A/N: Hey guys, so I actually did a lot of research for this chapter and the story in general as the school used in this is a real school and these are real teachers in San Diego-where the story takes place- but i don't go there or even live there so. I just looked this stuff up, anyway this chapter is very focused on Sasha and Charlotte and I know I said I was gonna introduce Becky in this one but it got pushed back a chapter cause of how I cut it off. So I guess you'll just have to read and see what happens.

Chapter 8

*At School*

Sasha and Charlotte had made it to Creekside elementary school on time, thanks to Charlotte and had even impressed the secretary Mrs. Nakutin, who had made a sly comment about how she had never seen them this early for anything before. Sasha in turned rolled her eyes and went to say something but Charlotte just ignored it and pulled her younger sister to the playground where the other kids went for school started. It was pretty warm out so Charlotte was sure that all the older kids would have taken the swings and Sasha hated the older kids, so she made sure that the two of them sat together at the table on the opposite side of the playground. It was a round picnic table under a tree beside five colored chairs in the shade.

"Ugh..Charlotte, why do we have to sit all the way over here" Sasha whined as she sat across from her big sister, "All the cool stuff is over there"

"We only have five minutes left anyway, just sit here and be quiet. Did you finish your homework?"

"Yeah, I told you already on the bus I did all my stuff in class"

Charlotte knew this was a lie, her younger sister hated homework and was only in first grade so she knew that they barely did their homework in class together, she had been in the same class last year and she had to do homework with their mother at home. However, she ignored it and pulled out a lunch box from her backpack and handed it to Sasha, "Here I managed to get this together before we left"

"What is it?"

"It's a bomb, what do you think it is..I made us lunch while dad was still asleep" Charlotte said sarcastically causing Sasha to roll her eyes.

Sasha inspected it and smiled as she saw some of her favorites and the two of them sat in silence watching the other kids play, at least for a couple of minutes until Charlotte saw two of the meaner fourth grade girls heading their way. A dark skinned girl with her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail wearing a dark purple t-shirt and black jeans, and beside her was a taller Samoan girl with flowing, wavy black hair a leather jacket, jeans and combat boots.

"Well, well, well, what did mommy and daddy pack us for lunch today?" The smaller of the two girls said

"Leave us alone Naomi, it's too early for this" Charlotte said causing Naomi and the taller girl to laugh before they snatched away Sasha's lunch box, "Give that back"

Charlotte stood up from the table and came closer to the two but the Samoan girl stood in front of Naomi, towering over Charlotte with her arms crossed as her friend began searching through the lunch box. Sasha stood up as well and Charlotte could see the young girl clenching and unclenching her fist beside her. These two girls in particular- Naomi and Tamina-hated them, Sasha didn't know why but Charlotte figured it was because the girls were bored and had nobody else to pick on but the adopted girls. They would constantly harash all of them, especially Sasha because of the younger girls temper.

"Well, looks like you got all the goodies today" Naomi said pulling out some chips and snacks and putting them into her jacket pocket, "And what about you blonde, you got a lunch for us too?"

"No"

Naomi rolled her eyes and gave a look to the other girl who pushed past them and grabbed Charlotte's backpack from the table before coming back to stand beside the smaller girl. Naomi flung Sasha's now empty lunch box and reached for Charlotte's bag and smiled as she pulled out a blue colored lunch box.

"Oh look..we found one, now I don't want to think that you were holding out on us were you?"

Charlotte didn't answer but Sasha now was fuming with anger, "Give that back"

"Oh look the little one speaks, I didn't even know she knew how to yet, isn't that cute Tamina" Naomi said to her friend before turning back to Sasha, "What else are they teaching you in your baby classes ABC's?"

Sasha growled and ran forward trying to shove the girl but only ended up bouncing of the bigger girl who was three if not four times the small seven year old's size. Tamina laughed and knock the smaller girl down on her butt before Naomi began going through the lunchbox.

