Don't own twilight (thank goodness) because if I did then I would have done a lot of things differently.

Chapter 1:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young lady named Mary Alice Brandon she came from a rich and loving family. She had a younger sister who worshipped the ground that she walked on and inspired to one day be as beautiful and graceful as her older sister. Her parents were equally in love with their oldest daughter, always dreaming of the beautiful grandchildren and wonderful son in law she would one day give them. With her beautiful big blue eyes and long midnight black hair along with her big heart, she was a much loved by those whoever she met. She was loyal and kind and would often spend her time making clothes for the children at the local orphanage. And on her eighteenth birthday on one bright sunny July day she married her high-school sweet-heart Macedon and moved into a little cottage just outside of a beautiful town. He was a local teacher and she took over at the local orphanage. Then one day the family of two became complete when Mary gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl who had her mother's bright blue eyes and her midnight black hair. Everything was perfect and the family had never been happier...until on one cold and dark day Mary Alice Brandon took her daughter and then jumped off the cliff.

With a small shriek Ashlee-Ann Baker awoke with a start, breathing heavily she ran a shaky hand through her sweaty and tangled hair. She could vaguely hear the sound of her alarm clock screeching someone in her room over the sound of her own pounding heart. She had been having the horrible dream every night for the past three months. Although at first the dreams had started off as broken images and the sound of a baby crying. But as the months went on the dreams became more real and intense until it was like a horror movie that she couldn't wake up from that haunted her during the night. Clutching her beating chest through her silk nightie she let out a strangled sob as she collapsed back into her tangled blankets. She could still hear the terrifying sound of thunder ripping the sky apart as the heavens cried for the young girl, the smell of salt water assaulting her senses as the raging waters crashed against the jagged rocks at the bottom of the rather large cliff.

Rolling over onto her side Ashlee-Ann reached over to her bedside table and shakily turned off the screeching blue anime penguin alarm clock that was currently screaming obscenities at her. It had been a gift to her from her uncle when he had gone on a school holiday to Tokyo. Taking a calming breath she rolled onto her back and stared up at her black ceiling, fragments of the dream still swirling around her frazzled mind, she had no idea what these dreams meant, if they meant anything at all. She had never been to the cliffs where the young girl had taken her daughters and her own life, and as far as she knew she had never met the petite black haired girl that plagued her dreams. Although for some reason she felt like she knew her from somewhere, like she had met her in another life. This was truly as confusing and frustrating dilemma, and she had no idea on how she was going to fix it. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep in ages causing her to often fall asleep in the middle of her classes, she had been sent to the principal's office more times these past three months for sleeping in class then she had been in all her 11 years in school. Hell before this incident she didn't even know where the principal's office was.

Letting out a tired sigh she rubbed her sleepy eyes, it was times like this that she wished her grandmamma still lived in Beaufort. Since she had never really been close to her mother, it wasn't that she didn't get along with her mother it was just that she was a major workaholic and a bit distant making it very hard for her to talk to her about her problems. Her grandmamma used to live two houses down from them when she was younger so whenever her mother and father were at work she would stay with her grandparents and she would often spend hours making cookies with her. And as she got older she began to rely more and more on her grandmamma to go to for support or someone to listen to her when she had trouble. In fact she spent most of her time at her grandparents after school that was until two years ago when her grandfather George died of a heart disease. Her grandmamma feeling lonely moved up to live in the Grampians in a little unit behind her son Mark's house.

Well there was no way she was going to get anymore sleep before her mother came storming into her room in around fifteen minutes, so with a tired and reluctant groan she rolled out of her double bed and onto the black fluffy carpeted floor with a soft thud. "Ok that really hurt, never going to do that again" rubbing her aching butt she winced slightly, ok she so didn't think that through. Wobbling unsteadily to her feet she stretched her back letting out a satisfied sigh as her bones popped. Scratching her hair and rubbing the sleep out of her blue eyes, wishing that the day was already over, she walked into her walk in closet to pick out her outfit. "What to wear? What to wear?" She muttered as she flipped through her various shirts "urgh it's too early to be thinking" she mumbled in annoyance, as she ran a frustrated hand through her long black hair. It was way too early to make such an important decision such as picking what outfit she was going to wear.

Mentally berating herself for not picking out her outfit last night, she resisted the urge to just go down to breakfast in just her P.J's. But quickly discarded the idea since she was just too tired to listen to her mother yelling at her for being disrespectful and dishonoring their family by leaving her room in her P.J's, or whatever else it was that she whined about. Her mother was a very important lawyer so a lot of her colleagues came to the house at all times of the day and her mother didn't want the chance of being embarrassed by someone coming over and her family being inappropriately dressed. Deciding to go for something simple she picked out a black strapless dress that came just above her knees and had a red ribbon around the waist. Grabbing the matching ballerina shoes and knee high black socks with pink hearts and white skulls she let out a loud yawn before making her way into her personal bathroom that connected to her bedroom. She could not wait for the day to be over, she had only been up for ten minutes and now she wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her black and red comforter and fall asleep. Hell she was way too tired to even care about the nightmare that she knew was waiting for her.

Stumbling into the darkened kitchen she blanched as the rancid smell of her mum's breakfast smoothie assaulted her nose. It was a thick bluish green substance that tasted as bad as it smelled. Her mother on one of her freaky health kicks had gotten this from the local nature hippy shop to ease to stress levels from her busy life and no amount of pleading would stop her mother from drinking that crap and stinking up the kitchen. Pinching her nose in a vain attempt to block out the smell, she made her way deeper into the kitchen to find her mother at the table dressed in one of her ugly muggy green work suit (she was so glad that she hadn't gotten her mother's bad taste in clothing. Honestly how her mother could walk around and not be embarrassed being seen in that ugly outfit was beyond her) calmly reading the mornings paper her blonde hair tightly pinned to the back of her head. "Morning Ashlee-Ann" her mum said stiffly not looking up from the paper. "Mornin mother" Ashlee-Ann yawned taking out a couple of strawberry pop tarts and placing them in the toaster. "You know I don't like you eating those disgusting things" her mother Kathleen snapped shooting her an angry look as she watched her only daughter lazily stumble around the kitchen.

Placing a plate onto the bench she let out a tired sigh "if you don't like me eating pop tarts, then why did you buy them?" Honestly they went through this every day, they were just pop tarts for crying out loud, they were the only bad things she actually ate, it wasn't like she pigged out on junk food every-day. "You know very well that it is your father who keeps buying those horrible things" she sniffed indignantly before returning back to her precious paper. Her mother was against anything sugary or fattening in the house and ever since she was a child her dad would sneak her little treats when her mother said she couldn't have any. She was always found it funny to see her see her mother's face go red with rage when her father brought home something that was on her forbidden list. No matter how much she ranted at him her father would simply chuckle and pull her into a hug before planting a kiss onto her cheek and calmly explaining that he was a dentist and what was the worst thing that could happen?

The sound of the toaster beeping brought Ashlee-Ann out of her thoughts. Taking the pop tarts out of the toast burning her fingers she quickly dropped them onto her plate, wincing at the pain in her fingers. "Careful they are hot" her dad teased as he placed a gentle kiss on the crown of her head "funny dad" she replied sarcastically placing her burning digits into her mouth. Ignoring the glare she was sending he ruffled her hair before stealing one of her precious pop tarts. "Hey I was going to eat that" Ashlee-Ann snapped in mock outrage watching as her father shoved the entire thing into his mouth and swallowing it in one bit. "I so hope you burnt your tongue" poking she his tongue he walked over to his wife and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. "Morning love" swatting him away she shot her husband a glare "don't you morning me Roger, honestly I told you not to buy those artery clogging things. When you die at a young age then don't expect me to feel sorry for you" she snapped crossing her slender arms and letting out an irritated huff. Rolling his in amusement he began to gently rub her shoulders tenderly "oh come now my darling Kathleen it's just food besides I highly doubt I'm going to die what's the worst thing that could happen?"

