded with foster kids eating dinner.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'll go change."

She gave Aurora a look of disappointment as Aurora rushed upstairs.

Aurora quickly towel dried her hair and slipped into comfortable sweatpants and a hoodie in her small, damp room. When she seated herself at the table, the kids were busily eating. Some little kids flicked food at each other subtly across the table and giggled. A few adult supervisors looked painstakenly bored as they fed themselves.

Fingers gripping Aurora's thigh made her jump, she looked up to see the shaggy blonde haired boy beside her.

"I can make you wet at the table," He said.

"Dustin," Aurora hissed, moving away and giving him a look of confusion and discomfort.

He was a few months older and came in two months ago. He hopped around homes a lot, as he kept getting kicked out for trouble. She hoped he would be leaving soon, as he always insinuated sexual things that made her uncomfortable.

"Maybe later, princess?" Dustin smirked upwards, freckled nose crinkling with suggestion.

Dustin had never touched her and Aurora prayed he never would, so she didn't even entertain his comments but looked off with a scowl of disgust. It still terrified her to her core. Maybe she would just lie and tell him she had a boyfriend now, Arlan, so he would leave her alone once and for all.

"I have a boyfriend," Aurora murmured.

"What?" Dustin said under his breath, spitting out a laugh in disbelief, making her flinch. "No you don't. I don't believe that," He said, giving her a look of disgust.

"It's true, I met him at school. He gave me a ride home," Aurora timidly continued. "So you have to leave me alone now."

"That's why you weren't on the bus today."

Aurora nodded.

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, stabbing his fork into his chicken with agitation.

He was upset, which meant part of him might've slightly believed her. This was good. Then she looked down at her plate, and she sighed as her heart sunk. Chicken. Aurora loved animals. She would research videos of animal rights on her computer in her free time to bring her peace and comfort. She thought maybe one day she'd be a veterinarian. She constantly asked for vegetarian meals, but to no avail.

"Um, Agatha?" Aurora looked to the head of the table to the older lady.

"Stop it!" Agatha said, prying apart two young twins pulling each other's hair. When they huffed and sat down, she looked Aurora's way.

"Yes, Aurora?" Agatha deadpanned, no emotion in her eyes.

"I-I...I still want to go vegetarian. I feel bad eating meat."

"Dear, you know we've talked about this. The cook makes dinner for everyone, he doesn't take special orders," Her wrinkled face showed no sympathy to the young girl.

"I know...I just feel bad," Aurora lamely countered.

She knew there was no winning in her argument but sometimes she just couldn't help but try.

"Well, what should really make you feel bad is if you were on the street with a newspaper for a blanket with nothing to eat!"

Aurora felt her face pale at Agatha's sharp tone.

"I'm sorry, you're right," Aurora quickly said. She was already in trouble for being late and drenched in rain, she didn't want to make matters worse so she began to eat the chicken.

"So what's your boyfriend's name?" Dustin asked through a forkfull of rice, busying himself eating and not looking at Aurora. Clearly, he was pissed off.

She felt her face get hot. She was not good at lying and felt herself getting choked up. Aurora poked around at her food, refusing to respond. Dustin let out a small, sick laugh.

"Full of shit. What's your shift tomorrow? I wanna see you at work."

"Why? Dustin, you can't keep coming in. I'm there to do a job," Aurora dropped her fork and looked at him exasperatedly.

Dustin constantly barged in at the small cafe and deli Aurora recently had been hired at. It was like he was stalking her, the way he sat at the counter for hours. It was distracting and made her anxious at work, and harder to focus on her tasks. Wasn't living together and going to school together bad enough?

"Yeah, well, you've been taking extra shifts and I barely see you 'round, Rory. It's like you're avoiding me, it hurts my feelings," Dustin replied dramatically, hand over his heart. "Aren't we family?"

I am avoiding you. I'm avoiding this place altogether, Aurora thought, frustratedly, to herself. She inwardly cringed at the stupid nickname 'Rory' he occasionally called her. She hated it.

At her silence, he shifted closer to her and dipped his head low to hers, and eyed her intimidatingly, making her stiffen. She wouldn't look at him.

"What are your hours," It wasn't a request, it was a demand from his quiet, yet serious, tone.

She swallowed nervously, looking at him. His brows arched over his hungry blue eyes. One single brow ticked up just slightly, expecting an answered.

"4:45 to close," Her voice was breathy as she gripped her fork anxiously.

His mouth crawled into a smile that made her skin crawl.

"I'll be there for my half and half."

Aurora pulled back from her chair.

"I've got a lot of homework," Aurora breathlessly told Agatha, lifting her plate.

Agatha was never in the mood to argue unless a rule was broken, she was never in the mood to pay attention to Aurora period, so she let Aurora leave early. After setting her plate in the sink, Aurora clambered up the stairs to her room, hugging her waist.

Finally finding solace, she collapsed onto her twin mattress and rubbed her eyes. It was only 5:30, and yet she found herself dozing off.

A tug on her sleeve three hours later startled her to wake up.

" 'roura, 'rouraaa," A small voice squeaked.

Rubbing her eyes, Aurora found 6-year-old Dacie tugging Aurora's sweater sleeve, story book in hand. Dacie's large and deer-like, docile brown eyes blinked quite sleepily as she adjusted her night time plats.

Dacie idolized Aurora as she truly believed she was the Disney Princess Aurora, and requested Aurora read Dacie sleeping beauty every night. It was unfortunate that a sweet little girl like Dacie was in the system to begin with, so of course Aurora went along with it. Just on time, at 8:15, Dacie had her Sleeping Beauty story book, stuffed pink monkey, and onesie on.

"Aurora, you gotta read to me! It's 8:20! Ten minutes til ni-night."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Aurora cleared her throat and tried to wake herself up, rubbing the corner of her eyes. She patted the bed.

"Come sit, sweet girl."

Just then, the lights made a buzzing sound and flickered, making Dacie jump and squeal.

"It's alright, it's alright," Aurora cooed, wrapping her arms around the small, quivering girl. After a few more seconds, the lights stopped flickering and stayed on.

"When are they gonna fix that, Princess?" Dacie whimpered. "It scares me. Sometimes it happens in my room too..and the kitchen."

"I don't know, Dace," Aurora sighed sadly. " We don't have a lot of money here."

"Can't you use some of your Princess money?"

Aurora smiled genuinely. She had already planned to use some of her work money to buy Dacie a new stuffed monkey, since hers was quite tattered.

"Oh, I've got my Princess money saved up alright. Now, come here and let's read. I could use a fairytale myself."