1: Nebraska

North London, 2010

When Sophie Tyler read the name 'Nebraska House' off the nameplate screwed to the concrete wall, she wasn't even sure what a Nebraska was. It didn't sound like the name of anyone she knew and the strange name only added to her feeling of being out of place, like she'd felt ever since her mum had died. Maybe ever since that evening her mum had held her hand and told her she needed to be grown-up now, because she was going into hospital and wouldn't be coming back out. She'd been moved around since; there was a night at home in their flat with a strange carer with an afro and scary long nails; then a night on a sofa at someone's house she couldn't even remember. Now she was outside Nebraska house and the carer with the afro was standing at the top of the steps, hands on hips.

"Come on, Sophie," she said, sounding stressed. "I'm fed up waiting for you."

Feeling told off, Sophie trotted up the steps obediently, chewing the cuff of her red plastic mac while the carer strode up to reception and started a fast, grown-up conversation she couldn't follow.

"Hello Sophie," someone said, in a friendly way. Sophie looked up and a lady in a big dress with a brown cardigan over the top was looking at her, her glasses perched on her nose. "I'm Jennifer, pleased to meet you."

"Hello," Sophie said, her voice feeling funny because she hadn't said anything all day. She chewed her coat again, watching the material turn to a dark red colour where she got it wet.

"Thanks Angie, I'll be in touch," Jennifer said quickly to the lady with the afro, who turned and left Nebraska House without even so much as looking at Sophie again. Jennifer, though, was looking at Sophie with a big smile. "There's nothing to be afraid of," she said. "This is a friendly place."

Sophie just chewed. The taste of the coat was reassuring, since this house smelt weird and she could hear kids yelling somewhere.

"I'll show you up to your new bedroom, which you're sharing with a nice girl called Rhonda," Jennifer said, straightening up. "You can get settled in and then someone will give you a tour."

"When do I have to go back to school?" Sophie blurted out before Jennifer could move.

"On Monday," Jennifer said, gently. "You can keep going to the same school as before, though, don't worry. I know you've just started there."

Sophie followed Jennifer up the stairs, her stomach churning. She hated the secondary school she'd just started at: it was an all-girls school and she felt isolated surrounded by hundreds of other kids. Most of her friends from primary school had gone to different schools, and in the first few weeks of term anyone she did recognise seemed to have made new friends and ignored her. To make matters worse, ever since her mum had been in hospital, a girl named Lorna had been making fun of her. She hated Lorna, she hated school, and she was starting to feel like she hated Nebraska House, too.

Jennifer rapped sharply on a door which had a paper sign that said 'RHONDA' on it, with a rainbow painted next to it.

"Rhonda, I've got Sophie here to meet you," she said, pushing open the door.

The room was slightly bigger than Sophie's old bedroom in her mum's flat, but there were two single beds on opposite sides, with identical wardrobes and desks. Rhonda was lying on her bed, reading a magazine, but she sat up when Jennifer and Sophie came in.

"Sophie, this is Rhonda. Rhonda, Sophie will be your new room partner," Jennifer explained. Sophie stared at Rhonda, who looked like she was a similar age, but about a million times cooler. She was wearing hoop earrings, for a start, and instead of the supermarket jeans that were fraying at the bottom and too-small t-shirt that Sophie had on under her mac, Rhonda was wearing tight black jeans and had a Nike hoodie on, white headphones poking out of the neck.

"Hi Sophie," Rhonda said, in a strong accent Sophie didn't recognise.

"Hi," Sophie said, subconsciously chewing her coat sleeve again.

"Rhonda, can you give Sophie a tour and help her to settle in. Kevin will take her to get her stuff tomorrow so just lend her anything she needs for now," Jennifer said, leaving the two girls to it.

Sophie kept staring.

"What's so interesting?" Rhonda asked, a little sharply, and Sophie started staring at the floor instead.

"That bed's yours," the other girl said, pointing to it. "All my stuff is on my side of the room, so don't touch it without asking. Do you have an iPod?"

Sophie looked up and shook her head.

"You have got to get one, they're awesome," Rhonda told her, pulling a white iPod classic out of her pocket. "I can share my music with you if you want."

Sophie smiled for the first time that day. "Okay," she said.

To Sophie's relief, Rhonda went to the same girls' school as her, and although they wore the same uniform, Rhonda's tie and skirt were about four inches shorter than Sophie's, and Rhonda wore her hoodie instead of the school jumper.

"What are they gonna do, tell my parents?" Rhonda grinned when Sophie pointed it out.

Unfortunately, Rhonda was in a different class to Sophie, and when Sophie sat down for registration she felt something wet hit her neck.

"Orphan girl back at last?" Lorna smirked. "How was your holiday?"

Sophie tried to ignore her and wiped the wet paper ball off her neck, dropping it on the floor.

Five minutes later, another one hit her, catching in her hair.

"Orphan girl, orphan girl," Lorna taunted. "When's your mum's funeral?"

"Shut up," Sophie hissed, untangling the ball from her hair.