Shrugging his hands off of her shoulders her glare hardened "oh I don't know sweetie how about heart disease, diabetes, cancer or oh I don't know tooth decay" letting out a fake horrified gasp he stumbled back "wait you're a doctor and here I thought you were a lawyer, you lied to me. Oh why my love? Why would you lie to me? I thought you loved me" he asked tearily before he threw himself at his giggling daughter. "Oh my baby girl your mama is so cruel to me" giggling at her father's antics she rubbed his back in mock sympathy "oh you poor baby, maybe if you weren't such an idiot she wouldn't be so mean to you." Slamming her empty glass into the table she shot her wailing husband a reproachful look trying desperately not to break into giggles "just get ready for work already you big lug before I kill you myself." "Oh good idea love" Roger said instantly brightening up, not hearing or ignoring his wife's death threats she bounced over to his wife he placed a quick kiss on her cheek before rushing out of the room.

Letting out a half-amused, half-frustrated sigh she folded up her paper and cafefully placed it down before turning to face her daughter "please do not tell me you are wearing that to school, you know I can't stand that goth stuff" Kathleen snipped eying her daughters outift with a look of distaste. Ignoring her mother all together she placed the remaining pop tart into her mouth and placed her plate into the sink. "Don't ignore me while I am trying to talk to you young lady" her mother snapped angrily stamping her foot and placing her hands on her hips. "Fine mum" Ashlee-Ann groaned slumping her shoulders before turning to face her mother who was scowling out her "there is nothing wrong with what I am wearing just because it is black does not mean that it is goth or emo or anything else you want to call it." She was so tired and had so been hoping to get through today without having her mother have a bitch fit about her outfit, or what she was eating but alas it just wasn't meant to be. "A young lady should not being wearing black" resisting the urge to point out that grown women shouldn't be wearing an expensive tacky green skirt suit instead she put on her black lace gloves before tying her midnight black hair into two plaits.

"Well I think that she looks lovely in black" her father said happily wrapping an arm around Ashlee-Ann's slim shoulders and playing with one of her red lacy ribbons in her hair. Wrapping an arm around his waist she placed a kiss on the man's prickly cheek "thank you daddy." "Roger what have I told you about siding against me when I am trying to discipline Ashlee-Ann? You know how I feel about those horrid clothes it makes a horrible impression and she will never get a job" Kathleen shouted angrily stomping her dark green six inch heel, the vein on her forehead pounding. "and then I'll be poor and be forced to live in the gutters with all the other goth wearing hobos and be forced to eat trash out of the garbage" Ashlee-Ann retorted sarcastically letting out a nervous chuckle when her mother's death glare landed on her, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. Yep she was definitely pissed at them "come on darling it is just a dress you know that I value your opinion and I am always on your side" Roger pleaded desperately trying to calm his wife before she started throwing things at his head. "It is not just the freaking dress Roger, I told you not to get those pop tarts and then you get them. I said don't get her that black Goth make-up so what do you do? You go out and get her a hundred dollars' worth the very next day" Kathleen screeched her face going bright red and her chest was heaving up and down heavily.

Taking a cautionary step forward he flinched when her murderous glare landed on him, burning holes into his white doctor's jacket "sweetie listen..." letting out a shrill feral growl she threw her arm in the air before storming out of the room without so much as a backwards glance in their directions. With an exaggerated sigh he turned to face his daughter clapping his hands together "well that could have gone a lot worse" "at least you don't have any new bruises it must be really embarrassing having to explain to your co-workers that you got bested by a girl again" she snickered grabbing her inuyasha lunchbox out of the fridge she rolled her eyes in amusement, her father could be such a child sometimes. Honestly she had no idea how her stuck up mother ended up with such an overgrown kid "why are you so mean to me? You who I gave life too, to treat me so horribly I can't take it-I can't take it" he wailed loudly as he once again burst into huge tears and ran out of the room, blubbering incoherently into his large calloused hands.

"Oh he is such a big baby" Ashlee-Ann chuckled lightly under her breath as she hitched her backpack up her shoulder "what an idiot". Looking down at her watch she groaned weakly, great now she was going to be late again for the third time this week, and it was only Wednesday her homeroom teacher was going to be so pissed off at her. She had a very bad feeling that today was going to be a very long day and she couldn't wait for it to be over.

The strong wind billowed Mary Alice's long grey skirt as she made her way up the windy path, towards the top of the cliff. Drenched and ignoring the pain in their feet as the jagged rocks sliced through the delicate skin on her feet, the pale shivering lady rocked the baby in her long slender arms trying desperately to quiet the baby's wails. Placing a gentle kiss on the top of the wailing baby's forehead, a lone tear ran down the young ladies face before she threw herself into the black raging waters below her body hitting the rocks with a sickening thud, before sinking into the waves.

The sound of metal hitting wood awoke Ashlee-Ann with a startled jerk, causing herself to fall out of her metal and plastic chair with a loud thud. Wincing as pain shot up her rear end, she looked up to see her math's teacher Mrs. Applegate standing over her breathing heavily and her cheeks red with rage "welcome back to the world of the living" Mrs. Applegate commented dryly placing her hands on her rather large hips and tapping her foot impatiently. Blushing wildly as the entire class burst out laughing she muttered a quick apology before scampering to her and taking her seat. "Yes well make sure that it doesn't happen again or I will be forced to send you to the principal's office." Letting out an irritated huff she shot Ashlee-Ann one last dirty look before wobbling to the front of the class to continue one with the lesson. Slumping into her stiff seat Ashlee-Ann let out an embarrassed disgruntled groan, using the back of her hand to wipe the drool covering her right cheek.

She was so freaking embarrassed she hadn't even made it through her first class without falling asleep. Although to be fair she found math's to be very boring and the droning sound of the elderly teacher's voice could put anyone to sleep. Wiping the drool off of her face and picking the stray hair plastered to her face, which had fallen out of her plaits she shot a quick look at the clock on the wall and let out a relieved sigh. Only two more minutes of this stupid class left before she had a free period before recess, which gave her an hour and a half of free time before she had to worry about classes. Knowing that she wasn't going to learn anything in the last two minutes of the class, she quickly packed up her slightly tattered and torn math's books and placed them into her blood red back pack. Placing the bag back under her seat she slumped back into her seat ignoring the prattling of her elderly teacher. She could probably go to the sickbay and claim to be sick and sleep until she had to go to her fashion's class. Thinking about her fashion's class Ashlee-Ann smiled slightly as she stared out the window at the bog oak tree that hid the window view of the football field below. Ashlee-Ann had a huge love for fashion and was hoping to become a famous clothes designer when she was older. She had even made most of the clothes in her closet and made a few pieces of clothing for friends and family.

Playing with her left glove Ashlee-Ann almost jumped out of her seat in surprise when the school bell rang loudly, breaking the young teen out of her thoughts. Picking up her backpack she practically raced towards the doors, wanting nothing more than to get to the sickbay as quickly as possible and pass out on their small cot. She had almost made it to the door when Mrs. Applegate's booming voice filled the room telling her to stay behind. She had been so close, slouching slightly Ashlee-Ann hitched the bag strap over her shoulder before making her way over to the teacher's desk, where she was calmly grading math's tests. Shifting nervously from foot to foot she waited patiently for the elderly lady to acknowledge her presence. Signing her signature onto the test she placed her red pen onto the stack of papers before fixing her bug like glasses and looking up at Ashlee-Ann, motioning for her to take a seat. Sighing sadly she placed her backpack onto the floor before sitting in the seat closet to the desk.

