A man almost broke in through my window last night. i have never been so scared in my life.

in other news, here's another chapter ^^

You know what's a really fun thing to do with your family on the weekend?

Hang out at a park about a mile away from your house so that if anyone tries to contact you – which they won't be able to anyway since your phone has been disconnected – you have the excuse that you weren't at home. This also helps to save on electricity, which is always good.

You should probably stay out all day too, and only start walking – yeah, walking, because you no longer have any money for public transportation – home after the sun sets.

Unfortunately that was one of the most common outings for my family.

Gaara was still at the age where he could have fun – providing he's capable of it – on a playground, and both Kankuro and Temari were old enough to understand that sometimes, it was necessary to hide from the place you lived.

"We should just live out here," Temari said when we were walking home on Sunday night. Kankuro was lagging behind, carrying a sleeping Gaara with him. "At least then we'd have more money for food."

"Shut up, it's going to get better," I told her, "it won't be like this forever."

She completely ignored me and said, "Well at least we'll get used to being dirt poor, so we'll know how to deal with it when we grow up."

"You're not going to end up like this. You're going to college. Then you can see what it's like to provide for a horde of ungrateful brats."

"Hey I offered to get a job last year. You said no."

I shook my head, "damn right I did. You need to focus on your studies; put those brains to good use and get yourself a scholarship."

"Yeah well, I'm gonna have to get a job anyway in two years when you go off to college, wouldn't it be better if I had experience beforehand?"

I didn't answer that, because I hadn't quite figured out how to tell my family that I wasn't going to college. I didn't know how they would react, after all the crap I'd given them about their futures and about studying hard – even though I didn't believe in any of that myself. But they needed me here, more than I needed that golden future that surely awaited me on the other side of a college degree.

"Just shut up, okay? I've got things sorted this time around. Trust me."

"Trust me, it'll be fun," Tobi assured me.

It was after school Monday, the official start of my new job.

At least Tobi had been right about one thing; these people were desperate enough to pay me any price, and Itachi had already negotiated one that would suit my needs perfectly. I would be paid for the entire week in advance, the money would be deposited into my account by the end of the day and it would be enough to completely take care of my problems from last month, so I needed to stick around for at least five days.

Things were going to be alright, as long as I could handle spending time with Deidara for a week.

Things would be fine.

Yeah, I was going to show Temari that I could handle things alone! She could depend on me! I was a capable caregiver!

"Where are we going, anyway?" I asked Tobi. He was dragging me through the school, which was all but deserted by now.

Whenever I had had a tutoring job before, I'd always been taken to the person's house, though it was understandable that a person as rich as Tobi, wouldn't want a potential thief in their home.

"Library ~" Tobi all but sang.

"Itachi already told you that you can't stay and watch, right?"

Tobi sighed, "Yeah I know. I have to go home anyway; Mr Zetsu will be here to pick me up soon!"

"I don't know why your parents don't let you take the train home like Itachi."

"Itachi doesn't take the train anymore; his parents got him a car over the summer. And besides, they're probably worried that I'll get lost or something. "

Or that he wouldn't.

"All the more reason to break their rules and take the train anyway, right? It'd freak them the hell out, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, but if I did that, then Mr Zetsu would be fired for not watching me properly and we can't have that."

"Wow, I've never seen you take to somebody so quickly before," or at all.

Tobi shrugged, "I tolerate him, is all. But if I got him fired, I could end up with someone a lot worse."

Well, he had a point there.

When we reached the library door, Tobi stopped me, probably for some mental preparation.

"Okay, so Deidara is taking advanced physics, world history, P.E, calculus, English, chem lab and sculpture II. From what I've been told, he's flunking everything except P.E, so this'll probably be tough. Especially since the guy is such a jerk."

I almost wanted to laugh at his unfailing, persistent insistence that Deidara was a jerk, though he probably knew a lot better than I did, but I was willing to give Deidara the benefit of the doubt.

"If I can handle you, then I should be able to handle him," I said.

Tobi ignored the fact that I was obviously insulting him and said, sincerely, "I hope your right. I have to go now so good luck."

He raced off down the hall, deciding to put his Tobi face on before even getting outside, and I headed into the library.

Deidara wasn't the only one there, but he was the only one I could bring myself to notice. He was sitting at a table near the back, his face buried in his backpack and books neatly piled on the table beside him. He looked up when I pulled out the chair beside him and sat down.

I hadn't noticed how blue his eyes were before.

"Oh un, it's you," he said. There was a certain level of disappointment in his voice, as he forced himself to sit up straight, and somehow that disappointment seemed to get to my head.

But I didn't let it show.

"Were you expecting someone else?" I asked.

"Kind of, un," he said, "when Itachi said he was getting one of his friends to tutor me, I didn't think he meant you."

Huh, what was wrong with me?

Deidara sighed at length and said, "we might as well get this over with, huh, un?"

"Why do you speak like that?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Like what, un?"

"Like that. I noticed it before, when we first met. Do you have a speech impediment, or are you just trying to be annoying?"

Deidara laughed, and I hate to say this – really I do – but the sound was almost enchanting. Probably that rich guy charm offensive Tobi had mentioned before; a practised feat to gather the trust and admiration of simple people, who led simple lives.

"It's an impediment, un. My father made me see a doctor for it a few years back but nothing ever changed un," he said. I couldn't tell whether or not he was telling the truth, but I wanted to believe him.

"Okay, so which subject are you struggling the most with?" I asked him. I was glad we took mostly the same classes, and that I had done most of this work last year. It was never very easy tutoring people my own age, since I barely understood the work myself.

Deidara pushed the Calculus book over towards me. Easy.

