"Who's that?"

Mikey froze inside the front door of the Johnson home just like a deer before it gets hit by a twenty ton truck. Across the hallway, a large figure emerged from the kitchen doorway. His greasy, salt and pepper hair lay in a tangle around his face as he squinted across the hall at the female teenager with his beetle black eyes. Howard Johnson, the despicable father that had adopted Mikey when she was seven.

Great, just what I need, she thought forlornly as the front door shut behind her.

"Is she back?" came a shrill voice behind the man. Howard stepped to the side to allow Claire Johnson, his wife, into view. To shorten the long description of what kind of person Claire was, Mikey could just say that her foster mother was an extremely boney blond with big breasts. That should explain it all. Both adults glared at her standing before them. Mikey mentally and physically prepared herself for the inevitable to come.

"How dare you disgrace this family!!" Howard shouted, swaying as if he were drunk, which he probably was.

Don't worry, you both disgrace yourselves enough for everyone, Mikey thought sarcastically. "Do you think I even wanted to get stuck into a juvenile camp?!" she shouted back.

"Shut up girl!" Claire snapped. "So, they did decide to slam the bars behind you, huh? Well, good will it do you! You are a hopeless cause, no matter how much we've spent so much of our time to take care of you!"

"I'm the hopeless cause?!" Mikey didn't know why she even bothered to care. She had heard that one a hundred times before. However, it was as if the dam that had kept her silent all those times she had to endure them as they had shouted at her had broken. "Despite 'so much' of your precious time, I've turned out much better than anyone had expected!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Claire demanded. She had unofficially taken charge of the adult side of the conversation. Her husband Howard was merely a spectator now. "You should appreciate all that we've done for you! Taking you in out of the goodness of our hearts!"

"Oh yeah?! Does that include nearly working and beating me to death?!" SMACK! It took Mikey half a minute to register what had happened. She slowly turned her head to face a pissed off Howard, whose hand was raised once again for a second blow. He had finally reentered into the shouting match. Mikey's right cheek stung painfully from the hit of his heavy hand.

"Girl," Howard growled, "You have no right to say that to your mother. If we hadn't taken you from that damn orphanage, you would have ended up like your brother! No place to go, no one to turn to! You bitch; you don't even understand that we have power over you! We control you!"

"What power?! What control?! From being a coward?! From being weak like you!! My brother is so much better than you would ever be!" she shot. "And despite whatever you fucking say, he will always have real people that care about him because he has friends who love him!"

"Now you listen here!" Claire yelled as she marched right up to her. "As long as you are under this roof, you will listen to us! I'm not going to take any of this crap you're bullshitting us with!"

She's right, Mikey thought in disbelief as realization dawned on her.

WHAM! "Aaaaah, you ungrateful bitch!" Claire shrieked as she lay curled on the floor, trying to nurse her broken nose that slowly seeped blood onto her clothes and the floor. Howard stood dumbstruck in his spot, blinking.

Taking her chance before either of them could recover, Mikey bolted out of the hallway to her room upstairs. Busting through the doorway, she leaped towards her closet. Grabbing an old duffel bag, Mikey started packing any necessary clothing she would need. Running into the bathroom, she took her tooth and hairbrush, soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Last were her most prized possessions; like her photo album, her song notebook, and the harmonica that she had received from her brother recently. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, Mikey searched under her mattress for the money she had saved for the past two years. Pocketing it, she grabbed her skateboard and scrambled towards the window. Prying it open, she threw first her skateboard, and then her duffle bag out of the window before maneuvering her body through it.

As she climbed down with the help of sturdy vines that grew next to the window, Mikey heard her bedroom door bang open. Panic rising, she didn't bother with climbing down the rest of the way; so she jumped off. After painfully landing on the hard concrete driveway, Mikey picked herself up, grabbed her stuff, and took off. As she ran away from the place that has been her personal hell on earth for years, Mikey could hear the screaming and yelling of two abusive parents, hoping to never see them again.


Michael was lying around in his living room, watching mindless programs, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he called as he stood up and walked towards the front door. When he opened the door, his jaw dropped at the disheveled state his best friend was in. "Holy crap," he yelped as Mikey pushed past him and threw her things on the living room couch. "You looked like you just broke out of prison," he said as he closed the door behind him.

Mikey laughed harshly. "You have no fricken clue how what you just said was true," she told him darkly as she plopped down on a free couch sitting against a wide window. Mikey rested her head on the familiar bumpy fabric and closed her eyes tightly. When she felt the empty space right next to her on the couch sink did she open her eyes again.

Michael companionably placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his body. "Soo, what happened?" he asked.

"Pretty much, I totally kicked Claire's ass and ran out of the house after taking my shit," she deadpanned.

Michael whistled and then grinned. "Nice," was what he could only say before his younger brother, Eddie, walked into the room wearing only a pair of boxers.

"Hey, Michael - holy crap! Mikey, what are you doing here!" Eddie yelped as his hands immediately went over his boxers, which had pictures of the Simpsons on them.

Mikey tried not to laugh as she nodded at the youngest Traubenfeld son. "I'm staying over here, if that's okay with you," she added slyly.

Eddie nodded vigorously even as his face was slowly turning red. "S-Sure. Ya know, I think I'm gonna - bye!" Eddie quickly ran out the room.

Mikey and Michael waited until they heard the slam of Eddie's bedroom door to laugh out loud.

"What the hell was that about, asking him if it was okay if you could stay? Of course, he's gonna say yes!" Michael exclaimed.

Mikey grinned. "I love teasing him. He's a cute kid, sometimes." It was common knowledge that Eddie had a major crush on Mikey.

Michael rolled his blue eyes. "Yeah, when he and Doug aren't looking at porn," he said sarcastically.

Mikey laughed. "Have you seen them watching it?" she asked incredulously.

"Sadly, yes," Michael responded dryly. He removed his arm from around Mikey and stood up. "C'mon, I'll help you get your stuff to the guest room." So, Michael helped Mikey with her things until she was settled. Eddie poked his head into the room only once just to see what they were doing, but when he and Mikey made eye contact, he quickly went back to his room.

"You know, I still can't believe you're going to this Camp Green Lake," Michael remarked after hours of talking about almost nothing of significance. They were both lying on the single twin sized bed.

Mikey rolled onto her stomach and screamed softly into the pillow as Michael rubbed her back sympathetically. "This is messed up!" said her muffled voice.

"You're gonna write to us, right?" Michael demanded.

Mikey rolled back onto her back and smacked Michael upside the head. "Well, duh!" she said.

Michael yanked the pillow out from under her head and hit her with it. "Don't duh me!" he told her.

Mikey grabbed another pillow and hit him so hard that he slipped off the bed. "Don't hit me!" she laughed before they started a pillow fight.