"You are Isabelle Tailer?" says the grumpy man behind the front desk of my new dorm house. I was finally at the dreaded school in New York that my grandfather paid for me to go to, even though it was a school for orphans and other strange characters.

"Yessir." I say "That's me."

"Don't talk back to your elders!" he snaps.

I do my best to be polite with this man since it is only my first five minutes in the school and I didn't plan on making enemies quite yet.

"Uh, no sir, I mean yessir, uh I mean, can I have my key?"

The man shakes his head like a stubborn toddler saying no to eating his veggies. "Nope."

"Come on. Please…" I glance at his name plaque, "Mr… Weasel?"

"I don't give keys to disrespectful little warts like you."

I cough out a cold laugh. "Excuse me?"

"I don't give keys to disrespectful little warts like you." He repeats, sneering and showing off a row of yellowing teeth.

"Just give me the key and stop playing around!" I snap at him.

"Young lady, stop smart mouthing me or I will call security on you." He said in a bored tone.

"Seriously? Just gimme the damn key! It's not that hard!" I yell at him.

He yawns and picks up a black walkie-talkie off of the desk and presses a button on the side. "Oscar, Morris, we have a little issue out here." there is no reply. Mr. Weasel stands abruptly and throws open the glass door behind the desk. "Git your bumbling butts out hear this instant!" he shouts and two large boys tumble out of the room in a full fledged sissy fight. "Pull it together and git 'er outta my lobby!" The boys stop and start to surround me.

"I just want my key! I'm a student here!" I shout at them.

"Hiya fellas. Weasel and you two."says a boy's voice from behind the one with the name tag "Morris". "So I'se sees you'se got tired of harassing the boys so now you have moved on to innocent little girls?"

I poke my head out and over Morris's shoulder and see the speaker and his small mob of followers. "Little?" I ask glaring.

"Shuddup so I'se can help youse outta your predicament hea and then you'se can punch me fo it afta." The speaker was a shorter kid, around my age, wearing jeans and a vest over a white shirt. His accent suggested his roots in New York. The others stood behind him, one tall and tan with dark, curly hair. Another, the tallest, had an eye patch over one eye and had unruly blonde hair. The final two looked like brothers. One was around seven years old and the other was taller and older looking. All looked as if they were in their late teens like me (except for the young one).

"Jus' give 'er da key an' I may not mention how youse sneak a drink in while youse is woiken to our man Principal Denton." Weasel turns a new shade of plum and slaps the key on the desk.

"I hate kids." He mumbles.

"Boys," he says over his shoulder, "Pick up one of her bags an' follow me." Then he weaves his way through Oscar and Morris to grab the key. "C'mon." He beckons for me to follow him. I do.

"I don't have anything to carry!" Exclaims the little kid.

"Les, its okay." his brother says and pats him on the head. Les nods and pouts. I feel bad so I take one of my bags from a guy who had a "Hello, My name is" nametag reading "Mush". I unzip the top zipper and hand my panda pillow-pet to the sad kid who immediately brightens up.

"So, kid," says the first person who spoke. "What's your name?"

I peek at his sticker on his vest pocket. "I could ask the same of you Mr. What da hell does it matta to you?" I say back smartly.

A few snickers come from the parade behind us. The kid I said it to laughs loudly. "I like this goil!" He says and pats my shoulder.

"80% of rape starts with a hand on the shoulder and you're making me uncomfortable." I say, trying to hold back a chuckle of my own when his face turns red and the snickers turn into loud laughs.

He quickly removes the hand from my shoulder and Mush steps to the front. "He's Racetrack. Or Race. Or Tony. I'm-"

"Your Mush, I know." I say.

"Your creepy. Did you read my mind?" He says with wide eyes.

"No, even better. I read your nametag." Even Les laughs at that one.

"Who are you then?" The kid with the eye patch asks.

"Isabelle. Tailer." I say and I shake most of the group's hands.

"You gotta nickname?" Racetrack asks from behind us. He inspects the key. "Your room six." and he opens the door on the left.

"No. My grandfather says they are disrespectful." I answer and enter the bright room.

"Well we're gonna change dat fast cuz I can't rememba you'se name even now."

I let the party in and some crash on the couch, some on the bed.

"Now I wanna know all of your names. Or at least what I should call you." I say with my hands on my hips.

"I'm Les!" shouts Les from his brother's lap.

"David." says his brother.

"Kid Blink." says the kid with the eye patch, a suitable name for him.

"You know us already." Mush says, indicating him and Race.

I nod. "I, er, need to get unpacked. So if you don't mind…" I trail off. Most of them nod and wave goodbye. Les walks up and holds out my Panda.

"I like your panda." He says and runs out the door to cling on his brother's leg.

I chuckle and then frown. If it were my decision, I would have let them all stay and even might have let Les play with the Panda for the day, but I was just another one of grandfather's workers. I was following orders. Being his eyes and ears at this school for one reason only. Not to make friends, or to be kind. It was to get what Grandfather wanted. He always seemed to get what he wanted.

This is my second story! And this is all just a start. I will go on and explain more as it comes up as necessary in the story. If you have any questions or ideas or criticism or really anything, review! Thanks for all of your help!

-Quirk