Chapter III – Smells like teen spirit…

The night went surprisingly smooth, calm and dreamless for the new comer who slept crawled on the old couch. Nicole haven't moved an inch from her position, fact which made it pretty clear that she was far more tired then everybody could've thought. Only her right hand hanged lazily from the edge just like it belonged to a corpse and a shiny drool rolled from the corner of her mouth. It was the typical imagine of the 16 year old who had a tiring night, maybe partying or hanging out, or in her case, traveling. But still, with all that black mascara and eyeliner smudged all around her eyes and cheek bones… It really made no difference.

The first rays of the sun ran through the windows and hit her body and face directly, making her moan and grunt because of the unwanted warmth it left. By this time, she was announcing her imminent awake; tossing and grunting, covering her face with either her arms or in her backpack. Soon enough she gave up and reached her hand to her pocket. Grabbing her cell phone, Nicole shot it a look and moaned some more. It was 8;37 in the morning.

'God-dammit!' she thought as she made a huge effort to rise and sit on her butt. 'What the hell was that? A 6 hour's sleep?' Nicole rubbed her head, making her hair even more messier then it already was, and scanned a little the room she fell asleep in. Blinking several time while doing this she remembered pretty much everything that happened last night. It seemed it wasn't a dream after all. "Welcome to the happiest place on Earth…" she muttered as she felt that she re-gained the control on her body. Yep, she came into her senses already. Unfortunately, her smelling sense was the first to 'activate' as she noticed her own odor. Nicole made a disgusted face. Well, she had all the rights to smell, right? She haven't bath or shower in like…three days. How in the world could she face the owner smelling like crap? Grunting again, she reached to her suit case and opened it, revealing a shit load of thrown t-shirts hoodies pants and lingerie. But al least they were all clean. Grabbing randomly an XXL white t-shirt that had written on it 'Fuck me! I'm famous!", she threw it besides her on the couch and unzipped her hoodie. She thought last night was a hot night, but she had woke up for 5 mins and she already felt the sweat rolling down her forehead and back. Dressing quickly with the shirt and wiping away the sweat on her forehead, Nicole dared and went out of the living room she slept in.

She was careful enough to knock before opening the door, just in case there was anyone outside. Lucky her the corridor was empty, no humans around! The girl peeked her head outside before exiting complete, closing the door smoothly behind her. There was no sight of humans, but their voices surely could've been heard. And, yet again, her nose alarmed her. Bacon. And fried eggs. The simple smell made her mouth water, so she done the only normal thing she could have done; follow the smell. While doing so, she couldn't help but ran a hand through her hair, but she made a face at the feeling of her hair flowing between her fingers. 'Greasy… God, help me!'

Before she tied her capillary accessory in a loose pony tail, she found the source of the aroma she felt earlier, but also the source of the voices she heard. Before risking and enter the room, she remained a minute and listened. Three- no four voices. One of a boy's, one belonged to an elder man, there also was a child and a girl, her age or a few years older. From their conversation it seemed they all were having quite a decent time, like a normal family at breakfast.

"Kai, you fried my egg too much! Look how messy its now!"

"If its messy it doent mean its not good, Javier!"

"But look at it! Would you eat such a thing?"

A long sigh was heard. "Ok, I will fry another one then."

A slight chuckle was heard as more plates hit each other. But then something else caught her attention. The sound of an egg being thrown in hot cooking oil. Smiling at herself, Nicole muttered "That guy is really going to fry another one…"

Without knowing it, she ended up leaning against the wooden door, and because of the weak lock, the door opened and she found herself almost falling as the door moved. She was lucky enough to gain her control soon enough and remain on her own two legs. The door hit itself on the wall and everyone's attention was drawn to the girl. As soon as she rose her own eyes to met theirs she knew they weren't exactly impressed by her unusual appearance and entrance.

Swallowing the excess of saliva in her mouth, the only thing Nicole managed to say was a long and confused "ummmmm". Luckily she was saved by one of the people in the room.

"Good morning!" said a cheerful voice of a young girl. Looking up, she saw her sitting at the table with huge glass of orange juice in front of her. She was, most likely the one who didn't liked her eggs. Hopefully this time, Nicole managed to speak correctly a word.

" 'Morning…"

"Now look who is up. Good morning." This voice was defiantly the one of the older man. He was also sitting on the table with a cup of coffee and a few pages of a newspaper in his hands. Even if most of the older people weren't such a bright appearance, Nicole could tell from the look in his eyes this man was kind and truthful. The warmth of his words was almost like the one of the sun. He didn't had a rusty voice, fact which made Nicole think he never really smoked in his life. The girl couldn't do anything but rise her hand and wave it a little, just like retards done. She mentally slapped herself.

"You must be Nicole, right?" She nodded slowly in response to his question.

"Hagi told me you came last night." Her eyes went wide. That was the name of the servant? What kind of name was 'Hagi'? Maybe he was…European or something like that. "I am Gray, the owner of this little orphanage." By this time, he got up from his seat and walked over to the girl. Extending his hand towards her, he gave her a smile from beneath his gray moustache. "Welcome."

Nicole was rather stunned by this kind of behavior. From what she heard, orphanages weren't the kind of places you were treated too well. Even his name made her think of a completely bald man, fully dressed in black whom, why not, had a whip or something and every single kid in the place feared him. But this Gray was greeting them like that? Even have breakfast with them?(because she saw the little girl at the table). The teenager snapped quickly out of her thoughts and extended her hand as well, to shake the old man's.

"Nicole Castle, New York…" she muttered as she didn't dare rise her eyes.

"Nicole? That is a lovely name!" another girls voice caught her attention. Peeking her eyes from behind the old man, she saw a tanned girl with blonde curls also sitting besides the young girl at the table. Gray let out a chuckle.

"Where are my manners?.." he asked rhetorically. "Let me introduce you to my friends." While saying this, he went to a side and gestured with his other hand towards his companions. "She is Monique, the little one is Javier and he is the worlds greatest chef Kai." His hand went from the blonde girl to the child and to another guy, not older then she was with spiked red hair who was struggling to fry an egg the way Javier wanted to.

"Ha-ha, very funny ol' man…" he said full of sarcasm as he turned around. Nicole couldn't help but notice how serious his black eyes were even with such an easy task such as frying an egg, but what truly caught her attention was the beautiful jewel hanging from his neck. It was crimson red and it matched perfectly the dirty red spikes in his hair. Even if she wanted to ask 'Are those natural or dyed?' Nicole decided it was better if she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she waved her hand again slowly, like a retard and saluted them in a low voice.

"Hi…"

"Well hi there." Kai told her as he placed a new plate with the egg he fried in front of Javier. He didn't even bothered to watch her ore then a couple of second. This made the girl feel quite insecure. Even if these people were quite nice, Nicole still felt like there a lot more to do to win their trust and..why not friendship? "Do you want an egg too?" Kai asked as he turned to the fridge and opened it to grab the bottle of milk. Much to her discomfort, Nicole's stomach growled, giving him her response.

"So that is a yes I think." Gray said as he let out a chuckle. "Kai, do you mind? In the mean time, why don't you sit with us and tell more about yourself?" the teen could've felt the old man's hand on her back as he pushed her softly from behind. Inwardly, she done just as he said, taking a seat next to Monique.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully as she gave Nicole a smile. She replied with a small curve of lips herself. "Its been a while since I had someone my own age around to talk, you know, just like girls do." With this she covered her mouth to surpress her giggles, but failed to do so. Nicole couldn't help but slightly roll her eyes. Monique would soon enough have a surprise since she was to find out she wasn't quite the type of girly girl and so on.

"Don't be mean!" Javier punched her playfully in the arm. "What about Mao?" the teen's eyebrows rose slightly. There were more persons in the place after all.

"Well, you know Mao spends all her time with Okamura so…" Monique blinked one eye to Javier. The little girl made a suspicious "oooooh". The only think Nicole could think at this point was 'Those two surely are sexing up…' Thank God no one was able to hear thoughts around the place.

"Ouch! Dammit!" Nicole turned her head around to see the red haired guy struggling to break and egg. Well, that wasn't the actual problem; the problem was it's contents went flying right on his dark blue tank top. He turned around with a defeated look on his face. "Don't you guys dare!" he warned as he saw Gray's and Monique's smiling faces. Javier couldn't take it and she just brust out laughing. And Nicole allowed herself to smile at his silliness, but she quickly covered her face with one hand.

"Ummm..Nicole, how about some milk and cereal?" Kai asked as he tried to clean up his clothes with a bunch of paper towels. It was oblivious he wanted to escape the task of cooking again, but it also was oblivious he wasn't really in the mood to do so either.

