**I decided to add a few more chapters to this. Thanks to my friends who gave me ideas for this. You're all awesome! And to the people who read and review this… you're awesome too**

Life for Natalie as she knew it was over. After the fire, she was sent to live with her Aunt Marsha and Uncle Harry in a city far from Natalie's hometown. They had 2 little kids: Zabel (short for Isabella-Marie), who was 3, and Trig, who was just 2 months old. Their house was small, extremely untidy and smelled like spoiled milk. The worst part about it was that Natalie had to sleep on the living room couch. "Please tell me this is a joke," Natalie said.

"Why would I be joking about your living arrangements?" Marsha asked, looking serious.

"Sleeping on the living room couch? This untidiness? THIS IS HELL!"

"Hey, rule number 5 in this house: no swearing in front of the little kids."

"You have rules in this place?"

"Yes. In fact, we have 525,600 of them."

"You should've just given me a pamphlet that said 'Welcome to Hell on Earth' and in smaller letters 'The Perfect Place to Torture an Orphaned Niece/Nephew'. I thought you were cooler than this, Aunt Marsha."

"Well, until Zabel and Trig came along, there was no need to have rules."

"That's being overprotective."

"It's being cautious."

"Overprotective."

"Cautious."

"Overprotective."

"Cautious."

"OVERPROTECTIVE!"

"What's going on?" Harry asked as he walked in. "Oh, hey Nat. Glad to see you've arrived safely. How was your trip? Good, I hope. What's wrong?"

"Uncle Harry, what the f-u-c-k is up with all these rules?"

"Rule number 1,023, no spelling swear words."

"You've got to be f-ing kidding me."

"Rule number 900, no abbreviating swear words." Natalie groaned. "Why do you swear anyway, Nat? It is not a good habit, exactly why me and Marsha don't do it anymore, mostly cuz we don't want to influence the kids."

"I swear cuz my life is screwed. I absolutely hate it here. I wanna go home!"

"Natalie, sweetie…" Marsha began.

"No! Don't call me sweetie! Don't talk to me!"

"Well, believe it or not, you are home."

"This isn't home. Home is where my mom, dad and boyfriend are. You're NOT my mom, Uncle Harry is NOT my dad, and my boyfriend is 1,000 fucking miles away!" Natalie forced her tears to stay back. "THIS IS NOT HOME!" Natalie ran to the backyard, sat in Zabel's sandbox and cried.

After a few minutes, Natalie heard a little girl's voice say, "What's wrong, Nat-lee?"

Natalie looked up and saw Zabel. "Nothing. Go away."

"Do you miss your mommy and daddy?"

"I guess I do a little, but I especially miss my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I do. His name is Henry. He always made me feel better about certain situations. Man, I wish he was here."

"You like it here, Nat-lee?"

"No. I hate it here!"

"Do you hate me?"

"No. I just hate being here, far away from what my life used to be."

"You'll have fun here. Me promise."

Natalie couldn't help laughing at the little girl's grammar mistake. "Okay."

"Have you ever played with dollies?"

"Well, when I was little, I used to play with them all the time. Now I never do cuz it's just not something that teenagers do."

"Wanna play now?"

Natalie looked at Zabel, who made a puppy-dog face. "For a little bit."

"Goody!" Zabel took Natalie's hand and took her to her bedroom, where there were dolls scattered everywhere. "Tah-dah!"

"Holey shit," Natalie whispered so Zabel wouldn't hear. "I've never seen so many dolls."

"Today, the dollies are going to go the movies," Zabel announced. She picked up some dolls and clothes and gave them to Natalie. "Make sure they dress nice. They're going to see a fancy movie."

Natalie had never seen anyone have so many rules for playing with dolls, let alone a 3 year old. She shook her head and dressed all of them. "All dressed."

"No, that's not right. Amelia can't wear blue! It makes her look fat! Nat-lee, you said you knew how to play dolls. You're doing it wrong."

"Fuck that!"

Zabel's mouth gaped open. At first, Natalie though she was going to cry, but instead she yelled, "MOMMY! NAT-LEE BROKE RULE NUMBER 5!"

"Oh my god, Zabel. I can say whatever words I want to say. Screw the rule."

"You gonna be in big trouble."

Marsha ran in and looked at Zabel. "What word did she say?"

"The one that rhymes with duck."

Marsha glared at Natalie. "What part of rule number 5 do you not understand?"

"What part of 'I hate it here' do YOU not understand?" Natalie retorted.

"You know, we took you in cuz we felt bad that you lost both of your parents against volition. We understand that you're upset, but you have to abide to our rules. That is just the way it is around here. You're not even trying to give our place a chance. Maybe you'll meet someone nice at school. Maybe you'll find a new boyfriend."

"A new boyfriend? Oh, no way, Jose. Life doesn't work like that. Henry and I never broke up, which means that he is still there for me. Just cuz he's far away doesn't mean anything… does it?"

"Well, stay for a week and we'll see how things go. If you find a change of heart, you'll stay. If you're still miserable, we'll make arrangements for you to go elsewhere."

"Okay." Natalie smiled to herself and thought, "I'll forcibly hate it here. Then I can go back to where my life was. And back to Henry."