me and billy grin as we watch a cop car pull up to the pawn shop we were in front of, the door of the shop open and the alarm of the shop is going off. as billy walk towards the cop car, snow crunches beneath his feet as he walks on it, snowflakes falling around him. once the car has stopped, two cops get out, one female and one male.

billy steps forward with a fake smile. " holy moly it's the boys in blue."

" we are so glad to see you." I speak up and move to stand besides billy and he nods in agreement and glances back at the shop.

" we called as soon we saw." he said as he looked back at the cops who looked at us suspiciously then back at the shop.

" they're in there." billy says, pointing towards inside of the pawn shop. the male cop looks at the shop then back at me and billy.

" you two stay here." he told us before walking inside of the shop, the female cop following behind him as me and billy turn around, he goes over to stand by the door and I just stay where I am and put my hands on my hips.

" it's the police." the male cop says as him and the female cop walk further into the shop.

" I saw him hide back in there." billy adds, pointing towards the door that was closed in the back. the cops look back at him and glance over at me as if for reassurance that he was telling the truth.

I nod in agreement. " yeah, the guy should be in the back. "

the two cops continue walking back into the shop towards the closed door, getting ready to draw their guns out. " it's police, were coming in." the female cop said.

" open the door, it's the police!" the male cop added as the female cop opened the door only to find no one in there.

she looked back at the male cop with confusion. " there's nobody here." the male cop stared at her and looked inside of the empty room. " wait a minute." he starts to say.

" it's just a closet." the female cop told him.

" you really bought that, huh?" billy asked with a blank expression on his face and I smirk.

just as the two cops look over at him billy looks back at me and winks and I guess that was the signal. he closes the door to the shop quickly and runs over to the police car and gets in to look for information about his mother as I rush over to the front of the shop and jump, getting the gate of the shop and bringing it down to lock the two cops in the shop and ignore their protest.

once I get it all the way down, I put the lock in place with my foot and look at the two cops that rushed up to the window and were still trying to get me to open up the door. I send them a smile and wave. " skye! I think this is it, c'mon!" billy calls out to me.

***

soon me and billy are standing in front of a house, the weather was so cold that you could see our breath in the air.

I glance over at billy as he practices what he is going to say to this woman that could be his mother. he sighs and glances over at me. " maybe this isn't gonna be her. we - we should just go, all the other ones weren't her so why would this one be her?" he asks and hearing that makes my heart break.

I grab the hood of his red colored jacket he always wears as he starts to turn away and I turn him back around. " you're doing this. I didn't just help you lock up two cops in a pawn shop for nothing. " I point at him.

he sighs as he looks at me. " what would I do without you?"

I shrug my shoulders. " you would probably be running from house to house asking every woman if they lost a son however years ago - " I start to say but stop seeing the look he was giving me. " oh, you're serious." I mutter.

then I smile at him and put a hand on his shoulder. " honestly, I don't know. I don't know what I'd do without you either batson, were a team remember? we don't exactly do good when were separated." I say.

he smiles. " that's true. all right, I can do this. this is nothing. this will be just like the other times I tried this, right? expect maybe this one is her." billy tries to convince himself, but I could see the doubtful look behind the hope that was show in his eyes and I just smile, trying to encourage him.

" now, go get 'em tiger." I say and give him a little shove. billy takes a deep breath as he stares at the house.

" it's me.. billy."

FLASHBACK

I can remember the day it all started like it was yesterday. it was me, my mom, billy and his mom spending the day at the carnival together. we were at one of the games where you threw a dart at a balloon and won a prize if you hit one.

billy kept saying how he wanted the tiger plushie after his mother kept missing the shot. his mother seemed distressed but always faked a smile. it worried me that something was wrong. I didn't really want anything since I already won myself a koala plushie that I still have to this day.

I waited with my mother near by the game place and watched as his mother finally hit a balloon, a grin forming on my face. I tug on my mothers hand I was holding, signaling her that we should head back over to them. " billy! whatcha get?" I ask excitedly and he showed me this compass thing. " that's so cool!"

he looks up at me with confusion written on his face and a bit of happiness in his eyes. his face read how is a key chain cool? " really?" he asked.

I nod. " yeah, it's more useful than this." I say, gesturing to my plushie and he looks back at the compass keychain in his hand, the smallest smile playing on his lips.

