4th September, 1939.
Heero woke up at a little after 8am and winced. He had slept extremely well, possibly a full nine hours, but now he was awake his muscles felt like taut cardboard, especially in his upper arms. The hours of hard work he put into helping build the shelter yesterday was really starting to show.
He rolled over onto his side and immediately noticed that something was different compared to yesterday morning; Duo's bed was empty. The patterned duvet cover on the other boy's bed was thrown aside, exposing his white sheets and his teddy bear, which was lying just below the pillow.
'I wonder where he is and why he got up so early?' Heero thought distractedly, still trying to blink sleep out of his eyes. He stifled a yawn that threatened to come out and pulled himself up into a sitting position, groaning slightly as his sore muscles complained at every movement. 'Who would have thought my muscles could ever feel this tight. I hope I don't have to do anything too strenuous today.' He mused this thought over as he tried to persuade his aching limbs to move so he could climb out of bed.
Duo hummed happily to himself as he sprinkled seed down for the chickens. The sunlight was shining down on him making his already good mood even better. 'It sure is a warm day again. I wonder if Heero's up yet. He's missing out on the morning sunshine.' Duo thought, still humming as he dropped the last of the seed down on the ground.
"There, finished." He said out loud to no one in particular. Jess looked up at him from where she was lying on the floor. Her ears pricked up and her tongue hung out of her mouth. "I see you've already worn yourself out, Jess." Duo said, laughing at the panting Border collie.
"Duo, have you finished feeding the chickens yet?" Joe shouted from inside one of the nearby barns.
"Yes dad." Duo shouted back, while at the same time teasing Jess with the empty seed bucket. "What do you want me to do now?" He asked, even though he knew perfectly well that he would be putting out fresh water for the horses next.
"Horses." Joe replied, knowing that Duo was just joking around and that he knew his morning chores list off by heart.
Duo dropped the seed bucket off in the 'chicken feed' shed and headed in the direction of the stables, with Jess ambling along just behind him, tongue still hanging out.
Heero pulled a dark blue, short-sleeved t-shirt over his head, flicked a hand through his unruly hair and made his way down the stairs. He heard the sound of soft humming coming from the kitchen and the whistle of the kettle as it boiled as he walked through the hall. The familiar sounds made him think of his mother and how she was always up early, starting on the housework and preparing breakfast while he and his father were still sleeping soundly in their beds. He let out a small sigh and then immediately scowled at himself for doing so. 'I've got to stop acting so pathetic. Plenty of other kids have had to leave their parents behind too.'
"Good morning, Heero. Would you like some breakfast?" Rosie greeted in a cheery voice.
Heero nodded numbly at her, not being able to find his tongue because his thoughts were still stuck back in London. Rosie smiled reassuringly at him and patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Why don't you go out the back and get Duo in for me. He hasn't eaten yet either. He should be at the stables by now."
Heero nodded again, politely this time, and headed for the back door. He stepped out the door, having pulled Duo's second pair of wellie boots on, and breathed in the sea air, taking in the freshness of it compared to the polluted London air. 'So different from home…' He shook his head in annoyance at his constant thoughts of home, before lifting his head up and walking briskly to the stables, up on the far field.
He entered the stables about five minutes later, slightly out of breath because he had walked so quickly. He found Duo sitting on an up-turned box, looking up at a chestnut coloured horse. He had a slightly forlorn expression on his face and he was talking in a soft tone to the animal. Heero stared awkwardly at the other boy, who hadn't noticed him standing there yet.
"Hey Heero. What's up?" Duo said without turning around.
Heero found himself jumping a bit. 'How did he know I was here?' He shook his head slightly and quietly cleared his throat. "Erm…your mum said there's breakfast ready for you." He blurted out the sentence in a way he wouldn't normally do. 'What is wrong with me at the moment? It's like I'm afraid of him or something.'
Duo turned round, a smile on his face, and got to his feet. "Well let's go eat then." He said matter-of-factly.
Heero stared in surprise at the farmer's son. He had the strangest expression on his face, like he was stuck between happiness and sadness. 'Maybe he's sad about his horse's leg.' Heero shook his head slightly again and followed the other boy out of the stable.
The two boys walked in silence back to the house, a renewed Jess loping along beside them. They stepped into the house having removed their boots. Rosie was still in the kitchen but the table had been set for two and there was two glasses of orange juice placed on the table.
