AN: Here it is! La new chapter, pour vous!

This chapter is dedicated to Gabby cause she rules lol and she was harassing me about it ;) And her kids take up a significant portion XD

If you guys look in the first chapter there is a change in kids and parentage.. Garland is now married to Julia and their kids are different.. they belong to Jade-55..

I suppose oneday I should say who belongs to who, cause not all the kids are mine.. meh another day XD

I hope you like the chapter!

xxxxxxx

"What the hell happened to you?" Mikhail asked, his eyebrow arching as he met Ilya outside of Ilya's math class.

Ilya was muttering under his breath, rubbing at his stomach with one hand while the other clutched at his backpack on one shoulder. He threw his best friend a half wounded half annoyed look sighing. "I had to play the hero."

The dual color haired sophomore's eyebrows shot downwards, returning the look with one that clearly said he had no idea what the red head was talking about. Ilya sighed again as the two made their way down the hallway towards the right stairs.

"I saw a freshman heading up the left stairs… I couldn't just let her go into the lions den without trying to top her…"

Mikhail rolled his eyes. However, as he opened his mouth to comment, a new voice interrupted.

"Was she cute?"

The two boys looked over to see their pink haired friend join them as they reached the stairwell. He tossed them a big grin accompanied by a wink and a clicking noise.

Ilya's face burned, and her cradled his forehead and shook his head. Mika smirked, turning his attention from the pink haired new arrival, Issak, to his other friend. "Was she?" he repeated teasingly.

"Shut up." Ilya muttered bitterly.

"What's wrong with you?" Yet another new voice intoned as they were heading up the steps.

"What's up Damien?" The pink haired boy greeted over his shoulder. "Oh and we're just trying to find out if the girl Ilya rescued from 'them' was cute or not."

The green haired boy behind them looked up at the shorter red head, a surprised expression flittering over his face. "You tangled with 'them', I didn't think you had it in you."

Ilya scowled. "I didn't really rescue her… Jezabelle and her group came up and rescued us both actually. I just got a punch in the stomach for the gesture."

"Shitty," Issak lamented, patting Ilya on the shoulder. "But at least if she was cute then it wasn't all wasted."

Ilya smiled a bit, shaking his head. "She was."

Mika continued smirking, his hands shoved in his pockets. He knew his friend well enough to read his expression. Ilya obviously thought the girl was more than cute…from the way he was blushing. Of course it was Ilya, and Ilya had a tendency to blush about everything related to the opposite sex.

"So Mika, are you actually going to try to his year in history or is it going to be like last year: You're mom kicking your ass until you do well?" Issak asked casually, grinning ear to ear.

Mikhail scoffed, shrugging once. "Well after this morning and my dad throwing me off the bed, I suppose I'll have to work a bit harder. But no one should expect a miracle. I just don't care."

Ilya sighed yet again. He could practically already hear Mikhail calling him for help…which was stupid because Mika was perfectly smart enough to do it himself. "You should care, how are you going to go to college if you don't care enough to do well in high school?"

Simulations groans sounded around him. "You sound like my dad," Damien complained, rolling his violet eyes. "Faites bien à l'école ou vous entrerez aucun où dans la vie!" He mocked, lowering his voice a little bit.

His friends laughed, not that they really understood the French words. Mika smirked. "Yeah well you know what I get? "You better get good grades boy so that you can get the hell out of my house and get a job!"" Mika snorted. "Of course only I get that… the mouse when she does bad only gets a "You'll do better next time." Pfst."

"Well that's not really fair… if she can't really do better…" Issak started but was cut off by Mika.

"Oh no! That's what she wants everyone to believe!" he cried, a scowl on his face. "Nadya's perfectly smart, smarter than me I think, but she hates doing well because it puts her in the spotlight and she's terrified of being in the spotlight. Fucking wuss."

Damien laughed. "But we already knew that Mika. Hey, when does Jose get back?"

"Monday, I think," Issak answered. "Lucky bastard gets to miss an extra week of school."

"Pft. I wish I was in Florida, or wherever it he is right now."

They reached their class then and entered, heading towards the back of the room.

"MIKA!" a female voice called loudly as its owner waved wildly from the other side of the classroom.

"Oh God!" Mika groaned, slumping down in his chair and slamming his head down on his desk.

"Heya Jezzy!" Issak chirped sitting in the row across from Mika.