"What is this crap.." Naomi pulled out a plain ham sandwich, a banana and a juice, each time she picked one up she would fling it up into the tree, "What mommy doesn't love you anymore, she didn't want to pack you anything good. Where's the brownies that yall had yesterday..now those were good"

With that the Samoan nodded in agreement and laughed before the bell for school rang causing everyone to begin to head inside. Naomi stepped from around her friend and stepped up to Charlotte- even though she had to look up at the girl- and began to suck her teeth, "Next time, you better have something good for me and my girl like your sister there, before I get Tamina here to do some serious damage"

"I'm not scared of you pipsqueak" Charlotte said and went to say more before Tamina stepped up beside Naomi and looked down at her

"You may not be scared of her, but you better be scared of me" She said before giving Charlotte a hard shove, knocking her to the ground and tossing the lunchbox at her and leaving.

Sasha went to run after them but Charlotte called out for her to let it go as she pulled herself from the ground and began to pull all of the food from the tree and put them back. Once she was finished she brushed off the leaves from the box and turned to hand it to Sasha.

"Here"

"I don't want it" Sasha mumbled as she grabbed her backpack and began to walk off across campus where the building to her class was.

"Sasha, take it" Charlotte called after her as she got her stuff and followed after her younger sister.

"Leave me alone" Sasha said as Charlotte finally caught up with her once in front of the first grade building, "I don't want your stupid lunch"

"Look, Sash. Those girls are bullies, and they suck. I know that you wanna go and fight them but that won't change anything...and if either of us get in trouble while mom isn't here she's gonna be pissed and think that dad cant take care of is on his own"

"Well he can't...that's why you got us ready for school. Besides mom would understand that I just wanna shut those butt heads up" Sasha said finishing the sentences by punching her fist into her hand.

"Yeah or you'll get in trouble with the principle and mom'll just beat your butt. Now take this and go to class"

"I don't want it, if those girls are just going to keep taking my lunch and my stuff then why have it at all. They do this everyday Charlotte, and I'm sick of it. Keep your lunch" with that Sasha walked away down the first grade decorated hall while Charlotte stood there for a minute before she left and went to the building next door for one for her second grade classes.

At around 10:45 Charlotte knew the first graders had morning recess, while she was still in her morning classes and the fourth graders were in the gym. She had a gut feeling that Sasha was going to try and sneak into their gym class and "teach those girls a lesson", which would only end badly for her. She didn't want anything to happen to her little sister, she was the oldest after all and her mother had basically put her in charge knowing her father's slight incompetence when it came to handling things. And no matter how much the older girl wanted to punch Tamina and Naomi square in the jaw, she knew she couldn't, and she knew that she couldn't let her little sister do it either.

The grades were split up in different buildings, the preschool and kindergarten kids we at the front connected to the cafeteria, and main offices, then it went in a circle with the first graders in the building diagonal from it and the second graders beside them and so forth and so forth, but the fourth graders building was connected to the gym which was right in front of the playground, giving Sasha easy access to those girls. Especially with a teacher like Mrs. Friedman who was a newer teacher and had yet figured out how to handle or keep track of her kids, Sasha was bound to sneak off easily.

"Ms. Thomas can I go to the bathroom?" a girl asked from across the room taking Charlotte's attention away from the window she had been staring out of

"I believe you can, but only if you find a buddy to go with you" Her teacher, who was a tall, pale skinned woman with short dark brown hair cut in a bob responded as she walked around the room looking at each of her student's work.

The girl looked around the room to see who she could pick but before she could say anything Charlotte stood up and quickly volunteered herself to go with the girl who's name she didn't even know. The girl reluctantly agreed and the two grabbed the ruler labelled hall pass and headed down the hall in silence.

"Why did YOU come with me?" The girl asked but Charlotte ignored her as she scanned the halls for any patrolling teachers or hall monitors, "You don't even know my name do you?"

No I don't and I don't care, Charlotte thought but didn't dare say it as she needed who this girl was to let her sneak off and check on Sasha really quickly, "I know your name...do you know mine?"