"Get yourselves in here and wash your hands. I'm just putting your breakfast on plates." Rosie said, her voice slightly raised as she was calling them from the kitchen.
The two boys glanced at each other momentarily; Duo's face an expression of amusement and Heero's one of confusion. 'Why only two places at the table?' He shrugged the thought off and followed Duo through to the kitchen, where they washed their hands in the sink.
"Eggs and bacon on toast alright for you boys?" Rosie asked, her voice as cheery as ever.
"Yeah! That sounds awesome, mum." Duo said, putting unnecessary emphasis on the word 'awesome'.
Heero stayed silent, carefully rinsing the soap off his hands. 'Duo answered well enough for both of us anyway.' He thought, before turning the tap off and accepting the towel from Duo to dry his hands.
Both boys were soon sat at the table, their plates of food in front of them. Duo was happily working his way through his plateful and even Heero was eating more this morning, savouring the taste of the bacon in his mouth. The bacon his mother bought from the local shop was nowhere near as good as this bacon.
They ate in silence for a while and then when they were both nearly finished Duo decided to try and make conversation again. "How's the bacon and eggs, Heero?" He asked it and immediately wished he hadn't because it sounded like such a stupid question when he thought about it.
Heero put his knife and fork down and looked up at the other boy. "They're nice, thank you." He said politely, but not in the same polite tone he'd been using yesterday. There was a slight bit more friendliness in his tone today.
Duo smiled. "Hey good. Um…what do ya wanna do today? I mean my mum suggested I could take you into town and show you round a bit but I don't mind really." He ended a little bit nervously, something he never did usually, even with complete strangers.
Heero responded almost immediately. "I'd like to do that, please." His face was still unsmiling but a slight bit of interest, maybe even excitement crept into his blue eyes.
Duo's smile widened into a grin. "Cool. We'll do that then. Hastings town centre is great, especially on a Monday. It's market day, so there'll be a lot of interesting stalls and stuff to look at."
Heero actually let a small smile creep onto his face and he sped up in his eating of his breakfast. 'Hmm…this day shouldn't be too bad after all. I wonder how far the town centre is from here? I know the town hall's not too far but that didn't look to be the centre to me…' He let his thoughts trail off as he swallowed the last bit of bacon and downed the rest of his juice.
"Woah! You do have an appetite after all. That's the first meal you've finished all of your food since you got here." Duo said in a loud voice, genuinely surprised that the London kid had eaten everything this time.
"Duo!! Where are your manners?" Rosie yelled through from the kitchen.
Duo went slightly red and gazed apologetically at Heero. "Um…oops. Sorry, mum, and um…sorry Heero." He said this genuinely enough but he still had a slight lop-sided grin on his face.
Heero had to mentally stop himself from letting out a loud chuckle. 'Since when did I let anyone affect me like this?' He thought. 'If anyone else had said something like that to me I would have made them sorry.'
It was agreed that both boys would go out for the day so Duo could show Heero around the town centre. When both boys were ready; Duo changing into something slightly smarter than his shabby dungarees he always wore around the farm, they went through to the kitchen so Rosie could give her motherly instructions.
"Now you're to be on your best behaviour…" Rosie said, looking pointedly at Duo, who gave her a hurt expression in return. "…and make sure you're back here by five o'clock this afternoon, latest." She fiddled distractedly with her hair for a moment, very much in the same way Duo did, before carrying on. "Lets see, um…Heero, do you know how to ride a bike?"
Heero looked up in surprise. "Ye…yeah…" He said, confused at the random question.
Rosie smiled. "Ah good. That's okay then. You can both go on bicycles. Charlie dropped round Trowa's old one yesterday for Heero to use."
Heero's eyes had gone slightly wide which made Duo chuckle. "I bet'cha not as good as me at riding a bike." Duo said, a competitive glint in his bright eyes.
Heero scowled at the other boy but quickly remembered what his mother said about being polite. "Please give Trowa's father my thanks." He said, turning smartly to Rosie, quickly losing the scowl, replacing it with a polite smile.
Rosie smiled warmly back. "Of course I will. Now take care you two. I'll see you this afternoon."
"Okay mum. See ya later." Duo said, pulling a blue baseball cap out of his pocket and shoving it on his head, slightly lop-sided. He tapped Heero lightly on the shoulder and the two boys made their way to the front door.
