So here we are, I say we but I'm not sure how many people are still reading this. Bear with me guys I promise it will get better. Please feel free to leave me a comment, even comment if you are not enjoying, tell me what I am doing wrong.

Also please tell me any theory's you have about what Immy's secret is, if there are any ships you want me to include please say and you can use my characters in these pairings and basically please review because it makes my day when an email arrives showing a lovely/constructive comment.

Oh and sorry about the spelling errors last chapter.

By the way Sinclair is a designer brand that has been mentioned in both the Dumping Ground and Wolfblood.

Thank you thetigerlilly for reviewing on every single chapter so far.

"Shay can I ask you a question?"

"Depends what the question is,"

"how do you get all this money?" my 11 year old self asked my best friend.

"The answer's no," she told me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"No you can not ask that question," she told me stubbornly.

"I think you'll find I can ask you anything I want," I replied.

"I get the money from my purse," she tells me, trying to get round the question.

"That wasn't what I was asking,"

"Ask something else then," she said.

"I asked how not where..." I started,

"shut up Imitari Odissey," she said,

"I don't won't to talk about it."

Of course her refusal to tell me made me suspicious, how did she get that much money? It resulted in my small 11 year old brain working over time to come up with the answers. I made a list in my notebook, ideas of how she could get the money, starting with the sensible but then getting more and more silly.

"She could be a well paid paper boy, a baby sitter or her parents could be loaded,"

But these ideas, however ordinary they may sound were stupid ideas. First of all she didn't do a paper round, secondly she was out every night at parties or restaurants and the lastly, her parents weren't loaded. We all knew that. Her parents were notorious druggies, who spend every last penny they owned on anything they could get their hands on. She also lived in a disgusting council flat similar to my own. So I came up with more theories:

"A thief, a drug seller, a con artist or a member of a black market."

These ideas seemed more realistic, in the area I lived there was a ridiculously high crime rate and being a con artist, but on occasions I did wonder about Shay's level of intelligence. It may sound cruel but in the nicest way possible Shay wasn't a genius, she had failed all but one of her GCSE's and she had dropped out of school at 16, I seriously doubted that Shay would have the brains to organise a proper scam. A drug seller was a more likely option, both her parents were druggies and to be honest she didn't look dodgy, she managed to have an air of studious cool girl from a well off middle class family, all the things you wouldn't expect from a drug dealer but that could be why the police had never caught her. Then the last option maybe she was a member of a black market and selling illegal products, possible but I wasn't totally convinced. Shay wasn't the type of girl to spend all day hanging around a market stall.

"Handling stolen goods,"

I had heard that handling stolen goods can make a person rich, and that was exactly what Shay was. Perhaps she had a secret stash of Sinclair that she sold on to people and making a huge profit. I knew that Shay loved Sinclair, she often wore Sinclair hoodies, hoodies that cost £50 at cheapest, if you were selling stolen goods you would probably keep a few for yourself wouldn't you.

I became more and more suspicious of Shay, I never knew what she was doing during the day because she had done her GCSE's so she wasn't at school but I was still at school having to face the pain of performing in a stupid leavers production that I had no interest in what so ever. Then all the teachers were going on about how we are bound to feel upset about leaving our beloved old school, meanwhile I was dreaming of secondary school, I could make a new start. I knew Shay would be happy to help and to be honest it would be a good way to put our friendship back on track. After my asking about the money she had become a bit colder and I didn't want to lose her. I was always scared that she would find another girl closer her age and become friends with her instead, I guess that's another reason my life became such a mess.

It's because I didn't want the age difference between me and Shay, I didn't want to hold her back from doing things I was to young for like clubs and parties but I didn't want to lose her. So, I decided, that she shouldn't grow down, I should grow up.

I made myself grow up, admittedly I could pass for 14 or 15 already but I wanted to be 16, if not older. I wanted to be a grown up, I didn't want rules, or school. I wanted freedom and that's what Shay gave me.

So that afternoon I walked back to our estate and I walked over to Shay's flat and knocked on the door, a few seconds afterwards Shay opened the door, she was wearing subtle grey eye makeup and her lips were painted a dark red, she didn't look 16 she looked like she was in her early twenties. Her hair was scraped back into a bun and she was wearing a formal red dress. "What are you doing here?" Shay snapped.

"I wanted to see you," I studied her face, she wasn't impressed,

"and I wanted to apologise..." I looked up again hopefully.

"Are you thick or something?"

I didn't answer, taking it as a rhetorical question.

"Do you think I want you here?"

"Shay we are friends," I said clinging to my last shard of hope.

"Yes we are, but I'm busy," she said slamming the door in my face.

The slamming door shattered my heart.

I ran from her flat and ran all the way home, Shay only wanted to be friends with her when she wasn't busy, I was simply a time filler, a toy, a distraction, an item to keep her entertained. In my room I cried myself to sleep, there was nothing else to do. No one else to turn to. My family had emotionally abandoned me, my sisters didn't want to know me and they wouldn't let my brother know me and my parents were too busy to care. Too busy hollowed up in their stupid laboratory to care about their daughter, all they cared about was that Verus, Beta and Fortiter did well in life and that I lived, as long as lived they didn't care what happened. If I died then everything for them would be over, I don't mean emotionally I mean physically.

I was awoken by the mysterious tapping noise, I opened my curtains to find it was still dark and to find Shay outside. I opened the window and let her in, despite our fight,

"seriously Immy you are such a heavy sleeper, I've been out their for about half an hour."

I notice that Shay is no longer in her dress, she is now simply wearing a loose fitting top and shorts, I decided not to comment on the costume change.

"How was your busy evening?" I asked, Shay blinked as if confused then realisation crept over her face, and what looked like sadness.

"Nothing special," she told me, smiling sadly,

"anyway I want to apologise to you about what I said before," she said.

"I didn't mean what I said, I was just stressed and busy," she told me, looking me in the eyes.

We sit in a second of awkward silence before she starts talking again.

"Anyway what was it you wanted?" she asked.

"Well in like 2 months I'm going to be starting high school," I said,

"and you want to know how to fit in," Shay said reading my mind, I nodded.

"Ok... Immy I've known you for a few months now, I think you are old enough to come out with me tomorrow night,"

"Where?" I asked eagerly,

"no where special just some guys party, we can pretend that you are my cousin," I looked up at her amazed.

"Ok," I said nodding,

"but Immy tomorrow you are no longer 11, you are 16. Cool?"

"Cool."