" c'mon kiddos. we had enough fun for the day. " my mother called out to us and grabbed ahold of my hand, his mother doing the same with him so they wouldn't lose us as we walked through the crowd. out of the corner of my eye I noticed that billy wasn't with his mother any more which made my heart beat speed up.

" billy?" I question and turn around, seeing the back of him walking past some people. I let go of my mother's hand and quickly walk my way through the crowd, going in the direction I saw billy go to find him picking up the compass key chain.

" billy! there you are! you had me worried." I told him, a small frown on my face as I hug onto my koala plushie that was in my arms. he looked back at me, holding the key chain tightly in his hands. " i'm sorry. I dropped this. " he said, holding up his key chain. I smiled.

" i'm just glad your ok." I told him. he smiled back with that adorable smile of his." i'm glad you went looking for me. " he said.

" of course I came looking for you! your my best friend remember?" I asked and billy nods with a grin on his face.

" where's our moms?" billy suddenly asks and the smile on my face immediately falls. I turn around in a circle to find anyone but my mom or billy's.

" mom!" I shouted, but got no answer as I looked around for my mom.

billy shouted for his mom as well while we started going back through the crowd the way we were leaving before. with one hand I take ahold of billy's free hand so that we would stick together through this sea of people.

I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. then I spotted the back of someone who was wearing the same coat and hat billy's mother was wearing today and I tug on billy's hand in the woman's direction.

" I think that's your mom, billy!" I say excitedly and he looks at me with a glint of hope in his eyes. he starts walking in the woman's direction and I follow him quickly.

" mom!" billy says as we stand right behind his mother. the woman turns around and looks at us confused. " are you two mistaking me for someone else?" she asks and I frown. this is billy's mother. I know it is. it had to be her. but she was acting like she had no idea who we were.

after that we went to the police, not even bothering to try and find my mom, knowing that she was probably long gone as well.

we sat on top of a police car as one of the police men that were with us called the others to search for our mothers or something like that, I wasnt really listening. my koala plushie tightly held in my left hand while my right hand held onto billy's hand. he looked just as upset as I felt.

" don't worry kids. will find your parents. they'll come looking for you for sure. " one of the police officers told us.

I look over at billy. " do you think they'll really look for us?" I question, biting my lower lip so it wouldn't tremble.

billy looks up at me from looking at the compass in his hands and I notice he was on the brink of tears like I was.

he shrugs. " I don't know anymore. but will stick together alright? remember, our mothers told us if anything happens stick together and that's what were gonna do. " billy told me, squeezing my hand.

" I promise. "

END OF FLASHBACK

billy did keep his promise. were stuck together after all of those years. and here we are, in front of a house that could belong to his mother. we've searched for his mother for years but sadly haven't found her yet.

we tried searching for my mother but I just decided to give up since I knew that billy was more important even though he always protested that we should at least try and find my mom but I always reassured him that it was fine. I would be fine if we found either of our moms. I just had a bad feeling mine might not be alive.

"..mom, I'm home." billy continues as he looks at something he's holding in his hands and I take a step forward closer to him to see that he was holding the compass his mother won him all those years ago and my lips started to curve upwards thinking it was so sweet he still had it with him.

after taking another deep breath he opens the front gate and starts to walk towards the house but stops midway and glances back at me with worry.

I nod at him and give him two thumbs up." you can do this billy. I'll be right here." I reassure him. that seemed to do the trick because he nods and turns back around and continues the walk up to the front door.

once he gets to the front door, he hesitates to ring the doorbell but eventually does it. a small smile tugs on my lips as I see him trying to get himself together, trying to look more presentable in front of this woman that might be his mom was cute.

" yes?" I could faintly hear a woman's voice being called out from behind the door.

" yeah, uh, is this rachel batson?" billy asks nervously.

" who's asking?" the woman asks.

" um, you see, the thing is, I think your my mom." billy finally says and with that the door opens.

for a moment I have hope that this woman is actually the one but that hope disappears and my face falls when a african american woman opened the door and looked at billy weirdly.

" you sure about that?"

after a few moments of silence billy finally says, " sorry to bother you." the woman, rachel, nods and sent him a sympathetic look.

my eyes widened as I hear the familiar sound of a cop car and I slowly turn around to see the same cop car that came to the pawn shop me and billy were at earlier.

I look over at billy worriedly to see that he was already looking over in this direction with a sadden look that just makes me want to rush up and give him a hug.

