Sorry this is so late! I have been suffering the torture that is GCSE revision. Do your teachers make you write an essay over Christmas on every topic since year seven or is it just mine? Speaking of Christmas, what did everyone get? I hope you all had a great day! I got two staffie puppies that's why I'm writing this up at four in the morning. How is it that others can wake you up at an unmentionable hour and then just go back to sleep whilst you can't? Does that happen to anyone else? Anyway, sorry again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I hope everyone has had a great 2011 and wish you a brilliant 2012!

Siren's Call

Chapter Three, Welcome To The Dumping Ground

The last thing Liam and Frank expected to see when they got out of school on Friday was a girl with stripy in a navy blazer perched on the wall.

"Hey guys!" she grinned, her face lighting up as they approached her.

"Hey trouble, what you doing here?" Liam asked.

"Dana's got ballet practice and Clara's joined the dark side," Siren shrugged nonchalantly.

"What?" Frank questioned.

"Kay's throwing a party to welcome my parents back tonight, me and Clara were supposed to be going shopping for outfits but instead she wanted to help Kay organise everything. One I can handle but together they're unstoppable!" she exclaimed, "So I came to find you guys!"

"Siren listen closely because I'm only going to say this once," Liam warned, "We are not coming dress shopping with you."

Frank crossed his arms in agreement, shuddering at the thought.

"I wasn't asking you to!" Siren laughed.

"So what do you want to do?" Frank asked.

"I don't know, what do you two normally do after school?"

"Err... kick back, play some pool, some footie."

"Pool... football... I can do that! Anything to get me out of the path of hurricane Katherine," she nodded, following them down the path, "Football's the one with the sticks right?"

"Okay, a little advice for you," Liam announced as they reached the drive that belonged to Elm Tree house.

"Don't eat Tracy's cooking," Frank warned.

"Don't touch Gus' notebook," Liam added.

"Don't go in Sapphire's room."

"Don't laugh at Mike's jokes; he's not as funny as he thinks he is."

"Go along with whatever Harry says when it comes to Jeff; you don't want Sapphire on your case."

"And whatever you say, Toby and Gus will take it seriously."

"Anything else I need to know? Fire plan? Escape routes? Any mass murderers hiding in the attic?" Siren asked sarcastically.

"No, that should cover it," Liam shrugged.

"Good to know."

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

The trio entered the lobby to find it trashed by the kids that seemed to be rioting outside the office whilst three adults tried to calm them down.

"Yeah... what's going on?" Siren asked slowly.

"Beats me," Liam shrugged, "Oi Carmen, what's happening?"

A nearby girl dressed in a lot of pink turned to face them, "Oh, the power's gone off again but this time Tracy swears she didn't do anything."

"I love power cuts," Siren grinned, "It's a great excuse to light a fire and toast marshmallows."

"Oh hi!" the girl exclaimed, "I'm Carmen!"

"I'm Siren."

"Can we do that do you think?" Liam asked, "The marshmallow thing?"

"Kay and I used to do it all the time back when she was fun," Siren shrugged, "Now it's just me though."

"Mike!" Carmen called over to a man by the door; Siren recognised him as the man from the police station and quickly turned away, hoping not to get recognised.

"Yes Carmen?" he asked, wading through the crowd to join them.

"We were wondering, because there's a power cut, can we have a camp fire?" Liam asked.

"That's a great idea!" Mike exclaimed, "How did you come up with it?"

"Siren suggested it," Frank pointed to the girl who was half hiding behind Liam.

"Siren..." Mike repeated, "Have we met?"

"It'll come to you," she smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway, we're gonna go now," Liam shrugged, pushing Siren down the corridor towards the back door before turning to face the crowd, "ANYBODY UP FOR FOOTIE?"

"What's this?" Siren asked as Liam threw something at her, they were out in the garden with the other kids who'd all introduced themselves after they'd eventually noticed her.

"It's a football," he shrugged as he and Frank marked the goal posts.

"Right... how do we play this again?" she whispered to Carmen and Tee.

"You kick the ball into the opposite team's goal," Tee explained.