Taking off her glasses she tiredly rubbed her eyes before replacing them "I think you know why I asked you to stay behind?" remaining silent Ashlee-Ann rubbed her right arm and nodded "this is the fifth time you have fallen asleep in my class this month, is something going on at home?" looking down at her gloved hands with shame she shook her head lightly "no everything is fine I have just been having a lot of trouble sleeping at night is all" settling back into her plush black seat Mrs. Applegate nodded as she threaded her fingers together "how long have you been having difficulty sleeping?" before she could answer the room began to fill up with chattering and laughing students. "I understand that you have a free period why don't you go to the nurse and have a quick sleep before you have to go to the rest of the class" fixing the papers on her desk she sighed before waving Ashlee-Ann away with her wrinkly tanned hand "you may go now just don't let this happen again or I will have to send you to the principle" "yes Mrs. Applegate's" she whispered quietly before picking up her blood red backpack and scurrying out of the room.

Making her way to her locker she smiled when she saw her best friend Layla leaning against her locker fiddling with her short curly blonde and pink streaked hair. Their mothers had been best friends since they were five years old when Layla's mum Deanne moved next door with her elderly grandparents. Her grandmamma would often babysit Deanne when her grandparents were at their jobs. Grandmamma would tell her stories about how close the two girls were and when it was time to go to college not only did they go to the same college but they both studied to become lawyers .They opened a small private business together that helped abused women. They both married dentists and even had a joint wedding in the Bahamas. So no-one had been surprised when they even fell pregnant at the same time and had their children two hours apart. Layla was the oldest out of the two of them (something that she never let her forget) "no you are the gorgeous one" Ashlee-Ann giggled as she placed her math's books into her locker and pulled out her sewing supplies placing them delicately in her bag, before slamming her dented locker door with a loud thud.

Flipping her curly hair behind her shoulder with a flick of her wrist, she blonde posed dramatically "Why yes I am" Layla cooed "I would definitely date us" "I would marry us" Ashlee-Ann said seriously before both girls burst out laughing, as they made their way down the deserted hallway all thoughts of taking a nap in the nurses office gone. Making their way down the deserted corridor, litter scattered haphazardly across the ugly tiled floors. "So I heard from Casey that you fell asleep in math's class again" she teased dancing around Ashlee-Ann and pulling on one of her plaits "couldn't even get through the first class without falling asleep" Layla said with mock seriousness as she shook her head in a fake disappointed manner. Groaning she pulled the plait out of her friend's perfectly manicured hand she shot her a mock glare "shouldn't you be in class right about now?" Ashlee-Ann questioned with a raised eyebrow "nah I decided to skip French today" she replied waving her question away, seeing the doubtful look on her friends face she hastily continued "oh don't give me that look Ash I left a note on Mademoiselle Ellis's desk at 1st period"

Letting out a snort of disbelief Ashlee-Ann opened the heavy wooden doors and made their way out into the courtyard "forging a note from aunt Deanne saying that you won't be in French class because you have run away to join the circus won't fool your teacher, especially since you used that excuse last week and she caught you pigging out on chocolate behind the cafeteria" she berated her friend with a swift smack upside the head. Wincing she rubbed the back of her head she shot her friend a mock glare "well she wasn't in class either I'll have you know besides I just want to spend more time with you, you never spend any time with me anymore" she whimpered pathetically, throwing her arms around Ashlee-Ann big crocodile tears filling her hazel eyes "fine but when you get detention...and trust me you will, don't come crying to me" Ashlee-Ann said with a small chuckle wrapping her arm around Layla's slim waist and placing her head onto her shoulder with a tired sigh.

"Not only am I going to come crying to you when I am busted, when I am going to tell the teachers that you made me skip with the power of cookies" Layla teased nudging the black haired teen playfully with her right shoulder. "Oh yeah because they are so going to believe you" shooting her friend a dirty look she slapped Ashlee-Ann upside the head "oh and what exactly is that supposed to mean?" "Meaning that this isn't the first time that you have skipped class and tried to blame me for it" "Blah" she mumbled under her breath as she visibly deflated, as she slumped back into the wooden bench "oh yeah that was such an awesome comeback really people will write stories about it" "like you could do better" she snipped giving Ashlee-Ann's plait a swift hard tug "oh I know that I could do better than you" falling into a comfortable silence Ashlee-Ann rubbed her tired, sore eyes she let out a large yawn and snuggled into Layla's shoulder. "Don't wake me up when you get busted" she muttered unable to keep her eyes open any longer Ashlee-Ann allowed the darkness to consume her as she drifted off to sleep.

Waking with a jolt Ashlee-Ann groaned as pain shot through her back. Forcing herself to sit up on the cold hard wooden bench, she rubbed the knots and kinks out of her neck as she looked around her darkened surroundings. Great she must have fallen asleep again, and with how dark it was she must have slept through the rest of her classes. Mentally cursing Layla for leaving her to sleep on this cold, hard bench she ran her hand over her messy plaits before looking down at her watch with a wince. Oh man 6:30pm looking down at her watch she mentally groaned, oh her parents were so going to kill her when she got home. Once again cursing out her best friend for leaving her stranded on the bench and thinking of ways to get revenge on her traitorous best friend she decided she had better get going home before she got into any more trouble.

Looking around the bench Ashlee-Ann was surprised to find that her bag was missing "great and the bitch stole my bag" oh she was so going to get back at Layla for this when she got her hands on her. Hearing the sound of gravel crunching behind her Ashlee-Ann swung around to see two tall burly men in white suits carrying batons, walking towards her calmly. "Miss Brandon you know you aren't supposed to be out this far unsupervised" the shorter one of the two men said soothingly shooting her a toothy grin, revealing his pearly white teeth. Trying desperately to ignore the feeling of dread that filled her she took a cautionary step backward "I'm sorry but I think you are confusing me with someone else" Ashlee-Ann said slowly looking around desperately, she had no idea who these men were and she didn't like the creepy looks on their faces and the menacing way they were making there way towards her.

Sharing a look with his shorter counterpart the young black haired man held out his right hand in a soothing manner "now Miss. Brandon it is time to go inside" shaking her head nervously she took a nervous step back "look I have no idea who you are or who you think I am but I swear if you take another step closer to me I will scream" she said shakily stumbling backwards mentally cursing herself for thinking of bringing the pepper-spray her friend Jay-Jay had gotten her for Christmas. She usually kept it in her bra but today she had been so tired that she had forgotten to get it from her black vanity drawers. Although if a certain best friend of hers hadn't left her here then she wouldn't currently be being hounded by two wacko's holding batons. "Now calm down Mary Alice everything is going to be ok just take a couple of breaths and come with us please" what the hell was going on here? Who the hell were these douchbags and why the hell were they calling her Mary Alice Brandon?

Who was this Mary Alice Brandon? First she haunted her dreams and now someone was mistaking her for this mysterious girl, she didn't even think this girl even existed for crying out loud. "Ok now I am starting to get mad for the last time...I AM NOT THIS MARY ALICE BRANDON" she said hysterically her voice raising slightly as she looked around the courtyard desperately trying to find a way to get out of here before something bad happened. "Now leave me alone the hell alone before I call the cops" taking a couple of steps backwards she shot the two men one last look before she made a bolt for it. "Stop right there Miss Brandon" both men screamed in union as they gave chased after her. Before she could make it two feet she was tackled to the ground, her head hitting the ground with a painful thwack. As she began to Fall in and out of consciousness Ashlee-Ann let out a moan of pain as the two strange men roughly lifted her to her feet. "Let me go you freaks" she protested weakly trying to pull herself out of the men's iron like grip "let me go" she muttered before everything went black.

