Hey everyone! If anyone is still even reading this? It would be sad if there wasn't. But I would totally deserve it from my lack of updates! Lol! Anyways, I worked SO hard on this chapter! You have no idea how many times I deleted the whole thing and re-wrote it with a new plot and all. O_O' It was torture! But whatever, as long as my readers like it, I'm happy. :]

A big thank you go's too: Shaker10, lpwriter4life, Kaulitz996, And THLUVR for reviewing!

Let Go

Chapter Four

Friends And Foes

XoXoX

I sat near the very back of the school bus, my head pressed to the cool glass as I stared through the transparent surface. I watched droplets of water streak down the pane, leaving behind wet tracks. However, My mind was contemplating on more than how the wind pushed against the raindrops to look like miniature rivers that flowed backwards and upside down across the glass. But rather it was more preoccupied with how ridiculous I was for wasting almost all day yesterday calling every Listing, Shaffer, and Kaulitz in the phonebook, but non of them were the right ones. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I didn't lose a little hope already. Finding my old friends was definitely proving to be easier said than done.

I let a small gust of air escape my lips, blowing a strand of black, wavy hair out of my face.

It's a shame that nothing ever goes as smoothly as it does in my mind. But you know, Reality really just sucked like that.

A piercingly high pitched squeak could be heard above the grumbling engine as the bus came to a slow stop and the doors folded open. I tore my eyes from the window and looked to the front of the bus to see that people were slowly piling out of the large, yellow vehicle. I then reached down to grab my bag that I had previously stowed beneath the seat so I could get up and migrate to the front.

"So," Saphire suddenly piped up from beside me, "First day of school here! Excited?" She questioned and I responded by laughing derisively. The last time I was excited about school was back when I was five years old, and I was going to my first day of kindergarten. Oh, how naïve I was back then.

"No, not at all! I don't really like school," I replied, scrunching up my face in distaste as Saphire bent down to retrieve her boom box tote-bag. Which by the way, was mind-blowing awesome.

"I know right? I hate school," She then stood up from her seat and I fallowed suit as we began to mosey our way down the narrow isle, "class is so boring! And home work is the worst!" She continued to complain and I nodded silently at her. I didn't necessarily hate school for the classes or the teachers, but more along the lines of the people. Though nowadays I didn't care so much for what people said about me. Their snide comments and whispers rolled off my back easily enough. I was pretty much used to always being somewhat out of place and awkward.

We came to the exit of the bus && I stepped down those few stairs and onto the concrete ground, and the sky gave a low rumble of thunder behind the clouds that hung drearily above the town. It wasn't raining as much as it was a few minutes ago, and was now just a very light fall so I didn't have to worry about getting wet really.

Saphire, however, went sprinting for the school door as soon as she got out of the bus, screaming curses at the sky as if the liquid would burn her skin right off. I guess she really didn't like rain…

I shook my head and sighed before I began to jog towards the entrance of the school, slowing my stride down once I reached the doors so I could take hold of the handle and pull it open. I walked inside and let the door fall shut once more behind me. But I discovered that Saphire was not waiting there as I had expected. Confusion dawned on me and I just stood there like an idiot as I looked all around for her. Did she seriously just ditch me?

"What are you looking at?" Saphire said dryly from behind me and I jumped in surprise, my heart feeling like it would swell up and burst. I then whipped around to see her staring intently with her eyes squinted, searching for whatever I was supposedly staring at.

"Jeeze, Saphire! Don't just creep up out of nowhere like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I demanded loudly with my hand over my chest.

"Uhm, excuse me, I don't creep! And it's not my fault you have a weak heart!" She said, crossing her arms stubbornly. I rolled my eyes at her.

"WELL, ANYWAYS!" She suddenly screamed happily and I jumped once again, "I gots to go now! So see you later, cuz!" And with a grin and a small wave, she then darted away from me, making her way deeper into the school.

"WAIT! I still need to get my schedule and locker number!" I called after her, my hand instinctively reaching out in desperation. I needed someone to show me the way!

"WELP, SUCKS TO BE YOU!" Was all she said, not even slowing down or looking back. Just continued racing down the corridor…. Laughing… Evilly. Nice.

