When Melanie came into the house, no, it was more like a mansion, her jaw dropped.

"Been livin' it up, huh Ryan?" She teased.

Ryan punched her shoulder playfully and steered her into what was most likely the living room. Sitting on the couch was the boy that answered the door and what seemed to be his mom and dad.

"Sandy, Seth, Kirsten," Ryan said, "this is my little sister Melanie."

The looks on their faces told Melanie that they obviously did not know that Melanie would be arriving, and how could they? Melanie only decided to come a short while ago.

"It's nice to meet you." Melanie smiled.

After the necessary hand-shaking the questions began.

"How old are you?" Seth asked eyeing her.

"Fifteen."

"Were you in jail to?" Kirsten asked suspiciously.

"No. Lucky I wasn't either, Mom would have had no one to take care of her." Melanie grimaced.

Sandy gestured her to sit down and so she did.

"Melanie," Sandy said seriously, "I think the real question is, why are you here?"

"Well...uh..." Why was she here? She hadn't really expected them to let her stay here, had she?

"I am here because..." Then her feelings came out.

"Because my moms a drunk, her boyfriend beats me, Trey's never there to protect me and I missed Ryan!" She said biting her lip to keep from crying.

CRACK went her knuckles. Ryan put a hand on her to keep her from doing that, he always said that it was a bad habit.

"Ryan, Kirsten, can I see you in the kitchen please?" Sandy said politely, "Now!"

Ryan and Kirsten went into the kitchen leaving Seth and Melanie in the living room.

"Sooooooo..." Seth said, obviously trying to make conversation, "what's it like in Chino?"

Melanie looked him up and down. "You wouldn't last two days there."

"No, probably not." Seth grinned.

Melanie grinned in spite of herself. She never really had any friends. That's because she hated letting people get close to her. She got to close to her father, and when he wound up in jail she could hardly bear it. She always thought that it was easier not to have friends at all then to lose them in the end.

Sandy, Kirsten and Ryan came out of the kitchen. They had decided what they would do about Melanie. She waited anxiously...

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN!