Sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Especially to Miss Emeralds – I know I said in my PM it'd be up last Wednesday/Thursday; I did make a start on the Wednesday but my laptop went dodgy (typical) and only started working again this Thursday – then, to be honest, I completely forgot about finishing this until earlier today. I'm going to try to get the entire fic finished before the end of the week though, if all goes to plan.

Hope it was worth the wait, anyway!

Given an instruction by their leader, the others sprang into action; rushing past me down the hallway and into their rooms, slamming the doors behind them. Elektra strolled calmly behind the group, glancing back at me with a smirk before disappearing into her room. Yep - she'd definitely stitched me up, and now she knew she still had enough control over the others for them to play along.

See, that's what annoyed me more than anything – if this was one of my schemes, at this point they'd be putting up a bit of a fight (they'd then lose and go along with my plan anyway, but that was besides the point), yet they were still blindly going along with this new girl's orders. I understood it was probably down to fear now, more than actually liking her, but I couldn't understand why. She might have the mind of a Burnywood kid, but she clearly doesn't have the guts of one. I've seen more intimidating goldfish.

Reaching her door, I lingered outside it for a few seconds. What if I kicked it down right now; demanded she told the truth about everything? Ok, so if I was wrong about her, she'd have me hanging out of the window by my ankles before you could say 'unstable care kid', but if I was right, maybe she'd admit to it in a blind panic – I could film it on my phone, or something, and Mike & Gina would get rid of her. Simple as that, right?

Jesus, being a social outcast has turned me into an idiot. Of course she wouldn't admit to it – everyone would come running in out of nowhere, like they've got some sort of secret passageway to dramatic events (I think it came free with Gina's secret agent guidebook); Elektra would start crying and accuse me of bullying her; Mike & Gina would find the stuff in the attic; the others, feeling sorry for poor, vulnerable Elektra would stand up for her, and I'd be out of here – or at least grounded for the rest of the century. As satisfying as destroying her room might be, it wouldn't be worth the consequences.

Shaking my head at my own stupidity, I carried on walking past Elektra's room and into my own. I scoped the walls, realising it could potentially be one of the last times I was in here. It wasn't like my bedrooms at other care homes; where the walls were bare and the mattress was stiff - it was mine. Noticing a tennis ball in the far corner of my room, I clambered over my bed and grabbed it; settling myself down against my shelves and chucking it against the wall. Well, if I couldn't take my frustration out on Elektra's door (or her face) it'd have to go somewhere, right?

I concluded it'd only be an hour or so until they found the stuff in the attic, assuming they'd began searching once we left the kitchen. I couldn't help but wonder whether they'd immediately make the link to me, or go and question the others first. Suppose not – Elektra had been pretty convincing earlier, I guess. Well, if you haven't seen a load of different kids from a load of different care homes using the same lying techniques, that is. I almost resented my experience in the area – it would probably be nice to have a bit of mystery when a kid's asked if they smashed an ornament/answered back to a teacher/coloured in another kid's hair with felt tip while they were asleep, instead of knowing immediately by their tone of voice and body language. Not that stuff like that happened often at Elmtree anyway - the only lies that weren't coming from me revolved around Sapphire, her curfew and her social life. The other kids were just too… too good, to put it in simple terms. Until now, that is.

For the first time, something dawned on me – would getting out of here and being put into another care home be such a bad thing? Ok, so it's the only place I've ever felt like I belonged, but I didn't really belong, did I? I wasn't well behaved and polite like the other kids (Sapph doesn't count, 'cause she doesn't belong here either – at least she's always realised it, though). They only ever did stuff when I talked them into it, and they never enjoyed it as much as they enjoyed the whole Blue Crew thing; not even Frank. I was just the one that led them astray, but now they had Elektra for that. And they liked her more than me; even if they were scared of her. I was a proper care kid, those lot were regular kids who hit a patch of bad luck.

So, maybe when I was confronted with the stolen stuff, I could just pretend it was me that took it – I've heard the 'last chance' speech from Mike enough times to know that if I pushed it and acted up, instead of the usual "I promise I'll make a fresh start" speech, I could get chucked out (or 'moved on', which care workers prefer 'cause it doesn't sound quite as harsh). At least when you're with a bunch of unstable, naughty kids you can't make attachments and end up hurt. Not that I was hurt, but… you get my point.

That said, there's more than one way to get hurt. Yeah, so I could hold my own in a fight, but did I really want to end up in a place like Burnywood again? I might've been younger last time, but from what I remembered (and I remembered a lot - you'd have to be a robot to not be affected by some of the things I've seen) it was even worse for the older kids. The fights get more serious and the staff get less caring, which you wouldn't have thought was possible if you ever met them, but you'd be mistaken. It had been pure luck that got me into Elmtree – it'd be stupid to put my pride before my safety, right?

Argh, isn't your brain only meant to have one viewpoint on a subject, rather than about 800? I was being as indecisive & useless as Carmen here.

Before one side of my brain lost its temper and punched the other, there was a knock at my door. Had they found the stolen stuff already? Quicker than I expected, plus I still hadn't decided how I was going to respond to it. I needed more time.

"Whatever it is, I'm not in the mood." I sighed, but the door was already half-open & Tracy was making her way inside. What's the point in knocking if you're not even gonna wait for the answer? Don't see people doing that to Sapph unless they've got a death wish, why am I any different?

"Me neither." Tracy answered, sitting down on to my bed. "What's going on?"

Because, of course, I always know. You'd think I was the fourth care worker in this place, the way everyone expects me to know everything about the kids, or sort their issues out for them.

"Why does everyone think I've always got the answers?" I ranted, expecting the accusations to start coming my way next.

"I don't think you've got all the answers." Tracy shook her head, smiling. Smiling, that was weird. Maybe they hadn't found the stuff yet, after all (or she's just oddly amused by theft) – in which case, I could stop bloody arguing with myself. "But I know you've got some of them, and I know I've got some of them. I thought maybe together we might be able to work something out?"

So, this was it – I could refuse and keep my pride, or agree and try to get things back to normal. If I refused, Tracy might think I had something to hide, & then they'd think it was me when they found the money for sure. I could get out of here, and end up somewhere with kids just as bad (or worse) as me. If I agreed, it wouldn't be quite so easy – we'd have to come up with something that would catch Elektra out, and I'd have to try, yet again, to sort things out with Frank and the others. I knew that once I chose, it'd be too late for me to go back on it.

"Alright." I nodded.

I know, I know - I'd had enough of them relying on me to get them out of trouble, & they clearly had no concept of loyalty, but I still did. Maybe my only role was to help them when they needed it, but at least it meant I had a role. Now was one of those times, and I couldn't let my pride get in the way of that.

After all, you can regain your pride once you've lost it. You can't regain family.

I hope that wasn't too bad after such a long wait! And I stayed up just to get it finished while I was on a roll, so it better be worth it :P

I think there'll be two or maybe three more chapters left, depending on how things seem to fit when I'm writing it, and as I've said I want to finish it by the end of the week, so there shouldn't be much of a wait until the next chapter's up. Please review, and sorry again for taking so long on it!