I sleep in the school boiler room after everyone leaves

Dear Delyara, I am seventeen and still attend school every day, although my family has been homeless for six weeks. My mother and younger brothers sleep in emergency accommodation across town, but there is not enough space for me. I told them I am staying with a friend. The friend does not exist. After evening clubs finish, I hide in a toilet until the cleaners leave, then sleep in the boiler room behind the sports hall. It is warm, noisy, and smells of dust. I keep my uniform in a plastic bag so it will not wrinkle. In the morning, I wash in the disabled bathroom before anyone arrives. Teachers praise my attendance. One wrote that I am “showing remarkable focus despite family difficulties.” She does not know I remain on site because I have nowhere else to go. Yesterday, the caretaker found an empty food wrapper near the boiler and said he would check the cameras. I spent the entire day expecting someone to call my name over the intercom. If the school discovers me, they may contact services and separate us further. If they lock the room, I have no plan for tonight. I am writing this beneath a pipe while basketball practice continues on the other side of the wall. Every bounce sounds like someone approaching the door.