" you just had to take my lunch, huh? you didn't happen to save me any fries did ya?" the male cop asks and billy sighs as he starts to walk back over to where I was standing.

" I'm sorry." I mutter to him and he just shakes his head. " I should've known it wouldn't be her." he mumbles as we walk to the car together.

***

" a foster home in pittsburgh reported you kids missing two weeks ago." e.b. glover tells us.

me and billy share a panic look with each other before looking back at her.

" you're sending us back?" we ask in unison and you could tell the worry and panic laced in our voices.

ms. glover shakes her head. " no. they don't want you two. "

billy lets out a laugh and glances over at me. " harsh." he says and I chuckle.

" you both can laugh, but you guys have run from foster homes in six counties, from good people, who want you both. " ms. glover told us.

that was correct. me and billy just didnt fit in with any of the foster homes we were put in. we always knew we were outcasts.

we just wanted a real family that we knew would never happen. but as long as we had each other, we both know that we can make it. it has always been the two of us. we grew up together and basically been friends since we were babies.

it helps that our parents knew each other and are friends who made us hang out together and it ends up that we actually got along well and became best friends, never leaving each other sides.

ms. glover takes her glasses off and looks at the both of us. " it's time looked at you both in the eye and told you straight."

me and billy share a glance before looking back at ms. glover.

" we don't need parents to play make belief with. we have moms that could be out there looking for us. " I tell her and billy nods in agreement.

ms. glover nods and picks up billy's small blue notebook. " yes you do, you're some dectetive. but what surprised me is that neither of you looked for skylar's mother. why is that?" ms. glover asked and looked over at me and billy looked over at me also.

I hated being in the spot light. even though there were only two other people in the room and one of them is my best friend.

I swallow nervously. " um, I just assumed that if my mother haven't bothered to come find me that must mean she's dead. I didn't want to believe it, but it started to make sense after I started to make myself believe it and started focusing on finding billy's mother. "

billy frowns at me. " that's the reason why we never looked for your mother? you don't know she could be dead. she could still be looking for you." he told me and I stay silent as I stare at the floor.

ms. glover takes this silence as a signal for her to continue talking and looks through the notebook. " seventy - three batsons, between ages twenty - eight to forty and you crossed out every single one of them. " she explained.

" she's still out there, I know it." billy says defensively.

ms. glover sighs as she gets up from her chair and goes to sit on the edge of the desk and looks at the both of us.

" there's a couple outside, mr. batson, ms. lewis. who want you both. they run a group home, " she starts to say and we glance over to the side to look at the couple she was talking about, they looked nice.

" we can take care of ourselves." billy speaks for the both of us. ms. glover glances over at me and I just nod in agreement.

" both of you can, when your 18." she told us. we've been technically doing that on our own since we were about 10 years old. that rule was out the window.

" until then, I won't have you guys looking out on the streets for someone who never looked for you." she explains and I frown.

me and billy glance back over at the couple to see that they were looking at us and smiled.

" give these people a chance, because that's what they're giving you." ms. glover said. " you're out of options."

I bit the flesh of my lower lip as billy glanced back at me. staring into my eyes as if we could talk telepathically. I had a feeling we both thought the same thing. were escaping that place.

" they want the both of you. they're really nice people. please just give them a chance." the lady said as we looked back at her. all of the other houses we went to were failures, or at least we thought they were. we didnt fit in, in any of them. that's why we escaped each one and only depended on each other.

but we gave them a chance. what do we have to lose?

the male and woman introduced themselves as rosa and victor and they seemed really nice. they lead us to there van which made me guess that they have a lot of kids because most people don't have a van for the fun of it.

I climb in the backseat with billy, sitting behind rosa, listening as they talked about how excited they were that we would be living with them. a small smile tugged on my lips as victor joked about rosa's cooking which ended up with rosa scolding him.

I glance over at billy as we start driving down the road and he looks back at me with a look that says ' is this really worth it? '

I sent him a reassuring smile and intertwine my hand with his, and I mouth,' lets just see how this goes. at least were together. ' he just nods but I see the hint of a smile on his lips and I don't know if it's because of us going to a new home or us holding hands.

••••

" hello?" rosa calls out as she opens the front door of her house, me and billy look at each other before walking inside and victor follows us, closing the front door behind us.