The first thing Ashlee-Ann noticed when she woke up was a horrible pounding in her head. The pain ripping through her head was horribly intense, she felt like she was been run over repeatedly with a monster truck. Ok so she had never actually run over by a child's bike let alone anything as big as a monster truck, but she was pretty damn sure that if she ever was run over that it would feel awfully similar to the excruciating pain she was currently going through her head. Urgh what she wouldn't give for a box of the strongest pain medication she could get her hands on and a dark room where she could sleep away the pain for oh a couple of weeks to a year. Ashlee-Ann was brought out of her pained filled thoughts when she felt someone shaking her roughly by the shoulders, screaming something incoherent that she couldn't quite make out. Whoever was shaking her she wished they would just cut it out before she tossed her cookies all over the idiot that was currently trying to give her whiplash.

As her consciousness slowly returned the throbbing in her head intensified until it was almost unbearable leaving her with a horrible nauseous feeling. Forcing her sore and tired eyes open to tell whatever idiot was shaking her to cut it out, she found herself staring up at her best-friends blurry face. Blinking a couple of times to clear her vision she let out a pained groan as the sun blinded her "Layla?" Ashlee-Ann slurred groggily wincing as another wave of pain and nausea washed over her. "What happened? My head is killing me" "well I'm not surprised since you ran head-first into a tree" Layla chuckled lightly using the sleeve of her jacket to wipe of the dry blood off of Ashlee-Ann's forehead. "I did what?" the injured teen asked blushing deeply, embarrassed that she had done something stupid as running into a tree. "You crashed into a freaking tree, one minute you were passed out on my shoulder drooling like a pit-bull mind you, then the next minute you started sleepwalking and when I tried to stop you, you went berserk and ran into a tree. Oh and by the way you owe me a new jacket since I had to use my brand new one to stop your bleeding forehead" Layla said with a dramatic sniffle.

Sitting up she ignored the sharp pain that shot through her head as she poked her wound "you know the saying what's yours is mine and what's mine is still mine" Layla chuckled helping Ashlee-Ann to her feet. "Oh how could I forget you selfish cow" Ashlee-Ann retorted with a roll of her eyes brushing the dirt off of her black dress before examining it for any tears and blood stains "well at least I didn't get any blood on my dress" Ashlee-ann said with a relieved sigh after all this was her favorite dress, she had made it with her grandmamma before she had left when her grandpa died and there was no way she was going to ruin it. Pulling out the mirror from her pocket to examine her head she winced when she saw a large thin scar that ran from her hairline to her left eyebrow, blood was slowly seeping out of the wound and there was dried patches of blood on random part of her forehead. Letting out a sigh she pulled out her hankie and placed it firmly against her forehead. "Well I certainly did a number on myself on the plus side at least I don't need stitches" snickering to herself she threw an arm around her friends shoulder "that's what you get for sleep walking into a tree"

Shrugging off her friends arm Ashlee-Ann shot Layla a nasty look "I was so not sleep walking you idiot only children sleep walk, which you would know if you ever went to psychology" Ashlee-Ann huffed in mock anger "well you have to admit you are rather childish" "uh-huh you steal some poor kids ice-cream cake at a restaurant and I'm the childish one" Ashlee-Ann replied sarcastically rolling her eyes, as she held her aching head "for your information the kid was three I highly doubt that he cared that I stole his cake besides you did help me eat it" "the kid was thirteen and I hardly call shoving that piece of four layer cake down my throat as me helping you eat it" rolling her eyes she picked up both her and Ashlee-Ann's backpacks "whatever let's just get you to the nurse before you bleed to death. With the way you ran into that tree it is entirely possible you could have a concussion" Layla joke with a slight note of worry in her tone as they made their way out of the courtyard and back towards the school

"Oh like that stupid bint could do anything to help, I highly doubt she can tie her own shoe laces let alone knowing how to treat a concussion" Ashlee-Ann chuckled with a slight whimper when a sharp pain shot through her head. "Besides here I am talking to you and I am not tired so I don't think I have a concussion" she added as an afterthought as they walked through the passageway "yeah I know she really is a dumb cow" Layla replied with a chuckle as she ran a hand through her blonde and pink hair "I think she really should've been born blonde." Ashlee-Ann snorted as she nodded her head in agreement, she added as an afterthought with a huge shudder "Oh I don't even want to know how she manages to get dressed in the morning" "Well here we are" turning to face her best friend she nudged her gently "so are you ready to go in there and face the dragon." Not giving her time to answer she shoved her into the room before skipping in after her. "Nurse Redelle Ashlee-Ann was a git and ran into a tree" Layla sang loudly dancing around the room and spinning around wildly. "Can you shut it any louder I don't think France heard you"

Ashlee-Ann snapped sitting down on the closet bed watching as Layla pranced and danced around the room with the plastic skeleton singing loudly and off key. "Ok you have to stop carrying around before you get us both in trouble ya idget" Ashlee-Ann scolded lightly as she placed her aching head in her palms, honestly as much as she loved her friend Layla could be such a pain in the arse sometimes. "I'm afraid Nurse Redelle isn't available she is having a nooner as you kids call it these days. Oh dear Miss. Ashlee-Ann what did you do to yourself into this time?" an elderly voice asked as she wobbled into the room, her white hair tied in an overly tight bun. Looking around the room she pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear walking through the bed Layla was currently occupying. "Hey Nurse Ellis" she said shifting uncomfortably on the bed with a nervous chuckle.

"I kind of walked into a tree" Nurse Ellis had been the school nurse in the 1890's when the school had been an all girl's prep school. When she was in her late sixties she ended up dying of a bad case of influenza and due to her strong desire to look after students she has been haunting the school infirmary. "Oh is ghost lady here? Hey ghost lady how are you today?" Layla asked eagerly jumping up and down on the spare bed "what have I told you about calling me ghost lady Miss Layla? But I am fine thank you for asking" Nurse Ellis said with an irritated huff causing the lights to flicker on and off.

She said that she is fine and that she doesn't like to be called ghost lady" Ashlee-Ann winced rubbing her aching and bleeding head "oh right sorry 'bout that Nurse Ellis" the blonde chuckled nervously rubbing the back of her head. Letting out an irritated huff she brushed invisible dust off of her neatly pressed nurses outfit "That is ok Miss Layla I better go that poor incompetent nurse is coming, honestly how someone like her became a nurse is beyond me" Nurse Ellis said stiffly causing Ashlee-Ann to let out a small giggle wincing as a wave of pain washed over her. Nurse Ellis definitely had a point about Nurse Redelle she was fairly incompetent, she was in her early twenties and had no medical experience whatsoever. In fact she highly doubted that the stupid bint knew one side of a band aid from another, or what to do with one. Since Nurse had long red hair she definitely proved that you don't have to be blonde to be an idiot. The only reason Nurse Redelle got the job at the school in the first place was because her father was the director of the school.

They probably hired her thinking that since it was school she wouldn't need to know too much medical knowledge hoping that the worst case scenario would need a band aid and a lollypop. Unfortunately she couldn't even manage to do that, since she was hardly ever in the nurses office and couldn't stand the sight of blood, in fact there had been numerous times when students would have to bandage their friends because the so called nurse was much to squeamish to go near the blood. A lot of parents and students had complained about the nurses incompetence but the school refused to fire her 'her daddy probably threatened to close the whole freaking school down if they fired her, ditzy arse' Ashlee-Ann mused she couldn't wait to see the look on the young adults face when she saw all the blood that was covering her.

The sound of giggling brought Ashlee-Ann out of her musings, looking up she groaned when she saw nurse Redelle stumbling into the infirmary as she tried to eat the face from one of the seniors. Rolling her eyes in annoyance Layla cleared her throat in annoyance. Pulling away from her boyfriend she spun around and glared at the two students "Ashlee-Ann? Layla? What the hell are you doing in here? You are supposed to be in class? You snot nosed little brats" Nurse Redelle demanded angrily crossing her arms and stomping her foot impatiently "Well considering the fact that this is the infirmary and Ashlee-Ann is covered in blood, it should be rather obvious" Layla retorted snottily glaring at the nurse. With an irritated huff she flipped her long red hair over her shoulder and stomped over to Ashlee-Ann's bed "Well what the hell did you do to yourself?" Nurse Redelle growled angrily paling at the sight of dry blood that caked Ashlee-Ann's forehead and neck.