The girl rolled her eyes and easily responded, "Charlotte. Everyone knows your name"

This took the taller girl by surprise and caused her to look at her bathroom buddy. She was a skinny girl, shorter than herself but much taller than her sisters, she had tanned skin and long black hair held back by a headband. She was pretty sure she had seen her around before, or at least she thought it was her. She might have a twin, Charlotte wasn't sure and she surely didn't care. The two walked again in silence as the possible twin had forgotten the fact that Charlotte had never said the girl's name.

Once they reached the bathroom down the hall the girl's were stopped by a voice calling out to them from back where they had come from, "Bree.."

Charlotte turned to see a girl who looked similar to Bree she was guessing was her name and then Charlotte knew that she was right and the girl did have a twin. They both wore a red shirt with sparkles spelling out matching words and white jeans with red light up shoes. While Bree wore a black headband, the other twin was wearing her long hair back in a ponytail. The two engaged in a long hug and began to babble on to each other and Charlotte say this as her window of opportunity. She debated on telling the girls that she would be right back in case they left her and went back to class but she figured it was best to just move quickly. So with that she ran off and headed to the playground where her sister was supposed to be.

After a minute of intense running Charlotte came up to the playground across the school, she quickly scanned the playground and after a few minutes of not finding her sister she groaned and turned to make a dash to the gym but stopped when she spotted her sister in her bright pink shirt sitting at the table under the tree that they had been sitting at before school started. She went to go up to her but decided against it as she could slightly make out the girl talking to herself. Not in an anger way but in a sort of lost way, like she was upset. Charlotte continued to walk a little closer but not enough to where her sister could notice her, and as she got closer she could hear Sasha was crying as she talked to herself. Her voice shook with every word and she sniffled every now and then.

"God stop being such a baby" Charlotte heard her say, "Nobody likes a baby, not momma, not Stephanie, Hunter...Charlotte isn't a baby...and neit-neither is Bayley….well at least not always. The new kid probably isn't a baby either…"

Charlotte didn't know what Sasha was talking about but she continued to listen for a little longer, "Nobody likes a runt...thats what momma used to say...nobody likes a worthless…"

She trailed off as she started sobbing again and Charlotte felt her heart break for her younger sister, and she wanted to comfort her but she knew if she came to her while she was vulnerable like she is now, Sasha would push her away. So Charlotte looked back at her building then to her sister and shook her head before running back to where she had left the twins.

As the days went on Charlotte couldn't get her crying sister out of her mind and she was constantly worried about her. The school bell rang to signal the end of the day and Charlotte was kind of dreading it, she didn't want to face Sasha. Not after what she had heard, she had never knew that her sister considered herself worthless, and all of those times when she called Sasha a baby,she never knew she took it to hard.

"Charlotte sweetie the bell rang...you're going to miss your bus, or is one of your parents coming?" Ms. Thomas asked causing Charlotte to look up at her from her spot on the carpet

"I- uh I don't know" Charlotte answered honestly, "My mom is in Ireland right now, and I don't know if my dad is coming or not?"

"Well does he usually pick you up when your mother doesn't"

Charlotte nodded and pushed herself up from her spot, making her way over to the cubbies to get her stuff as Ms. Thomas followed closely by, "yes...I gotta go find my sister now"

"Wait, Charlotte. Why is your mother in Ireland?" Charlotte paused as she pushed her arms through the straps of her blue and white striped bag. She knew that her teacher was really just being nosy and it was none of her business where her mother was, but Charlotte also knew that all of the teachers kept close eyes on her and her family. She knew very well that if they found anything wrong with their family they could report it social services. that's what they did to her real dad. They began to notice the bruises on her arms and how tired she was, and they noticed how her dad never came to pick her up from school anymore. It didn't take long for them to get social services involved though that did nothing but get her in more trouble at home. Who in the world would believe that Ric Flair the famous politician would ever lay a hand on his youngest daughter.