Rosie watched them go out of the stable style doors. 'What a polite and well-mannered young man that Heero is. Maybe he'll teach my Duo something, and at the same time maybe Duo will teach him something too.' She mused over the thought for a minute and then went into the back garden to find her husband.
Duo led Heero to the side of the house where there were two bicycles propped up against the wall. The bikes were roughly the same size; one with the seat slightly higher than the other. Duo grabbed hold of the one with the raised seat. It was a dark blue colour and it had several stickers stuck on it with different images and text on them, obviously stuck on by Duo at some point.
"The other one is the one you can use." Duo said, pointing at the other bike, which was a slightly faded red colour.
Heero grabbed hold of the handle bars of the other bike and wheeled it away from the wall. 'I haven't ridden one of these for a long time…' Heero shook his head and ended the thought quickly. He was going to try and enjoy the day instead of letting past events get to him. There was something about this place that was bringing up a lot of memories and he didn't like it.
The two boys wheeled their bikes out through the gate and onto the dust ridden road, where they mounted them and pushed off, both boys pedalling as hard as they could to try and out do the other one.
"You'll never beat me, Heero." Duo yelled, pedalling even faster so that he pulled into a lead over the city boy.
Heero said nothing. He just kept pushing down on the pedals as hard as he could. He knew he didn't really have a hope of keeping up with Duo because he was out of practice at riding a bike and not as strong as Duo anyway.
About a mile's cycle ride later they arrived in what looked to be a town square, which was bustling with people because the market was in full swing. Duo grinned at Heero as he finally caught up with the braided boy.
"I told ya I'd win." Duo said, his tone more playful than arrogant.
Heero shrugged nonchalantly at the other boy and turned around to take in the scenery. The market was a rather large one, filling up most of the town square. From what Heero could see of it so far there was a vast array of goods on sale and plenty of people buying said goods. 'Hastings is bigger and busier than I thought it would be.' He turned around taking in the other side of the square. It held the smaller side of the market but wasn't any less busy. There seemed to be a majority of fruit stalls on this side of the market, whereas the other side was a wide mixture of goods.
"Earth to Heero!" Duo said in a bored tone. "Lets go."
Heero jumped and spun round. He gave Duo one of his best glares before following the braided boy as he wheeled his bike into the melee that was the market place.
They looked around the market for a bit, pushing their way through the crowds. Heero bought a little prone figure commemorating the Battle of Hastings, at which Duo commented on how all the tourists bought them, making Heero scowl at him again. Duo opted for a bag of pick n mix sweets from 'his favourite stall'. The boys then went on into the shopping area of the town, where they decided to stop at a café to get a drink and a cake.
"Hey Heero, do you wanna sit over here?" Duo asked, calling across from where he was standing right at the back of the café.
Heero shrugged in a 'don't care' manner and followed Duo's path through to the elected table. They both sat down and were soon approached by a young waitress, who held a pen and paper in her hand.
"What can I get for you boys?" She asked, smiling at Duo in a way that suggested she knew him fairly well.
"You know me, Em." Duo said with a grin. "I'll have my usual; a coca cola and a slice of chocolate cake."
The waitress, Emma, wrote down his order with a grin of her own on her face and then turned to Heero. "What about you, sweetie?" She asked, a strong Southern accent now showing through.
Heero scowled at the teenaged waitress before giving a quiet reply. "Same as Duo, please."
She laughed a gushing laugh, tugged playfully on Duo's braid and wandered back to the counter. Duo stuck his tongue out her retreating form in response to the tug on his hair. "She always does that. It's so ridiculously old now." He said in a mock-exasperated tone across the table to Heero. Heero nodded in acknowledgement and so Duo decided that was his cue to carry on talking. "Course I've known Emma ever since I started school. She's three years older than us but she acts like she's about ten years older." He stated matter-of-factly.
'I guess I should reply. I could find out a little about the school and stuff then.' Heero thought, eying the braided boy carefully. "What's your school like then?" He asked, still staring intently at Duo.
