Rebellious {for Cam}
 

Nine year old Crevan sat in the backseat of a mid-sized sedan, gazing out the window at the scenery with a veiled expression in his celestial blue eyes as his social worker drove them toward their destination. Yet another foster home. How many did this make in the last two months since he’d entered the system? Honestly he couldn’t really even remember how many times he’d been shuffled from one stupid family to another, not that it really mattered all that much to him. Blowing out a frustrated breath he reached up and swiped at a lock of his unruly chestnut brown hair, the bangs on the right side long enough to partially obscure his right eye. The child himself was small for his age, appearing more around the age of seven and slender even for that age range. The boy was dressed plainly in loose fitting black pants and a black poet’s shirt that had been left loose at the throat since Crevan absolutely hated having anything tight around his neck. There were other such innocuous things that he hated but they were just quirks of his nature that he had long since learned to deal with.

Silence permeated the air but there was also a very palpable tension, neither of the car’s occupants really happy about exactly where it was that they were going but both with separate reasons for their displeasure. For his part Crevan was tired of dealing with people who claimed that they were out to help him yet were inevitably only in it for themselves since foster parents were paid a sum by the government for each child that they took in. As far as the social worker went she was thoroughly tired of getting call after call about her young charge, who had attempted to run away from foster homes on numerous occasions and had actually succeeded a couple of times. It was beginning to become difficult to find a home to place him in and she was at her wits end as a result.

Glancing back at the boy through the rearview mirror the blond woman said, in something of a stern tone of voice, “Now Crevan, I expect for you to be on your best behavior this time. We’re running out of homes in which to place you.”

“Oh that‘s so tragic,” Crevan said in a decidedly sarcastic tone of voice, adding a roll of his eyes for extra emphasis. To be completely honest he didn’t see the problem with this at all. As far as he was concerned it was good news.

The woman merely sighed and focused her gaze on the road ahead of her. Before to long they arrived at their destination, the social worker pulling the car into the drive and getting out, steeling herself for a battle before walking around to the back driver’s side door. Opening it she gestured for the boy to get out and, after a brief moment of rebellion, Crevan complied.

“I meant what I said Crevan,” the social worker said in a quiet and yet at the same time firm tone as she took him by the hand, something that shouldn’t have been necessary given his age but that she felt she had to do simply to keep him from running off. Taking another deep breath she led him toward the front door, ringing the doorbell and then stepping back to await a reply.

Crevan stood with his left hand shoved in his pocket while he tried to pull his right from the rather tight grip of his social worker. He wasn’t a little kid and he didn’t appreciate her treating him like one, as was evident by the scowl that he wore on his face. “Let go of me already,” he snarled in a decidedly unhappy voice, glaring at her through slightly narrowed blue eyes.

Dawn Stark, a thirty two year old single woman, opened the door to her modest but comfortable suburban home. In front of her stood an unhappy looking middle aged woman tightly holding the hand of a decidedly more unhappy, scowling little boy. She noticed the chestnut hair boy looking down at the hand that the woman was clutching tightly and quickly extended her hand toward the boy, which thankfully got the hopefully well-meaning social worker to let go. "You must be Crevan. My name is Dawn Stark and you can call me Dawn, or Miss Dawn, or Miss Stark whatever you feel comfortable with Crevan. Welcome to your new home, Crevan," she greeted warmly.

Dawn smiled as she waited for the boy to respond to her greeting. She was tall, an had an attractive figure where it was obvious that she took good care of herself. She had blonde hair, and sapphire blue eyes and was wearing a pair of black slacks, with a dark purple blouse. She had been looking forward to meeting Crevan, and was quite excited to finally meet him. She had been given a brief background on the boy, and knew that it wasn't going to be perfect between them right away, but she just knew that in time her and Crevan would be a small but happy, loving family.

Crevan's blue eyes went toward the woman who opened the door and he listened as she introduced herself, the scowl not leaving his face as he scoffed at her friendly introduction. "Yea, new home for the next few days...week...til you get tired of me or I get the heck out of here," the boy said in a decidedly disgruntled tone of voice, rolling his eyes. He wasn't going to act like he was happy to be here and although his social worker did release his hand as the woman offered her's Crevan made no moves to take it. Instead he put a little bit of distance between himself and both women.

