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KYLIE,

It's important that you stay on good terms with your foster parents and do well in school. I only have six more months until I'm eighteen years old and if it's okay with Mr. and Mrs. Mathew, I'll be able to see you.

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SYDNEY LIFTED THE PEN and stared at the wall. Knowing Kylie's foster parents opened and read the letters she sent, she needed to keep things light and motivating. Her sister was smart enough to read between the lines. That's how Kylie had explained to her what happened to Jett. It took three letters for her to understand that having a hard time with an upcoming speech in history meant she hadn't figured out a way to talk to Jett.

She warmed. Her sister calling Jett history was brilliant. He was old.

Through the letters three times a week, Kylie was able to give her enough information. Jett had been arrested after talking with Kylie for carrying a knife or gun. She wasn't sure.

She put the pen on the paper.

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I'M USING MY FREE TIME in here to get caught up with my school work. I'm crossing my fingers that I can pass my GED test before I'm released. I'm doing the best in history, but I hate math.

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SHE SMIRKED. HISTORY...Jett. Math...Mathew. Her sister would smile at her play on words.

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MY HAIR IS ALMOST BACK to blonde. Only the tips are black. One of the new girls here purposely dyed her hair black before she was arrested and brought in. Maybe I started the new style. Me, a beauty expert. Hahaha

I had oatmeal for breakfast. When I get out, after I get a job, I'm going to go to the Pancake House. You know that place that's always loud and crowded? That Pancake House.

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SHE TAPPED THE PEN against the paper. Would her sister understand she was talking about Brikken clubhouse? Kylie had never been there, but she hoped her sister remembered their conversation from when she was in the group home and could talk freely.

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I'M GOING TO ORDER everything on the menu until my stomach is satisfied. I'll take you if you can go. I'll even buy whatever you want to eat. I bet you'll love the strawberries with whip cream on the pancakes. Tell me everything! All the things you like to eat.

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SHE NEEDED ANSWERS about Jett. Even if she had to face Chief, who probably hated her, she needed to know how to find Jett and see him. They must let people into the adult prison, wherever they took him, to visit.

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I BETTER GET BACK TO studying. Soon, they'll come in and check my room, and I need to clean first. Count the days, sister! I'm excited to be out soon and better my life. Talk to your foster parents about me seeing you when I do get out. Make sure you keep getting good grades. That's important.

I love you most!

Sydney

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SHE SET THE PEN DOWN, folded the paper, and set it on her bunk. The guard would give the letter to Mrs. Hawthorne who would read it before judging whether it was okay to send or not. JDH had strict rules about what was appropriate or not. The computers in the classroom weren't even hooked to WIFI because they didn't want any of the kids contacting people on the outside.

Over the last year and a half, she'd tried everything to find out more about Brikken Motorcycle Club. She looked through all the phone books in the library during free time, trying to remember all the members she'd met and their names. Unfortunately, between the nicknames she remembered and having no last names for the members, she couldn't find one single person with a phone number listed.

She even wrote down all the prisons in the state of Washington for when she was able to walk out of JDH. If she couldn't get answers from going to the Brikken clubhouse, she'd call each penitentiary until she found Jett.

She put her pen on the shelf beside the five sheets of paper. To earn money, she helped out in the kitchen and was able to buy better food out of the vending machines, paper to write Kylie, phone privileges, a pen, and an extra blanket.

It wasn't her first trip to JDH, but it was her longest stay. Apparently running away from foster care for nine months made her high risk, and there were no foster parents who wanted an older child who caused trouble. Most of the families housed younger kids, and she was deemed a bad influence.

The first few days back in JDH were more miserable than she remembered. It wasn't the strict conditions and rules pushed onto her after living life on her own, but the pain of loss over losing Jett. All her hope at making it back to him disappeared amongst teasing and bullying from the other girls serving their sentences.

Most of the kids were either looking forward to or dreading their eighteenth birthday.

She straightened the blanket on the bed and aligned her flat pillow with the edge of the thin padding covering the bunk. Her eyes burned, running her hand over the dingy pillow. She worried about Jett.

He had trouble sleeping at home after spending time in prison. Now he was back in a cell, because of her. Would he hate her?

Kylie hadn't tattled on him. Mr. Mathew often checked up on Kylie when she walked home from school in his patrol car. Her sister had no idea Jett was going to approach her. It was bad timing. Her sister had no idea he'd be arrested or that he was carrying a weapon.

Without knowing how much time he had to serve, she could only hold on to hope that Chief would allow her to talk with Jett or at least write him a letter when she got out. Some kids in JDH had parents in the adult prison. The kids were able to talk on the phone to the prison.

That's what she planned to do in six months. She'd con everyone into thinking Jett was her dad and walk into the prison and explain everything to him, face to face. He'd promised to come get her. Now, she was making the promise to herself that she would go to him.

"Baker, Jugaski, Marshall, Hawkins. Line up," shouted the guard.

Sydney gazed around the room making sure everything was in its place. Because the rooms were only under lockdown at night, anyone in the common corridor could walk in and snoop through her things.

"Hawkins," yelled the guard.

"Coming." She hurried out of her room and lined up against the wall.

Once everyone was accounted for, she followed the guard down a level in the building to the kitchen. The group of four were allowed to go and help get lunch ready for the others. It was the only time all sixty-some residents in JDH were together. Mostly, she was only permitted to go to the common area outside the rooms.

The other girls congregated at the tables all day long, while she preferred to stay to herself. There were a few girls that were almost eighteen and going to be transferred to the adult prison to continue their sentence.

Compared to attempted murder, burglary, assault charges the other girls faced, her sentence for "not being wanted in foster care" put a label on her as being a wimp. She wouldn't allow anyone to bully her which meant staying away from them, so she didn't get in trouble. That was the only way she could guarantee she'd get out of JDH when she was eighteen years old.