"I kind of ran into a tree Nurse Redelle" she mumbled looking down at her hands trying to calm herself from snapping at the lady. Shuffling from one foot to the other the young footballer the nurse had been making out with cleared his throat nervously "I better get to class coach says that if I miss any more classes then I'm going to be kicked off the football team" "then piss off don't want to upset your precious teacher" she shouted angrily throwing her arms around wildly throwing the closet vase at the teens head missing it by miles as he ran out of the room with a startled squeak. Letting out a high pitched shriek she spun around and glared at the two snickering teens "Oh I suppose you think this is freaking funny don't you? Well what the fuck do you want?" "Yeah it is funny" Layla snickered wincing in mock pain when Ashlee-Ann threw her bloodied jacket at her friends head. "I kind of hit my head on a tree and need the wound cleaned and bandaged" Ashlee-Ann replied trying desperately to keep a straight face as she stared at the enraged look on the young nurses face "And you are here because? Why the hell are you telling me? What the fuck do you expect me to do?"

"Because this is the infirmary, you know the place where you go to treat wounds and you are the nurse which means it is your job to fix said problem" Layla said slowly as if talking to a disobedient toddler. "Whatever you freaks do it yourselves and don't even think of bothering me" Nurse Redelle snapped angrily storming into her office and slamming the door with a loud thud, causing some of the pictures to fall off of the wall and onto the floor. "Honestly what was the principle thinking when they hired that hooligan, what if something really bad happened and a child died because of her incompetence" Nurse Ellis scoffed angrily as she reappeared in the room her arms crossed and a frown etched on her face "he was thinking if he wanted to keep his then he has to hire her, besides I doubt he was thinking about the kids, he is after all a selfish man" Ashlee-Ann said with a sigh while Layla nodded in agreement scowling at the door.

"No matter I will simply have to check your wounds myself, tell Miss Layla to get a bowl of warm water and the first aid kit from the cupboard over the sink" Nurse Ellis mumbled to herself making a list as she made her way over to Ashlee-Ann's bed "oh that is alright Nurse Ellis I can do it myself" Ashlee-Ann stuttered waving her arms around wildly. "Just stay still and do as I say" Nurse Ellis snapped angrily grabbing the young teen by the face and examining the cut on her head "well it isn't too deep, that is good so you won't need any stitches although we will need to clean your wound" "Layla will you please get a bowl of warm water and the first aid kit" Ashlee-Ann asked wincing as the ghost nurse poked her tender wound. Popping a piece of sugar free sour apple bubblegum into her mouth the young blonde jumped off of the bed and skipped over to the sink humming the batman theme song happily under her voice. Grabbing the first aid kit she filled up a bowl of warm water and skipped over to the bed placing the first aid kit and bowl of water onto the bedside table "here ya go" she said cheerfully jumping onto the bed causing it to bounce lightly under her weight.

"Thank you Miss. Layla" Nurse Ellis said briskly giving Ashlee-Ann's face one last look before moving over to the first aid kit and rummaging through it. "This is so freaking cool I love watching ghost nurse work" Layla chuckled happily leaning back as she watched various bandages, alcohol swabs and cotton swabs floating seemingly by themselves in the air. "I thought I told you not to call me that" Nurse Ellis snipped angrily opening the alcohol swab and using it to wipe off the blood causing Ashlee-Ann to wince in pain "but thank you I do take pride in my job" she added her eyes softening slightly throwing the used swab into the bin before opening another swab "good lord I hate those things" Ashlee-Ann winced as Nurse Ellis not so gently dabbed at her wounded head. As much as she liked the nurse she had the bedside manner of a foul-mouthed trucker and the hands to match. "Would you please sit still or I am never going to get this cleaned" the elderly nurse snapped with a frustrated sigh, honestly the girl fidgeted more than an untrained baby poodle.

Stopping her fidgeting she let out a half-pained chuckle "sorry Nurse Ellis" with another frustrated sigh she shook her head in annoyance before dipping a cotton swab into the bowl of warm water and wiping the dried blood off of her forehead. "What have you done to yourself now" a husky male voice chuckled walking into the room with an amused smirk on his slightly tanned face "oh my gosh Brandon you should have seen her she ran into a freaking tree" Layla blurted out before bursting into laughing fit "oh I am so glad you find my pain and suffering to be amusing" Ashlee-Ann said with mock anger wincing as nurse Ellis wrapped the white sticky bandage around her wounded head. "Well that was silly now wasn't it" Brandon chuckled lightly as he slowly made his way over to Ashlee-Ann and pulled her into a hug stepping through Nurse Ellis "yes because I totally did it on purpose" she teased lightly ignoring the irritated huffs that were currently coming from Nurse Ellis as she packed up the first aid kit. If there was one thing that the elderly ghost couldn't stand was someone walking through her, which since she was a ghost happened a lot more than she liked.

"What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be in Spanish?" she asked playing with one of his crimson dreadlocks with an amused smile "well I was on my way until I ran into Nurse Redelle's new plaything and he told me that you were all banged up and I just had to make sure that you were ok" he whispered sweetly placing a gentle kiss on her bandaged temple. She had known Brandon since she was in diapers at Kindergarten and he soccer punched a six-year old for taking her brand new Barbie doll and flushed it down the toilet. "Oh that is disgusting what have I told you about doing that in front of me?" Layla whined pathetically covering her eyes and making gagging sounds of protest "oh grow up" Ashlee-Ann said as she hopped off the hospital bed wincing as pain and dizziness shot through her head, causing her to sway slightly. "Whoa careful there" Brandon said with concern wrapping his arms around her thin waist before she hit the ground "must've gotten up too fast" Ashlee-Ann muttered rubbing her aching head "well you need to be a lot more careful Miss. Baker I don't want to see you back in here with another injury" Nurse Ellis snapped before hobbling out of the infirmary and through the wall, muttering about clumsy girls under her breath as she went.

"Thank you Nurse Ellis" Ashlee-Ann said kindly watching as Nurse Ellis walked through the wall and out of the room through the wall. The sound of the door slamming into the brick wall caused all three teens to jump in fright, spinning around Ashlee-Ann saw Nurse Redelle storming out of her office murderous intent filled her eyes "what are you still doing in here? Get out of here" grabbing the closest vase to her she flung it at them barely missing Layla's head by inches "what the fuck? Are you some crazy psycho" the blonde screeched as the vase hit the wall and shattered causing water, plaster and roses to shower over the three of them. Ignoring Layla's angry protests the angry redhead continued to throw whatever she could get her hands on at the teens. Finally having enough of having crap thrown at her Layla picked up one of the books that had been piffed at her head and threw it at Nurse Redelle successfully knocking her out.

Letting out a horrified shriek Ashlee-Ann rushed over to the unconscious girl's side checking her neck for her pulse. Feeling a strong steady pulse she let out a relieved sigh before shooting Layla a frustrated look "Layla are you crazy? You just knocked out the freaking nurse. Are you trying to get yourself suspended AGAIN" ignoring the angry look Ashlee-Ann was sending her way, she shrugged picking pieces of vase and rose out of her head "well the crazy bitch shouldn't have gone psycho and thrown crap at me like that" Layla replied with a bored expression. "That is no excuse to knock her out though" Ashlee-Ann shouted as she placed a pillow under the girl's head in an attempt to make her more comfortable. "Oh come on love you have to admit that it was hilarious" Brandon snickered behind his hand as he watched his girlfriend tend to their psychopathic nurse. "Oh and I am so sure it is just going to be freaking hilarious when we are charged with assault" oh gosh her mother was so going to kill her if she got expelled from school for assault, and would most likely ship her off to some boot camp in some desert where the only color you could wear was grey and you had to get up at six in the morning to exercise.

