A/N: Well, here it is. The chapter I warned you about last week. I will warn you again. It is very harsh, but I feel that it's necessary for her character development. Before I let you go to read on, I just wanted to let you all know that I may not be able to post a new chapter by next week and there are two reasons why. One, I have an idea for the next chapter, but I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it just yet. Second, I sprained my wrist pretty badly a couple weeks ago and it's REALLY hard to type with a brace on, so I've been slowed down quite a bit by that. So, anyway, I'll update when I can. I hope you all somewhat enjoy this chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know.

I can't seem to please anybody anymore. And you know what? I really don't care. It's been two more years here at Devonshire and I still have yet to be fostered out to another family. Brandi hasn't been fostered out, either. But she's fine because she's getting to go home with her mom next week. I guess she successfully served her sentence and completed a drug rehab program and the courts said that she could take her back. Must be nice to have at least one person want you.

Jerry's still here and he's still nice to me, but he's started to change around me. I don't know what his deal is. Maybe the problem is mine because I've stopped doing homework and am almost always getting into trouble with the staff here because I won't do what they tell me to do anymore. Oh well. I don't really care. As soon as Brandi leaves, I'll be alone again and things will just go back to being hell around here.

The rest of the house is out on a movie trip and I'm sitting at my desk, as per my usual, just deep in thought about all of these things. Going to be alone. Again. No friends. No family. Just me. And nobody cares. I don't even notice that Brandi has come into the dorm room and is sitting on the bed staring at me. It's a good thing I don't notice because I absolutely despise being stared at. It's so creepy.

"Hey," she finally says, making me jump out of my seat. "Shit! I didn't see you there. When you'd come in?" I ask. "Oh, about five minutes ago. Been sitting here doing that thing you hate the most," she responds. "You mean you sat there and just stared at me for five minutes, didn't say anything, and I just didn't notice you?!" I ask incredulously. "Yep," she says. "Looks like you're thinking too much about things again. You have got to stop with that shit. It's gonna drive you more insane than you already are."

I sit back down. "Yeah. You're probably right. As usual. I just can't believe you're leaving me next week, is all. Ever since my so-called parents died, you've been the only one to actually sit and talk with me, let alone be my friend. And you're leaving. I don't know how to handle this, is all."

"Well," Brandi starts to say, "instead of sitting there and moping about me leaving, why don't you just remember all the hell we've created here together and keep going on with it, make yourself some new memories of some new hell for others." I can't help but chuckle at this. "It's not like I wasn't already planning to do this. They make my life a living hell and I do definitely plan on returning the favor. No, I'm talking about the alone factor. I have nobody else like you do."

After I finish talking, she grabs my hand and drags me over to sit next to her and she brushes my now grown out bangs behind my ears. "My mom always told me that you'll never be alone as long as you have intimate memories with someone. She says that every time her and one of her boyfriends break up. I never did understand that until I saw her last break up. What was his name? Oh yeah. Sean. Yeah, I saw her and Sean being intimate and I finally understood what she meant because they broke up like two days later."

"I don't get your mom," I respond. "I've never met the woman. I probably won't even see her when she comes to take you back home." Brandi just smiles at me and says, "Well, I can just show you. Sometimes it's just easier to demonstrate than it is to try to explain." I just raise my eyebrow to her at this because I'm just so confused. Next thing I know, her lips are on mine. I pull away, "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" I yell. "I was showing you like I said I was going to do. Don't you think I'm not going to hurt leaving my best friend behind? I want to make memories with you before I leave, so just shut up and do this with me!"

At this point, she pushes me down and kisses me some more. I don't understand what's going on. Next thing I know, she's touching me in places I know definitely aren't okay. Especially since we're both only ten years old. I silently start to cry as she continues her assault on my mind and soul.

It's been two weeks since that fateful day with Brandi. She finally left last week. I was actually so relieved to see her leave. I thought I was going to be sad, but then she did what she did and it was nothing but weird and wrong. I tried to stay away from her as much as I could, but since we shared a dorm, that was near to impossible. I actually started doing my homework again just to try to escape from talking or anything else. Jerry noticed something is wrong with me, but he hasn't talked to me about it. I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't think I want to talk about that to anybody. It was wrong and I know that it was my fault.

I try to shake the tears from my eyes. Dammit. I'm crying again. I hate crying. That shit don't solve nothing. I also don't want to have tears staining these math problems. Don't want teachers to know, either. I hear footsteps behind me, but I don't want to turn around. I don't want anybody to see me being weak. Not again. I also don't know who it is. The rest of the house is out at the zoo this time. Some nonsense about good behavior that I wasn't invited to. I feel a hand on my shoulder and hear Jerry's voice saying, "Okay, Pres. You've been a ghost of yourself for the last several days. What's wrong with you? Talk to me."

This breaks down the floodgates and I start sobbing. "Alright. Now I know something is seriously wrong. You never cry. Spill," Jerry says to me. I finally break down and tell him everything that happened two weeks ago and I just sob through every word and he stares at me in disbelief. As soon as I finish, that disbelief quickly turns to outright fury. He stands up, scoffs, turns around, scoffs again, then turns to look at me as he rubs his hand across his face. Before I can even calm myself down from finally revealing what happened, I feel the back of his hand slap me so hard, my head almost does a complete 180 on my shoulders. I rise my hand to cover my cheek to try to take away some of the sting. I can't believe he just backhanded me. He's never hit me before!

I slowly turn around to face him and he doesn't even look like Jerry anymore. He has his face, but this isn't my friend and caretaker anymore. He grabs me by the shoulders and stands me up and hits me across my left cheek this time, but just as hard. He crouches down and stares me in the face. "What? You don't think that I didn't know what you two little sluts did? I saw you and the other bitch pretending to be adults. Now that you've told me everything, I also know that you're a squealer and I can't have none of that, now can I?" he asks me.

I start crying again. I don't understand what he's talking about. He's getting red in the face now. Oh shit. What'd I do now? I knew it was wrong to begin with, but I didn't think I deserved this. He stands up straight again. "You're going to learn to not talk when you decide to do adult things. Since you think you're an adult now, I'm going to show you what it's like to be an adult!" He shouts and strikes me across the face again then pushes me onto the bed. He gets on top of me just like Brandi was. Oh no. Not again. Not him, too. What is so wrong with me that this keeps happening? He's kissing my neck. I just let the tears silently fall from my eyes as I try to shut my brain off from what's about to happen. I want to go back to that safe, dark place.