Fevero was a tiny shop, tucked between a large Dutch bakery and a pet food warehouse. It was, as Charlotte said, making an attempt at trendy, with its burnished steel fixing and wide, modern looking white chairs and tables. Modern art work was scribbled on every available walk. I thought it was all hideous. The Aryan club, as Charlie dubbed them, was sitting at the back of the room, taking up a booth beside the gas fireplace.
Maddie waved at us as we came in, to her credit she included Charlie in her greeting.
"Hey girls, come have a seat."
We walked over. I slid into the white plastic seat and found myself sandwiched between Becky and Charlie.
"Hi," I said.
"So," Maddie folded her hands on the tabletop and leaned forward like she was interviewing me, "you just moved here?"
"Yup," I said. "Isn't that rather obvious?"
"Your parents? Let's see... foster parents, adoptive parents, uncles or aunts..."
I blinked at her. "Foster. How did you know?"
She gestured to the other girls, including herself. "We're all the same. I was adopted. Becky too. Lilly and Stacy have foster parents. Anna lives with her uncle who can't prove that he's her uncle."
I stared at them. "I don't get it."
She shrugged, studying me with blue eyes that had been heavily outlined with black liner, "We're trying to figure out the connection here, help us out, Demi."
I was confused, and starting to feel the flutter of panic starting in my belly that came when things didn't make sense. Like when my caseworker came to the psych ward and told me that my foster parents had moved without me, or when I froze a boy just kissing him...
I pushed the idea out of my head.
Maddie said, "I moved here two years ago, shortly after that Becky did, and then Lilly, Stacy, and Anna. Our guardians all just decided to move here one day. Most of them happened to get that big raise they hoped for providing they moved here. All of us ended up at Blue Mountain High. How does that happen?"
My mouth felt dry. "I... coincidence? What are you saying? We're sisters or something?"
Maddie shrugged, glancing around at the other girls. One of them, Becky I think, said, "We don't know, but it's no coincidence that we look like we could be related. Come on now. I'm six feet tall, and I reached this height by the time I was fourteen. I thought I would never meet another woman as tall as me." She looked at Anna. "Then I met Anna, she's taller."
Anna's cheeks flushed and she nodded. I got the feeling she didn't talk much.
Maddie spread her hands, as if I couldn't possibly disagree with her reasoning. "See? What are the chances? It just doesn't make sense." She glances over at Charlie. "Even you, as much as you might think you hate us... I mean you're super short, but your features are similar. Pale blonde hair, light skin..."
Charlie glared at her. "I've been going to school with you for two years and you haven't so much as spoken to me until now."
Maddie shrugged apologetically. "You may or may not be one of us, but it keeps getting weirder and in case you are, you need to be in on this."
"Well thanks," Charlie's voice sounded scornful, but I could tell she was trying to keep from showing her excitement. "In on what exactly?"
"Whatever we are." Maddie gestured at all of us. "We have to stick together. I think maybe we are related."
"Then how did we all end up here?" I glared at her. "Where's the logic in that one? Who magicked up a bunch of jobs that would bring all of your foster parents here?"
"What do you mean 'your'? Didn't your foster parents get a job offer and move here?" Maddie asked me.
"No. I had different foster parents in California. They left me in the hospital. And the state place me with a new family."
"Oh."
"Now answer my question. Because I don't understand any of this."
"Maybe our real parents," Becky muttered. "Maybe their going to meet us."
"That would be great for you guys. Meet your parents and everything," I began. "But my parents are dead."
"What?"
"Listen, my foster dad is picking me up in five minutes. I have to go back to the school now."
Maddie nodded. "Okay. We'll see you tomorrow."
Charlie stood up and allowed me to slide out of the booth. "I'll walk with you."
We told the girls goodbye and walked over to the school, our shoulders hunched against the cold.
"What did you think of that?" Charlie asked, teeth chattering.
"Weird," I muttered. "I don't know what I think. Maybe they're pulling a fast one on us. It does seem like something that Maddie girl would do."
"I could see that," Charlie admitted. She waved as an old Ford truck rumbled into the lot, black exhaust pumped out into the crisp air. "There's my dad. I'll see you tomorrow. "
I waved as the truck drove away. It was funny that Charlie called her foster father "dad". As much as I tried it, I couldn't call them that. Certainly not that bitch, Janet, and not even Mike, who was so kind and gentle a lot of the time. He really was like a father, it was just... it felt strange to call him or anyone that, especially after what happened a year ago. He was just Mike.