Oh god she didn't want to use her toothbrush to clean the barrack floors. What was she going to do now? There was no way she would survive living at an all girl's boot camp, she needed at least twelve hours of sleep to survive and if she had to go to boot camp there was no way she would survive without twelve hours of sleep. And her daddy dearest, oh gosh she didn't want to think about his reaction if she got expelled. The thought of her father's reaction caused her to panic "would you calm down Baker we aren't going to get in trouble and your mother isn't going to send you to some all-girls boot camp in the middle of the desert" Layla chuckled as she watched her best friend hyperventilate and pull at her plaits. Honestly as much as she loved her best friend she had to admit that she could be a little bit of a sook.

"Well I am sorry that the thought of getting expelled is causing me to panic" rolling her eyes at her friend's dramatics she lifted her backpack over her shoulder "for crying out loud we are not going to be expelled" "will you two stop arguing already" Brandon said interrupting the two girl's bickering "recess is in five minutes so we might as well leave before we do get into trouble" "what we can't just leave her here unconscious on the floor" Ashlee-Ann snapped, she couldn't believe what she was hearing sure Nurse Redelle was a massive bitch but that was no reason to leave her alone passed out on the floor. "Oh please they will probably think that she passed out drunk again…I mean she practically reeks of vodka" taking a sniff Ashlee-Ann winced as the stale smell of vodka assaulted her, Layla was right the young redhead was completely trashed. That would certainly explain why she had attacked them for no good reason, after all it was well known around the school that Nurse Redelle was a violent drunk. "Come on already, I want to get to the cafeteria before they run out of those berry mudslide ice-cream and you know that I can't function without having my favorite ice-cream." Layla pouted crossing her arms and stomping her foot with slight impatience. "I'll even get you some of that gross sour apple ice-cream that you love oh so much" she bribed her nose crinkled in disgust.

With a reluctant sigh Ashlee-Ann gave the unconscious nurse one last look before she slowly got to her feet and made her way to her backpack. "Well I am in the mood for some sour apple ice-cream" she said reluctantly flinging her backpack over her shoulder. Letting out an excited squeal Layla jumped up and down happily before rushing out of the room jumping over the passed out nurse on the way out. "Geez you would think that someone just offered her a million dollars" Brandon laughed wrapping an arm around Ashlee-Ann's slim waist and leading her out of the room, making sure not to step on Nurse Redelle on the way out. "Please she would act that way over a freaking cheese sandwich" Ashlee-Ann teased leaning against the man's lean shoulder. "Too true as much as I love the girl she is totally bat-shit crazy"

"I heard that you bastard" Layla screamed from the corridor causing the tanned teen to cringe slightly in fear "oh you are in deep shit now she is so going to kick your arse" Ashlee-Ann teased laughing as her boyfriend turned paler than a piece of paper, oh this was just freaking hilarious he could take on a bunch of full-blown truckers and yet he was terrified of a 115 pound girl that was half his size. "Do you think if I bought her a shitload of ice-cream she might go easy on me?" he pleaded desperately as Ashlee-Ann dragged him out of the infirmary "I might consider it" Layla said snottily sticking her nose up in the air and crossing her arms stubbornly "but it better be a hell of a lot of ice-cream to make me forget that little comment." Pulling out his tattered and frayed black wallet with a depressed sigh as the three teens made their way down the deserted corridor "there goes all of my money." There goes all his hard work at KFC, honestly sometimes being friends with this girl's was just so freaking expensive.

Letting out a feral growl Layla lunged at Brandon who let out a girlish squeal and jumped behind his girlfriend, flinging his wallet at the enraged and feral looking girl. Her eyes had darkened and her hair was flying wildly in the air, as gorgeous as he found his friend at the moment she reminded him of a tigress that was hunting its prey…which unfortunately was him. "Take it, take it all" he whimpered pathetically cowering behind his amused girlfriend who was pissing herself laughing. "Oh you are so freaking pathetic" Ashlee-Ann said with an amused chuckle smacking the cowering boy behind that was currently using her as a human shield. "And she is a freaking wild animal" he shouted as he watched Layla happily pick through his wallet like a predator picking at the remains of its kill. All rage gone Layla happily went through her friend's wallet and pulled out a fifty dollar note "I think fifty dollars should cover the emotional trauma I was forced to endure by your nasty comments" Layla snickered through fake crocodile tears as she shoved the note into her black and pink spotted bra.

"Fifty bucks are you serious but I really need to get a new pair of skate shoes with that" he whined from his position behind Ashlee-Ann, who still hadn't stopped laughing "and besides it's not like you aren't bat-shit crazy." Placing her perfectly manicured hands on her slim waist she spun around and shot him a glare that would make batman himself cringe in fear. "And this bat-shit crazy chick has no qualms about kicking your skinny surfers arse into next week" letting out another girlish squeal he shrunk even further behind his girlfriend (if that was even possible) "fine take the fifty bucks just don't eat me" he pleaded desperately his greenish/grey eyes widening with fear. "Oh I was going to sweetie" Layla said happily doing a complete 180 personality change, throwing the tattered wallet at the whimpering boy's feet. Scrambling to pick up his black tattered wallet he clutched it to his chest like a wounded baby bird and cooed to it, which to Ashlee-Ann sounded suspiciously like did the bad lady hurt you?'

"Oh so you are going to give her fifty bucks and not your poor injured girlfriend?" Ashlee-Ann asked in mock horror as she spun around and glared at her boyfriend who was still crouched on the floor and whispering sweet nothings to it. It was times like this that she started to worry about the relationship that he had with the cheap piece of leather that he had bought at crazy Clark's for twenty dollars three years ago and was falling apart at the seams. She had tried numerous times to get him to dump the stupid ratty thing but he would go into hysterics and sulk in a corner for hours. Honestly who gave a rat's arse if it had been signed by Michael Jordan the wallet was a piece of shit and deserved to die. "But-but" looking between his wallet and his angered girlfriend he cowered slightly under her intense and angry gaze "but-but is that all you have to say to me? I can't believe you are spending your money on someone that isn't me, who the last time I checked was your girlfriend" "but-but she was going to eat me" he whimpered trailing off as both girl's glares intensified "oh so let me get this straight you are scared of a girl who is half your size?" she asked in a fake condescending tone as she chuckled darkly, causing the young teen to shudder "I think the real reason that you are giving her money because you are secretly in love with her" letting out a fake horrified gasp she stumbled back slightly clutching her chest tightly "oh my god you are cheating on me aren't you? You really do love Layla and are just using me to get to Layla"

"No baby of course I'm not, you know I love you and only you" he said desperately jumping to his feet and rushing to her side but before he could grab her she side stepped him letting out a choked sob "oh yeah well prove it" looking around desperately trying to find a solution to calm down his hysterical girlfriend. Not coming up with a good idea he fumbled with his wallet and pulled out three twenty dollar notes he shoved them into his girlfriend's shaky hands "here take this baby you know I would do anything for you it's just that she had murder eyes and if I didn't give her the fifty bucks she was going to kick my arse." Looking between the crumpled notes in her hand to the distraught look on her boyfriend's face she couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. "Ha-ha suck on that bitch I got sixty" Ashlee-Ann gloated spinning around she waved the three notes around like they were a trophy.