" were home." rosa announced to what seemed like a empty house at first besides the music we could faintly hear.

" that's what happens when you suck!"

we heard someone yell and we look over our shoulder to see a boy, younger than the both of us, sitting in a chair with headphones on and a laptop in his lap. rosa just laughs. " so much for the welcome party." victor says as he glances at the both of us.

" yeah, that thing growing out of the couch would be eugene." rosa looked at us with a smile.

" are they here? Is my new brother and sister here!?" a little girls voice asked excitedly and we look over to see a little girl who had black colored glasses and dark curly locks who honestly just looked adorable. she rushed over to us and gave us both a huge hug which startled both of us. we weren't use to this kind of contact from other people, only from each other.

" welcome home!" the little girl announces to us. me and billy look at each other and then back at the little girl.

" and that's darla. " rosa said. darla looks up at us and smiles, still hugging onto us. " I'm darla."

" big hugger." victor told us.

" yeah, I think we got that." billy said and I chuckle.

" um, hi darla." I finally say looking back at darla as she pulls away with a big grin on her face. " you said my name! she said my name!" she said excitedly and started jumping up and down. I couldnt help but smile at her adorableness.

" die! die! die!" we hear eugene shout. darla finally pulls away from the hug as we all look over at eugene.

" he doesn't mean that, it's just a game." darla reassures us and we nod.

victor walks over to the couch eugene was sitting at and takes his headphones off. " hey, no sodas after dark remember?" he said and I lean over to see there were three bottles of soda on the counter next to him.

" woah, when did it get dark?" he asks with confusion laced in his voice.

darla then turns to us. " oh! there's a poster, I made one for you guys. come on!" she said and grabbed both of our hands and started walking, we had no choice but to follow her.

she lets go of our hands as she leads us to a room where we see a poster on a table, but there were two weights on top of it and she frowns. " oh no." she begins to roll the weights off of the poster.

" sorry, pedro must've been working out." she explains and I could tell she this made her upset.

I sent her a small smile hoping it would cheer her up some. " it's alright darla." she smiles at me.

she tries to pick it up but rips part of it in half and frowns. " here." she said and hands it to me and I mentally say ' awe ' at how sweet she was.

then we suddenly hear a older girl's voice walking towards us and we look over to see a girl that looked older than us. " shut up! no!" and we could still hear eugene's yells as he continues to play videogames.

the girl sighs. " I can't, I can't even with eugene right now." she said irritated.

as if realizing we were standing here, she looks up at the both of us and smiles apologetically. " sorry. i'm mary. college interview." she introduces herself and explained who she was on the phone with.

" hi, I'm skylar." I introduce myself and she smiles. I elbow billy in the side to get him to talk.

" and I'm billy." he says after he glared at me.

mary goes back to her college interview. " what am I most excited about?" she asks.

" oh, what a great question. I was hoping you'd ask." she then turns to victor who was standing besides her and mouths, ' what am I most excited about? '. she looks at rosa for help as well but rosa shrugs her shoulders.

" mention you're a foster kid, collages eat that up." victor suggested.

" what I'm most excited about, is the campus experience. as I'm a foster child, I'm a big believer of finding family and friends in the most unlikely of places." mary finally says. after a moment of silence, mary grins and fist bumps victor before walking into a different room probably to continue her interview.

" ah, im gonna miss that girl so much. " rosa said and victor nodded in agreement.

" the school she is applying to is very prodigious. " rosa explained. " and all the way in california." victor added.

" but, we don't have to talk about that right now. it's a tough subject for me." darla admitted and looks up at us. then suddenly an alarm went off and for some reason I started to smell smoke.

I share a look with billy before looking over in the direction the smoke was coming from which was the kitchen of course.

" oh no, the tofu turkey!" darla said with wide eyes and ran into the kitchen.

" oh no, we might have to buy a actual turkey." victor joked and followed darla into the kitchen.

rosa rolled her eyes and looked at us. " i'll show you guys to where you'll be staying. " she told us and guided us up the stairs.

I follow billy up the stairs and we passed another boy who seemed to be our age, and was wearing headphones. he seemed like the kind of kid who didn't talk a lot but he also seemed nice.

rosa tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. the boy took his earbud out and looked at us.

" pedro, this is billy and skylar. your new siblings. say hi to them." rosa said and pedro looked at us.

he nodded at us, putting his earbud back in and walked back down the stairs. rosa looked back at us.

