A/N: Hey guys! Another chapter. Please read and review :)

Those School Days

Starting a new school is one of the most nerve wracking things a young person can go through. Especially a young person in care, there's always the fear of being judged. Leanna leaned against the kitchen counter, eyeing the plates of toast on the table before her. "You'll feel better if you eat something." Mike told her gently, offering a slice of buttered toast. Tracy nodded in agreement.

"No, I'm really not hungry. I er... got up earlier and ate." Leanna told him, crossing her fingers behind her back. The truth was though, she was too scared to eat. She felt like everything she ate would come right back up, and that was down to nerves about starting Mountview Secondary School. Previously she had attended Hillside Comprehensive when she had stayed in Burnywood and before that at home, but Elm Tree House was closer to Mountview and it was decided by Mike and Gina that it was far more convenient if she went to the same school as everyone else.

Leanna was not used to being new. Even after moving from her home to Burnywood and then to Elm Tree, she was worried about making friends. What if people judged her based on the scar on her face? "Go on you lot, leave now or you'll be late, yeah?" Gina told them all, slapping Liam's hand away when he reached for even more toast.

Grabbing her bag from the coffee table by the stairs, Leanna headed out of the door, Carmen skipping along beside her. "It's going to be great! I can show you around, you can hang out with me as well, if you want to." Carmen babbled, her eyes bright with excitement. Leanna nodded politely, it seemed like staying with Carmen was the only option she had. Tee was still in Primary School, and Sapphire was in year 11, and Leanna felt rude to just tag along with her. Elektra was out of the question along with Liam, and she didn't want to put Frank through the trouble of being torn between the two of them.

It only took ten minutes to walk to Mountview, it was down the long road and over the other side of the park. It was a fairly modern building, with tall glass windows on each floor and clean white walls. The grounds were full of students, who were reluctant to go inside for lessons. Carmen waved to a group of girls who were sitting on the stairs, and then took Leanna's arm and walked up the stairs and through the main doors. They were inside what looked like a fancy school office, and then they walked through the glass automatic doors into one of the hallways. "Okay, I'll show you one of the bathrooms first. Then we'll find your tutor room, what was it again?" Carmen said.

"H5." Leanna said, looking at the tiny writing on the palm of her hand. She then followed Carmen down the corridor and up three flights of stairs, to the top floor. Everything was shiny and seemed so new, even the bathrooms were quite nice.

"Oh, Leanna!" A voice called. Leanna looked up from the mirrors to see two girls standing by the changing room benches in the reflection. It was Bethany and an African-English girl, with dark hair that was braided tightly to her head, with blue beads. "I didn't know you were joining Mountview, how come you never said?" She simpered, taking Leanna's arm and leading her away from a shocked looking Carmen. "Nikki, this is Leanna, Leanna, this is Nikki." Bethany introduced them, and Nikki gave a half-hearted smile. "What were you doing all by yourself? Don't worry I'll-"

"I was showing her around, actually." Carmen interrupted, proving that some of her Burnywood toughness still remained. "C'mon Leanna, lets go."

Bethany smirked at Carmen, who folded her arms. Bethany was at least a head taller than Carmen, but the younger girl wasn't going to be pushed over easily. "Ha, I can take it from here, little year seven. I think you should run back to your little friends, although I don't see any around." Bethany replied cooly, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Leanna, let's go." Carmen repeated, turning towards the door.

Leanna gulped, not knowing what to do. Carmen had been kind enough to take her under her wing, but she couldn't hang around with a year seven all day. On the other hand, it seemed like Bethany ruled here, and she was also Liam's girlfriend, so Leanna couldn't get on her bad side. "I'll catch up with you later Carmen... The bell's about to go anyway." She ended up saying, and Carmen stalked from the room without looking back.

"Ugh, year sevens." Nikki groaned, picking up her blue bag from the bench.

"Carmen's alright actually." Leanna snapped, earning an interested look from Bethany. "I'm in H5. Where's that?"