I groaned loudly, looking around my surroundings with clueless eyes, wondering where I was supposed to go. Andthat's when I noticed a staircase with several display cases around it filled with trophies and awards as well as some bulletin boards. I thought maybe that would give me some info on where exactly I needed to go to sign in, but when I checked them it was all just notices, reminders to certain clubs, and announcements from teachers and the principle. As well as a few colorful flyer's about recent or up-coming events. So, basically, I'm still lost. Awesome.

I sighed and backed up, my eyes still grazing over the boards one last time just to make sure. I soon found that to be a stupid move though as I ended up bumping into someone roughly and a ramble of apologies spilled out of my mouth as I spinned around on my heel to face the person. And what I saw looking back was a black haired girl with bright blue streaks running through her layered tresses, bangs framing her face. The black was a big contrast too her pale skin and bright blue eyes, but it looked nice.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" She reassured while waving her hand, as if brushing off the incident. I then noticed something silver laying on the ground and I leaned over to pick up the metal object. I took a quick glance at it as I stood up to see exactly what it was and discovered it was a silver pocket watch, the top engraved with an elaborate crown.

"Is this yours?" I asked while outstretching my arm, offering it too her. She looked down at it and her eyes lit up,

"Oh, thanks! I didn't even notice that I dropped it!" She replied and clipped the watch to a chain that went around her waist. The chain went over a black ruffle skirt that had a silver crown pattern. Her shirt was bright blue and black stripes with a black cropped jacket over top. She also wore black fishnets with a black and white striped knee-high sock on her right leg and a blue and black checkered sock on her left leg, her outfit complete with black boots.

"Hmm," She said curiously, squinting her eyes at me, "I've never seen you around here. Are you new?" She asked.

"Yeah. This is actually my first day here. I just transferred from America."

"REALLY!" She said loudly, looking shocked, "You don't talk like it. You're German is really good!" She complimented, a big grin now on her face. I couldn't help but bust out laughing at this,

"No, no! I'm actually from Germany!" I explained and her mouth dropped open in realization,

"Ohhh! I see…" She nodded. "Well, anyway, My name is Patience. If you need any help with anything, you can just ask me!"

"Cool, thanks. I'm Victoria. And Uhm, I was actually just wondering if you could walk me to the office? I still need to sign in and get my schedule," I asked, mentally pleading that she would say yes. I really didn't want to have to run around this school for who knows how long looking… I don't have that great a sense of direction.

"No problem! It's not like I'm going to be late for class or anything! But if I am, my teacher will kill me…" She mumbled the last part a little too seriously. "Well anyhow, FALLOW ME!" I jumped a little as she suddenly yelled. Oh my god! What was with people yelling at me today? But non the less, I proceeded to fallow her anyway as she began to skip merrily down the corridor, humming a soft tune. Which seemed to echo creepily. Thanks so much, school halls. This tune will now forever haunt my nightmares.

XoXoX

It didn't take very long before we arrived at the office. So I quickly thanked Patience for her help and said bye. She really was nice. It would be pretty cool if I ended up in a few classes with her.

I finally walked into the office and saw a dirty-blond haired woman sitting at a computer behind the desk, her fingers tapping away at the keyboard.

"Uhm, Excuse me, But I just transferred here. I'm here to pick up my schedule," I said as I approached her.

"Alright then. Name and grade, please?" She asked, momentarily looking away from the screen.

"Victoria Marx. Tenth grade," I responded and the lady started to type the information into the computer. A piece of paper soon began to print out of the device and she picked it up when it was finished. I waited as she continued to gather up a few extra things before handing them to me.

"Here is your schedule and locker. There is also a map of the school and a slip all your teachers must sign. Make sure to return it at the end of the day," She explained and I nodded,

"Alright. Thank you," I said smiling. I then turned away from the desk and made my way out of the office once more. The first thing I did was head straight for my locker so I could put my things away. But after finding said locker and doing just that, I discovered that I had been assigned a locker that wouldn't open, no matter how hard you pounded on it. And you can believe me when I say I pounded on it.