I opened the book and he reached over, to flip to the pages his class was working through that day. It was easy stuff, really; I had been put into the junior calculus class halfway through last year since I was working a lot faster than the rest of my own class. I had him point to the questions he'd had the most trouble with, which unfortunately turned out to be all of them. Of course, I figured if he got the first few questions in each section right, then it was a job well done.

He seemed like a reasonably nice guy, I really didn't know what Itachi and Tobi had been talking about. Until…

"So how do you know the Uchiha's, un?" we had paused halfway through his physics work because apparently his brain hurt – an excuse I had heard Tobi give many times before.

"I don't know, we sort of just met," I told him. It was the honest truth, as well.

"That's unlucky, un," he said, and before I could ask him what he meant, he said, "Itachi says you're kind of desperate for cash, un."

I doubted Itachi would use those exact words, but it was weird that he'd mention anything abbot my problems at all.

"Well, I guess you could kind of say that," I agreed.

Deidara nodded thoughtfully, before he said, "Alright then, I have a proposition, un. Whatever my parents are paying you to be here, I'll pay you double if you quit."

"What?" I asked, shocked and for a moment, forgetting myself.

"I can't have a tutor, un," he said, "I don't want one and I sure as hell don't want to stay here in this, or any stupid school. But you seem like a tough one to crack, plus you haven't been patronising or mean like the other tutors were un, so I don't want to let this get to a point where I'll be forced to do something drastic."

I allowed myself a few moments to try and comprehend his words. What was he talking about? Why was he saying these things? What was the right choice?

But I knew the answer to that last one already, so it was easy to say, "No."

"Excuse me, un?"

I got the feeling he wasn't used to being denied.

"It works out for me in the long run if I keep this job, so I have to turn you down. Not because I want to be here, but because I need to be."

Deidara sighed, "That's disappointing," he said. He perked up a few moments later and said, "Okay un, but how about this? Since you need money, I'll give you fifty dollars to sit at my feet and bark like a dog, un."

Is it bad that I actually considered doing it?

"No, brat," I said, yeah that sounded like a fitting name for him, "and your break is over."

On the way home after two hours with Deidara, I stopped to check if the money had been deposited yet.

It had.

I had never been more relieved in my life. Isn't that sad?

But I knew how surprised my cousins would be when I came back with food which normal people would eat – and not the stuff which is three days from expiring like we usually bought – and money to pay the phone bill, and the electric bill too, which we had had to sacrifice in order to keep Gaara in school.

I tried not to think about what a nightmare student Deidara was, as I walked.

If I thought about it too much, I knew I would just cave and refuse to work with him anymore. And at the rate these people were paying me, I really couldn't afford to do that just yet.

Still, in two hours, I had discovered that Deidara was every bit as obnoxious, rude, stuck up and bratty, as Tobi had said he was. It was like, every time he opened his mouth, he spewed out a pile of self-absorbed crap; either that or he was talking about the faults of everybody else in the world. It was as though he saw himself as perfect and other people as selfish, mean, unmannered slobs.

He was so up himself, too, always offering me stupid amounts of money to do ridiculous things, because apparently, studying was boring, and I wasn't nearly as fun as his other tutors, who I was guessing he'd been able to manipulate like puppets with his money and his charm. But even though I was poor, I had a lot more pride then those idiots must've had.

Honestly though, it had taken everything I had, not to punch him, after the second time badmouthing Tobi. I knew I shouldn't care about that, because he didn't know Tobi for the conniving little bastard that he truly was, but that was the thing that got me most.

Everything Deidara said was said without experience or prior knowledge. He spoke without thinking, without considering the stories of other people. It was like, he took a look at somebody, and instantly decided what kind of a person they must be, what kind of life they must live, what mistakes they must've made and the things they could've done better.

And if so, if that were the case, then what on earth did he think of me?

Even though I had decided to hate him, there was still this part deep down inside of me that held on to that perfect image of him, from when we'd first. Even after I had found out he was a guy, I still thought he was… something. But not like this.

I had never imagined the reality.

When I got home I had to knock on the door, since my hands were too full to twist the handle.

It was cold out; our building had outdoor halls so I had to put up with the temperature until one of my cousins let me in.

"We're not home, come back later!" I heard Kankuro call out.

He probably thought I was a collector.

He was such an idiot sometimes.

"It's me, let me in," I called, hoping they'd recognise my voice.

Only a few seconds later, Gaara was pulling the door open, and Temari was taking shopping bags out of my hands.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "we can't afford this!" she rifled through the bags quickly, before coming to this conclusion.

"Sure we can!" I said cheerfully, or as cheerful as possible, pulling out what was left of the money I'd gotten from the ATM, which would be used to pay the bills. There was still a bit left, just in case we needed it later.

"What'd you do, knock off a liquor store?" Gaara asked, shifting through the bags on the counter until he found the Oreo cookies, which Temari promptly snatched off of him, because he hadn't had dinner yet.

"No way! He robbed a bank!" Kankuro argued, "Were there police? Did they have their sirens on? Did you get shot at?"

I had to resist the urge to bang my head repeatedly against the wall. "You know you're both idiots, right?"

Kankuro nodded sullenly, while Gaara was still too caught up with his cookies.

"But you love them anyway," Temari said, "and I hope you didn't take out a loan, because I won't be there to protect you if they come to break your legs in a week."

Pft, like I'd need her help anyway!

"Are you kidding me?! I got a job. You remember what that is, right? Is it so hard to believe I found one?" I asked, annoyed at their united lack of faith in me.

"Yes, it is," they all said.

"Well screw you guys, nobody asked you!"

"You did!" Kankuro disagreed.

I left the room before I was forced to endure any more stupid.