"Crevan," the social worker said, a warning tone held in her voice. "Don't even think about running. I know you don't want for me to have to call the police again." Then, having given this warning to the child she turned her attention to the boy's new foster mother. "Hello Ms. Stark, my name is Pamela Wright and I'm Crevan's social worker. We spoke on the phone. I just wanted to let you know that if you have any trouble with him don't hesitate to call me." As she said this the social worker extended a business card.

"You'll wanna put that on speed dial," Crevan said sarcastically from his spot a few feet away. "It'll save time and hassle."

Dawn was actually quite shocked by everything that unfolded after she made her introduction to Crevan. She hadn't expected the boy to come running joyfully into her home, giving her a big hug and kiss on the way in, but she was not expecting him to snub her handshake or to speak to her so disrespectfully.

Dawn snapped out of her little trance only when the social worker introduced herself and handed her, her business card. "It's nice to meet you too Pamela," Dawn responded politely though she had no intentions of calling the woman. Dawn was nothing if not determined, and she had already told herself that she and Crevan were going to become a family and she firmly believed that if she worked hard at it like she did everything else in her life it would work sooner or later. Dawn furrowed her brow when heard Crevan's sarcastic comment and watched him back away a little. "I will not be getting tired of you Crevan, this IS your new home now and I think you will like it very much," she said suddenly speaking much more sternly than warmly although she was doing her best to ignore Crevan's disrespectfullness for the time being. "Why don't you come inside and I can show you the house and your new room. Do you have anything I can help you bring in?," she offered her voice becoming warmer again as she spoke.

The social worker nodded her head to the woman before once again turning toward Crevan, giving him a stern look that was meant to serve as a warning. "Remember what we talked about in the car Crevan. On your best behavior." This said she turned back to the child's new foster mother once again. "Best of luck with this one."

Crevan rolled his eyes once again at the warning. "I heard you the first ten times you said it, doesn't change anything." Smirking slightly to himself he said something else that was very unflattering to her but he chose to say it in Gaelic so that she wouldn't be able to understand what he said. Being that his oh so loving father, full sarcasm intended even in thought, was Irish he'd learned the second language from the cradle. At this point he turned his attention back to his new foster parent, picking up on the stern quality that her voice had taken on but not caring. He was used to worse since most people tended to raise their voices to him so he merely shrugged it off. "Oh you'll get tired of me, trust me. Everyone does. Not that I care, couldn't care less as a matter of fact, makes my life easier when people just leave me alone." He tossed a glare in the direction of his social worker as he said this even though she was walking away by this point.

Pamela walked back to the car and returned a few minutes later with a black backpack, which she handed to Crevan. "Here you are Crevan, now you behave."

"And that makes eleven," the nine year old said in an annoyed tone. "Just go away already." Deciding to completely ignore his social worker at this point Crevan turned back to his new foster mother. "I don't need you touching my things thank you very much. I'm perfectly capable of carrying it myself." And with that he moved to step into the house, once again muttering under his breath in Gaelic.

Dawn watched the interaction between Pamela and Crevan and just knew that the social worker's empty warning was only going to earn her scorn from Crevan. She could already see this boy was going to need actual consistently applied but loving discipline and unfortunately probably a lot more of it than she had hoped for. Sure enough Crevan answered Pamela with a snide remark, a smirk, and then some words in a language Dawn had never heard before. Dawn was quiet sure the only reason for that had been to disguise a probably very vulgar insult.

"Thank you," Dawn replied curtly when Pamela wished her the best of luck with Crevan. Neither of them sounded very sincere. Dawn noted the way Crevan easily shrugged off the sharp tone of her voice and this only confirmed the fact that she would have to back up all of her words with actions if she was going to get through to this boy anytime soon. She listened as Crevan told her that she would be tired of him, that everyone got tired of him, and that he didn't care and in fact preferred it that way so people would leave him alone. Dawn was sure the words were meant to discourage her from trying to parent him, but she took them as a valuable little bit of insight into Crevan's current mindset and mentality.

