Me: Hello again! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but it's summer and my father wants me to go outside every day, and there's four people in the house fighting over the one computer… ah, screw it, excuses annoy me.
Shi: They annoy me, too. That means you're gonna shut up, right?
Me: Not a chance.
Shi: Ah well… I guess dreams never do come true…
Me: Shut up.
Primrose: Gin would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
Me: Yes, I would. Here goes:
Jada91 -> Thank you! I liked it too. And I just updated.
ScaryChick -> It's always nice to hear that people like the story. Here's another chapter for you!
Vettachick -> Yeah, I think the Isabelle/Leon pairing is cute too. The age difference is a bit weird…
AllAboutAngel -> I adore long reviews! Thank you! And thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you think they're in character! And Jack isn't really gonna be a character of much importance, and I'm not sure if he'll pop up again… You thought I would make the sisters fight? Don't count that out! Because after all, all siblings do fight. Scientific fact. I will reveal more – a lot more – about both Letty and Isabelle's pasts in later chapters, but that won't happen for a while. It'll happen in due time, don't you worry! Dominic and Mia don't know a lot, don't worry, and they won't spill any major info. And I'll try to put more Letty/Dom moments in just for you!
Angelrose82 -> I'm glad you think so. And your name's Lauren? Cool! Mine is too!
Sam -> I'm gonna try to keep it up.
Locofiend13 -> Great! Thanks! And by the way, I love your fic! Hope you remember to update soon as well!
Diesel-Chick -> Ya know, I don't think I've read one either… if anybody has a sibling it's usually Dom and Mia, or Vince. Or an OC. And interesting would probably be the word for too Letty's… although Leon and Vince might call it horrific. And yes, Isabelle and Leon would make a cute couple. And the age difference… it's 8 years. A bit creepy, but hey…
LetNys -> I'm a huge Letty person as well, she personally one of my favorites in the movie. And yay! A favorite! Awesome! Thanks!
Crazy4thesun -> Don't worry, it wasn't late, it was right on time!

Me: Whoa… that was long. Anyway, on to the chapter!
Shi: Yay! The quiet!

Chapter Four
Classes

The sunlight intruded into the bedroom and lit up Isabelle's relaxed face, dancing across her peaceful features and giving her messy hair that cinnamon color she got when she was outside on sunny days. She was sprawled across the bed, the covers only half on her, revealing some of the black T-shirt (which was three sizes too big for her and reached halfway to her knees) and the shorts that were just barely visible beneath the T-shirt, which she called her pajamas. Against the headboard of the bed a magazine was resting, open to a page with a picture of a silver Ferrari on it. A set of headphones was wrapped around her neck with a cord reaching to the CD Walkman on her bedside table, and Sum 41 was whispering from it. She turned her head to the side and moaned in her sleep while attempting to bat the sunlight away with her hand. But the light just wouldn't go away, so she parted her eyelids slightly and peered around the room – the large, strange, unfamiliar room.

This wasn't her room; the walls weren't red, her posters weren't up, and her bed was less comfortable and large than this one – but most of all, her room wasn't this big. She thought for a moment… maybe… yes, that had to be it! This was the Toretto household, and she'd come to spend a night away from her house and be with her sister. Then that meant that she'd had a really long dream, zooming through a couple of years at least. That meant that she'd never left her sister, never left her hometown, never been beaten up by her father that night with Damien… awesome!

A knock came to her door, and she had just enough time to sit up and pull the covers over her legs before the door was swung open, revealing Dominic. Well, concluded that she was definitely at the Toretto house… maybe Nino was going to make pancakes that morning, she thought excitedly to herself, thinking of Dom and Mia's father. Dominic looked… bigger. He was taller and more muscular – that was probably just her imagination though.

"Good morning kid," he said to her, in a deep voice she didn't remember perfectly. Once again, she dismissed this to the fact that she was still half-asleep and her imagination was acting up. "Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine this morning?" jokingly he inquired, giving her a little half-smile. "Well go on, get up, Mia's got breakfast almost ready and we're bringing you to your new school today."

Isabelle groaned – she didn't want to go to school, it was beautiful out! Wait… her new school? When had she changed schools – she'd been going to the same school with the same people for ages! She simply nodded and ambled over to the mirror and caught her breath in her throat as she stared at her reflection. So it had to have all happened, because this definitely wasn't what she looked like when she was 11. She was taller, she was paler, and she just looked genuinely older – not to mention the bruise. Isabelle had never gotten into fights when she was younger, nor had she ever gotten into any accidents that would cause her bruises – she was a very careful child, and definitely a "goody-goody". And there was no chance that it would've been caused by her father had she still been eleven, because he adored her, and would never harm her. She never saw him as a violent man, nor had she ever seen him hit anybody – not even Letty. And he was always mad at Letty and yelling at her for some reason or another; whenever the two were in the house at the same time it would be filled with angered shouts. She had never seen her father harmfully lay hands on anybody.