Traitor.

xxxxxxxx

"Hey! Hey you! Yeah you! New girl freshman!" Jezabelle yelled over the Math hall crowd, waving her arm over her head trying to catch the girl's attention.

Karina stopped, blinking and turning around to see the magenta haired sophomore and her group making their way towards her. The girls that helped me earlier…

"Hiya!" Jez chirped as the four girls reached the younger girl.

The girl beside Jez smirked and made a face behind the magenta haired girl's back. "Hey, I'm Elena Nikolaev, since we didn't get introduced earlier. The big mouth is Jezabelle Mizuhara, the purple haired quiet one," she pointed at a pretty girl with long purple hair and crimson eyes, wearing a red sundress, "Is Emma Jagen and the other one, who kind of looks like Jez," she pointed to the last girl, whose hair was styled in a cute flip bob like Jez's, but was a pale silver-green, and who had blue eyes, "Is Bobbi Anderson. We call her the Bobinator." She winked and ducked away from a hit that seemed inevitable from the girl named Bobbi.

Karina blinked, overwhelmed by the new information. "Uh… hi… I'm Karina Hiwatari."

"Hiwatari?" Bobbi echoed, a bright smile on her face. "Are you related to Shae Hiwatari? The vice-captain of the soccer team?"

Karina nodded, smiling a bit. "Yes, he's my older brother. I have three brothers."

"You poor soul," Jez lamented, sighing comically. "I only have one, and if I had two more like him I think I'd commit suicide."

The other girls laughed, knowing all to well what Jezabelle's brother was like. A picture of the shady blond in the stairwell assaulted Karina's mind. If her brothers were like him she'd want to kill herself too.

"Well I don't know," Emma spoke up for the first time, her voice soft and kindly, but not shy as one would expect. "I have two brothers and I love them both dearly."

"Oh come on Em," Elena rolled her eyes. "You can't tell me there aren't times when you want to smash your brothers over the head. Especially when Kaden gets in his "I'm better than you" moods and treats you like you are dumber than dog shit."

The purple haired girl looked thoughtful for a moment before laughing quietly. "I suppose you have a point. Kaden does get a bit overbearing, but he gets that from dad. Kale, however, it's hard to even get mad at him."

The other girls nodded. "That's true," Bobbi said, planting her hands on her hips. "I don't think I've ever seen him mad, or mean to anyone."

Karina merely watched, silent as the girls discussed, from what she could tell, their various brothers. She of course, did not know any of the names and was becoming thoroughly lost.

"Guys I think we're confusing the new girl," Jez laughed, slinging her arm around Karina. "Why don't you eat with us? You can tell us in detail about your experience with the jackasses."

"Uh…ok." Karina replied, already being dragged down the hallway towards the stairs.

"We generally eat in the pit," Jez continued, glancing over her shoulder now and then. "It's on the first level. You should hang out with us, unless you already have a group of friends?"

Karina shook her head. "No…I don't really know anyone in this school beside my brothers."

"Good!" Bobbi chirped, shoving her way forward so that she walked beside Karina.

They traveled rather quickly down the stairs, exiting on the bottom floor, all chattering excitedly as 15/16-year-old girls were prone to do. Karina just listened, smiling when it was polite and even laughing on a couple of occasions. The girls were really nice, as she was finding out, and were working hard to include her in their group.

Suddenly Bobbi came to a stop, her blue eyes wide and blinking. "Dude, Karina, that guy looks just like you!" She exclaimed, pointing at a boy that was walking towards them.

The rest of them looked also, and sure enough all noticed the striking resemblance to their new group member. He was taller, but had the same two-toned hair—light slate blue in the front and teal in the back—and the same color eyes. He walked with a sort of cocky swagger, obviously confident in his own being.

Karina instantly looked annoyed. "That's because he's my twin brother." She said, her voice flat.

Bobbi giggled. "He's kind of cute."

"No he's not," Karina replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"What's his name?" Elena asked curious, raising an eyebrow.

"Kolt."

Hearing his name, the boy looked over, his eyebrows arching. "Hello Karina," he said with a bit of a smirk.

The girls—minus Karina—almost fell over at the way he pronounced his sister's name. The r was rolled and carried on far longer than was normal for the English language.

"Hello." Karina replied in a half-distant tone. "Having a good day?"

He shrugged, shifting his backpack. "I guess." He eyed the girls that surrounded her. "I see you've made some new friends," he continued to roll his rs, which made the other girls want to giggle. "Wasted no time eh?"