Even Dawn was a little annoyed when the social worker returned with Crevan's backpack and told the boy to behave yet again. Sure enough this only earned her more sarcasm and scorn from Crevan who then decided to grace her with the knowledge that he didn't need her touching his things and that he was capable of caring for them himself. "I never doubted your capability Crevan, I only wanted to help. We are a family now and families help each other," Dawn replied more evenly than warmly at this point. She then turned to Pamela. "Thank you for dropping him off, and I hope you have a wonderful day. I think I can handle it from here but I have your number just incase," Dawn said patting her pocket where the social's workers card resided. She could tell that Pamela thought Crevan was a lost cause and that she had no chance of taking care of him, but she didn't mind one bit. She had proven plenty of people wrong in her life and saw no reason she couldn't prove one more wrong.

Dawn followed Crevan inside of her home and closed the door behind her. "Have a look around Crevan. This is your new home." Dawn's house was moderately sized and would certainly be more than comfortable for two people. The house had a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a spare room that Dawn had made into a home office. All the rooms were fairly well sized and sparsely but smartly decorated.

Crevan came to a halt just inside the door as Dawn offered him the words that she only wanted to help because they were family and that's what families did. Scoffing once again he turned to gaze at her, his right eye partially obscured by the veil of his unruly hair. "I don't even know what family is so don't pretend that we are one." This said he turned and continued further into the house, not even offering a word of farewell to his social worker, whom he was more than happy to see depart. "That woman's an idiot," he stated, not even bothering to lower his tone in order to keep his new foster mother from hearing him. "Whoever decided she would make a good social worker was obviously defective in some way." There was scorn evident in his voice as the boy gazed around the house, and that was exactly how he regarded it. It was a house and not a home. Honestly he didn't expect that he'd ever have an actual home again.

"It's a house, nothing more... and I'll only be here for a short time." There was certainty to the tone of the boy's words as he said this, once again turning away from Dawn and casually walking around the house while at the same time shrugging on his backpack. It didn't take him long to give himself a tour of the place and he took special care to figure out where all the possible exits were. Being a somewhat renowned escape artist, at least as far as his social worker was concerned, he never knew when he might need to make a break for it.

Walking into the living room Crevan sat down on the sofa, still looking decidedly unhappy with his current situation. He didn't really like meeting new people and knew that this was just going to end the same way that it always did, with disappointment on one end or the other and a return trip to social services where his inept social worker would once again attempt to find someone willing to take in a damaged child. Glancing up he gazed at Dawn once again. "You can go away now. Your presence is no longer required." His backpack remained in place and it painted a picture of a kid who wasn't expecting to be there for very long.

Dawn did not so much as flinch as Crevan turned to her and told her that he didn't know what family was and not to pretend they were one. It only made her more determined to show him exactly what a family could be. She also ignored the comments he made about the social worker, as she couldn't fault Crevan for feeling that way after the interactions she had seen between the two. Of course Dawn knew that Pamela had a difficult job and was probably burned out, but she didn't expect a nine year old boy to think like that. Dawn still remained quiet as Crevan informed her home was nothing but a house and that he would only be here for a short time. His disrespect was grating on her more and more but she quickly reminded herself that it was part of Crevan's defense mechanism for all that he had gone through.

Dawn waited as Crevan did take a quick tour of the house and followed him into the living room as he took a seat on the couch. She took a seat on the armchair across from him as he quickly told her that she could go away and her presence was no longer required. Dawn gritted her teeth for a second but was careful not to display any outward signs of anger as she was sure Crevan would quickly feed off of it and try to press her buttons further. She also noted that he hadn't bothered to remove his backpack and she decided to show him that she wasn't stupid and could read the messages he was trying to send her, but that she wasn't going to go away so easily.

"Crevan why don't you take your backpack off. I'm sure you would be more comfortable without it on your back. And you might as well unpack your things after we have a little talk. I'm not going away no matter how much you may wish it for the time being. I want to offer you a one time chance to say whatever you want to me, without consequence, and I promise I will listen and not interrupt until you are done. All I ask in return is that afterward you will let me speak for a couple of minutes without interrupting me. Can you do that for me? Do we have a deal?"

