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There were two things in Neru's life that she hated with a passion. The first was Hatsune, that little slut who thought that it'd be OK to try to flirt with other guys and breaking other girl's hearts by shagging their boyfriends. The second thing she hated was dodge-ball. She hated how the ball always found its way to hit her in the face. And annoyingly for Neru, for last period, she had to play dodge-ball with Hatsune. She was against her, obviously, and she was with Teto, Rin, and that Nessa girl. They were all wearing the school gym uniform: a white shirt and red shorts with black sneakers.

'Hey Rin, you still haven't told us where you were during Pre-Algebra class.' muttered Teto. Rin's face turned a deep shade of red.

'I'll tell you when we get back to the foster home.' Rin muttered back.

'She was obviously shagging Len in the toilets. Or probably the school basement, it's a lot more private down there.' mused Neru, smirking largely as Rin poked her in the ribs.

'Alright girls, listen up!' yelled Miss. Webb. She was the girl's school coach in her mid-thirties, and everyone in the entire school thought that she was a lesbian. She had blonde hair that was styled as a guy hairstyle, and she had a muscular build, just like a freaking guy. The only feminine feature that she had was her eyes, which were an icy blue. Everyone crowded around her, but not too close to her: Miss. Webb could be scary when she wanted to be.

'Today, as a welcome back gift, we're gonna play dodge-ball. You've been split into two teams. Nerds against the Popular Ones (Neru exclaimed in anger). No-one can get out. This is for fun only, so can you please stop cracking your knuckles Nessa.' Miss. Webb said. Nessa jumped, but she didn't stop cracking her knuckles either. Maybe she was anxious?

'Are you ready? Go!' Miss. Webb blew the whistle and everyone ran to one side of the gym. Rin and Teto already had a ball. Neru was gonna wait for one of the popular bitches to throw her a ball. It was a little bit messy. Hatsune was an airhead, but she had a good throwing arm, as the ball she threw narrowly missed Neru by a centimetre, and Miss. Webb had suddenly decided to leave to get a sandwich. Neru couldn't hate the woman anymore than at that moment. Nessa was staying well out of it. Hatsune looked in Nessa's direction. She smiled acidly at her.

'Hey Little Miss Nigger, catch this!' Hatsune laughed, throwing a ball at Nessa.

'Watch it, you fucking bitch!' shrieked Neru, temper rising. Nessa caught the ball single-handedly. Some of the girls stopped playing to stare at Nessa. Neru glanced at her. She remembered Nessa before she left. She was a very shy and quiet girl, and she'd let people walk over her constantly. But it seemed that Miku had pushed one too many of her buttons.

'Hey Little Miss Slutbox, catch this.' Nessa said calmly. She threw the ball at Hatsune so hard that Neru couldn't see the ball zoom through the air until it hit Hatsune full in the face. Hatsune screamed and cried in what seemed to be ultimate pain. But that didn't stop her from advancing on Nessa. She grabbed Nessa by her shirt and started shaking her roughly. Nessa looked at Hatsune fearfully.

'Fucking little cow, I'll fucking teach you what happens when you mess with me!" shrieked Hatsune. She slapped Nessa in the face. She slapped her hard, a satisfied look on her face. Nessa was actually really quiet for a few seconds that seemed to drag on for hours until she looked up. Her eyes were dark. Nessa grabbed Hatsune's arm and twisted it painfully behind her back.

'Listen here your royal slutness, this nigger here can snap your neck in half in seconds. So if you want to live,' Nessa said in an innocent twisted Hatsune's arm further backwards that made her wince in pain, 'I expect you to treat me with respect, ne?' Hatsune nodded frantically, and Nessa let her go. Hatsune clutched her arm tightly. The other popular bitches were crowding around Hatsune like they trying to protect her or something like that. Neru didn't see any point for it though; the bitch deserved what she got for calling Nessa a nigger. After that, Miss. Webb took Hatsune to the school nurse, not even bothering to look at Nessa.

'That was pretty cool of ya, Nessa. You can throw pretty good.' piped Teto, putting her shirt on. Nessa shrugged her shoulders whilst smiling as she put her socks on.

'My brothers used to teach me how to throw when we played baseball and my mom used to help me with my aim.' said Nessa casually.

'Where are your brothers now?' asked Neru. Nessa hesitated for a few seconds.

'Nick, he's the eldest one, he works in a bank in England. And Aaron decided to go to London to study there. I don't really see my dad or his family anymore. So it's just me and my mom.' replied Nessa simply, rummaging through her bag to bring out black heels.

'What about you guys? What happened to your families?' Nessa asked. Teto and Neru looked at Rin. Neru didn't really mind much about telling Nessa, Nessa was a cool girl for almost breaking Hatsune's arm. But Rin, she didn't like family topics. Rin looked like he was trying to find a way to change the subject.

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'Err, well, my mom kinda just dumped me at the foster home. She's still alive, but she just didn't want me. She used to say that she'd visit me, but she never did. I just gave up on her after that.' replied Neru.