Siren nodded, understanding the game a tiny bit more, she turned to her team; Tee, Carmen, Toby and Elektra. "Which position does the least important job?"

"You've never played this before have you?" Elektra asked an amused look on her face.

"No," Siren admitted, "Cricket's more my game, but anyway, how hard can it be?"

20 minutes and one head ache later the kids were taking a break.

"You know, when Elektra said stop the ball, she didn't mean use your head," Liam commented handing Siren an ice pack.

"Smart arse," she muttered under her breath so that the kids didn't hear, dropping the pack on her head.

"Siren come and help us build the campfire!" Carmen exclaimed, using a surprising burst of strength to pull the teenager up off the floor.

Siren was about to follow when the tune to 'Price Tag' began to blare from her pocket. Pulling out her phone, she grimaced at the name that appeared on the screen. "Oops," she shrugged, rejecting the call from Kay and slipping it back in her pocket.

"Are you staying for the campfire Siren?" Gina asked as she, Siren and Sapphire carried out the bags of marshmallows.

"I can't," Siren sighed, "I have a party to go to."

"See!" Sapphire exclaimed, "She's allowed to go to parties."

"It's just a welcome home party for my parents," Siren shrugged, "Nothing exciting really."

"A party's a party."

"You sound like my friend Clara," Siren laughed.

"Where've your parents been?" Tee asked from where she and Johnny were helping Mike to build a rock base for the fire.

"Japan," Siren answered, "3 month business trip."

"It'll be great to see them again yeah?" Gina asked.

"Yeah," Siren echoed, "Great."

Liam, Frank and Siren were lying down on the grass, watching the small fire burn as it's flames danced, the sky getting dark. Siren rolled her eyes as her phone rang for the seventh time; she was surprised to see that this time it was Clara. "Yello?" she asked curiously, deciding to answer in the end.

"Siren where the hell are you?" Clara hissed.

"What do you mean?" Siren asked, "The party doesn't start until 7."

"Siren the party started at 5!" Dana exclaimed.

Siren bolted up, pulling the phone away from her ear. "Liam what time is it?"

"Quarter past 6," he shrugged, looking at his watch.

"Oh crrrrrrrrrrumbs," she quickly corrected herself after receiving glares from some of the other kids. "Look, girls I'll be right there ok? I'm on my way!" Siren jumped off the ground as if it were made of hot coals and quickly collected all her stuff. "Thank you sooo much, I've had a really good time and it was great to meet you all but now I have to go and face the wrath of my aunt."

The Elm Tree kids watched in confusion as she raced out of the garden.

"Siren," Mike said slowly, turning to Liam, "Wait a minute!"

Like I said sorry it's late and sorry that it's such a terrible chapter. This story is going to get better, but I'm not an experienced writer and I'm still finding my feet if you know what I mean, like... experimenting. Does it work better like this or in Siren's/Liam's pov?

Love it? Hate it? How can I improve it?

Cheesecake-and-Pengins: Sorry I'm late replying, I'm as bad as Siren when it comes to keeping time. I'm glad you liked that comment and I really appreciate the feedback. Yeah, I've always struggled with like, phasing to and from one point in time to another, it's just something I can't quite get the hang of. I'm glad that you like the characters, I put a lot of thought into Siren's personality and behaviour, but of course, characters come across differenty to different people so whatever works is good :)

Trulzxoxo: Sorry ASAP was such a long time, thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it :)

Cookie05: Thanks, sorry I've taken so long to write it :)

Amy: I can't really give set dates to when I'm next going to post because other things tend to get in the way but I'm going to try to post more often. I'm not like, having a dig at any other stories but I see a lot of them where they go from complete strangers to being in a relationship and I just don't see how that works. Plus Siren and Liam are opposites but they're very similar and I want that to be shown a little before I start pairing characters off. Sorry for that, thanks for the comment, it literally lights up my day when I see that someone's reviewed a story of mine :)

JustMee: That's exactly how I wanted their relationship to be, I'm glad that it got through :)

Jess: No one who takes the time to read a story of mine would ever be considered a burden. I'm really sorry that it's taken so long and I appreciate the review.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Odd Socks Monday xx