After the were done shopping, Lanie and Ruth went to the foster home Ruth had been talking about. It was a large, four-story building that looked more like a school dorm building than an orphanage. The front of it had the name "Pretty And Pink Foster Care" written in dark pink paint.

"Pretty And Pink," Lanie said when she saw the foster home's name.

"Yes, that's right," said Ruth. "Now, before I take you to your new room, there are a few things I need to tell you. First, you're gonna be in a room with three bunk beds and four other roommates."

"Three bunk beds," Lanie repeated. "That would be enough for six people..."

"We do have a lot of vacancies here at Pretty And Pink Foster Care," said Ruth. "And sometimes girls get adopted, or transfer somewhere else. In any case, we have a cafeteria on the building's ground floor, where you can come for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We also have a game room where you and your friends can get together to play board games. Each dorm is given a credit card for all its members to share when shopping, but it has a limit of two thousand dollars a month. So please be careful when shopping."

"I'll try to."

"And last, but most important," said Ruth. "You are not to tell anyone else at this foster home that I am a witch, or that you used to be a boy."

"What? Why?"

"Because, once again, us witches have to keep our identities secret," Ruth answered. "The only reason I told you was because my boss insisted I turn you into a girl to admit you to our foster home, and I felt you had a right to know the truth."

"You mean none of the other girls here used to be boys? So I'm a special case?"

"Yes, you are," said Ruth. "For years, I've been pleading with my boss to start accepting boys into our foster home, but she's refused. So it's just been all girls-until we found you. But then again, you are a girl now, just like the rest of the kids in our foster care."

"Yeah," Lanie said, though it still felt kind of weird to be called a girl. Just 24 hours ago, she'd still been Landon. She had no idea that witches existed, or that she'd be admitted into an all-girls foster home to avoid getting apprehended by the police.

"So are you ready to go?"

Lanie took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm ready," she said.

"Then let's go."

***

Ruth led Lanie up to the building's front doors and into the entry hall. In the entry hall, Lanie saw a large picture of a woman hanging on the wall. The woman in the picture looked like a retired Victoria's Secret model, with coppery tanned skin, a thick yet voluptuous body, perfect makeup, and a friendly, yet seductive look in her eyes. Her brown hair was swept to the side in a ponytail, and she wore a black skirt and low-cut top.

"Lanie?" Ruth asked. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh!" Lanie hadn't realized she'd stopped in her tracks. "Just-just this picture here."

"Oh yeah," said Ruth. "That's Angelina Aguilar. She's my boss."

"Is she?" Lanie asked. Something about this Angelina Aguilar person seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Had she seen her on TV at some point?

"Yes. She was the founder of Pretty And Pink Foster Care. It all started five years ago in Washington D. C, where Angelina opened the first Pretty And Pink Foster Care establishment. When the first location proved to be a success, she decided to franchise her company and open new locations in North Carolina, and here in Tennessee."

"That's cool," said Lanie. Tearing her eyes away from Angelina Aguilar's picture, she followed Ruth down the hall and towards the stairway to the second floor. Once they were on the second floor, Ruth led Lanie to Room #206.

"This is gonna be your room," said Ruth.

"Alright then," said Lanie. "Let's see it."

Ruth opened the door for Lanie, and she entered her new dorm room. It was fairly large, with three bunk beds, a soft, fluffy rug, a couple of dressers between the beds, and a sofa in front of a TV. Towards the back was a door leading into a bathroom area.

There were four other girls in the room. One was lying on the bottom bunk of a bed looking at her phone, one was reading a book on the sofa, one was making her bed, and one was in the bathroom doing her nails. "Good evening, everyone!" said Ruth. "This is your new roommate Lanie!"

The girl on the sofa looked up and smiled. She looked to be about Lanie's age, with black hair that went down to her butt and eyes the color of maple syrup. "Hi Lanie!" she said. "I'm Rachel."

"Hey Rachel."

The girl making her bed looked up and waved. "Hi," she said. "I'm Taylor. And this is Alexis."

"Hey," Alexis said without even looking up from her phone.

The last of the girls came out of the bathroom with her nails and makeup all finished. "And I'm Melody," she said, tossing a curl of blonde hair over her shoulder.

Lanie looked around her new roommates. "It's nice meeting all of you," she said.

