Chapter 22

Florence's POV

I was still curled up in Johnny's arms when I the fuzz came. I didn't want to look. I just closed my eyes and breathed heavily into Johnny's chest. I love what he smells like; it relax's me. "Ma'am, may we talk to you?"

"O-of c-c-course." I pulled away from Johnny and followed the cop. "Y-yes?"

"Are you okay, Miss..." He paused.

"Florence Matthews. I'm fine, I'm sort of use to it."

"Use to it?"

"Yes. Before I ran away my father abused me for years."

"Years? So, this isn't the first time?"

"No."

"What exactly did he do to you?"

"He pulled my hair, yelled at my friends and I. He slapped me two times and then tried to rape me before he hit me with a pan several times." It took him time to process what I just said.

"And how did you respond?"

"Well it was the first time I had fought back. I elbowed him in the stomach and bashed his head against my knee. He had put me in hospital several times and almost killed me! I wasn't going to let him do it again to me."

"How long have you been away from your father?"

"2 maybe 3 months."

"Okay, thank you. Who has been looking after you?"

"My mother but when she is at work my brother looks after me."

"How old is your brother?"

"18."

"Thank you. You may go now." I nodded and ran back into Johnnys arms. He stroked my hair which was now out of its plait. He wrapped his jacket around me again.

We were all sat on the couch. Me in Johnny's arms and everyone sat around us looking at me sympathetically. Two-Bit was talking to the cops in the kitchen. They were quiet until Two-Bit started yelling. "No! You can't take her away! Our mother is looking after her! She's happy here!" It was silent. "No! I won't let you take her! Her family is here! She has friends here! Her life is finally better and you and all your other idiots are going to ruin it for her!" I stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

"Flo, go back into the other room." Two-Bit was queit when he spoke to me.

"No, I want to know what's going on?"

"Florence Matthews, I'm sorry but you will be taken to a care home for girls."

"You what?" I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"You are going to stay in a care home until everything is sorted and we have a place for you stay."

"I do have a place for me to stay. Here."

"You legally belong to your father so you can not stay here. Atleast not until you have a place to live." I started crying.

"I'm not going and you can't make me." Just then a cop came down the stairs with my black duffel bag.

"I got some clothes packed."

"What do you think your doing?!" Soon the whole gang was behind me with Johnny's arm around my waist and holding me tight.

"You have to come with us." He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of Johnny's arm.

"No, I'm not going!" He started to drag me out of the house and I pulled back trying to get away.

"Where are they taking her Two-Bit?" Johnny's voice cracked and he had a stray tear roll down his cheek.

"Can I atleast say goodbye?" He looked at me.

"Fine." He let go and I ran into Two-Bits arms.

"I'll find away to get you out of there, I promise, Flo." I started to cry again. I walked over to the guys and gave them all a hug. Then I walked to Johnny last. I started to take off his jacket. 

"Keep it. Until I see you again. It will remind you that you still have a boyfriend back here and you can't fall in love with any other boys you see." I laughed a little bit and jumped into his arms. He kissed the top of my head. 

"I love you, Johnny."

"I love you too, Flossy. Don't foget me and stay away from other boys." I laughed and pulled away. I cupped his face and kissed him. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Time to go." I nodded and kissed Johnny's cheek. 

"Bye, guys." I smiled and walked out watching my feet as I did so. I pulled Johnny's jacket further around my body. It smelled like him and I loved that. As I climbed into the car. The gang came running out waving at me as the car started up. I laughed through my tears and waved back. Blowing kisses at all of them. 

"You sure do love them, don't ya?" The cop tried to start converstaion.

"Yeah, I really do and they love me."

"I can tell. You won't be in the care home to long. Atleast a month at the least. We have contacteed your mother and she says she will do anything in her power to get you in her custody."

"Thank you." She smiled at me.

It took us an hour to get there. When we got to the care home there were 4 girls waiting outside along with an older woman who looked like she was in her 40s maybe even her 50s. "Well we're here, Florence. This is going to be your new home for a while."

"I wouldn't call it a home. More like a building for unwanted children."

"Don't speak like that. This is a very lovely place, I'm sure you will grow to like it."

"I'm sure I won't." I smiled then got out of the car with my bag. I looked at the house. It was painted white with the paint peeling off and had vines growing up the side. It looked like ones of those old fashioned buildings that were used in the victorian times. I walked down the cracked steps with the officer behind me. 

"This is your newest addition, Florence Matthews. You won't be staying here long. A couple of months at the most." I just stood there and examined all the girls. They all seemed younger than me and they were stood in height order. The smallest looked about 3 years old and she was dressed in plain blue pyjamas and had her thumb in her mouth. The next one looked about 5 and was wearing a denim dress with stripy tights with black flats and her hair was in blonde hair was in pigtails. The next one looked about 9 and she was wearing a blue and white stripy dress with a flower on one of the straps, she was again wearing black flats and her hair red hair was in plaits with ribbons tied at the end. The next one looked to be about 13 and was wearing a pink and black polk-a-dot skirt with a pink top that had bows around the neck line. She was wearing pink flats this time and her hair was in neat ponytail with a pink ribbon. "Welcome Florence to our home. We will al be very welcoming. My name is Mary and this is Sophia." She pointed to 13 year old. "This is Maria, Rebeka and Jessica." She pointed to each girl. "You will be sharing a room with Sophia." She had the biggest smile on her face.

"Hi." I had no emotion on my face or in my voice.

"Lets all go inside and Sophia can you show Florence to her room for me please, darling?"

"Of course, Mary. This way, Florence." She grabbed my hand and ran me upstairs. She opened a wooden door and walked in. There were two beds, one on either side and had matching covers. They each had a bedside table again matching. And some draws wich were also matching. She still had a hold of my hand. "Please, let go of me." She dropped my hand and ran to one bed which I was guessing was hers. I walked to other bad and threw my bag on the floor and flopped down on the bed. She gasped. "What?"

"You have shoes on your bed and you threw you bag on the floor."

"Oh well."

"But it's messy." I laughed.

"Shoot, kid. This aint messy you should see my house, now thats a mess." She giggled a little bit.

"You speak weird."

"That's 'cause I'm a greaser."

"What's a 'greaser'?" I laughed.

"I greaser is someone who has no money. They don't wear nice clothes, they wear jeans. They rob places and beat people up. They smoke and drink at the age of 9. You parents beat you and tell you you're unwanted. You get drunk and sometimes you don't go home for a week or more. We get taken to jail and the fuzz think we are no good. In other words, I'm a JD and a hood." She was staring at me with her mouth wide open. I laughed.

"Can you teach me how to be a greaser? All we were is dresses and have to be polite and proper."

"As long as you're willing to get in trouble, I'll teach ya the grease way and you can meet my buddies. Now there are some real greasers." She smiled at me.

"Thank you so much." She came over and hugged me. I was shocked at first but hugged her back.