But of course, after standing there for several minutes struggling with the locker from hell and being pushed to the edge of nearly tearing the door off, it suddenly pops open and hits me in the face and I let out a hiss of pain as my hand flew up to hold the side of my cheek,

"Oww, Stupid locker.." I mumbled under my breath with a frown. I then let out a deep breath and tried to ignore the slight throbbing and instead focused on putting stuff away in my locker. Curious, I idly took a quick glance at the time only to do a double take and realize with horror that class was going to start in a minute, so I quickly hurled my crap into the locker and threw it shut and hurriedly made my way to class. Or at least I attempted to. Unfortunately, due to my lack of direction and map deciphering skills, I got there five minutes late. You can only imagine the look on the teachers face when I interrupted her lesson, and the look on mine when I SAW her face. And you know, I really tried to listen as she chewed me out for being late. But I just couldn't ignore it when I suddenly spotted Saphire in the classroom, lifting up a notebook that had a quick doodle scrawled on it of some horrifying fire spitting creature. complete with claw like nails and lasers shooting from it's eyes. I tried to stifle laughter as I mumbled an apology, promising that it wouldn't happen again and stumbled off to an empty seat, which just happened to be behind Saphire. Thankfully, I made it out of that class alive and all my limbs attached. That woman was seriously scary.

But besides that, My day so far was going good. It turns out Saphire had allot of classes with me and she guided me through all of them and told me which teachers to suck up too and which ones to be as distant as possible too, as well as what classes to pay close attention in and what classes you could talk through and the teacher wouldn't care. I was immensely grateful for her advise when she warned me about our history teacher. Apparently he had a spitting problem while talking.

I shuddered at the mental image of what my fate would have been if I had sat in the front and immediately blocked it from my mind as I shuffled into the gym along with the rest of the students. Saphire had mentioned to me earlier that she had some friends in this class, and that she would introduce me to them. And just as promised, she began to lead me across the gym and up to a black haired boy, where she then proceeded to punch him in the arm and greeted him with a "Yo, dawg!" His hand immediately shot up to grip his arm as he jumped back,

"Saphire! I told you to stop doing that, you crazy woman!" He shrieked loudly. His eyes were a bright blue and his black hair was in choppy layers with the front bangs colored a bright purple, the fringe covering his left eye more so than the right.

"But you're my punching bag!" She whined like a little kid.

"WELL, I NEVER WANTED TO BE!"

"Too bad," Was all she said as she crossed her arms. Just then, two other boys jogged up to us and came to a halt once reaching Saphire. The first one pushed his messy blonde fringe out of his face, revealing a pair of light green eyes beneath. The second had deep brown eyes and black spiky hair along with light copper skin.

"Oh, there you two are! This is my cousin, Victoria," She announced to the three before turning to me, "Victoria, These are my friends; Aaron," She gestured to the black and purple haired boy, "Lukas," She pointed to the blond one, "And Tyler!" She finished with the last one.

"So, this is the cousin you were telling us about last Friday? The one from America?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, today's her first day of school here." His mouth then dropped open,

"COOL!" He looked back at me, a huge smile on his face, "Hello, It's nice to meet you. I hope you like it here in Germany!" He said in English, a thick German accent lacing his words. Saphire's mouth fell agape and she sat there with an expression that showed a mixture of shock and embarrassment before her hand flew up to smack him on the back of the head,

"SHE LIVED IN GERMANY BEFORE MOVING TO AMERICA!" She exclaimed loudly, finishing with a quiet "idiot" while rolling her eyes. Aaron held his head tightly, his mouth and eyes wide open in shock.

"OH MY GOD! THAT'S SO EMBARASSING!" Lukas busted out, looking like he could just fall down on the floor any second from the laughter.

"SHUT UP!" Aaron demanded, kicking Lukas in the shin before turning around to face Saphire, "WHY'D YOU HIT ME?"

"'Cause you're painfully embarrassing in front of my cousin!" She crossed her arms and Aaron scoffed, looking at me,

"Do you see how unfair she is? And she's ALWAYS like this!" He complained, this time in German. Saphire once again hit him upside the head and he yelled out in protest. The two than began to argue and whine to each other, Lukas tossing out comments every once in a while to feed the fire. I just stood there grinning and laughing at the whole scenario.

