Wiping down the last table she put the cleaning supplies away and carefully exited the building, although she had lived at HWH for much of her life she could never call it home, her parents had died when she was one years old, so she had been told, and she had been left at HWHUBG.
Although she had been to numerous foster homes she had never been adopted, she shuddered slightly remembering a few of the families she had been placed with.
Reaching the park down the street she was greeted by an excited squeal "Hey gurrrl, where you been we're gonna be late", it was her bestest friend Janey,
"hi Bh" she replied "you look hot".
Janey was wearing black docs, black jeans, and a black T with 'bow before me' written in fluro green which contrasted nicely with her hair which was bright pink and cut short like Yuki Sohma with long bangs.
Lucy wished she could dye her hair but that was another thing Mrs Marron frowned upon, but thought Lucy, her hair had been changing lately anyway, its natural light brown had been darkening and it was growing out from the short boy cut Mrs Marron had made her get when she'd returned to HWHUBG the last time, so that her natural loose curls were coming through.
Her face had been changing too, it had become rounder and her eyes, which she'd always thought were too close together, now seemed to have moved further apart and had faded from blue to violet.
She'd also grown 2 inches and had been getting more 'feminine looking'.
Lucy and Janey walked to the gym, Lucy had been learning jujutsu for 3 years, of course Lucy could never afford lessons but her friend Mika's mother was an instructor and let her have lessons for free, and when Lucy was old enough she would get a job and pay her back.
Lucy loved jujutsu, she liked knowing she could defend herself especially in some of the foster homes had lived in.
When Lucy and Janey had changed they entered the gym and saw one of the other reasons they loved jujutsu, Takeo was a few years older than them, his grandfather ran the gym, he was tall with dark hair, mysterious dark eyes and spoke impeccable English in an accent which showed his childhood in Japan.
Today however Takeo was not alone, he was talking to a boy of about their age, he was not as tall as Takeo but they could see he was well built, he had blonde hair so pale it was almost white.
"Whoa check him out" exclaimed Lucy,
"I know I see" replied Janey, "phwoarrrr!! Go talk to him!"
"why don't you?"
"ok I will" said Janey and started off towards the boys, Lucy followed.
"Hi Takeo" said Janey,
"hi Takeo" said Lucy,
"who's your friend?" asked Janey,
"hi Janey, hi Lucy" replied Takeo, "this is Dray, Dray this is Janey and Lucy" Dray put out his hand as if to shake theirs but when they offered theirs he took their hands and kissed them causing Janey to have to suppress giggles, but Lucy was touched, no one had ever been so polite to her before.
"Dray's been coming to Karate lessons this summer, he's in town today so he's decided to try jujutsu" said Takeo,
"well we'll be easy on you" said Janey, Lucy just smiled.
Then the class started, when they got to sparring Lucy was paired with Dray, "so have you ever done this before" asked Lucy as they got ready to start
"no" said Dray "I've been learning Karate for the past couple of summers",
"ok well I really will be soft on you" said Lucy.
They sparred for a while, Lucy was impressed by how well Dray did, he could hold his own but he wasn't as good as Lucy.
As they were leaving Janey turned to Lucy, "remember your birthday dinner is at 1pm tomorrow, do you think you'll make it?" Lucy groaned, the next day was her 14th birthday but she wasn't looking forward to it, birthday's were usually not much fun for Lucy, Mrs Marron didn't approve of big celebrations, birthday cakes, or presents, the only celebrating she would do was with her friends but she still would have chores to do and she might not make it out in time for lunch.
"hopefully" she replied "I've got to mow the lawns but I'll try to finish by then"
"you've got to come" said Janey "just sneak out if you don't get done, make Elise do them for you" of course Lucy could never do that, Elise was Mrs Marron's daughter and would go crying to her mother if Lucy so much as insulted her.
"Takeo you're coming tomorrow right" called Janey as she saw Takeo and Dray going past
"what?" said Takeo,
"Lucy's birthday lunch remember" said Janey "one o'clock tomorrow at Mav's" (Mav's was their favourite cafè) "you should come too Dray"
"I don't think I can" said Dray "but thanks for the invitation".
When Lucy got back to HWHUBG Mrs Marron was waiting for her "where have you been, you've been at that awful martial arts haven't you, and you're late" (Lucy wasn't) "and you left the cleaning things out" (Lucy knew she hadn't, Elise must have put them out again, though Lucy doubted Elise even knew where they were kept)
"sorry Mrs Marron" said Lucy (she wasn't)
"and remember you have to mow the lawn tomorrow, birthday or not I won't have you neglecting your chores"
"yes Mrs Marron" said Lucy and went to bed.