"I say we skip the rest of school and go shopping" she squealed happily lunging herself at Layla and they both started jumping up and down in circles. Looking between his long-time friend and girlfriend with a confused look he scratched the back of his head nervously, what the hell just happened? He just didn't get women one minute she was hysterical saying that he was cheating on her and the next she was jumping up and down screaming about going clothes shopping. "Wait I'm confused what just happened?" he asked visibly deflating "she just played you like a fiddle you idiot that's what happened?" Layla laughed throwing an arm around Ashlee-Ann's shoulders and sharing a cheeky grin. Ok now he was officially confused, what did she mean by playing him like a fiddle? Unless she didn't really think that he was cheating on her and just said all that so he would cave and give her money…god he couldn't believe that he fell for it…again.

Man he was such a freaking idiot…after all this wasn't the first time that she had fake cried into making him cough up wads of cash. The last time she had pulled this stunt he ended up losing two-hundred dollars and having to go to an anime convention where he got constantly groped by over-weight teens with an abundance of pimples and overbites. Every time he fell for it (which he was ashamed to say was a lot more than he cared to admit) he always made a promise to himself not to fall for her crazed shenanigans and yet one look into those sad teary blue eyes and he felt his heart breaking and the overpowering urge to do whatever it took to make her smile again. Which the little minx always used to her advantage to get whatever he wanted and god bless her he was too much in love with her to be mad at her. "Oh is baby going to cry?" Layla teased snapping him out of his thoughts "no-not yet anyway" he pouted sticking out his bottom lip and crossing his arms like a child who missed out on the last cookie. "Oh come on baby don't sulk" Ashlee-Ann said sexily sauntering over to Brandon and pulled him over to her with his black, red and silver skull neck tie. "I'm not sulking I just really wish you would stop doing that I mean what are you trying to do kill me?" he moaned as he pecked her on the lips and running a shaky hand through her silky black hair "oh baby it isn't my fault you are such a freaking idiot and fall for it every time"

"Oh lovely my girlfriend thinks I'm an idiot" he replied sarcastically rolling his eyes in mock annoyance. "Oh but I still love you baby" she breathed pulling him into a deep kiss, causing her blonde headed friend to gag in disgust "oh come on I am still here you idiots, now hurry up I'm starving and there is a sexy sweet pussy tank top just calling my name" Layla said in annoyance as she patted her left breast where the fifty dollar note was currently safely tucked away. "Shopping" planting one last kiss on Brandon's cheek she shoved her bag into his currently empty arms before skipping over to Layla and linking arms. Watching both girls skip through the corridors he shook his head in amusement, he didn't really know which girl was crazier and unfortunately for him he was best mates with the craziest chicks in America. Shooting a depressed look at his now considerably lighter wallet he sighed dejectedly before placing it back into his pants pockets. 'Well there goes most of my pay for this week.'

Ever since the three of them became friends in kindergarten the girl's had developed a habit of taking every penny he had. Like other greater men before him he learnt firsthand that when women wanted money it was better for his health to just keep his mouth shut and give them the money. Hell he was working two part time jobs just so that he could support both of the clothes crazed maniacs. And when he wasn't spending his hard earned money on them he was their personal pack mule, being forced to spend hours carrying their bags and having to listen to their shrill laughs and girlish talks that he couldn't for the life of him understand. Noticing that her boyfriend wasn't following she slowed down and shot him a mock frustrated look "well are you coming or what?" "If you don't hurry up than I am going to up the bribery to 100 bucks" Layla threatened in mock seriousness placing a hand on her hip "yeah and then you are going to have to give me $120" Ashlee-Ann added placing her head on Layla's shoulder.

"Coming" he shouted paling slightly knowing that the girls were being completely serious and not having enough to give them more money, he slung Ashlee-Ann's bag over his shoulder and chased after the two chuckling girls…today was going to be a long day indeed he really should've left when he had the chance.

Letting out a loud yawn Ashlee-Ann stumbled through the front door her arms full of various sized and colored bags. After ditching school to go to the mall and spending all of Brandon's hard earned cash, she was beyond exhausted and wanted nothing more than to enjoy a nice hot bubble bath with the new sour apple bubble-bath she had just bought (thanks to her gorgeous but push over of a boyfriend) and then have a nice nanny nap before tea. Kicking off her shoes and shoving them into the closet before making her way into the living-room to find her mother there with a furious expression on her face and her claw like hands clenching at her petite waist. Oh crap she was so totally busted she thought with a depressed sigh as she dropped her bags onto the floor and plopping onto one of the ugly green recliner chairs that filled the spacious room. Since her mum was obsessed with work and rarely got home before nine in the afternoon she had hoped that she would be able to sneak home before her mum or dad got home and delete ant messages that the school had sent about why she wasn't in class. Unfortunately for her mother decided to come home early today of all days and whatever message the school had left by the expression on her mum's face she had clearly heard and wasn't the least bit impressed.

"My client cancelled his afternoon appointment so I decided to come home early to surprise my family and you won't believe the kind of message I found on the answering machine?" shrinking back into the comfy chair she eyed her mother as she paced in front of her, a crazed look in her eye reminding her of a caged and hungry mountain lion…and lucky her she was the lions dinner "Do you want to take a wild guess as to what the message was about?" not waiting for Ashlee-Ann to answer she spun around flinging her arms wildly her eye's dancing dangerously. "Um was it Aunt Patty saying that she is coming to visit again?" Ashlee-Ann asked trying her best to look innocent, inwardly smirking when she saw her mum pale and wince slightly. Aunt Patty was her father's older and slightly more eccentric sister that her mother couldn't stand since the older woman turned up at her wedding drunk and with several male escorts. Of course she wasn't born then so she hadn't been there but her grandmamma had caught the whole thing on tape and the look on her mother's face when her aunt came sprinting in singing 'it's raining men' (extremely off key she might add) was hilarious.

Needless to say after that rather unpleasant event her mother made it her life mission to avoid the older woman at all costs. Unfortunately for her mother though her Aunt Patty was not someone you could successfully avoid because the drunken dim-bat never got the hint, which made her visits so much fun. Whenever she came Layla and herself would make bets on how long it would take for her mother to snap and kick Patty out. "I told you not to mention that name in this house young lady" her mother snapped angrily before taking a few calming breaths "and no that harlot didn't call in fact I got a charming message from your school saying that not only did you fall asleep in the only class that you went to but you skipped the rest of your classes-and for what to go shopping?" she spat angrily pointing at the bags like they were hiding some secret disease. Avoiding her mother's gaze she huddled deeper into the chair "well in my defense I ran into a tree and spilt my head open" she muttered pointed the slightly bloodied bandaged that was covering her wounded forehead "and what you thought that the best course of action was to ditch school again and go shopping?"

Not trusting herself to speak she simply looked at her hands afraid that if she tried to talk she would end up blurting out that shopping was the best way to cure a head injury, which would most likely anger her mother further making her punishment far more severe. "Are you even listening to me?" her mother barked snapping her out of her musings. Before she could reply her father rushed into the room with a large geeky grin on his face and an armful of patient folders. "Oh my love you have come home early to be with your one and only true love" Roger gushed flinging the patient folders out of his arms causing the papers to scatter haphazardly around the living-room 'oh that is going to be a bitch to clean up' she thought with a cringe as she watched her father tackle her mother to the ground 'oh she is not going to be happy' on the plus side her mother might get so angry at her father that she will conveniently forget to ground her for skipping out on school.

