Lucky Penny Read Online Free PDF Page A

want to.”
    I looked over at Penny from underneath the bill of my baseball cap. She seemed to shrink further into herself, wrapping her arms around her waist. She looked so broken. I hadn’t been happy about another girl showing up, but I didn’t like how sad she looked. I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat.
    “Bennett’s right, Amy. It’s obvious she’s upset, so let’s give her some space,” Jessica, the oldest girl, said.
    “Fine. Fine, I have homework anyway. Catch you losers later.” Amy stormed out of the room.
    Bennett and Jessica shared a look, and he said, “She’s getting harder to manage. Can’t you do something?”
    “Me? She’s not my responsibility, Bennett.” Jessica glared at him.
    “No, but she’s making too many waves. Derek and Marie will take this room away. They did it before, and they’ll do it again. And you know what that means. It means lockdown.”
    I glanced around at my foster siblings. Mase sat next to Bennett looking as comfortable as I was. Mia was sitting on the stained beanbag in the corner of the room watching the exchange between Bennett and Jessica. Peter hadn’t been allowed to come down since he was late doing his chores yesterday, and Penny was silent looking down at her hands clasped in her lap.
    If I were older, like Bennett, I would have stuck up for her or asked her if she was okay. Penny was new to the system; it was written all over her soggy face. Arriving at the Freeman group home was scary enough when you had been in the system for a while but arriving here as your first foster home—I couldn’t imagine how she felt or what was going through her head.
    “Fine, I’ll go talk to her.” Jessica glanced over at Penny and smiled sadly. “It’ll get easier, I promise. If you need to talk, I’m here. So is Mia, right?”
    Mia nodded like Jessica was her mom, and Penny lifted her head and managed to nod back. We all watched the two girls leave the den.
    “Okay.” Bennett smoothed his hands down his jeans and stood. “I’m turning in. Don’t stay in here past eight. They don’t like it.”
    Mase followed him but paused at the table. “Coming, Blake?”
    I rose and murmured that I was coming. Penny had dropped her head again, but it didn’t feel right just to leave her all alone. Not on her first night.
    “Actually, I’ll be up in a bit, Mase.”
    He shrugged and went after Bennett. There wasn’t a door hanging from the frame in the room, that wasn’t allowed, but once I heard Bennett and Mase on the stairs, I knew we were alone.
    My heart thumped in my chest, and I gulped back my nerves. I didn’t understand why I was being such a girl. She wasn’t going to bite; she couldn’t even look me in the eye, for Pete’s sake.
    “Hmm, hi, I’m Blake. Penny, right?” I asked, approaching her chair.
    She slowly lifted her head and sniffled. “Yeah. Hi.”
    “Sorry about earlier with Amy. She has a giant stick up her butt.”
    A small smile spread over Penny’s face, and I stood a little taller, puffing my chest out. I’d made her smile. Me. No one else had managed to make her smile.
    “That’s okay.”
    “No, no, it isn’t. She’s always like that. It’s because no one likes her.” I sat on the arm of the couch closest to Penny.
    “Okay, it’s not okay. Got it.” Her smile was gone, but she didn’t look so sad anymore.
    “It’s your first time, right?” Penny nodded, and her eyes teared again. “My bad, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
    Shaking her head from side to side, she choked out, “It’s not you. It’s, it’s been a sucky few days.”
    An idea sprang into my mind. It was risky, and Bennett would kick my ass when he found out, but it always made me feel better. And if there was a chance it would make Penny feel better, then it would be worth the consequences.
    “Hey, want to get out of here?”
    Alarm replaced sadness, and Penny’s mouth fell open like she was ready to tell me no.
    “I sneak out sometimes.