" don't take it personally, he's like that with everyone. " she reassured us before continuing to walk upstairs and we follow her.

" skylar you will be staying with mary, I hope that's ok." rosa said to me and I hesitated to answer. I've never been away from billy only if I had to.

" can't I have a room with billy?" I question, biting my lower lip as I glance at billy.

billy sent me a small smile to try to ease my nerves. it didnt help that much. rosa must've seen the hesitance on my face because she sent me a small smile.

" don't worry. billy will be in the next room. I understand that were new people and that you just want someone you know to be with you." I slowly nodded at hearing that and we walked towards a room that the door was open.

" freddy. this is billy and skylar. they're your new siblings." rosa introduced us as she guided us to his room.

the curly headed boy that was sat at his desk, who I guessed was freddy, turned around.

" you got more?" he questioned and a small nervous laugh left rosa's lips.

" be nice freddy. and maybe, dont say anything weird." she said and freddy did the exact opposite.

" well, one weird thing is did you know that the roman's used to brush their teeth with urine? It works apperently. " I looked at him weirdly and took this time to exam his room. I noticed that he must be a superhero fan. superheros were not exactly my favorite, but I do think they're cool with powers and having so much bravery to save the world, when they could die saving it.

" apparently it works. " freddy adds.

that was enough to get rosa to leave.

" yeah, um." rosa says and pats both of us on the shoulder before walking out of the room.

billy walked inside of the room more and glanced out the window as if he was trying to find a way to escape. it was one of the first the ge we did once we got put in a foster home.

" oh uh, it's a long way down. trust me I speak from experience. " freddy spoke up, he must've seen what billy was doing. he puts his hand on the crutch that was leaned up against the desk he was sitting at.

" victor pushed me. " he added, trying to darken his story as he stands up with his crutch. my eyes widen.

" they seem nice, but dont buy it, it's real game of thrones around here." freddy said suddenly getting serious as he looked at us. me and billy shared a frightened look.

" what?" billy asks in disbelief.

" dudes, I'm just messing around. I just have terminal cancer. I have three months. " freddy said sadly. I stared at him, not knowing if I should believe him or not but billy looked like he did believe him.

freddy laughed and hits billy on the shoulder. " kidding, again! you two look at me like ' why so dark your a disabled foster kid you've got it all, right?' " he said with a laugh.

billy's gaze went over to the batarang on the shelf. "oh yeah, that's the, uh, old batarang, " freddy walks over to us. " not the real one, just a replica. feel how sharp it is. I could kill you in your sleep with that thing." freddy told him and billy looked at me slightly frightened.

" are you two a sups guy, or gal?" freddy suddenly asks as he opens a draw showing us some newspapers about superman.

I shrug my shoulders. " sorta. more of a flash fan if you ask me." I finally speak up and freddy looks at me shockingly.

" and the girl speaks!" he said with a grin. I couldn't help the grin that formed on my lips.

freddy takes out a ziplock bag with a bullet inside of it. " behold, the holy grale. one ninety millimeter ground, that was out of superman himself." he told us.

" it's legit. probably costs a five or six hundred something." he added. why would he tell us these things? how does he not know we would steal it so we can leave here? does he trust us that much with this?

freddy glanced over at billy's bag. " hey, what's in the bag?" he questions, trying to reach for it but billy took a step back closer to me away from freddy.

" hey, it's ok to maintain boundaries. " freddy said and leaned closer to billy. " you dont talk much, ya know. " he said.

" probably because were still techinally strangers. " I speak up and freddy looked at me. " I like you." he said with a smile. billy looked at me and I shrug my shoulders.

" this place is great though. you both are gonna love it." freddy reassures us and I smile.

so far staying here wasnt that bad. maybe this will be a good place to stay.

if only I knew where my mother was, or even whe billy's mother was. that was the whole reason why we left foster homes, to look for our mothers that we never found.

maybe ms. glover was right. maybe we should just stop looking for them considering that they haven't even bothered to look for us even though all me and billy want is to find our mothers. but I have a bad feeling it's gonna take a lot longer than we thought it would to find them.

A U T H O R ' S N O T E
I hope y'all like this so far! I just watched shazam! for the first time yesterday and I love it. just a warning though, I might miss or skip some parts of the movie because I either forgot or wanted to skip it.