"Oh my god!" A girl suddenly remarked loudly from beside us, "Could you possibly be any more annoying?" She snapped in a condescending tone. We all stopped in our tracks and looked over at her. But she wasn't even staring at us. Instead, she was carefully evaluating the state of her make-up in a black compact mirror. Her dark brown hair, border lining on black, was pulled into a curly side bun. Her makeup was flawless. Eyes lined with just the right amount of shadow, and her lips were moisturized and glossed. Blush and bronzer expertly applied to her skin. Somehow, she reminded me allot of someone I used to know. And I couldn't quit put my finger on who exactly it was, but I had a gut feeling that it wasn't a good someone.

"I wish we could. But I'm afraid you've already accomplished that before us," Saphire shot back, a smirk on her face. She quickly snapped her compact shut and rested her skinny elbow on her knee, her hand supporting her chin. And once I got a better look, it suddenly clicked in my mind and I swear to God pure terror ignited within my veins the very moment I realized she was my former biatch of an enemy, Karin!

"Yeah, right! Don't even try to pretend you're better than me!" She gave them all a once-over with belittling eyes. Yep. Even after three and a half years, her crappy attitude was still crappy.

Her gaze then landed on me and I quickly looked down, moving my feet around and pretending as if my shoes were the most interesting things ever as I awkwardly hid my face behind a curtain of jet black hair. I really hoped she wouldn't recognize me. I'm sure she still hated me as much as she did when we were eleven.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" She spoke in an aggravatingly high pitched tone, dragging out the last word. I desperately began to pray that it wasn't directed towards me. Dear lord! Please don't do this to me!

"Victoria! It's really you!" She exclaimed in a sickly sweet tone. Aw, shit. My prayer was forsaken.

"Karin!" I looked back up at her, forcing a smile to appear on my face, "And it's…. you," I struggled to keep my pained grin from faltering.

"Uh… What the hell? Saphire loudly interrupted, looking freaked out as she stared between me and karin, "How do you two know each other?"

"Childhood uhm…. Friends," She stuttered, a complex expression gracing her features. It was as if she was searching for the right words to say and ended up just going the safe and simple route. Satisfied with her response, she then got up from the bleachers and sauntered over to me, "Mind if I steal her for a moment?" Karin asked and Saphire opened her mouth to speak, but she talked over her, "Kay, didn't think so!" She then grabbed my arm and dragged me away and I suddenly felt the urge to gnaw my shoulder off.

"So," She let go of my arm and spun around to face me once we were far enough, "I see you're back in Germany… Why?"

"I'm visiting my Aunt and Uncle. But why should you care?"

"Oh, there are plenty of reasons for me to care, Tori!" She responded with a snobby glare and I threw one right back. Mine had allot more threat and much less snob, though.

"Well, why don't you just stay out of my business? I said coldly and her lips pursed together as she deepened her disdainful look,

"I will! That is if you stay out of mine. Just make sure from now on you don't speak to me, speak of me, or go around telling people we're friends or something!" She acted as if she had to spit the word 'friends' out as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right! As if I would tell people a lie like that! I don't want people to even know we ever spoke to each other!" I laughed critically. She crossed her arms,

"Well, same here. So I guess we're on the same page then?"

"Yeah, guess so," It fell silent for a few second before Karin took a breath in, preparing to say something. But before she could get the words out someone cut in,

"Hey, Karin! What's up?" A rather peppy sounding voice asked and I turned to face whoever the person was, and the second my eyes connected with his, my mouth nearly dropped open in shock and a strange mixture of surprise and excitement battered beneath my ribcage and without even thinking, his name suddenly stumbled out of my mouth as a shrill squeak,

"Bill!"

End Chapter Four

OH YEAH! BILL IS IN DA HIZZY! Now things are starting to get interesting! ;]

Man, so glad this chapter is done. This was probably the hardest one I've ever written… Don't know why. Hopefully the next chapter's writing process will be more successful.

Thanks for reading and please review! :D