Thank you for the review acosta perez jose ramiro. I hope you and the other readers enjoy this new chapter.

…

December 8th

Today was …interesting, to say the least. After yet another lousy day of school I went home to find the kitchen full of soup cans. I asked if somebody had the flu but Grandma Rosenburg said that we were helping out with a canned goods drive. Now, I never do things like that (for free) but my grandparents were insistent, and I didn't want to disappoint them so I went along with it.

Instead of sitting home watching old Terry Ringer reruns we went out in the cold to go to a homeless shelter. A few weeks ago I pretended to be homeless. I sat by the highway with a sign and a cup asking for change and made pretty good money off it. Unfortunately one of the people recognized me: Stinky Phil.

"Well look who it is! I'm glad to see that you're finally on your feet!" he said, patting his dirty hand on my back. "And look, you got some glasses!"

"Uh, you must have me confused with someone else," I said under my grandparents' stare.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure we've met. Remember how we used to collect money by the outskirts of Brightsburg?"

My grandparents gasped and looked at me.

"Vicky, is that true?" Grandma Rosenburg asked.

"Uh, it-it was for charity!" I lied. "Think of the orphans!"

"Oh, that's right! We need to stop by the orphanage after this," Grampa Rosenburg stated.

Grandma nodded and set a box on the table.

"Well, we'll be going. Stay warm everyone," she said.

Stinky Phil and the other homeless people waved goodbye as I rushed out, beating the rest of my family to the car. After everyone got in we drove off. The only thing more uncomfortable than being crammed in the back with Tootie and my grandparents was that they were starting to question me. Grandma and Grampa Rosenburg are pretty much the only people who actually like me, and if they found out what I'm really like they might not love me anymore. That being said I have to do whatever I can to keep the truth from getting out.

The orphanage was our last stop for the evening, which I was relieved to hear. I helped take in some boxes and came across a group of kids playing games. Among them was someone I hadn't seen in a while: my old foster brother.

Around my sixteenth birthday my parents thought that Tootie was lonely so they decided to adopt a kid. I'd asked them why they never did anything like that for me when I was little and they insisted that they had Tootie so I could have a play mate. Maybe if I was three that would've been a good idea, but not at eight! No eight year old wants to play with someone still in their diapers! Anyway, long story short the pipsqueak really got on my nerves so I tormented him until he begged my parents to cancel the adoption. I hadn't seen him since.

My old brother Mickey looked at me and gasped. At first he dropped his controller, causing it to shatter, but then he started laughing at me.

"Nice eyes Vicky!" he taunted, pointing at my glasses. "All four of them! Ha ha!"

"Now listen here young man," Grandma spoke up, "bad vision is no laughing matter. It can happen to anyone."

"Yeah, and if you keep sitting up against the TV like that I'm sure they'll go bad," Grampa butted in.

Mickey frowned and looked at my parents and Tootie, who gave him an awkward wave. After that he huffed and picked up another controller, going right back to playing games. I'm sure glad my parents didn't keep that little brat. After that we got in the car and headed home.

"So who was that young man?" Grandma asked me.

"Our old foster brother," Tootie spoke up. "Mom and dad kept him for about a month before sending him back."

"What?" Grandma asked.

"He asked us to," dad explained. "He was trouble anyway; always sneaking in dirty magazines, breaking the lamps and hiding the remotes."

I guess Mickey never told anyone that I actually did those things and blamed it on him. Either that or nobody believed him. Anyway the day is over and I couldn't be happier. I'll be glad when I can get revenge on Lauren. Later!

A/N: Has it really been this long since I last updated? I'm surprised at myself. Upon re-watching the pilot episode where Vicky mentions having a brother I decided to give some kind of explanation for this. Since there were no pictures of him anywhere in the house I'm guessing that either he was a foster child or maybe Vicky's dad was married before and Tootie's actually Vicky's half sister (it would explain the age difference) but I've already made it to where Vicky and Tootie have the same mom in this story so I have to stick with it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to reading your reviews.