The two girls sat in a corner by the window. Leiko smiled at Aiko, "Thank you for coffee…"

"You're welcome, you've earned it," Aiko smiled at her and sipped her latte.

Leiko lifted the drink up to her lips and felt the hot cappuccino flow down her throat. Suddenly. BAM. The café's door swung open and two boys bounded it.

"TADASHI! WE GOT IN!" A lanky blond boy wearing a beanie yelled. He was

"Fred, be quiet! There are people still enjoying their meals," A tall broad man shushed, "I apologized everyone!" He bowed low and his dreadlocks covered his face.

"Oh relax Wasabi, it's great news!" The blond one grinned

"One time Fred! I spill Wasabi on my shirt one time!" Wasabi muttered.

Leiko looked back at Aiko who was staring slack jawed at the blond, "Uh..Aiko?"

"W-what?" she jumped a bit and looked back at Gogo, blushing a bit.

"Ooh, which one caught your interest?"

"W-what? What are you talking about?" Aiko stammered.

"Where you just looking at that guy?"

"Which one?"

"The muscular well-kept one? You know, dreadlocks and a beard," she pointed to the man with the dark complexions and green sweater.

" No!"

"What? Please tell me it's not the tall scrawny one. The one wearing the baggy shirt with the Japanese Kaiju monster on it…"

"U-um, no way…" Aiko looked down

Gogo groaned with disgust, "You could do so much better than him,"

"Well if you are so keen on that one in the sweater, why don't you ask him for his number?" Aiko snapped

Gogo froze and her face became stone.

"S-sorry, I forgot. I'm sorry!" Aiko bowed as she stammered her apologies.

Gogo didn't say anything as she watched a little boy run up to them.

"Hey guys!" The little boy hugged them and showed them a toy, "check out this robot I made!" Gogo just rolled her eyes.

"Hello Hiro, have you seen Tadashi anywhere?" Wasabi asked.

"Yeah, he's coming down, he is super excited, SFIT was his first choice too," Hiro exclaimed.

That caught Leiko's and Aiko's attention. Leiko almost choked on her coffee, "That blond kid is going to SFIT?"

Aiko shushed her, "Be nice!"

"I couldn't believe believe it either, we both got it!" Wasabi exclaimed.

"And I got a job as the mascot! It's going to be great, the tree amigos together!" Fred grinned.

Leiko let out a sigh and Aiko squealed. "Come on, lets go meet them!" She pulled Leiko out of her seat and dragged her to the middle of the café. "Hi there!" She exclaimed.

The three guys looked at her and smiled, "Hey nice to meet you," replied Wasabi.

"I overheard you guys were talking about SFIT and my friend Leiko and I got accepted this year too!" Aiko busted out with excitement.

"Really? That's awesome! What major are you going into?" Wasabi asked holding out his hand.

"I'm going into chemical engineering and Leiko here is going into mechanical and industrial engineering," Aiko took it and shook it.

"Well nice to meet you, I'm Aiko, but all my friends call me Wasabi," he points to Fred, "thanks to this kid, Fred."

"Sup!" He hugged Aiko and Leiko. Leiko pulled away and Aiko blushed, "So you're a chemical engineer?"

"Y-yeah! It's really cool!"

"That's awesome, maybe someday you can make a chemical that could turn me into a animal human hybrid where I can change into a fire breathing lizard at will!"

Aiko looked shocked, "T-that isn't real science!"

"Not yet, but one day it will be! Maybe I could get one from the government and be like Captain America or get bit by a chemically treated spider and be like Spiderman!"

Wasabi chucked, "Ignore him, he's been asking me for stuff like that for as long as I've known him.

Leiko nodded looked at the little boy, "And who are you?"

The boy looked up, "Hiro, I don't planning on going to the Nerd School like my brother, I graduated a year ago and I'm going to be the best bot fighter there ever was!"

Aiko looked shocked, "How old are you?"

"14!" he grinned and held out his bot, "I'm a genius!"

Leiko scoffed, "Well maybe someday we can battle together."

"Actually, he's going to get in trouble if he gets in another bot fight," Leiko jumped at the voice behind her and turned around to see a SFIT tee shirt. She looked up and saw a teasing smile and big brown eyes.

"I wasn't going to!" Hiro exclaimed and crossed his arms.

"Tadashi!" Fred exclaimed and hugged the boy.

"Hey Fred, I see you and Wasabi get your replies," Tadashi grinned and looked at Leiko and Aiko, "Hello! I'm Tadashi, the owner of Lucky Cat Café's nephew,"

"Hello there!" Aiko beamed, "It's so nice to meet you! How come we've never seen you here before?"

Tadashi shrugged and smiled, "I'm usually here but in the morning."

It made sense; Leiko and Aiko usually came here after classes and work for a quick snack. He was close enough that she could study him a bit and his focus was on his friends, he was wearing a cardigan and tee with sandals and it made her smirk. He had neatly cut hair and big brown eyes that seemed to draw her in. He was slightly muscular and wore an SFIT baseball cap. He looked down at her; her brows were furrowed and wore a concentrated expression.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

She realized she was staring and snapped out of it, "Oh nothing," She felt her face flush with embarrassment. "He's not my type," she though, "no one is." She started to feel spontaneous anger bubble inside her, "W-we have to go, it was nice meeting you!" she pulled Aiko outside and started hyperventilating.

"Leiko? Leiko are you alright!?" Aiko held her best friend, "breathe, breathe, he's gone, he won't hurt you anymore, I'm the only one here, I won't leave you like that fucker."

Leiko was shaking; she didn't want to be abandoned. No more nights in the dark alone. No more escaping the cops. No more beatings from Danny. No more Danny.

Aiko screamed for help, this stopped happening a couple years ago but Leiko occasionally had panic attacks and Aiko felt helpless.

Leiko was choking, she couldn't breathe. Her heart hurt. Her vision blurred and the last image she saw someone picking her up as Aiko was crying and carried her until it was dark.