Before Karina could reply, Jez stepped forward a bit, her hands jammed on her hips and her eyes narrowed. "That's right. We've adopted her into a group, got a problem with it?"

He blinked before laughing. "Nope. But I was wondering Kar, have you seen Gou?"

Karina shook her head. "No…not since this morning."

"Gou Hiwatari?"

Kolt looked at the magenta haired girl who was looking thoughtful, a far cry from the threatening monster that had just confronted him. One finger skimmed her bottom lip, and her eyes were focused upwards as if she were trying to remember something.

"Ah yes! Gou Hiwatari!" She smiled brightly, nodding her head in a matter of fact way. "It's a nice day so you'll find him on the lawn out front. He's part of the skaters I do believe, that's where they hang out."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Jezabelle's a walking directory for people and their cliques."

"That's not true!" Jez cried, pushing at her best friend. "I just remember Gou because him, Benji Kingston and Dusk Kinomiya are infamous around here. Someone told me last year that I should stay away from them because they are a waste of time." Then, as if she realized that the two freshmen were siblings of one of the said waste of times she amended, "No offense to him of course."

Kolt shrugged. "Whatever, later!" With that he turned on his heel and headed back the way he came, presumably heading towards the front lawn.

"I kind of like him," Bobbi said, laughing a bit.

Karina scoffed. "He's not so great."

The other three laughed, Jez once again wrapping an arm around Karina as they set off towards the pit. "Of course you don't think so, you're his sister. I can't think of one sister that thinks their brother is great."

"What about Nadya…she has an opinion of Mika doesn't she?" Bobbi said, wracking her brain for an example.

Jez sighed, smiling as she shook her head. "Nadya doesn't count…she has a high opinion of everyone."

"That's true."

Once again Karina was lost, and Emma and Elena picked up on it. "Don't worry about it," Elena said teasingly. "You'll get used to it. I'm sure soon the human social directory over here will show you everyone you want to know, and in some cases don't want to know."

"Speaking of people you don't want to know!" Jez cut in, ignoring the tease from her best friend. "Were you totally scared when they were picking on you? Most freshman girls start crying… I'm totally impressed!"

Karina's face transformed into a scowl. "Are you kidding? I wanted to kick their asses! How dare they pick on kids younger than them? Who do they think they are??"

The four girls look startled at the outburst, all having assumed that she was quiet by nature. Jez tilted her head, her smile slowly getting wider and wider. "I think we're going to get along very well," she said laughing.

"Finally! Someone who's not terrified out of their wits of those losers," Elena agreed, laughing as well.

"Poor Ilya though," Emma commented sadly. "It looked like Booker got to him before we did."

Karina colored at the mention of the cute red head that had tried to come to her rescue in the stairs. At the time she hadn't know what to make of it, but now…

"It was pretty brave of him to go after someone he doesn't even know," Jez grinned, her expression turning a little sly. "He must think you're hot!" This was followed by an evil little chuckle.

Karina's face darkened as she sputtered. "Wha-what?? He does not! I don't even know him!"

Bobbi clucked, catching on to Jez's game. "You don't have to know him for him to think you're hot. It's a little surprising cause Ilya's generally pretty quiet and a bit shy. Maybe you really caught his eye!"

Karina continued to sputter, looking more and more horrified. Emma, taking pity on the younger girl slipped between Bobbi and Elena and looped her arm through Karina's. "Guys, leave her alone. Besides, I'm hungry and we've reached the pit." She said, throwing a quiet, yet teasing wink at the new girl who returned it with a grateful smile.

"Aww, Emma always ruins our fun."

xxxxxxxxx

Most people thought she was totally unaware of her surroundings, and of the social workings of their school. In truth this was mostly wrong as she had a very good idea of the social workings of their school—who was popular, who was not, what groups different people belonged too, and most importantly, who, if you were seen with them, could kill your reputation. This was the common mistake about her—that she didn't really know these boundaries because she didn't pay attention.

In reality it was more that she didn't care about the so-called taboos against hanging out with certain people. She thought it was unfair and cruel to segregate people just because of the false stereotypes that were attached to them. She didn't believe in judging people.

"Neh, Niddy where you going?" Kale asked as she stood to head down the bleachers.

Nadya smiled over her shoulder, adjusting the strap of her backpack. "I just have to go talk to someone before class…I'll see you later."

"I'll come with you," he volunteered, tilting his head. He was rather bored anyway.