The past week flooded her mind with images – coming home to a note on the fridge from her mother saying she'd left, watching a movie with Damien, her father hitting the two of them, the police station, leaving her home, coming to Los Angeles, reuniting with Letty and the Toretto's, and meeting some new people. A smile was brought to her lips as she thought of the promise from Dominic and the others to teach her to drive. She started rummaging though her clothes (realizing that she would soon need to visit a store for some new ones) and pulled out an ancient pair of faded jeans, a black button-up shirt that was two sizes too large for her, and then pulled her hooded sweatshirt out of the closet. Observing her ensemble in the mirror, she decided that although it wasn't the nicest outfit, or the fanciest, by far, but it would do. She didn't want to wear anything else; she looked fine as she was.

A feminine voice from downstairs hollered, "Hey, chika, hurry it up! You're food's gonna get cold!" It was laced with impatience but slightly amused at the same time.

"I'm coming, Letty, keep your trousers on!" was the younger sister's reply to the statement. There was a figured slight silence during which Isabelle that one of the guys had made a joke, because seconds later laughter and snickers erupted. She couldn't stop the smirk from reaching her lips while she brushed her hair and tied it into a ponytail.

When she reached the kitchen, she found the table surrounded by people eating breakfast, Letty being the only girl as Mia was still cooking. Jesse had half a cigarette between his fingers as he talked spiritedly to Leon, who was laughing quietly. Her sister and the 'man of the house' were talking in little above a whisper, probably talking about her, while Vince remained the only silent one at the table. Isa took the only empty chair at the table – between Letty and Vincent – and stared down at the table in front of her. She was still pretty uncomfortable with being in this house – she remembered coming here as a kid, but there were never so many people here.

"Here you go!" Mia broke into her thoughts as she settled a plate of pancakes down in front of the teenager. "Eat up."

A word of thanks quietly escaped the girl's mouth as she shot a small smile up at the chef before she started eating. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to her, not that she really minded. Most of the time she preferred to be left alone, especially around people she didn't know. She watched everybody out of the corners of her eyes, taking in little insignificant details about them – hair, eyes, voices, posture – almost as though she wanted to make sure she'd never forget them. These people willingly shared their home with a girl that only three of them knew, and even those hadn't seen her in several years.

Letty shuffled her chair closer to her sister's and threw an arm around the teenager's shoulders. "You're quiet this morning, Isa. Something wrong?" Grinning, she took the glass of orange juice that was in front of the youngster and took a gulp of it.

"Nothing. Just hate going to new schools, the people always look at you weird. Especially when they're people you haven't seen in almost half a decade," she explained. Isabelle pushed the glass in front of Letty, who automatically laughed and shook her head, causing the younger of the siblings to say, "Nah, take it. I don't really like orange juice anyway. And I'm not all that thirsty."

Letty shrugged and chugged the remaining contents of the glass, resulting in a few chuckles from the guys. "Well then, chika, you ready for school? I'm gonna drive you in, 'cause I'll be damned if you're taking some bus."

Her sister nodded while getting up from her spot and walking out of the kitchen to go brush her teeth. "I'll just be a couple minutes…"

"Hey, hold up a second!" called out the elder sister. The younger stopped and turned around, a questioning look upon her face and her head tilted to the side curiously. Leticia arose and looked her sister over. "You sure you wanna wear that? I know you ain't got a big wardrobe, but I'm sure Mia has something you can wear."

Isabelle shook her head, a few tendrils of chocolate brown hair falling in front of her face – which she flicked behind her ears quickly. "No thanks, this is fine."

"Positive? You sure you don't wanna wear something a little less… warm? It's gonna be hot out today," added the female Toretto.

The teenager looked between the girls, giving them a suspicious look, before saying a little more solidly. "I'm fine. And I know what the weather is like here, I lived here for about eleven years, and I lived in Miami the rest of the time." That being said, she offered the group a smile and walked away.

There was an uneasy silence in the room, everybody speculating what the girl's problem with T-shirts was. After a while, Leon piped up with a, "That was weird. What's with that sister of yours, huh Let?"

