“Hey.”  Jordyn smiled excitedly as she hopped into the passenger seat of Jon’s truck.  It had become a habit over the past week and while she’d never admit, she loved spending time with Jon.  She got fed, a place to nap that wasn’t a hundred degrees, and homework help.  Besides, if the Fogley’s never asked where she was (which she knew they wouldn’t), she’d never have to fess up to what she was doing every day after school.
 
Jon watched as she carried her books in her arms as well as her pencil case, setting them on the seat behind her.
 
“Where’s your backpack, huh?”  He asked, frowning at the quality of her notebooks and pencil case that looked like it was next to go.
 
“It wore through the bottom.  I don’t care, it was crappy anyway.”    She shrugged, pulling the seatbelt across her body, wiggling into her seat and relaxing with the fans pointing on her.  It was a seven-block walk from her school and Jon had never seen her in anything but her same pair of jeans and a rotation of three sweatshirts.
 
“Well I have to stop at Macy’s anyway, maybe we can find one for you.”  Jon shrugged, turning over the engine as they pulled from her neighborhood.  Jordyn kept quiet as they drove into the city, parking and finding their way out to the sidewalk.  It looked almost odd as Jon and Jordyn walked together with a fair amount of space between them.  Clearly they weren’t family as displayed by this amount of space, but it looked even more odd for people to assume they were just friends.
 
The two waited at the crosswalk, waiting for the light as traffic picked up around mid-day.  When the lights allowed them to walk, Jon reached for Jordyn’s hand, clasping it long enough for the two of them to cross the street, and when they reached the sidewalk, he was surprised to see that she didn’t move to release herself.
 
They finally parted as she dipped into a section of the revolving door, dropping his hand as she entered the department store.  Jordyn kept close to Jon in the store, it was big and for as tough as she acted, she was very easily overwhelmed by large masses of people.  Jon took note of this and would glance down beside him every so often to make sure she was all right.
 
Jon picked up another bottle of his cologne, the reason he came to Macy’s to begin with as well as a pair of tennis shoes before they made their way down the escalator.
 
“So, this one is nice, right?”  Jon asked, holding up a green Jansport.  Jordyn crinkled her nose and disappeared into the racks off all different kinds of backpacks, rucksacks, and messenger bags.  He kept a keen eye on the top of her dirty-blonde head as she weaved in and out of the stands as she searched for a bag she liked.  “That’s the one?”  He asked a few moments later as she emerged.  She nodded with a small smile, not knowing quite how to react; the Fogley’s never bought things especially for her.
 
She handed over the baby blue Under Armour backpack and followed him quietly as he walked to the register.  She took it from the bag excitedly as they finally left Macy’s, slinging it around her shoulders as she walked with a skip in her step and her hand in Jon’s back to the car.
 
“What’s for dinner?”  Jordyn asked, swinging her legs in the chair gently as he drove just on the edge of the city to his building.  She recognized the path, remembering how to get there at least from her school for future reference.  She never knew when this sweet deal would end, making sure to enjoy every minute of it before it would surely be pulled roughly away.  Good things just didn’t happen for Jordyn.
 
“Well, either we can order in, or we can go down to my buddy Patrick’s place and make his girlfriend cook for us.”  Jon offered with a small grin.
 
“And when you say ‘order in’ you mean…?”  Jordyn trailed, not quite understanding what Jon was implying they could do for dinner.
 
“Like order a pizza, Chinese, I’m sure I could even manage to find a Thai place if that’s what you like.”  Jon suggested, flickering his eyes from the street to Jordyn for a moment to see that she was completely confused at the concept.  “You call the restaurant and they bring the food to your house, or in our case, my apartment.”  He elaborated.
 
“And they’ll just bring it to you?”  Jordyn cocked her head, a lock of her hair falling in her face before she could push it away.  Jordyn really was a beautiful little girl; she was just in need of a deep clean and clothes that actually fit her tiny frame.  A few more pounds couldn’t hurt either.  Maybe Jon could get his mother to send down some homemade casseroles that he knew were packed full of calories.
 
“How about this.”  Jon began as they pulled into the underground garage.  “I’ll order some pizza and breadsticks, we can get situated on the couch and I’ll see what’s new on Netflix, how does that sound?”  He offered.  Jordyn nodded enthusiastically.
 
Soon they were doing just that, Jordyn perched on the couch, a plate full of pepperoni and cheese pizza sitting on her lap and [i]The Goonies[/i] playing on the TV.  Jon spared the dishes and simply sat his large pizza on his lap, covered in every topping Pizza Hut had to offer.
 
“You’ve never seen The Goonies?!”  Jon laughed when she asked him about it after he selected it.  “The Goonies is classic, everyone has to see The Goonies at some point in their lives.”  He insisted.
 
“I don’t watch a lot of movies.”  Jordyn shrugged.  “Sometimes when we have substitute teachers at school we’ll watch one, though.”  She added.
 
“What’s your favorite?”  Jon asked before damn near swallowing a whole piece in one inhale.
 
“Matilda.”  Jordyn replied.
 
“Never heard of it.”  Jon said, watching as her face went through a flurry of emotions.
 