It turned out that Leanna was actually in the same tutor group as Bethany and Nikki. The desks in the class room seemed to be split into four tables, which immediately made the different social groups clear. There was the class populars, which only had two girls sitting at it, but Bethany and Nikki soon joined them. They were in the middle of the class room, and were all very pretty. The next table was full of about 12 boys who had pulled up chairs, and at that moment they were talking loudly, while half of them were passing about a muddy football. Leanna spotted Liam in that group straight away. He didn't even look up. In the far corner was the unpopulars of the class, and they consisted of three girls and two boys. two of the girls and one of the guys were intently reading books, while the other two awkwardly sat there, trying to ignore the sniggers that were coming from Bethany's table. Lastly there was what seemed to be the normal people in the hierarchy, but they didn't look up at Leanna. It was almost as if she was invisible, until Bethany called her over.

Lunch came around pretty quickly. Leanna had suffered through Maths (which she had been put in the bottom set for, which made her realise that she should have carried on with her attempt to get smarter) and Spanish, which had been her favourite lesson, unlike most people. Now she was sitting at a picnic bench with Bethany and her friends, eating what was meant to be a burger. The girls at the table were all very pretty. Ellie was by far the most beautiful. She had blonde chin length hair which was slightly curly, an even skin tone and big blue eyes, with full lips. She seemed the nicest, and although she was the prettiest, it was clear that Bethany had the biggest ego. Her hair was straight today, and her face was thinner and more pointed than Ellies, and her skin whiter with pink cheeks from the cold. There was Courtney with her brown hair in a messy bun, who was applying mascara to her eyelashes, which framed lovely green eyes. Nikki was texting, Leanna and Ellie seemed to be the only ones eating.

pulling her blazer tighter around her, Leanna followed Bethany through the grounds, towards the science block. She didn't know where they were going, and it seemed Ellie didn't either. Bethany said nothing though, and walked behind the science blocks, where the grass ended. In the corner by the fence, stood about four or five people. They all seemed a little older than Leanna, and looked like they belonged in Hillside School.

The four girls joined the huddle, and Leanna was curious as to why they were there. Since when was Bethany friends with these sort of people? As if she had heard what Leanna was thinking, Bethany leaned over. "They're mates of my sister. Got kicked out of Hillside, and this school offered to take them, on the warning that if they're caught doing anything they're out." She whispered, smiling slightly. Then as quick as lightning, her hand slipped into her blazer pocket and she pulled out a little packet. "Here, Felicity got you this." Bethany said, passing the packet to one of the older looking boys. It was definitely some type of drug, but Leanna couldn't work out which.

"Cheers babe." The boy said, and he turned to look at Leanna. He had blue eyes and short blonde hair, covered by the black hoodie he was wearing. His eyebrow was pierced and he was overall kind of scary looking. "I know you... you used to go to Hillside!" He said, looking at her. "What did you get kicked out for?"

Leanna paused, unsure of what to say. She didn't really want to mention she got moved because of a care home, and one of the boys was absentmindedly flicking a pen knife in his hand. "Uh... caught smoking during class." She mumbled quickly, avoiding his eyes. He chuckled, and Bethany looked at her with admiration.

"Leanna and I are best friends, Michael." Bethany said, smiling and taking Leanna's arm. Leanna nodded, trying not to smirk. Bethany was such a suck up.

Michael just pulled out a pack of cigarrettes from his pocket and handed them around. "To getting out of that hell hole." He laughed, flicking his lighter and then taking a drag. Leanna stared nervously at hers, her eyes flicking to the others who were each lighting their cigarettes. She had promised herself she would never smoke, after seeing the effects on her mum. But all promises were going to be broken in the end though, that's what Leanna thought at least. Out of the corner of her eye she could see three people standing not too far away. Frank was standing with Liam, who had a football under one arm. Carmen was in the middle of plaiting her hair, and all three of them were staring, their eyes boring into her. But who cared what they thought? Liam was ignoring her, Frank was bound to follow him after a while and Carmen couldn't control her.

"Don't embarrass me." Bethany hissed at her, and with that she raised the cigarette to her lips.

