“Never mind, you don’t have to tell me,” I said quickly. “I don’t mean to pry, I just…never mind. Sorry.” Dang, Cee Cee, just shut up! I thought to myself.

“No, it’s okay,” He said, regaining a bit of his composure. “You see…Until I was eleven, I was in foster homes too. And so…”

I didn’t really see where he was leading, but I listened attentively. “Well, I was pretty much tossed around from foster home to foster home, until the Rosses adopted me. And by then, I…”

“What?” Now I was curious.

“No, Cee Cee, just listen. Please.”

“Okay.”

“Well, it’s hard, being the kid who doesn’t have a home. The kid who always has to be the ‘new one.’ So, I just…”

I could tell this was hard for him

“It affects everyone differently, I guess. But for me, I just can’t stand having a lot of people looking at me. Even though I have a place now, it just brings back all of those old insecurities…”

“But not for the others, huh?”

“Right.”