I'm On Your Side

A decade long string of foster families have stripped fifteen year old Cassie Carlson of the ability to trust the people around her.

Mrs. D, Cassie’s case worker, is sure her newest foster family could be her last. Cassie is not so confident. She clings to the memory of her deceased mother and fears betraying that memory by agreeing to an adoption.

Despite the Bender’s best efforts to make her feel at home, Cassie keeps them at arms length. That carefully crafted wall begins to break down after meeting Jeremy. When she observes the  almost hostile way people at their school treat him she feels drawn to his side, commiserating in his outcast status. Even when she sees things that make her wonder about Jeremy’s past.

Jeremy is blind and always has a believable story and a dazzling smile to excuse his out of place bruises. But when Jeremy reveals that his stories have all been a lie, a cover for his father’s violent temper, Cassie is left with a choice.

Will she keep Jeremy’s secret and abandon him to a world that has already taken so much from him? Or will she break her promise and doom him to the very same foster system she has spent her entire life wishing to escape?