The week passed fairly slowly, it mostly consisted of Leanna, Bethany, Courtney, Nikki and Ellie hanging around the ex-Hillside students, occasionally smoking, and the drugs that were passed over on the first encounter were never mentioned again. It was all pretty boring, especially since Frank and Carmen were now not talking to her either. That was all because of the one day that was most interesting, Thursday.

Leanna had been walking to the usual spot behind the science blocks, when Frank and Liam had stopped her. "Alright Leanna?" Said Liam, keeping the ball up in the air with his feet. Leanna had replied politely, but before she could walk away quickly Frank had asked her to join them for lunch.

"Sure," Leanna had replied, and followed the two of them to the benches, where Liam scoffed on a plate of chips, Frank ate the terrible burgers and Leanna had a chicken sandwich. They had actually talked, about the school, football, anything but the past weekend. It was like nothing had happened, they joked around and laughed about the worst teachers. But then Leanna had realised that Bethany would probably be waiting for her. So she left them, and promised to hang out with them tomorrow again. Liam had seemed pretty annoyed that she was ditching them for the little gang behind the science block.

She had walked pretty quickly, her mind foggy with the realisation that maybe they could continue like normal, being best friends as they had been before. her stomach was all fluttery from happiness, but that quickly vanished when she arrived behind the science block. She was partially hidden by a large oak, and had been about to walk around it when she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

Ellie and Nikki were standing off to the side, looking slightly guilty. Courtney was flirting with one of the shorter guys, and the others were smoking as usual. But that wasn't what caught her eye. It was the fact that two people were missing from the group. Ignoring the burning feeling in her stomach, Leanna walked forwards over to Ellie.

"Do you know where Bethany is?" She asked, and the two girls looked even more guilty. "Bloody hell, just tell me!" She snapped finally, and Ellie gave in.

"Alright, she's over there." Ellie sighed, pointing towards a cluster of trees which were hidden from view by the other side of the science block. Before either of them could stop her, Leanna left, walking quickly to the tightly packed trees. At first it seemed like no one was there, but at the sound of a giggle, Leanna walked forwards slightly, and stood behind the largest tree. From where she was she could just see two people, making out. Oh God, this is the second time I've seen them kiss. Leanna thought to herself, remembering when Bethany had kissed Liam before leaving the weekend before. She leaned forward a bit, hearing a voice she didn't recognize.

It was Bethany and Michael.

Her heart racing, Leanna backed out of the trees, and then set off at a run towards the field, where she knew Liam would be. He had just scored a goal between two blazers, and was now running up and down the pitch, showing off. She almost laughed and forgot why she was there, but a quick flashback pushed her on. He looked slightly annoyed to be pulled away from the football game, "My team is gonna fail without my excellence in football!" He had protested, when she dragged him over to the oak.

"Look Liam, There's something you need to know." She had told him, trying to snap him out of his jokey mood. He frowned at her, and sat down on the grass, pulling at her hand to make her sit down. "When i went back to the others... there were two people gone." She began, fiddling with her purple tie, she didn't want him to get angry.

"Spit it out Leanna," He said, as Frank came to join them.

"Okay well... I weren't expecting it but... I went to the trees to find Bethany, and she... she was with Michael. And they were making out." She finished quickly, looking away to avoid their gaze. She still saw their reactions though. Frank was frowning, as if he was arguing with himself in his head. Liam on the other had was outraged. His freckled face was slowly turning red, and he stood up quickly.

"Look Leanna. I know you had a problem with lying but I didn't know you'd go this far. I ain't falling for your shit now, Bethany's not like that, alright? Just... Just fuck off, okay?!" He yelled, turning around and running back to the football match, where he was passed the ball and kicked it with so much force that the goal keeper was hit in the face and ended up with a fountain of scarlet blood running from his nose.

Frank had just stared at her, not sure what to say. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it and walked away, back to the game as well.

A/N Ugh this one took me ages, I wrote it once, then re-wrote it, and then changed the last part! But it's finally here :) Oh and also the character Ellie looks like Hanna from Pretty Little Liars (Ashley Benson) I think she's so pretty! anyone seen the latest episode? Shocking :O

Please review :)