Five

Jessie, Josh, Elektra, Faith and Rick were all stood in the school uniform shop with Mike. Jessie and Josh were scowling at the uniform racks. At their private school they hadn't needed to wear uniform and the uniform they were currently staring at looked awful. Sky blue blazers with white shirts for the boys or blouses for the girls. They were expected to wear purple and blue striped ties with it and either black trousers or lilac coloured skirts for the girls. Elektra was also getting a new blazer as she had grown out of hers and Faith had decided she needed some school skirts after spending the last term in trousers. Rick had come as they were dropping him off at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up some of the tablets he had been prescribed for his toothache. Jessie was handed a blazer, tie, skirt, trousers and a shirt by the sale assistant. She looked at them with disdain but dutifully went to try them on. Her brother was being given the same treatment. She put the clothes on and looked in the mirror. She turned her nose up at it but went to show the others. Rick took one look at her and burst out into laughter with her flame red hair the school uniform did not look that good on her. She was wearing the lilac skirt instead of the trousers. Given a choice she would wear a skirt not trousers seeing as her legs were one of the only part of her body not injured. Mike looked her up and down. "well it fits you alright and it looks alright on you," he said. Jessie tilted her head to the side and scowled.

"yeah it's brilliant. My blazer is sky blue and middle name is also Skye. Just a bit weird that," Jessie said as she went to get changed back.

Josh was laughing to himself in his changing room at his sister's comment about her middle name and the colour of their school uniform. Josh looked at himself in the mirror. It didn't look too bad on him seeing as he was wearing black trousers with it and he had brown hair. He walked out as his sister turned away from Rick and Mike to head back into her changing room. She stopped when she saw him. She was wearing the lilac skirt, white shirt and sky blue blazer with her lilac and blue tie tied very neatly in a perfect knot. She stared at him. "Well you look alright," she told him, looking at his uniform in disgust. Josh laughed and took her place in front of Rick and Mike while Jessie scowled and went and got changed.

Mike looked at him and Rick looked suitably impressed. "Perfect," Mike said. Josh smirked as Elektra and Faith both came out wearing their half of the their uniform that they needed. Elektra looked quite grown up in the blazer which went with the colour of her hair and Faith looked quite sophisticated in the lilac skirt. Josh went and got changed and met Jessie out the front with Rick. She was carrying her bag of uniform – two skirts, six blouses, two blazers and two ties. Mike took Josh's uniform and Faith and Elektra's and went and paid for it. They left the shop and wandered down the road to the pharmacy. Rick and Jessie both went in. Rick handed over his prescription and Jessie went and searched the shelves for her bruise cream. She found it and picked up a pot of it and went to pay for it at the counter while Rick waited for his prescription to be given to him. Jessie waited for him and they both left the shop and met the other four at the minibus. They all climbed in. Jessie was sat in between Josh and Rick. She was getting hot so she pulled her jumper of her head. She heard everyone gasp and Jessie mentally kicked herself. She looked up at the three older children and grimaced.

Mike looked up in his mirror and saw what had happened. He pulled up at Elm Tree House but wouldn't let anyone out. He turned to face them all. "Listen, you can't say anything about this to the others. It's the reason Jessie only wears long sleeves," Mike told them. Rick, Elektra and Faith just stared at her arms. "her mum burnt her as punishment. This is one of the reasons why these two are in our care." Rick nodded but noticed that Josh was refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Rick's suspicions were aroused again. Jessie threw her jumper back on and climbed out the minibus after Josh. Rick followed her and bit his lip. He'd already told Mike about his suspicions and Mike had questioned both of them about what had happened. But Rick knew when people were lying, he'd been dealing with liars most of his life and something about Josh wasn't adding up. Jessie was curled up on the sofa, she'd gone quiet again.

Rick sat down next to her. "Hey Jessie," he said. She nodded at him. "Was it just your mum who abused you?" he asked, picking up her arm gently and pushing the sleeve up a tiny bit to see some of the red welts in her arm. She twirled a piece of ginger hair as she nodded. "Why?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I turned fifteen and she decided to just hurt me," Jessie said dropping her hair. So Rick knew that bit was true but twirling her hair had given her away. She wasn't the greatest liar. Rick stood up and left her watching the wildlife documentary and almost walked into Elektra. He looked behind him. "Something's not right with them," he said. Elektra raised her eyebrow.

"Really, you sure it's just not two innocent kids, one of which has been physically abused," Elektra suggested. Rick glared at her.

"I'm sure and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it," he replied. Elektra stalked off ignoring him.

A/N: Amateur lying from Jessie, shame Rick knows a little too much about lies. What is the truth behind it? Let me know what you think, Indigo :)