'Well, my mom died when I was a kid, and my dad was killed in a gun raid before. My granny didn't want me because she thought my mom cheated on my dad with another guy. But now she wants to visit me.' added Teto acidly. Nessa turned her head to Rin. Oh God, Rin thought, please don't ask me, please-

'What about you? What happened to your family?' asked Nessa softly. Rin didn't notice that she was trembling.

'I don't wanna talk about them.' said Rin suddenly. Nessa's eyes widened, but she nodded reassuringly at Rin.

'Well, I'm not gonna force ya into telling me. I wasn't expecting you to say anything anyway. I wasn't expecting any of you to say anything.' said Nessa kindly. She grabbed her bag and stood up.

'I'm sorry if I made any of you feel uncomfortable.' muttered Nessa, eyes on the floor. She left the changing room swiftly after that.

It was pretty hectic when Rin, Neru and Teto arrived at the foster home from school. The little kids were running around screaming like the world was ending, with Mama Lily trying to separate two little ginger boys who had blue eyes.

'Girls, oh thank God! Help me separate Fred and George, they keep trying to strangle each other!' pleaded Mama Lily. She looked as if she was ready to collapse at any moment. Maybe she's not feeling well, Rin thought, feeling sorry for Mama Lily. Rin walked towards the twins, who when they saw who was walking towards them, stopped fighting and started hugging Rin's legs.

'Hey guys, Onee-sama's back!' bellowed the twins. The children stopped running and suddenly started crowding around Rin, all of them trying to hug some part of Rin's body. And there were roughly fourteen kids.

'Rin's like some kind of a kiddie-magnet.' snickered Neru.

'At least the kids don't try to push me down the stairs all the time.' smirked Rin, as Neru gave her the middle finger.

'We'll wait for ya in my room.' said Teto, and she and Neru started to walk up the stairs. So, Rin decided to help Mama Lily with the kids. It was an lllooonnnggg mission. They always hid in the hardest or the most out of reach places (a little girl called Luna had hid herself in the attic). After four hours of taming, the kids were marched to their rooms without making another sound.

'Rin, what would I do without you?' sighed Mama Lily, throwing herself onto the sofa. Mama Lily fell asleep as soon as she landed on the sofa. Rin smiled to herself, grabbed the quilt and draped it over Mama Lily. She gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

'You saved my life, mama. It's the least I can do.' replied Rin softly. Rin crept out of the room, and looked at the clock. It was seven o'clock already? Rin walked up the stairs, and went into Teto's room. Teto and Neru were sitting on the floor, homework spread all over the floor. Teto looked up and smiled.

'Ah, here's our walking talking breathing answer sheet now.' sang Teto. Rin laughed, and sat on the floor with Teto and Neru. They completed their homework in an hour, even though Rin did share half of her answers with them.

'Now we can sit back and relax.' Neru yawned, leaning against the wall, as Teto climbed onto her bed and started eating her secret chocolates. Rin laid herself on the floor, eyelids were heavy. She felt like camping on Teto's floor for that night-

There a high-pitched scream. Rin sat up straight away. Teto choked on one of her chocolates. As Neru got up to thump Teto on the back, Rin stood up and walked out of the room. The scream seemed to be coming from one of the little kid's room. She walked towards the source the source of the noise, which was coming from Miko's, Prima's and Gumi's room. The door was already opened, but Rin still knocked on. It looked as if Mama Lily was trying to wake up Gumi, who was screaming and crying like a maniac, with Prima and Miko standing far away from her, scared looks on their faces. Her arms and legs were flying around, trying her best to hurt Mama Lily as much as possible as it looked like. Rin heard rushing footsteps, and was nudged aside by Leon, who was wearing his nightgown.

'Gumi, calm down-' asked Leon. Gumi opened her eyes and screamed louder than ever, throwing punches at Mama Lily and Leon. Rin rushed in the room and stepped in front of Leon. Gumi stopped screaming suddenly, eyes wide with fear. She started crying.

'O-onee-chan, hheeelllppp mmmeeeeeee, t-that man's gonna touch mmmeeeeeee!' wailed Gumi, arms outstretched towards Rin. Rin had to bite her bottom lip to stop her from crying herself. Seeing Gumi so distressed and scared, just made Rin feel so... helpless. She grabbed Gumi off of Mama Lily, who was now trying to console Prima and Miko, who were now crying.

'Gumi's OK, sweetie, she's OK.' Mama Lily cooed to the two of them whilst hugging them. But Gumi wasn't OK. She was mentally and possibly physically disturbed by her dad, or any other man. Gumi clung onto Rin in a desperate kind of way, burrowing her head in Rin's shoulder.

'Mama Lily is it OK if Gumi sleeps with me tonight?' asked Rin. Mama Lily looked at Rin for a while.

'Fine, but be careful with her, OK? She's still fragile.' replied Mama Lily.