Duo's bright eyes went wide in shock at Heero's words. 'It worked! I can finally have a decent conversation with him. Progress.' A happy smile appeared on his face at this thought and he plunged straight into telling Heero about his school. "Well I'm not overly sure about the high school because I'll be starting my first year there the same time you start but the middle school was alright. I mean you got good and bad teachers 'un stuff. Um…we do lots of sport. We have PE like nearly everyday. I like playing rugby best and…"
He was cut off by Emma's return with their order. "Two colas and two chocolate cakes." She said with a smile, placing them down in front of either boy.
"Thank you, Em." Duo said in a happy voice, though he had a slightly annoyed expression in his eyes at having his conversation with Heero cut short. 'I'll start it up again.' He thought, staring eagerly at the slab of chocolate cake.
Heero stared up at Emma and even gave her a little smile. "Thank you." Emma beamed at them both, before sauntering off back to the counter. Heero picked up his fork and started to eat his chocolate cake in a much more conservative manner than Duo was doing. Duo had forgotten about the fork and just picked the slab of cake up in his hand, eating it as if the world was about to end.
When they had finished and had paid up, both boys said goodbye to Emma and went outside to collect their bikes from where they had left them propped up against the wall at the side of the café. Heero still couldn't believe that they could leave their bikes there like that. In London they would have been long gone by now; either taken by someone or broken up by some bored gang members. They wheeled the bikes out from the alleyway and towards the post office, which was just across the street from the café.
"I just have to go see someone at the post office." Duo said in explanation to Heero's slightly inquisitive look. Heero nodded and they wheeled their bikes across the road and propped them up on the wall in front of the post office.
On entering the post office, Heero was again surprised at how different everything was to home. It was your usual bog-standard post office, with the counter up the front where you took your goods to be weighed and the like and a small selection of stationary on sale to the side of the building, but it seemed more friendly than the local post office back home, where everyone seemed miserable all the time. 'I never thought travelling a short distance to the south would make so much of a difference.' He thought in wonderment, still staring around at the interior.
Once he had stared at the inside of the post office long enough to know every inch of it by memory, Heero stared over at the counter where Duo was having a fairly animated conversation with the woman sitting behind it. Having caught the tail end of the conversation, he wasn't overly sure what it was about but it seemed Duo was talking about comic books with her. The London boy cocked his head to one side in surprise at the thought that Duo would be discussing comic books with a middle-aged woman but quickly dismissed it as a 'country thing' and went back to waiting patiently for Duo to finish.
Duo eventually finished up his conversation and the two boys left the post office, with Duo giving Heero a little apologetic smile at keeping him standing around for so long, which Heero just barely acknowledged with a nod of his head. They reclaimed their bikes from the wall and wheeled them away from the post office, before mounting them and riding them away from the hustle and bustle of the market square. Duo led the way as they rode towards a quieter part of the town centre.
"Where are we going?" Heero asked, out of curiosity.
Duo nearly crashed into the curb at the sound of Heero's voice. 'He spoke first, without even a prompt.' He thought in surprise. He quickly righted himself, a tint of red entering his cheeks at his cycling mistake. "We're going to the park, which is just outside the centre. It gets a little boring in the centre after a while."
Heero let out a little 'ah' in acknowledgment and tried to hide his disappointment at leaving the centre so soon. He would have preferred to explore the other shops that were dotted either side of the post office. 'I wonder what's in this park. I shouldn't think it's anything like the ones back home.'
The park turned out to be a football pitch, a children's play area with swings and slides, and a woodland area at the far side. Duo laid his bike down next to the swings and claimed one of them. Heero followed suit, sitting down on the swing next to the farmer's son. They both swung lazily back and forth, neither of them making it any higher off the ground than about their knee level.
"So what do you think of Hastings so far?" Duo asked, gazing easily at Heero, who was watching the few wispy clouds move around in the sky as he swung.
Heero lowered his eyes and returned Duo's gaze. "It's very different to London." He said matter-of-factly.
Duo jumped on the chance to learn about the big city he hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet. "How do you mean?" He asked, his eyes not leaving the other boy's face.
Heero was reluctant to carry on with the conversation. He was breaking his resolve of socialising with Duo as little as possible. The time he had spent with the other boy today had made him feel considerably more comfortable around him. He was starting to believe that Duo did generally want to befriend him because they were well away from Duo's parents and yet he was still being really nice and friendly towards him. 'Maybe I'm just being stupid. I'm so used to just having Michael as a friend that I'm finding it difficult to accept anyone else's friendship.' Heero sighed inwardly and then decided he would answer Duo's question. Maybe he could have his first decent conversation since he was last with Michael.