She felt panic well up within her. "Uh… no, no! It's ok. I'll be fine."

Yeah so she didn't care about stupid labels, but she knew all her friends did. If Kale knew who she was going to see—she was utterly terrified too—then he would never let her go.

Kale eyed the meet, lavender haired girl with suspicion, his eyes narrowed. "Are you sure…?"

"Oh Jagen leave her alone," Kyan waved from his place at the top of the bleachers, spread out like he owned the school.

"Yeah Kale, going by herself will be good for her." Fayina added, smiling at both, spooning some yogurt into her mouth.

"Thanks Fay." Nadya said before departing, waving at the scowling Kale.

She quickly made her way back into the school, moving through the throngs of students as if she were a mere specter and not another human. Most people didn't notice her, and those that did largely ignored her. It was just the way things were with her; she purposely blended in.

Her steps began to slow, and eventually faltered as she reached the front entrance of the school. Just outside those doors and down some steps were her books…unfortunately retrieving them meant confronting the boy that had them. She blushed and fidgeted with the door. Come on… you can do it! He was really nice this morning! He won't make fun of you…

No, but his friends might. A voice countered smartly. This only worsened her fear, and her knees actually began to shake. She took a deep breath.

I wish I could just ask for new binders…

She knew that that was impossible of course, as her mother would ask where the first ones went and then she'd be forced to tell her…and then she would make her go and get them anyway. Dealing with her mom would be even worse than dealing with a group of teenage boys.

Steeling herself she pushed, stepping into the sunlight.

xxxxxx

"So Benj man, are we practicing this weekend?" Shane asked, sprawled out on his back.

"I 'unno," came the reply from the boy that was in a similar position, only on his side with his head propped up on his palm. "Are we?"

"Well since the competition is coming up, it might be a good idea," Dusk spoke up, his crimson gaze on the sky.

"What competition?" The youngest, and new-lunch hour addition to their group asked curiously from his position beside his brother.

"Battle of the bands," Yusuke replied in a bored tone. "Shane signed them up, part of his 'motivating' events or whatever."

Fern rolled his eyes. "Shane figures he should be a motivational speaker."

The said boy snorted, throwing handfuls of grass at his two friends. "What the hell good is having a band if you don't actually play for anyone?"

"He has a point," Kolt shot, nodding. "Are you any good?"

"No, they suck donkey balls," Yusuke laughed, avoiding punches that were thrown simultaneously by Dusk and Shane.

Gou looked down at his little brother and smirked. "We'll win," he said, shoving the younger boy.

Benji merely smiled with his eyes closed, drifting in and out of sleep. Maybe he'd skip choir…after all it was just orientation and wasn't like they'd be doing anything special. Yes…skip choir and nap. That would be fun. "I think we should skip choir." He said lightly, his lips turned upwards.

"Skip the bird course," Dusk replied incredulously, "And face Mrs. Jagen's wrath? I'd rather not thanks. She knows we're here."

"So?"

"Dusk has a point Benji. An hour of sleep isn't worth a week of detention," Gou pointed out with a smirk. "Besides, it's not like we have to do anything in it."

"Point taken."

"Oh, oh!" Fern suddenly cried, sitting straight up. "Popular girl, five o'clock! And she's headed straight for us."

"Popular mouse you mean," Yusuke cracked, snickering.

Benji's eyes snapped open then, darting around the schoolyard until they landed on the girl that was stumbling towards them. A true smile touched his lips.

She looked like a nervous wreck. Her face was bright red, and she was obviously shaking as she wrung her hands in front of her. She was adorable.

They all watched silently as she willed herself forward, her face turning a brighter color the closer she got. Kolt blinked, confused at why everyone was staring at her with half snickers and smirks. Was there something special about this obviously terrified girl?

"Um…" she murmured quietly as she came to a stop some two feet away from where Yusuke sat, watching her over his shoulder. "Uh…hi." Oh that sounded so lame…

"Uh…hi." Fern parroted, quirking his head.

Silence hung over the group of eight, comfortable for some and majorly uncomfortable for others. Nadya shifted, grimacing. All their eyes watching her were intimidating, and she felt like crying. This was not a good idea…maybe I should have brought Kale…

Seeing that she wasn't doing very well, and that Fern's teasing was only making it worse Shane jumped into the rescue. Truth be told he felt kind of sorry for her, and wondered silently why Benji didn't intervene on her behalf. Glancing at his friend he saw that the copper haired teen was watching her with assessing eyes, as if to see what she would do. You're an ass Benji, he thought sourly. And you like her. He shook his head.

