In the afternoon, she wrote in her journal, then tried to take a nap. She grew sick of waiting for Taylor to return with nothing to do in the meantime, so resolved to walk to find a place where she could watch some television for free. In the previous weeks Aria had devised a clever way of accessing free entertainment. She would make herself look as presentable as possible, then find a restaurant with a sports bar and tell them that she needed a table for two, and ask them to sit her in a place where she had a good view of the television because the guy meeting her was a “sports buff.” She would sip her water and keep telling the waiter that she didn’t want to order until her date showed up. Eventually, when she was ready to leave, she would lead them to believe that she had been stood up by whoever was supposed to meet her there. She would leave without ever ordering anything and without them having any idea as to why she was actually there. On one occasion, a waitress had given her a cheesecake on the house out of pity. The only problem was, she could do it only once for each cycle of staff in each location.

As with so many homeless youth, no one noticed Aria or guessed that she was homeless. Being so young, she did not look homeless even though she was. Though unnaturally skinny, she was not weathered like the people who had been on the streets for years. So as long as she made sure not to be seen by police after curfew, or go to certain places when she should have been in school, she blended in to society. She blended in to the background of people’s various assumptions about her, all of which were wrong.

Aria walked over to Robert’s tent, hoping that he might know of a place with a television nearby that she hadn’t tried yet. His bike was leaned against one of the broken-down cars, indicating that he was most likely inside his tent instead of out on the town. Getting closer, she saw his shadow inside the tent, echoing his movements. “Bob!” she called to announce herself tentatively so he wouldn’t be startled by her sudden approach.

“Yep?” he said, ceasing his task to see who was calling his name. Seeing Aria’s face peek in through the door of the tent, he looked unsure about her visit.

“Do you know of anywhere close to here that I could watch some TV?” Aria asked.

“Hm, not off the top of my head,” he said. “Let me think.”

Aria loved to hear him talk. The fact that his mouth was almost entirely toothless gave him a lisp that made him sound harmless. Coupled with his disarming personality and forgetfulness, he reminded her a bit of Winnie the Pooh.