Pushing her husband roughly off of her she smacked him upside the head with one of the fallen folders "for the love of all that is holy I thought I told you to stop tackling me you absolute twit" falling onto his rear he pouted slightly as he massaged his injured head "but baby I love you and missed you" he whined as crocodile tears filled his eyes 'here we go again' Kathleen thought with a frustrated sigh as she mentally reminded herself that she loved this man and therefore couldn't strangle him with his own tie "yes and I missed you too you git but I am a bit busy trying to discipline your daughter and I don't have time for your idiocy" Kathleen snapped getting shakily to her feet and fixing her green skirt. As if realizing his daughter was in the room with them he quickly jumped to his feet and fixed his tie with a slight cough "so what did my little she-devil do this time?" he asked placing a kiss on his wife's cheek and slapping her on the arse "why don't you ask her yourself" she spat back once again smacking him upside the head with the discarded folder "and you will be cleaning up this mess later"

Chuckling lightly he patted his wife on the shoulder before turning to face his daughter "so what did you-OH MY GOD" her father trailed off horrified when his eyes landed on the bloodied bandage. Letting out a choked sob he flung himself at his slightly shocked daughter and pulled into a bone crushing hug "oh my poor little angel who did this to you?" he wailed crushing her head into his well chiseled chest "don't you worry daddy's here now, daddy's here now" he cried desperately into her ear although whether he was trying to comfort her or him she had no freaking idea. She was however glad that Layla wasn't here to see her father's mental breakdown. "Oh get a grip Roger you're making me nauseous" "how can you be so calm when a baby has been violated?" Roger wailed gently rocking Ashlee-Ann in his strong arms and muttering soothing words in her ear "dad I wasn't" "VIOLATED" he screeched into her ear causing her to wince in pain, gosh her father was a nut sometimes.

"Can we forget that for a second and try to deal with the fact that our daughter was caught skipping school-AGAIN" Kathleen shouted the last of her patience fading quickly, geez he was acting like she had been mugged in the park with the way he was wailing and carrying on. Don't get her wrong it wasn't like she didn't care that her daughter was sporting a bandage on her head, in fact she did but she also knew that her daughter was a major klutz and usually came home from school covered in various bandages and brightly colored band aids. Her accidents were so bad sometimes that she had been pulled out of a meeting by a call from the hospital saying that her daughter had been injured at school. In fact it had become such a normal occurrence that she would've been surprised if she didn't come home at least covered in a band aid and since the school or hospital hadn't called so she assumed that nothing had been too bad.

Although good luck trying to tell her husband that, after all the man was a psycho when it came to his daughters safety. She remembered when their daughter was two and she fell off one of the kiddy chairs, he had freaked out so much that he had gone out and gotten a plastic bubble needless to say if she hadn't calmed the idiot down their only daughter would be currently living her life out in a bubble in a rubber room. Watching her husband's carry on like a deranged ten year old on crack she let out a wistful sigh, honestly there were days that she was seriously days that she wanted to lock him up in a rubber room so that he wouldn't be such a havoc to society. Unfortunately for her she was in love with the idiot and would most likely miss the big lug if she ever gave into the temptation to have him locked up. Honestly how she fell who the biggest idiot in America-scratch that the whole world was beyond her. Sure there was the saying that opposites attract but she highly doubted that the person who came up with that stupid line was thinking of them being this badly opposite. Oh well she was stuck with the idiot now so she might as well just grin and bear it, and try not to strangle him when he becomes too much of an idiot.

'Besides' she thought with a wary smile 'I guess I could've gotten together with someone a lot worse and he does make things a lot more interesting.' "Honestly Roger would you get a grip on yourself it's not like she doesn't injure herself at least once every day, now grow up and at least act like you have a pair" Kathleen snapped angrily trying to hide her growing amusement at her husband's idiocy "why are you yelling when our baby is suffering" he wailed back as he continued to rock the frazzled girl clutching her head to his chest in a vain attempt to protect her from the world around her. "I told you we shouldn't have sent her to that god awful school, but would you listen no. And now look at my sweet little angel she has been violated" Rubbing her aching temples she let out a frustrated groan gosh she really wished he would stop saying the word violated like that. "It was obvious to anyone that had half a brain that head wounds bled a lot more than other wounds and that it was probably just a tiny scratch. But no her stupid husband had to carry on like it was the end of the freaking world.

"Daddy I'm fine I accidently walked into a tree there is no reason to panic" Ashlee-Ann said trying desperately to get out of her father's bone crushing hug, mentally scolding herself for not taking the bandage off before she got home. "Oh my poor brave soldier you are too precious for this world" he stuttered with a choked sob causing the young teen to roll her blue eyes in annoyance, she was so glad that she didn't get her father's idiocy "but don't you worry baby daddy won't let those nasty people hurt you anymore. Daddy will gladly quite his job so he can home school you and then you won't have to go back" "you will not be home-schooling her for crying out loud you barely passed high-school yourself" Kathleen stuttered her eyes going wide with horror, ok she had to put a stop to this before it got out of control and Roger did something stupider than usual. "And you are not pulling her out of that school, it happens to be the best in the country you dumb-arse" "yeah the best at injuring my poor baby" "daddy it was an accident" she tried to explain to her hysterical father who only shot down her words "it's ok you don't have to lie now daddy is here" he said soothingly running a hand through her silky black hair "but daddy" "hush now sweetie" he said slightly more firmly placing his hand over the side of her face and continued his crazed rocking.

Seeing the desperate look her daughter was shooting her she grabbed the hysterical man by the ear she yanked him off of her daughter "will you get a hold of yourself you lunatic before I decide to have you thrown into the loony bin" whimpering under his wife's deadly glare he sniffled dramatically rubbing his eyes with his large calloused hands. "Now you are not going to pull our daughter out of school to home-school her so stop being an idiot, you moron" taking a shuddering breath he nodded slowly gaining his composure "you are right, I'm sorry sweetie taking her out of school would be a bad idea I mean I don't know how to teach and as you mentioned I barely passed high-school" Roger said doing a complete 180 with his personality. "There is a much better way to deal with his" grinning wickedly he rushed over to the ugly green couch and pulled out two large cans of gasoline laughing like a crazed lunatic. "No the only way I can free my baby from that place is to burn it down" he screeched flinging the cans around dramatically. "NO YOU ARE NOT BURNING DOWN THE SCHOOL AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT HIDING GASOLINE AROUND MY HOUSE YOU DIPSHIT" Kathleen screeched

"Oh but baby" "NO NOW PUT THE FREAKING GASOLINE CANS DOWN" Kathleen screeched trying in vain to take the two cans away from her hyperactive husband. Chuckling under her breath she watched with an amused smirk as her mother tried to tackle her husband who was currently running around the room waving the cans around and cackling like a mad man. Gosh her family was a complete and utter nut, it was times like this that she wondered if she was actually related to these people or if they found her in a trash can outside the zoo and decided to keep her. Either way she enjoyed every minute she spent with her family…yes even her mother who had a stick up her arse "Well as interesting as all of this is I think I am just going to take a nap now" hopping to her feet she let out a fake yawn and stretched "well as fun as this is I am really tired so I think I'm just gonna go and take a nap now." Stopping abruptly she spun around and shot her snickering daughter an angry glare "oh you are not going anywhere missy we still have to talk about your punishment" wincing under her mother's glare she picked up her bags and s shrugged "uh that might want to wait since dad just left with the gasoline cans and a lighter" spinning around she noted that her husband had indeed left "oh bloody hell" muttering curses under her breath she grabbed her keys "I will deal with you later…Roger get back here right now…I am not having a convict as a husband"

"ROGER YOU MORON" she screamed rushing out of the room as she haphazardly threw on her tacky green shoes. "Good luck" Ashlee-Ann chuckled playing with a strand of her hair "if I am not back in an hour do me a favor and call the police" "yes mum I know the drill" and she did after all this wasn't the first time that her father had tried to burn a building down and her mother had to stop him. In fact with the number of times he had tried to burn things down it was really surprising he had yet to be arrested. "Alright I'll be back later I'll bring some chicken and salad home" "alright see you mum and good luck trying to stop the moron" she shouted as she heard the front door slam. Shaking her head in amusement she made her way to her bedroom…it was going to be a looong night.

Thank you for reading the first chapter I hoped you like it and don't worry the Cullen's will be in the story shortly. Please leave a review and tell me what you think and please no flames, thank you for your time.