"London is so busy and loud. It's also foul smelling in most places and rubbish litters the streets. I've found that the countryside smells um…fresh, and that there's always somewhere you can go where it's quiet. I've also found that the people here are generally friendlier than most people in London." Heero paused for breath, leaving Duo a gap to put his thoughts in.
"London's really like that? I always thought it was like this really cool place, where everyone gets to do what they want and go where they want." Duo said, his face slightly disbelieving and slightly disappointed. 'So much for London.' He thought with a sigh.
Heero gave Duo a slightly sympathetic look. 'I guess he really did have an idyllic view about London and city-life.' He suddenly had an idea to lighten the mood, the first time he felt like lightening the mood since he got here. He ran the swing back as far as it would go and launched himself into the air, throwing his legs back and forth as hard as he could.
Duo saw the challenge of a swing race straight away and quickly followed suit, frantically swinging his legs back and forth in an attempt to make up for the head start Heero got. "You won't beat me, Heero!" He declared in a loud but slightly desperate voice. He never lost swing races!
Heero laughed at the frantic look on Duo's face and swung his legs back and forth even faster, a determined look now appearing on his face, which was now flushed red compared to its usual pale colour. 'He beat me at cycling; I need to win some dignity back.' He thought, a little smirk appearing on his face.
Heero won the race to get highest first and Duo complained that he had had a head start, so they decided to rematch. Heero kept winning and Duo kept accusing him of cheating and they re-matched several more times until both boys were lying on their backs on the grassy floor, panting heavily and trying to regain their breath.
Duo found his voice again first and turned to Heero, who was lying next to him. "I still say you were cheating." He said but not in a bitter voice this time, he had his trademark lop-sided grin plastered on his face.
Heero inhaled and exhaled one more time before giving Duo a well placed reply. "I'm just better than you, baka."
Duo sat up quite sharply. "What did you just call me?" he asked in an indignant voice, not liking the fact that he was ignorant to what Heero had just said.
Heero chucked. "It's Japanese for idiot." He explained, sitting up as well.
Duo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You know Japanese?" He asked, completely forgetting that he had just been insulted.
"Well yeah, a little bit. My grandfather was teaching me but I haven't had any lessons for a couple of years now." Heero kept tight-lipped about the reason why he didn't have lessons anymore.
Duo just looked awe-struck. The closest he had got to learning a foreign language was the little bit of French he'd been taught in school. "Cool." He managed the one-syllable word in the end and then looked at his watch. "Shoot! It's half past four! We're gonna have to really cycle hard or mum will throw one of her wobblies. Where has the time gone?" He said in a slightly panicked tone.
Heero doubted that Rosie's 'wobblies' were anything as bad as what his parents could dish out but he pulled himself to his feet and dragged the bicycle off the floor. Both boys mounted them and took off in the direction they had come from.
They made it back to Seaview farm at bang on 5pm and Duo let out a loud whoop at their punctuality. Rosie was in the kitchen when they entered the house. "Glad to see you made it back on time." She said in a cheery voice that suggested she was just feigning strictness. Heero raised an eyebrow slightly at this but kept his thoughts completely to himself, uttering a hello to the farmer's wife.
Both boys washed their hands and helped Rosie finish preparing the rest of dinner, Duo excitably telling her about how their day went. Heero even made his own little inputs to the conversation as they set up the table, making Rosie smile happily. 'He's finally opening up a bit. I knew this day out with Duo would be good for him.'
They were soon sat round the table, Joe having joined them from where he'd been out in the field all day. They ate dinner with the normal happy chatter going round; Heero again joining in here and there. Rosie and Joe exchanged glances, both smiling at the fact that the new addition to the household was starting to fit in better now.
After dinner the boys followed Joe outside to help check on the animals one more time before they locked up the farm for the night. The sun was setting, which cast a heavenly red glow over the sky, and both Heero and Duo were staring up at the sky, either boy's bright eyes doused in the colour. "It's beautiful." Heero said in a low voice which was only just louder than a whisper. He hadn't really ever looked at the sun when it was setting before. He was usually too busy cram studying, with his father's watchful eye on him. Duo let out a contented sigh in agreement.
