Oliver sat in the police office, awaiting his fate. A lot of things had happened in the past few days. Oliver had came home from a friend's house to find that his house had burned down. Oliver soon found out that his family had died in the fire. The firemen had done everything they could to save them, but they were not able to.

Oliver had spent the night at his friend's house while the police and firemen had cleared out the burned property and recovered what little they could from the ashes. But Oliver was only fifteen, and he would need to either live with a relative, in a foster home, or on the streets.

Which was why he was in the police station now. The police officer had told Oliver that a certain foster home had stepped in and expressed their desire to take him in. And Oliver was going to meet a representative from that foster home. He was waiting for the representative in the police station's waiting room.

Oliver's wait was up when a tall, blonde-haired woman entered the room. She was in her late thirties with a delicate face, straight, flowing hair, and a soft green eyes. She wore a black button-up shirt and black pants. "Hello, Oliver," she said. "My name is Miss Johnson. I am the chairwoman of the Y. F. F. H."

"What's the Y. F. F. H?" Oliver asked.

"It's short for Young Forever Foster Home," said Miss Johnson.

"That's a dumb name," said Oliver.

"Oh, but it has a sweet meaning," said Miss Johnson. "Everyone who lives at our foster home stays young forever."

"Um...okay," said Oliver. He assumed she meant it figuratively, that everyone who lived at the Y. F. F. H. felt like they were young because of how fun it was. "What's it like there?"

"It's the most fun place on Earth," said Miss Johnson. "We have TVs everywhere, and we have a swimming pool and hot tub. We even go on vacation every now and then. You'll live in a dorm room with three roommates, who will be your new best friends."

"It does sound cool," said Oliver.

"Well? Are you interested?" Miss Johnson asked.

"I don't know," said Oliver.

"I understand you're sad to lose your family," said Miss Johnson. "I really am. But I can give you a new family."

"I mean...I can give it a shot," said Oliver. "For a week or two."

Miss Johnson was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Okay. I'll take you to our hotel to stay in for tonight, while we find a dorm for you."

"You guys have a hotel?" Oliver asked.

"We do," said Miss Johnson. "We use it for guests who are visiting our foster home, or for people like you who are waiting for an open room."

"How long will I have to wait?" Oliver asked.

"It shouldn't take longer than a day," said Miss Johnson. "Let's get you to our hotel."

***

After going through some paperwork with the police, Miss Johnson drove Oliver to the Y. F. F. H. It was in a whole different city, several hours away from Oliver's hometown. And the Y. F. F. H. foster home was the biggest building Oliver had ever seen. It was comprised of five stories, with glass windows and balconies on the sides. There was a patio deck ringing around the base of the building.

"This looks awesome," said Oliver.

"I'm glad you like it," said Miss Johnson as she parked the car. "But we're going to our hotel for now."

The hotel was only about half the size of the main building, and nowhere near as nice. It had only two stories and was indistinguishable from the suburban homes Oliver had grown used to seeing back home.

Miss Johnson took Oliver into the hotel and led him to his room. "This is where you'll sleep tonight," said Miss Johnson. "Room service will bring you your dinner in an hour. You should shower before you go to bed tonight. There's already clothes for you in the dresser drawers."

"You got new clothes for me?" Oliver asked.

"Indeed we did," said Miss Johnson. "We can't have you just wear those clothes for the rest of your life, can we?"

"I guess not," said Oliver. "What am I gonna do for the rest of the night?"

"Play video games, watch TV, whatever you want," said Miss Johnson. "Just so long as you eat your dinner and take a shower before bed."

"I can do that," said Oliver. "Thank you, Miss Johnson."

"My pleasure," said Miss Johnson. "I will select a dorm for you. One of my employees will come in the morning to lead you to your room in the main building."

Miss Johnson left Oliver to his room, which had a bed, a dresser, a TV and video game console, and a bathroom with a shower. Oliver sat down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. Just that morning, he had been a homeless orphan. And now he was going to be living in a five-star foster home. Wait...was that sentence just typed out? Oliver really was lucky!

Oliver got bored of sitting on his bed after merely five minutes. He went over to the game console and found that-lo and behold-it had Call of Duty: Black Ops 4! Oliver had been wanting that game ever since it had came out. It had only came out a month ago, but it felt like an eternity had passed. Oliver's mom had promised to get him the game for Christmas, but here it was now!

Oliver started up the game console-a PS4? That's where it's at!-and played the game for the next hour. He had to pause it when he heard a knock on his room's door. He opened it to see a waitress standing there with a tray of food. "Room service," said the waitress.

Oliver looked at the tray and saw that he had a double cheeseburger, French Fries, and a chocolate milkshake-all of his favorite foods! "Thank you," Oliver said as he took the tray and closed the door. He sat down on his bed again and ate his cheeseburger. It was the best one he'd had in a while. Usually, his family went with the generic, dimestore burgers you can find anywhere at McDonald's or Burger King or Wendy's. But this one...it tasted more like Five Guys or Fuddrucker's! The fries and shake were good as well.

After he was done eating, Oliver played Call of Duty for a little while longer, until he was starting to feel drowsy. He realized he had better take his shower soon, before going to bed. So he turned the PS4 off and went into the bathroom. He looked into the mirror and saw his reflection. Oliver was thin and wiry, with deep blue eyes and sleek black hair. He had a small scar on his forehead from when he had fell on a nail at the age of seven. And now that he saw his reflection in the mirror, Oliver realized how dirty he was. He hadn't showered since the day his house had burned down, which was, like, two days ago. He really did need a shower.

So Oliver took off all his clothes and put them in a bin clearly labeled as a hamper. He took his shower, relishing the warm water and the soft soap. But by the time he was rubbing in the shampoo, he started to get a strange feeling in his stomach. It was a very, very mild cramp. He'd had this feeling before, when he ate something that his stomach didn't agree with. Oliver quickly finished his shower and grabbed a towel from the bathroom counter. He dried himself off, wrapped the towel around his waist, and went back into the bedroom.

Oliver opened up the bottom dresser drawer, wondering what kind of clothes that Y. F. F. H. would provide. But when he pulled out a pair of underwear, he knew something was seriously wrong. It wasn't a pair of boxer shorts. It was a pair of panties.

"What the heck?" Oliver asked as he sifted through the underwear drawer. But all he found was even more panties. "This can't be right," he said. Oliver opened up all the other drawers, only to find short shorts, skirts, bras, and even pink shirts. "These are girl's clothes!"

Oliver almost left the room to find room service to get help, but then he realized he didn't have any clothes on. So he wrapped his towel around the waist and went over to the door. But to his surprise, it was locked.

"Great," Oliver grumbled. "I'm stuck in a girl's room." He took his towel off and lay down on his bed. By now, his stomach cramp was starting to increase. Oliver couldn't believe how weird this was. Tomorrow morning, he told himself, he would talk to Miss Johnson and tell her the mistake she had made. So Oliver hung his towel back up in the bathroom and went under his bedsheets. It felt weird, sleeping naked, but he tried to just shake off his stomach cramp and go to sleep.

To be continued...