Ruth nodded. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked.

"I might need somewhere to put my clothes..."

"You can use that dresser over there," Rachel said, pointing at one of the dressers. "Right by our bed."

"Our bed?"

"Yes. You're my new bunkmate."

"Wait, if each bunk bed can fit two people, and there are four of you..."

"My old bunkmate left a few weeks ago," said Rachel. "She got adopted by a new family."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Yeah. But at least I have you now!"

Rachel directed Lanie over to the dresser beside their bunk bed. With a little help from her and Ruth, Lanie unloaded all her clothes into two of the dresser's drawers. "Well, it looks like you're all situated," Ruth said when they were done. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go down to my office. But if you need anything at all, you can come talk to me."

"Thank you so much, Ruth," said Lanie. "I really appreciate it."

After Ruth had left, Lanie turned to face her new bunkmate Rachel. "So...what do you guys do around here?"

"Well, we like to go shopping," Rachel answered. "And go to the local swimming pool."

"Oh, that sounds fun!" said Lanie.

"It is fun," said Rachel. "But we also like to just hang out here and watch TV."

"Oh."

Just then, Melody pulled out her phone and looked at the time. "Guys, it's 5:00," she said. "That means it's time for dinner."

"Ooh, Lanie, you're gonna love the food we have," said Rachel. "Pretty And Pink has the best cooks there are!"

"And tonight's enchilada night," Taylor added. "The enchiladas here are really good."

"Okay," said Lanie. "I'm getting kind of hungry anyway."

***

It turned out Taylor was right. The enchiladas were really good. Lanie's father had never been much of a cook, so she'd never had any really good meals. But it was great to have such good food prepared especially for her.

"So Lanie," Rachel said as she, Taylor, Melody, Alexis, and Lanie sat together at a table to eat their food, "How'd Ruth find you?"

"Well..." Lanie hesitated. She hadn't forgotten Ruth's warning about not telling anyone she used to be a boy, and she certainly didn't want to reveal that she'd murdered her own father. So she decided to tell a partial truth. "I ran away from home."

"You ran away? Why?"

"Well, I grew up with just my dad," Lanie explained. "My mom left when I was little because my dad, well...he was abusive. He drank a lot, and he'd get really angry at me and my mom. She left because she couldn't take it anymore."

"But why didn't she take you?" Melody asked.

"I have no idea," Lanie answered. "But just yesterday, I decided I'd had enough, so I just up and left my dad's apartment. Then Ruth found me, and I ended up here."

"You're not worried, are you?" Rachel asked. "That your dad might come looking for you?"

"Uh...he won't," said Lanie. "Because he's dead."

"What?"

Fuck. That had come out wrong. "I-I saw it on the news this morning," Lanie quickly amended. "He got drunk again and fell off our apartment's balcony."

"Huh," said Melody. "Sounds like it serves him right."

Lanie slowly nodded. "Yes," she said. "He was a really bad father."

"My dad died when I was only three," said Taylor. "I never knew him."

"My whole family died in a fire when I was twelve," said Rachel. "I was the only one who survived. I was living on the streets for a week and a half before Ruth found me and brought me here."

"I was always homeless," said Melody. "My parents were already living in poverty, but when I was born, they lost what little money they had left with child support and buying more food for me. So we ended up living on the streets."

"How'd you end up here?" Lanie asked.

"My parents both died," Melody answered. "My mom got hit by a truck, and my dad got sick and died. I was living on my own for three years before Ruth took me in."

"And you were..."

"Thirteen. I've been here for four years."

"I've been here for just one," said Alexis.

"Me and Rachel have been here for three years," said Taylor. "And Lanie, I guess you just got here today."

"Yeah," said Lanie. "But I'm glad Ruth brought me here. This definitely beats living with an abusive dad." As Lanie said it, she knew she really believed it. Ruth had been really nice to her, and her roommates seemed nice too. Plus, the Pretty And Pink Foster Care place offered some really nice living conditions-especially considering it was a foster home. But she still couldn't get over the fact that she was a girl now. Having her hair fall down in front of her face all the time, and dealing with the feeling of large boobs on her chest...and she hadn't even gotten into makeup, or hairstyling, or any of that other stuff yet.

No, Lanie would need a lot more time to adjust to her new life.

To be continued...