"Um…Nadya right?" Shane started, trying to smile reassuringly. He smacked Fern across the head as the other blond began to snicker. "Is there something we can help you with?"

She nodded, sighing inwardly, grateful that someone brought it up. At the rate they were going, she was going to burst into tears and run away before she had a chance to ask for her books back. They would truly laugh at her then. "Um…" she mumbled, glancing towards Benji who was now dozing again, his eyes closed, a smug little smile on his face. Her face darkened. He knew why she was here!

The other boys' heads turned almost as one so that they were all looking at Benji. Shane cursed his friend silently. "Is it something to do with Benji…?" he prompted, hoping to get her to speak more than a single syllable.

She gulped and nodded frantically. "He….He-"

"Oh Jesus Christ Benji!" Dusk cried, glaring at his friend. "Would you put the poor girl out of her misery!"

One eye cracked open. "I have no idea what she wants."

At this Nadya's hold on her emotions cracked and tears spilled out the corner of her eyes as she squeezed them closed. "Oh you do too!" She snapped angrily, sniffling. "You have my books!"

A stunned silence followed as the seven boys stared at her in wide-eyed shocked, Benji included. Benji blinked, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. So, somewhere buried deep within the little mouse was a fierce heart. Interesting…it almost reminded him of something.

Nadya, as soon as she realized what she said, gasped, her hand flying to her mouth and her eyes widening. Her heart pounded in her chest and the tears flooded over her cheeks. "Oh-oh! I-I'm sorry!" She cried, whirling around.

However, before she could get more than two steps a hand wrapped around her upper arm and stopped her. "Hey," Benji said softly, turning her gently. "I'm sorry, I was just teasing you." He reached up and brushed the tears away from her cheeks.

Nadya gasped again, but for very different reasons. His finger brushing her skin made her cheeks heat up with a different kind of heat. All her anger melted out of her and was replaced with bashfulness once more. Her eyes shifted downwards and she shrunk into herself, a small, almost miniscule smile touching her lips. "I-it's ok…I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Benji caught the smile and chuckled inwardly. She thought that was yelling? She obviously had never seen his mother when she got going. "No big deal," he replied, giving her cheek one last stroke before stepping away towards his backpack.

Leaning over he fished the binders out of the already messy depths and held them out to her. "Sorry I didn't give them back, I never really had a chance."

"I-it's ok," she stammered, accepting the books. "I guess Makoto didn't really give you a chance huh?" Her gaze flickered upwards shyly, her smile growing a bit.

Benji laughed, smiling lazily at her. "Not really no. They don't really think much of me."

"I'm sorry!" She shot back instantly, her expression crumbling instantly. "You… well you guys don't exactly have the best reputations."

He shrugged, laughing again. "Well as long as you know the rumors aren't true, I don't really care what they think."

"Hey Benj man, the bell just rang!" Shane said loudly, interrupting the two's conversation.

Fern and Yusuke were dragging Kolt away, snickering and whispering to the freshman as they glanced back every now and then. Gou was standing around with Dusk and Shane, looking at Benji and Nadya expectedly.

"Oh!" Nadya jumped, clutching the books to her chest. "I-I guess I sho-should be going! Um… thank you." She took a step back.

"Hey wait, what class do you have?" Shane called, stepping up beside Benji, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Maybe we can walk you there?" He caught Benji's warning, yet slightly confused look and smiled saucily. "What kind of gentlemen would we be if we let you walk alone?"

Nadya flushed, clearly surprised. "Um… choir."

"What a coincidence!" Dusk exclaimed, grinning ear to ear, moving forward. "We just happen to be in choir too!"

"Re-really?" Nadie stammered. "Yo-you don't really seem to be the choir type." She then gasped. "Oh! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to infer…"

Dusk just laughed, offering his arm to her. "May I walk to you class lady?" he said, a mockingly gallant tone in his voice while he through a cheeky look back at Benji who made a face back.

Nadya hesitantly took his arm, offering him a small smile. "Tha-thank you."

He winked then turned over his shoulder. "Hey you guys coming or what?"

Benji was less than impressed, but said nothing. Gou and Shane shared a knowing look and nudged the orange haired teen. "Don't worry about it," Shane said. "He's just trying to annoy you."

"Meh."