"Sounds great to me." Nicole said as she rested her head on her fist. After this she just watched him as he grabbed a box of chocolate cereal and the bottle of milk among with a bowl and a little spoon. Preparing herself her own meal, she started to eat quietly and listening to what the others said. Kai took a seat himself near Gray soon enough.

While eating the teenager had to agree on one thing; it seemed to be pretty much a normal family meal. They discussed about the news, what flowers Javier wanted to pick after breakfast and other minor things. What Nicole found interesting was that the guy named Kai didn't seem to take part in the discussion as much as the others done. He remained silent with a cup of coffee in front of him which he sipped down his throat every now and then. From the face he made after each gulp, she could've told the liquid didn't had any sugar or cream in it. Also, he was the first one to leave the table, saying he had others important things he had to take care of.

Soon after this, she had finished her cereal as well, and got up to wash the bowl.

"Oh, no, let me take care of that." Monique jumped out of her chair and went at sink and took the item out of her hand. Nicole stroke back soon, almost embarrassed. "Its ok, I will wash it."

"Let her do it, Nicole. You please come with me, to show you your room." Gray's strong voice called as he rose from the table himself and went at the door. The teen's eyes moved from Monique to him and back.

"Its ok1" she assured Nicole as she went from the sink towards Gray.

Seconds later, she picked up her backpack only; Gray insisted to carry the suitcase himself, and the two of them went upstairs. Yet again, the girl found herself at one of the ends of a long corridor. "Come" the man said as she followed, not too close. A minute later, he stopped in front of a dark brown room. From what she noticed it was renovated recently since she could've smell the paint used on the wood and the new shiny handle. Using a key, he opened it and made way for her to enter first.

"You room is right next to Hagi and Saya's." he spoke. "Be careful, the rooms look quite alike so don't confuse them, ok?"

"I see." Nicole dropped her backpack on the bed. But then she remembered something. "Excuse me but, this Hagi person…" she started as she turned around to face Gray. "Is he some kind of servant of yours?"

Surprisingly, he started to laugh a little. "Servant?" he asked as if what she just said was a joke. "Of course not. There are no such thing here." He brought Nicole's suitcase and placed it besides her bed as well. "On a second thought…"

Nicole tilted her head to a side a little as her right brow rose in confusion. "So he is a servant?" she asked curious. Just after she done so, she felt like she needed a slap…again. Curiosity was one of her biggest flaws. Much to her surprise, Gray remained silent for a few seconds before sighing and giving her a small smile. Her eyes went wide once more as she expected an answer.

"Hagi is a good person." He said much to her disappointment. "Maybe you will get to meet him and Saya soon enough." By this time, gray was at the door way. "I left your key over there" he gestured towards the night table. "I hope you will like this room."

A small smile was the only thing Nicole seen before he disappeared closing the door behind him. With a sigh, she dropped on the bed, testing its softness. Unlike the couch it was soft and comfortable, so she sank deeply in the white and clean sheets. "Hm…lemon." She muttered at the sent that filled her nose.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, Nicky started to think what just happened and what will happen. What was with that Hagi guy? What about Kai and his seriousity thing? Who was Saya? And mostly, why was everybody so nice around the place? Something was telling her to keep her guard up. Who knows why Cornelius sent her here, and she wasn't going to take any risks. Rolling on the bed until she was laying on her tummy, Nicky reached her backpack and took from a side pocket a small black and silver penknife. It had a button on one of its side shaped in the form of a skull. Pressing it, a shiny blade pooped out from the handler.

It was one the very few things that still connected her with the other street maniacs, but she decided to keep it for safety measures. Still, it wasn't the only reason she kept it. It was a rather new item; she receive it a year ago when Anna herself got a full pack of them for each one of the members in her crew. Also, she told them all to keep it close cause it might get useful at times, but above all these reasons Anna strongly believed it was some sort of ID for them. Anyways it was a knife and knifes are for protection. And while she was around, Nicky had a need to feel safe, so she digged it inside one of the pockets of her jeans, deep enough not to be seen but still reachable. She narrowed her eyes a little; she felt the cold metal already and it made her feel somehow safer already.

Rising from her seat, she went at the window. The sun was up in the sky and there was no trace of clouds. It was some kind of announcement that it will be a clear and nice day outside. A soft wind blew some of the bangs of brown hair that covered her face and revealed more of her narrowed eyes. After she would finish arranging her stuff, she will be going outside for a little research.

From the outside, the little innocent farm had one of its windows closed and the hangings blocked the sun from entering. It was the window from Nicole's room.

TO BE CONTINUED…