Well eventually they did when she woke up in a hospital with cops pulling her screaming father out of the room as he cursed her name. He had screamed that he would killer her like he did the others, he swore that he would finish the job and get rid of her fo good. She remembered that he finally said before he was dragged out that she couldn't escape him because he was the Ric Flair and deep down she knew that he was right.

It took a couple of hours before she got the full story from the woman who her father had married after her mother. Ric had killed her older sister and her younger brother and was going to do the same to her before the police got there and he ran, only to show back up at the hospital to finish what he had started.

"I really have to go, see you tomorrow Ms. Thomas" with that charlotte ran out the room and began walking out and over to the first grader building where she saw Sasha sitting on the steps with her arms crossed.

"There you are, I've been waiting here since the bell rang"

"It rang like two minutes ago...come on we're gonna take the bus" Charlotte said, grabbing Sasha's hand and pulling her to the front of the school where the Buses were

"Why can't dad come get us like he did yesterday?"

"I don't see his car so we are just gonna take the bus" Charlotte guided Sasha to their bus which was in the last slot and they took their seats together in the front behind the driver.

"How was your day?" Charlotte asked as the bus turned out of the school bus lot.

Sasha looked at her older sister confused from the window seat and then shrugged, "Fine...why?"

It was Charlotte's turn to shrug, she hadn't known why she had asked but she just wanted to see if Sasha was going to tell her about what she had seen during recess. Deep down she knew that she wasn't going to but Charlotte still wanted to be sure. She knew how guarded her little sister was and she respected that, simply because she was the same way before when she was first adopted by Hunter and Stephanie, but that didn't stop her from trying to get Sasha to open up to her.

Charlotte knew that even though they argued the most, she was Sasha's favorite to hang out with and secretly she liked that. She had been very close with her older sister and she saw a lot of her in Sasha and a lot of her little brother in Bayley. Thinking about it Charlotte figured that was why she was so protective of them.

Charlotte let the thoughts go and let them sit the rest of the ride in comfortable silence. It wasn't a far drive to get to their house from the school but with all of the other stops, the girls got home at almost 4:00. Once they got off at their stop the two walked down the street to their house in silence until Sasha got an idea and began walking slightly faster than her sister.

It wasn't long before Charlotte took notice and she too sped up, causing Sasha to start speed walking until ultimately the girls were having a full on race down the street to their house. Charlotte ended up catching up to her younger sister but slowed down slightly in order to let Sasha gain a lead without her knowing.

"Ha! I made it here first" Sasha said placing her hand on the door knob, "You're getting slow in your old age"

Once inside Sasha instantly noticed a large mattress laying on the ground in front of the door and began to eagerly jump up and down on it.

"yeah you got me, you must be getting faster" Charlotte said smiling as she closed the door- her brother used to like to win races too, "And who says 'in your old age'?"

"I've heard dad say that to mom before" she said as she grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels Charlotte stood beside the Tv watching.

Charlotte ignored what Sasha said and began to look around the house, it was just like they had left it this morning, well except for the mattress which Sasha was still standing on as age leaned over the back of the couch.

"Why are you standing on that thing?"

Sasha looked down at the mattress then up and Charlotte and stared at her as she began to bounce on it again, "Cause I can"

"well stop before you fall off it"

Sasha said nothing but stared intensely at she jumped harder on the mattress with her tongue stuck out at her. Charlotte rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen where she found a soggy bowl of cereal and an empty box of Lucky Charms.

"Dad?" she called out only to get no response, so she walked back into the living room and called again, " Dad...we're home"

Upon getting no response Sasha slowly stopped jumping and look at her sister as she continued to call out, "Dad?"

"You don't think he's still asleep do you?" Sasha asked

Charlotte shook her head, " Nobody sleeps for that long, unless they're in a coma or dead"

The two looked at each other in silence for a minute before Sasha took off upstairs with Charlotte right behind her to go find their father.

A/N: left ya'll with a little cliffhanger there, but I mean Hunter is fine...maybe I don't know yet. Until next time, review, follow and favorite. see ya.