The addressed female, now sitting on her chair again and stretching her arms out above her head, replied, "Beats me. That girl's a strange one. I'll talk to her about it on the way to school." She gave an involuntary shudder, which made everybody look at her oddly and Dominic put his arm around her. At their expressions she laughed and explained, "Shit, just saying the word school creeps me out."

Mia laughed with the others as she seated herself in the now-vacant chair. A serious expression bestowed itself upon the younger Toretto's face as she opened her mouth to speak. "Letty, now, when you're there, remember something – you're a woman, not some teenage girl. Behave yourself and don't shoot your mouth off at anybody, okay? You're supposed to be mature, and be setting a good example for your sister. Because God knows we don't need her ending up like you, alright?"

"Yes, Mommy," joked the other female, getting laughs from the guys. Seeing the pressing expression still on her friend's face, Letty commented, "It's pretty well too late to be thinking about the impression I'm making on her. She knows me as her big sister, the one who was always getting in trouble at school, and hanging out with these two punks –" she motioned towards Vince, and patted Dominic on the chest "– and obsessed with cars, and getting into fights with everyone. And if I wanted her to become the perfect little girl, I wouldn't have moved out of the house, or let her go to Florida. Besides, Mia, you're making me sound like a terrible person here, like some punk teenager! And you're making it seem like you want to be her role model."

There was a menacing silence, broken by a thud in the hallway that was Isabelle dumping her schoolbag on the floor. "Sis, get your butt moving, I'm ready!" called the girl.

The females who were still in the kitchen exchanged dangerous looks, almost like warnings to each other, as the older one rose from her chair. "Yeah, coming chika," replied Letty. She whispered something in Dominic's ear before planting a kiss on his neck, and then waved good-bye to the rest of her housemates. As she entered the hall, she found her sibling standing in the open doorway to the outside world and chuckled.

"What now?" inquired the younger.

A smile widened appeared on Letty's lips as she replied, "You've gotta go to school. Sucker."

"So, Isabelle, here we are!" Letty said, puling into the parking lot which was covered with about three dozen car. Many of them were old ones that the staff more than likely owned, and most of the remainder were the typical rich boy cars that daddy bought them. However, as she exited her Nissan SX 240 and brought her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose to scan the vehicles, she did notice a few sweet rides. Whistles and catcalls began to erupt from teenage drivers and their friends as she walked around the car to the passenger side to open the door for her sister. She casually flipped them off, resulting in some laughs and a couple sexist comments.

Isabelle shook her head as she went to retrieve her bookbag out of the trunk. "You realize you'll soon have a shitload of teen boys coming to the house and asking you out, right?"

The elder Maroulis just smiled and nodded. "Nothing I can't handle. And you realize you'll have a bunch of them hounding you for my number?" Her smile widened, but seconds later disappeared as one of the whistler's made his was over to the girls, one thought in mind. "Let me handle this, okay chika?" Letty more told her sister than asked, receiving a nod in reply.

"Hey, baby," the male introduced himself. By his appearance, he looked to be a senior, and probably on a sports team, and definitely popular, one of those guys who slept with half the girls. He went to place his hand on Letty's waist, all the while placing himself in front of her, looking enticingly into her eyes. "Haven't seen you around here before…"

Isabelle laughed as her sister rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's because I don't go to school anymore," replied Leticia simply, forcefully slapping his hand away and resisting the urge to teach him a lesson. "Now listen, boy, why don't you go back to your little boyfriends over there and hit on some airhead cheerleader bimbos?" She turned away from the male and, putting her arm around her sibling.

But the child would not give up. He inched closer to her. "Don't go to school? So you must be a college chick then… how about you come over to my house after school and 'tutor' me?"

"Listen, kid," she began, pushing him away, "I never went to no fucking college. And by the way, you should really tune up those lines of yours, they suck pretty bad. Even if I liked that annoying, little kid, pathetic, high-school, scrawny ass, football player style, those crappy pick-up lines would turn me away any day." She walked away from him, towards the entrance of the school, with her sister following close behind, laughing.

"Jeez, Let, did you have to be so hard on the pathetic loser?" inquired the teenager as they entered the school.

Letty nodded, still smiling, as she led the way towards the principal's office. "Of course, otherwise he wouldn't give up and he might have to deal with Dom." She laughed and knocked on the door to the office; a middle-aged man in a black suit, who looked to be well kept, answered it.

"And you are?" he inquired simply. He was not going to let these two girls into his office, when one of them looked like a ruffian off the street and the other like a trollop, until he knew who they were.

