This chapter is sort-of the same as the Original, but somethings are changed.

Also, I am not going to continue the Original like I said I would because I don't wanna.

Chapter Three:

It has been a week since Nora joined the Reyes household and she became great friends with Milagro and a shadow to Jaime. Anyways, Nora was getting her magenta backpack packed for her first day of school when Mrs. Reyes came in and told her she had 15 minutes left until they had to go. Nora gave the woman a nod and finished up packing fixing her hair into a ponytail and putting her backpack on. The 14-year-old left her room and headed downstairs where her foster siblings were talking together, and her foster mother was on the phone. Nora grabbed her black lunchbox before attaching it to her backpack.

Mrs. Reyes soon hung up and turned to Nora, "ready?"

Nora took a shaky breath before nodding, "a-as I'll ever be."

Nora followed Mrs. Reyes into Rio Grande High as Jaime went to class and looked around. The walls were a cream color, there were paintings of dragons and horses hanging on the walls. The ceiling, a deep grey with rectangular lights and the floor was a type of linoleum. The girl stared at the paintings for a few seconds before following her foster mother to the main office. She watched as Mrs. Reyes talked to a receptionist. After 3 minutes, the receptionist handed Nora her schedule and the two (Mrs. Reyes and Nora) walked out. Bianca left soon after a middle age man came over and showed Nora the way to her classes.

Schedule:

Period 1: Algebra 1- Mr. Singh

Period 2: French- Mrs. Abella

Period 3: History- Ms. Caullingham

Period 4: English- Mr. Cruiser

Period 5: Honors Biology- Mr. Shall

Period 6: Chorus- Ms. Croon

Once the two finished the tour, the counselor showed Nora to her first room. The teacher inside, a bulky man, turned and smiled at them, he introduced himself and told Nora to sit beside a girl with brunette hair and dark blue eyes. The counselor left afterwards, and Mr. Singh began his lesson on parabolas', which was fine for Nora because she already finished parabolas in her last school.

The 14-year-old took extra notes on the subject and murmured a quiet 'thank you' to the teacher when he passed out work sheets to everyone and she got hers. The last member of the Night family zoned everyone out as she worked on the classwork.

The brunette-haired girl looked at the paper and groaned in frustration when none of it made sense before raising her hand. Mr. Singh walked over to the struggling girl.

"Yes, Ms. McClain" the teacher asked the student.

"I don't understand this" the girl replied.

"Did you ask three people before you asked me?"

The girl let out a soft sigh and turned to the new girl, "Hey, uh... new kid?"

The girls head lifted from her hand and looked at her, "Yes?"

"Um... do you know what to do? For the Parabolas"

The girl nodded and looked over at her paper, the girl explained the steps and helped the 15-year-old through the first two problems before returning to her work.

"Gracias" Mr. McClain smiled.

"De nada" the girl murmured.

"I'm Veronica McClain" the girl, Veronica, said with a smile as she held out her hand.

The girl stared before grasping it with her right hand, "Nora Night but you can call me Starla"

2 periods later it was lunch time, Veronica led Nora to the table closest to the back and the two acquaintances sat down. Veronica took out her salmon colored lunchbox and emptied it on her spot, a tuna sandwich, a bag of carrots and a bag of Cheetos fell out. Nora followed Veronicas' example and a container with a slice of enchilada, 3 cheese sticks and an apple fell to the table. The two teens ate lunches in silence until the older girl broke it.

"So..." Veronica started, "how long have you been with the Reyes family?"

Nora tilted her head back in thought before responding, "about a week, how long have you been in El Paso?"

Veronica's happy mood turned slightly darker, and she sighed, "eleven months and 3 weeks"

Nora gave her a surprised look, "you counted?"

The girl nodded, "we left Cuba to move here because Cuba reminded us of too much Lance, my older brother, who disappeared twelve months ago."

The Hispanic girl nodded in understanding and supplied, "my biological family died two months ago"

The Cuban looked up and frowned, "why does bad things happen to good people?"

Nora shrugged, "it can't be karma, it's a perra but fair"

Veronica tilted her head confused, "perra?"

(Veronica is a slow learner)

"um... meaning of female dog but the other kind" Nora explained while glancing at a teacher who was walking around.

The girl thought about it before gasping, "OH!"

Nora laughed at her reaction, "yeah, that"

Veronica followed her example and the two laughed and talked the rest of the lunch period.

The last few periods were dull and uneventful, after school Nora met up with her foster mother at the steps of the school and they walked home together.

"How was your day Starla?" Bianca asked softly.

Nora couldn't fight the smile and told the woman all about her day with excitement in her voice and eyes. Bianca watched the child with a small smile, she was happy that the young girl was finally coming out of her shell and interacting with kids other than her foster siblings. They were walking up the stairs to their house when a black cat darted out of an alley way, being chased by a rabid dog.

Nora gasped and got in front of the dog so that the cat had time to get away, Bianca gasped in horror at this and was about to pull the girl out of the way when the most shocking thing happened. Nora stood in the way and held her hand out, backed up, in the classic dog-greeting manner and it calmed. The dog turned from savage to calm and innocent. Nora pulled back and smiled when the dog started licking her.

"Now, you are not allowed to chase cats" Nora said sternly but the smile remained on her face, "do I make myself clear puppy?"

The dog waved its tail and gave the girl a long and slobbery kiss causing her to laugh before getting up and trotting off, Nora stood up and rejoined Mrs. Reyes at the door.

"Why did you do that?" Bianca demanded in worry, "you could have been seriously injured!"

Nora smiled as she replied, "everyone can change if shown kindness"

-Later-

Nora was getting ready to sleep at 12:00AM because she just finished her homework (3 pages from Biology and an essay for English) when she heard it. Soft clicking sounds emanating from the room next door.

"Jaime do you hear that sound?" Nora shouted since she was too tired to get up and leave her room

"I don't hear anything. Why?" Jaime entered her room with a confused look on his face.

The clicking sounded again. It sounded angered or annoyed, but Jaime seemed not to have heard it.

Nora sighed, "never mind, must be my tired brain playing tricks on me, G'night Jaime"

Jaime nodded though concern was in his eyes, "Noches Starla"

He left, and Nora turned on her side before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep as she listened to very soft chirping coming from her foster brothers' room.