Once they'd locked up the farm, the boys told Rosie and Joe they were tired and would take an early night. The adults raised their eyebrows slightly but bade them both goodnight. They trundled up the stairs, tired out from their busy day. Heero could feel his muscles starting to throb again and decided a goodnight's sleep was definitely what he needed.
Duo pulled the black-out off the floor and hooked it up to the window. He then, rather blindly groped for the gas lamp and lit it. Heero was already half-way through getting changed by the time light filled the room. "How'd you manage to do that in the dark?" Duo asked. "You weren't very successful last time." He added, remembering how Heero had stubbed his toe on the bed while trying to dress in the dark before.
Heero scowled at him but, once he'd pulled his pyjama top on, answered him. "I pride myself on learning from my mistakes." He said, only half joking.
Duo chuckled. "Well that's good to know, I guess." He said with a grin, before sorting about changing into his own pyjamas.
Eventually both boys were changed and were snuggled up under their respective duvets in their beds. Duo lay on his side facing Heero's bed and Heero lay on his side facing Duo's. "Night Heero." Duo said, knowing that he would get an answer this evening.
"Night Duo." Heero replied in a sleepy voice, his eyes already closing as sleep started to claim him.
Duo lay awake for a few minutes, watching the other boy in sleep. 'I can't believe I've finally got him to be friends. I just know this is gonna be a good thing.' He thought, a content smile creeping onto his lips. He watched Heero for a bit longer and then gradually his own eyes closed and he fell, happily, into the folds of sleep.
End Chapter.
Phew! Another chapter finished. Time to take some time to reply to all my lovely reviewers. Lol.
Holly – Thankies Holly. I sure did take my time didn't I. Lol. I can't really give you any hints on the scar yet cos um…even I don't know as yet ;; I hope you find this chapter to be fun as well. Lol.
Chibi-libra810 – Chibz!! Your reviews have such…depth to them XD (j/k) I wub you really. crawls Thanks for your review. Hope you enjoy the chappie.
Hikaruchi – Hey Hikaru! grins I'm glad you like my fanficcy. I think Duo is even more adorable in this chap, lol. Yes Wu and Quat shall be making appearances but the fic is centred on Heero and Duo. Lol. Thankies for your review
Nanshisummer – Thankies for your review.
Amara – Thank you for your kind words (white collar lingu or no. Lol.) Sorry I didn't update sooner. Been busy busy. Will try harder next time. Lol.
Mysticheero – Yeah I suppose Heero and Duo as five year olds would be cute but it wouldn't work in this fic. Lol. Thankies for your review and um…here's the honey ;
Purple Uranium – Thankies for your kind concerns about my health. I'm pretty good now, just a sore throat. Lol. In answer to your question about the shelter, the dirt was put on as a sort of camouflage I think and they wouldn't cover up the door. Lol. I shall find a link to a picture for you in time for the next chapter. More shall come out about Heero's dad and relationships shall be built on. Have no fear. Lol. Thanks for your review!
CuriousDreamWeaver – Thankies! I tried quite hard with Trowa's character. I didn't find it easy to write unlike Heero and Duo. Glad you thought it was good. Thanks for your review!
Meanne77-2x1 – Hey, thanks for your review. I do so like it when my beta-reader promotes my fic. Lol. I think they're quite cute in this chapter too and have no fear, I have no plans to grown-upify them really quickly. Hehe.
Gundam06serenity – An even longer chapter this time. Lol.Thanks for your review.
Mara202 – Hiya! Thanks for the review and your compliment to my portrayal. Lol.
Mariana1 - takes the cyber cookies and home movies Very much appreciated I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far. Don't worry Heero and Duo's relationship gets better. Lol.
Pia Bartolini – Don't get too used to the light-heartedness points to the angst theme Lol. Thanks for your review. I do pride myself on my History stuffage. Lol.
D.A – Yes the book is a definite must read and the film they made for it was pretty good too. Thank you for your review. Here's the update.
Phoenix halfbreed – Hehe. Thanks for the review. You should have received that email. Lol. The truth behind the scar will be revealed eventually.
Phew! Lots of reviewers. Lol. Keep them coming minna-san. I really appreciate the feedback. hugs I'll try and get the next chap out as soon as possible but I can't say when exactly because of the exams. Gah! As a little teaser I can tell you that chapter 6 will be a sort of transition chapter, also includes the first day at school. Hehe.
Alana