Lorna poured some water from her water bottle onto a screwed up piece of paper and flicked it at Sophie. This one missed, but landed in her bag instead.

"Bullseye," Lorna grinned.

Her face hot, Sophie pulled it out of her bag and threw it back at Lorna. Lorna dodged easily and the ball splattered against the wall.

"Miss, Sophie is throwing wet paper at me," Lorna instantly said, her hand shooting into the air and catching the attention of the teacher.

"Sophie, I hope you aren't," the teacher said, sternly.

"Look, Miss, here it is," Lorna said, scooping it up off the floor. "I think she's spat on it."

The teacher stormed over.

"It's actually Lorna, Miss," Sophie protested. "She started it."

"Then why is there wet paper all around your chair, Sophie?" the teacher said, pointing. "Did you throw one at Lorna?"

"Yes, but-"

"No buts. This isn't primary school any more, you know the school rules and they must be followed. I'm putting you in detention this lunchtime."

Sophie stared down at her pencil case, burning with anger. As soon as the teacher had written the detention in her school diary and walked back to the front, Lorna laughed nastily from behind her.

"Orphan girl got detention," she crowed. "You're so stupid. Stupid Sophie the orphan loser."

Sophie kept staring at her pencil case. She could get through this. She just needed to ignore Lorna. Ignore Lorna. Ignore Lorna. She repeated it to herself like a mantra.

"What do you mean, detention?" Rhonda asked her at break time. They were sitting on the corner of a bench, with one headphone each from Rhonda's iPod. "Were you messing around in registration?"

Sophie shook her head. "It was Lorna," she said. "She was throwing paper at me and I threw one back, but she told the teacher and the teacher wouldn't believe me."

Rhonda looked outraged. "Which one is Lorna?" she asked, and Sophie pointed her out. Lorna was spending break time with a gang of about ten other popular girls, discussing their designer bags and their imaginary boyfriends who went to different schools.

In a flurry, Rhonda handed Sophie the iPod and her headphone, before storming over to the group. Sophie watched, horrified.

"Lorna?" Rhonda demanded, and Lorna gave her a look of pure spite.

"Who're you?" she asked, looking her up and down. "You look like a boy in that hoodie."

The other girls in the group sniggered.

"Leave Sophie alone or I'll smack you into next week," Rhonda snarled. "I'm serious."

Lorna tittered. "Oh, I'm so scared," she said. "The little Welsh boy is threatening to beat me up."

Rhonda's arm shot out in an instant and grabbed Lorna's tie. She yanked down hard, snapping Lorna's head back and tightening the knot of the tie into a tiny hard ball.

"Do not mess with me," Rhonda said, pushing Lorna back and letting go.

Lorna looked shocked for a second, then burst into tears.

"That's right, go and cry back to daddy," Rhonda said, triumphantly, as Lorna and two of the other girls dashed off to the toilets. "Next time you want me to kick your arse, just ask."

"That was amazing," Sophie said to Rhonda when she came back over.

"You should stand up for yourself," Rhonda told her, taking the iPod back. "Nobody respects a pushover."

Sophie walked home with her new friend, too, and after doing homework together Rhonda lay on her bed in her usual position, headphones in, reading a book. Sophie didn't have many possessions and couldn't go to the shops until the weekend, so she watched TV silently in the rec room for a couple of hours before coming back up to the room. Rhonda hadn't moved.

"Will you come to the shops with me on Saturday?" Sophie asked her.

Rhonda nodded without looking up. "Yeah, why not? I need to get some new socks anyway."

Sophie sat and watched her for a few more seconds. Rhonda eventually looked over at her, narked.

"You really love to stare at people," she pointed out, and Sophie blushed.

"Do you think they will let us have pets here?" Sophie asked.

Rhonda looked confused. "Why do you ask that?" she said.

"My mum said we could get a dog soon, before she…" Sophie trailed off. "A puppy."

"They're not gonna let you have a puppy," Rhonda said, sympathetically. "Sorry."

Sophie nodded and fell silent.

After dinner, Sophie borrowed a book about a clan of wolves who had to protect themselves against an evil power and sat on her bed reading it. Rhonda hadn't come back upstairs after dinner so she had the room to herself.

Downstairs, Rhonda was sitting in Jennifer's poky office, her hands shoved into the front pocket of her hoodie.

"She's good at school, I snooped in her schoolbooks when she was watching TV and it's all nines and tens out of ten," Rhonda said to Jennifer. "I'm trying to encourage her to be a bit more confident, though."

"Unfortunately it looks like she's hiding in her shell at the moment," Jennifer said, nodding. "I think we can probably draw her out a bit."

"She's being bullied at school which doesn't help, but hopefully I've scared the bully off a bit," Rhonda went on. "Overall, I definitely think she could make a good Cherub, given the chance."

Jennifer smiled. "Brilliant," she said. "I'm pleased that the two of you are getting on. Keep up the good work, and if all goes well I can arrange to get her taken over to campus in a couple of weeks for some initial assessments."