The younger of the two was slightly taken aback by his apparent hostility, but the older one took it in stride. "I'm Letty Maroulis, and this is Isabelle Maroulis. I spoke with your secretary yesterday about enrolling her into your school, she said to come here before school started to straighten away some paperwork and get her books… She also said that she'd have a schedule ready for us." Isabelle gave an odd look to her sister – she'd just been serious and professional for more than five seconds! Perhaps there was more to her long-lost, newly-found sister than she'd thought.

"Ah, right, right! I am Fredrick Santino, the principal of this institution! Come in, young ladies, come in!" he exclaimed, quickly moving out of the way to allow them access, and becoming polite as well. "Please, take a seat, would you? I'll just be a moment…" He motioned towards a couple chairs in front of his desk while he opened a door on the side of his room and exited. The two girls sat quietly, both examining the plain room, until the principal returned with a file in hand. With a chuckle he said, "You know, my secretary was occupied for half the day after you called, making up a schedule and everything for Isabelle."

The file was passed across the birch surface to the females, who opened it to see several sheets of paper. A timetable, a book list, and several letters for her "parent or guardian"… Everything seemed to be in order. "Tell your secretary," Isabelle piped up, "that she did a wonderful job and we are thankful. Now where can we get these school books, sir?"

Mr. Santino grinned – the girl seemed to be well behaved, polite, and (by the looks of her grades from her previous school) smart as well. "Ah, I will show you in a moment. We should still have these books in our book room – if not, we can order them, and that should only take a couple of days. Come now, let's give you a tour of the school, shall we?"

The tour took nearly fifteen minutes, in which she'd been brought to all of her classrooms as well as important areas such as the gymnasium and cafeteria. Also, she'd been able to purchase the books she would need, so she was pretty well set for school life. As the school started to fill with students and the first warning bell for homeroom began, they returned to the front entrance.

"I'll see you after school then, Letty?" inquired the younger of the sisters, pulling the older into a tight embrace.

Letty laughed a little as she hugged the girl back. "Yeah, someone will be here to pick you up. More than likely me, but if I'm busy I'll make sure somebody picks you up. Oh, and if, ten minutes after school ends, call me. You remember the number, right? To the garage… and the house, and the store… and I think I gave you Dominic's cell as well."

Isa nodded and smiled, taking her wallet out of her back pocket and opening it to reveal a sheet of paper with half a dozen numbers on it. "Yeah, they're all here… you gave me the numbers to Vince's and Mia's cell phones too. Anyway, good-bye." She hugged her sister one last time as the second warning bell rang.

"Alright, then. Come on, Miss Maroulis, I'll bring you to your homeroom," the principal said. The teenager nodded and followed him a short way to Room 313, where he knocked on the door. A young-looking man, probably Letty's age, opened the door wide and chatted with Mr. Santino for a few moments regarding the girl.

Isabelle entered the room when told to, and quickly took a seat at the back of the class, next to the window. All the students looked at her weird and started talking, wondering who she was. Because seriously, what had happened to that girl, if she'd come in May and had this big bruise on her face? She ignored the whispers and watched as Letty entered the Nissan SX 240, but was jerked from her mind when the teacher started talking.

"Students, this is Isabelle Maroulis. She just moved here from Miami, Florida, and will be staying with us for the rest of the year. Isabelle, would you like to get up and say some things about yourself?" he inquired.

She shrugged but stood up anyway, and walked to the front of the class. She always hated doing this, everybody was so quick to judge you and classify you when this kind of thing happened. "I'm Isabelle Maroulis. I'm 16, recently got my driver's permit, and just moved in with my older sister that I haven't seen in five years. I used to live here when I was younger, up until I was eleven and my sister moved out, then my father moved us to Miami. I love cars, and I kind of work at DT Garage."

"Kind of?" asked one of the boys in the back.

Isabelle nodded. "Yeah, you see, I know the owner, and he says that I can help out there whenever I want."

One of the girls in the back, a skinny blonde with a high-pitched voice, inquired, "So what's with the bruise, huh? Looks like you got a good smack in the face there."

"Yeah, I did. It was an incident involving my boyfriend." She smiled for a moment, and when her classmates gave her a look as though she had three heads, she added, "Hey, and if you think this bruise looks painful, you should see him."

Me: So, what did you think? Hmmm? Tell me by pressing that amazing little review button down there! 'Til next chapter… Oh, wait! I would like to once again thank each and every person that reviewed the last chapter! Bye now.