Crevan frowned and fidgeted with the left sleeve of his shirt, which appeared slighlty to large for him and as a result all that was visible were the tips of his fingers. He wasn't happy when Dawn didn't take his not too subtle hint to go away and he glared at her through slightly narrowed blue eyes as she told him that he could take his backpack off since he'd be more comfortable that way. And that he may as well unpack his things, which was laughable since every single one of his possessions actually fit inside a hiking backpack. What was the point in unpacking them? Wasn't as though he was going to be here for very long anyway. "There's no point to unpacking them... they're stored just fine where they are." His voice was once again laced with sarcasm, a quality that it seemed to hold more often than not, but his insecurities and abandonement issues aside there were a couple of things that he didn't want her to see. Which was why his meager possessions were going to remain safely in his backpack where they belonged. The offer to allow him to say whatever he wanted without consequences actually made him laugh. "I don't have anything to say but you're free to go over the standard, run of the mill 'this is my house and you are a guest in it so you will obey my rules' rhetoric if you want. I really couldn't care less."

He'd heard it countless times before after all so what was one more time? He could just tune her out and pretend that he was paying attention to the words. Crevan had actually gotten fairly good at that over the few months that he'd been a ward of the state. "Let's see if we can break the record, currently it's nine hours. That's the shortest span of time that I've been with one of these so called families."

Crevan's voice took on a slightly contemptuous quality as he said this last word but there was just the tiniest bit of insecurity in the way that he was acting, the fidgeting with his sleeves and the way that his eyes constantly shifted around. He didn't really seem to like making eye contact with anyone as was evident by the way that he would glance at Dawn through the veil of his hair but not really focus fully on her. "Speak if you're going to speak."

While Crevan was busy being defensive, disrespectful, and dismissive, Dawn was watching and listening to him much more closely than the boy probably realized. She didn't let his disrespectfullness bother her this time, after all she had given him free reign to say whatever he wanted without consequences. She was able to pick out the subtle signs of insecurity in the very defensive little boy while she watched and listened. It actually saddened her to hear that a family had actually taken Crevan in and dismissed him in nine hours. She didn't understand how anyone who wanted to help a child and provide them a home could do that, but that was why she had turned to the foster system. She was not in it for the bit of money the government would provide her for it, but simply because she wanted to help someone who truely needed it.

Dawn simply nodded when Crevan told her to speak if she was going to speak. The first thing she did was to make the best possible eye contact with the boy that she could. "First of all Crevan this house is just as much your house as it is mine now. Your right when you say that I will make the rules and that you will obey them, but this house is just as much yours as it is mine. I know that you don't believe me Crevan and that it will probably be a longer time than I would like before you do, but I do want to help you and I do care about you even though I just met you. I'm not going to go over a ton of rules with you. I can see that you are a smart boy and that you know what is wrong and right and more or less what I expect from you."

"It's simple I expect you to obey, not be disrespectful, not do anything dangerous to yourself or others, and not to lie especially to me. If you can't do those things then I WILL discipline you. More often than not, that will mean a spanking. That was how I was brought up and I believe that to be the most effective way to discipline. I also want you to know that I am NOT going to go away, and I am NOT going to let you leave. I really hope that you never try to runaway because that is a dangerous thing to and this will always be a safe place for you whether you realize it or not. But if you do, I will call the police, I will come look for you, and it will NOT change my mind to send you back. All you will accomplish is putting yourself in danger and getting a spanking when you get home. I am your foster mother from now on whether you like it or not, and I truely want the best from you. I will always be willing to talk to you about anything, and I hope you know that you can always come to me for anytime of help if you need it. That's my "rhetoric", I believe you called it. But I am serious about being disrespectful toward me. I am not going to be disrespectful to you, and I won't have you being disrespectful toward me. Now I would appreciate it if you would unpack your things in your new room, but I will not force you to. Also if there is anything that you need or would help you feel more at home here, please let me know and I will consider getting it for you," Dawn finished by giving Crevan her warmest smile. She wasn't sure how Crevan was going to respond to her little speech, but she steeled herself to deal with the very distinct possibility that he would start by immediately challenging her authority to see how serious she was.