By the time Tracy and I had gotten back down to the living room, we could hear people discussing me. I pulled Tracy back by the wrist.
"Shh, listen." I whispered.
So we both listened. Finally, the voices lowered so that we could hear properly.
"I wonder why she's in care?" Rio asked.
"That's none of our business." Wolfie said.
"You can't pretend you haven't wondered, Wolfie." Lol said.
"Okay, maybe I have, but…" Wolfie sighed.
"Maybe she's another one of those head cases." Justine said.
"That's a horrible thing to say!" Jackie protested.
"She seems alright." Crash agreed.
"So do they all. She might not be as innocent as she looks." Roxy said darkly.
I made a signal to Tracy and she walked in.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Where's Kitty?" Justine asked.
"Oh, she's just checking out her new room, she asked to be alone. What were you all talking about?" Tracy asked. I heard her sit on the sofa.
"We were trying to figure out why she was in care." Wolfie said.
"Isn't that something you should ask her?" Tracy asked.
"Well, come on Beaker, aren't you curious?" Lol said curiously.
"Not really. She's here now, isn't she? If she ever feels like telling us, she will." Tracy said.
"She probably got dumped." Rio said.
"Well, who would want someone like her?" Roxy asked.
There were a few sniggers. Kitty clenched her fists, and entered the room.
Everyone looked up at her and fell silent.
The only kids Kitty was sure hadn't said anything were Layla and Marco, who she had met on the tour.
"Kitty, hi." Justine said awkwardly.
"Drop the innocent act, Justine. I heard you all." Kitty said angrily.
"We were just…" Wolfie tried.
"Save it. I can't believe for a minute I believed I'd get along just fine here. Everyone has to know about my past before they can be friends with me. I forgot for a second. Nobody cares about you in the real world, they only want to know your story." Kitty sighed. "I thought you'd all be different." With that said, she turned away and walked out.
"Well done, guys. I'm sure you feel really proud of yourselves right now." Tracy snapped, before the walked out after Kitty.
Everyone looked around at each other, then looked at the ground, biting their lips or staring at their hands.
Kitty was sitting on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chin. Tracy had left about 20 minutes ago, but she'd given Kitty her mobile number just in case she wanted to talk. Kitty had given Tracy hers, too.
Someone knocked on her door.
Kitty looked up to see Jackie enter the room. She shut Kitty's door behind her and sat in front of her.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"Yeah." Kitty said.
"I really am. I know it was thoughtless of us, but…don't you ever wonder about people?" Jackie asked.
Kitty shrugged. "Sometimes, but…I'm more careful than you lot about expressing my opinions."
"I'm so sorry, Kitty. We're not trying to make your time here…unsettling. We just slipped a little, is all. Will you forgive us?" Jackie asked, pleadingly.
"Yeah, alright." Kitty said, and she smiled a little. "I'm sorry for overreacting."
"You didn't, really." Jackie laughed, and then she held her hand out to Kitty. "Let's go see the others."
Kitty took Jackie's hand and the two walked downstairs. Everyone looked up as Kitty entered the room.
"Kitty, we…" Wolfie began.
"Don't worry. It's fine. I overreacted anyway." Kitty said, shrugging it off.
"No, we…" Justine said. "We're so sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Kitty said, smiling as she sat down beside Wolfie. "Besides…it's not like it's illegal to wonder about backgrounds." She pointed out.
"But we could have been more discreet about it." Lol said.
"Yeah, but I could have been less dramatic." Kitty said. "It's all good, and forgotten. Promise."