A/N I do not own Tracy Beaker, only Skye, Pablo, Skye's parents and Kelly the social worker. This is my first FanFic, so I hope you enjoy it!

Also, Skye's surname 'Cobblestone', is said 'Cobbleston'.

I sat in the car, watching as the world sped past the window. This time yesterday I'd been at home, just me and Pablo (my soft toy ginger tabby cat), safe and happy. And now I was being driven to some place called 'Elm Tree House', even though I'd made it very clear to the police and social worker who took me from my house that I was happy living by myself. Why couldn't I just stay in the house by myself? OK, I was only ten years old, but I'd been living by myself for the past year, and I hadn't died or anything.

"We're nearly there, Skye." The voice of my new social worker, Kelly, interrupted my thoughts.

I sat in silence. I didn't want to talk to her. In fact, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just sat on the back seat of the car, hugging Pablo tightly, uncertain what my future was going to bring...

The first thing that I thought when I saw Elm Tree House was that it was big. Very big in fact. There were probably lots of other kids living there, some of which may not like the fact that I was moving in with them. As I got out of the car I took a deep breath, and thought to myself that as long as I kept my head down, everything would be alright. My social worker rang the doorbell, and a man answered the door. A young woman was standing behind him.

"Hello Skye," said the man, looking at me. "I'm Mike, and this is Tracy."

"Hi," said Tracy, smiling at me.

I smiled back at her, all my fears of coming to Elm Tree House gone.

"Should we go into the office?" Mike asked.

"OK," said Tracy. She took me by the hand and led me into the office. Mike closed the door behind him as I sat down on a chair. Mike then sat down opposite me, and Tracy sat next to me.

"Are you OK?" Mike asked kindly.

"I think so," I answered. "I don't know if I'll like it here, but I do so far. At least I don't have to look after myself anymore."

"No, we can look after you now," said Mike. His face turned serious, and his eyes were full of concern. "Skye, do you know what happened to your parents?"

I swallowed, and then took a deep breath. "They were killed in a car crash exactly a year ago," I said, tears coming to my eyes.

I remembered it all so well. Mum and Dad had left me in the house by myself, and I'd been really happy to have an evening where I could do anything I liked. But when they hadn't come home, I'd started to worry. Eventually I'd even sat on the window seat in the hall, just waiting for them. When it had got to ten o'clock I'd turned on the news, and, even though no one had actually said it was my parents (as no one knew, which is why no one really ever bothered to look for me), I'd known it as soon as they'd described them. My parents were dead.

"How do you know that?" Mike asked softly. He could obviously see that I was upset, and was probably trying not to unsettle me.

"When I saw the news article, I just knew," I said. "As soon as the description came up, I was certain it was them. And when they didn't come back, I had no other solution."

"Why didn't you tell someone?" Tracy asked me, looking deep into my eyes.

"Because I wanted to stay at home, with Pablo, and..." My voice tailed off.

There was no need for anymore questions: everyone understood.

We sat in silence for a few seconds, and then Tracy decided to start a new conversation.

"Who's this?" she asked, lifting up one of Pablo's front paws.

"This is Pablo," I said, hugging him. "I've had him ever since I was a baby."

"So he's pretty special to you then," said Tracy.

"Yes," I said. "He's helped me a lot over the past year. He always makes me happy when I'm upset."

"Could I have a look at him?" asked Tracy.

"OK," I said, passing Pablo to her. She stroked him on the head, and then gave him back to me.

I held Pablo's head and made him lick Tracy's hand. "He likes you," I said.

"Yes, he does," said Tracy, stroking Pablo again.

I didn't see Tracy look up and smile at Mike. She knew that it wasn't only Pablo that trusted her and Mike, but that I did as well.

A/N Thanks for reading! I will be uploading chapter two very soon. Please read and review!