“Matilda has bad people for parents, and her teacher, Ms. Honey, she’s the nicest lady in the world, she adopts Matilda and they live happily ever after.  Matilda has powers, too.  She can move things with her mind so her parents will leave her alone.  But after Ms. Honey adopts her, she’s happy, so she doesn’t need them anymore.”  Jordyn explained, making Jon’s next breath a hard one to swallow.  “Sometimes I like to think I’m like Matilda, and one day, Ms. Honey will find me.”  She added quietly before casting her gaze down to her feet as they twisted under the fleece blanket thrown over her.
 
Unbeknownst to Jon, that was the last time he’d see his little Matilda in quite a while.
 
  - - -   
 
Jon felt sick, absolutely sick.  It had been five days since he had seen Jordyn and he thought he was going to go crazy if he didn’t get to see her soon.  Was she safe?  Was someone feeding her?  Had the Fogley’s done something to her?  Was she hurt?  A hundred gut-wrenching possibilities ran through his head.  What if she had gotten hit by a car while walking back from school?  But he’d see that on the news, right?  They would put something like that on the news, wouldn’t they?
 
He sat in his same spot he’d always sit in when she would come to meet him.  Frantic and feeling hopeless, he began to weave through the streets of her neighborhood.  Maybe he could catch a friend of hers walking back, see if they had seen her.
 
“Come on Jordyn, don’t do this to me.”  He mumbled to himself, dark eyes searching the streets as he turned and careened all over, probably speeding for a residential area, but he didn’t care.  He needed to find his Jordyn.  Just when he thought all hope was gone, he spotted that same dark orange sweatshirt.  Realizing he was going forty in a twenty-five, he slowed down to a stop, getting out of his car and jogging up to meet her.  “Jordyn!”  The girl stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to face Jon.
 
“Hey.”  She mumbled softly, eyes flickering to him for only a split second.  Jon noticed that right away her demeanor was different.  She was resigned and looked like she felt uncomfortable as she hid behind her books.
 
“Where have you been?  I’ve been worried, kid.”  He managed a soft laugh, hoping to lighten the mood.
 
“I… I’ve just been busy.”  She nodded, squinting softly in the bright sunshine.   “School’s almost over, so I’ve had a lot of school work.”  She lied.
 
“That’s a lot of books, where is your backpack?”  He asked curiously once he saw that it wasn’t on her back.
 
“I just forgot it, that’s all.”  She lied again, feeling horribly guilty.  Jon nodded, having a hard time believing her, but at the same time, he couldn’t understand why she would lie.  She trusted him, didn’t she?
 
“Well Sara is making dinner at Pat’s tonight, enchiladas.”  He smiled, knowing that Jordyn was a fan of Sara’s cooking.
 
“I can’t come over tonight.”  She muttered quietly, wishing she could just disappear for a moment.  “I have a lot of homework to do.”  She shrugged.
 
“But you always do homework at my place, I mean it’s not like you can’t come over.”  He urged, feeling the same way as when his sixth-grade girlfriend broke up with him when he was twelve.  “Pat and Sara were looking forward to seeing you.”  He added, wishing she would just get in the car already.
 
“I have to be home, okay?  I can’t come over.”  She exhaled roughly, wishing he would just leave her alone.  She hated the way she was feeling at the moment.  “The Fogley’s need me at the house.”  She mumbled.  Jon nodded, looking away over his shoulder to see a few more kids filtering into the neighborhood.
 
“Okay, well, I’ll see you later I guess.”  He shrugged, not knowing what to do for the life of him.
 
“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”  Jordyn nodded as she turned on her heel and continued to walk back to the house.  She hoped she was just far enough away from Jon that he couldn’t hear her sniffles or see the tears that were silently streaming down her face, glinting in the sun.
 
Jordyn could feel her insides crumpling with each step she took that separated her from Jon.  The truth was, the Fogley’s were really cracking down on her since they found the brand new, and not to mention expensive backpack in her possession, even though she hid it from them as best she could.  She could remember the anger and embarrassment flowing through her as they confronted her about it.
 
”Is that where you’ve been going?  Are you stealing?”  Dale Fogley roared, his pug-ugly face turning a brilliant shade of tomato red.  “Where did you lift this from, huh?”
 
“I didn’t steal it!  Someone gave it to me!”  Jordyn tried to defend herself.  She was being interrogated in the family room, sitting on the lumpy couch.
 
“Who would give you something like this?  You know how lucky you are to have us?  We put a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in, and food in your stomach.”  Jill Fogley pointed a manicured finger in her direction.  “Thousands of kids would kill for what you have.”  She hissed.
 
Jordyn nodded solemnly, keeping her expression blank to try and get the interrogation over with as soon as possible.  She couldn’t wait for school tomorrow, she was finally put on the reduced price lunch list and after school, Jon would pick her up and she could forget all about the Fogley’s, at least for a few hours.
 
“From now on, you go to school, and you come straight home.  If you’re not back here before three-thirty, you can go without dinner.”  Dale informed her, not knowing how badly he was breaking her heart.  No more Jon.  “Now get out of my sight.”  Jordyn hurried down to the basement to her bedroom, tossing her books on her mattress that laid on the floor before crawling into her closet and closing the door, willing the tears to keep from falling.
 
She lightly nudged her foot to open the closet door, pretending she was opening it with her powers, just like Matilda.

Notes

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