"I don't know what isn't real,
But it's easy
To beat me.
(Suck it in)
Life is sink or swim.
Love is blinding, no surviving.

I don't know what I want to be yet.
But I can show that I need to see this.
No time for lies and empty fights.
I'm on your side."
-Breaking Benjamin, You Fight Me

His name's Mello… Butterfly reminded herself as she looked at the boy sitting one row over and a few seats up from her. The boy had blonde hair that looked really girly to her, it was almost as long as hers, and he was pretty loud too. Mello was competitive, that much she had already figured out after a week of being in the same class as him. His hand always shot up first whenever the teacher asked a question, and he would always smirk either her way or Near's way every time he got something right. Mello was already feared by the younger ones too, they never did cross him. Already he had been sent to Roger's office twice, once for fighting and once for getting into an argument with a teacher. He's a loud-mouth… He's a jerk… he's cocky… he's immature… Her mind came up with more things Mello was as she tapped her pencil against her paper.

"Matt," the teacher spoke up in her shrill voice addressing the child who shared a desk with Butterfly. Butterfly watched as the boy paused the game he had been secretly playing under the desk at looked up at Ms. Sternard.

"What is the largest desert in the world?" She asked the boy.

"The Antarctic Desert," he replied immediately to the surprise of the teacher who was expecting him to mess up due to the fact he never paid attention.

"Very good…" She continued her lecture after making the remark. Butterfly watched Matt from the corner of her eye curiously as he un-paused his Gameboy and continued playing, his fingers flying over the buttons. Matt was her age and he had reddish brown hair and he wore orange goggles over his eyes that could've been either green or blue or gray. But he's Mello's friend… She reminded herself with a sigh. Mello and Matt were roommates and they came here together, Matt never left Mello's side and didn't seem to care about anyone else. But Matt seemed different somehow; quiet, reserved and maybe a bit shy. He never paid attention in class, all he did was play video games under the desk, and he didn't even look at her once. Probably because of Mello… Mello hated Butterfly, it was very obvious, but he hated Near even more, and Butterfly had a good idea why. Near was number one and she was number two, the same reason why everyone else here hated them.

A ball of paper hit the table in front of her and she knocked it over to Matt with her wrist, it was from Mello no doubt. Matt didn't notice it until she poked him the shoulder with her index finger, cringing at the contact. He looked up alarmed and she pointed to the piece of paper then looked away, her cheeks blazing for reasons unknown. What if he thinks it's from me?

But Matt flattened out the piece of paper and recognized Mello's handwriting with ease. Butterfly pulled down a curtain of her hair but she peeked through it at the message Mello had scrawled. "Near number 2 keeps looking at you…"

Butterfly almost laughed out loud at that. She'd been in this house for half a year now and everyone had taken a habit to calling her that, a habit that Mello must've picked up on quickly. True, she considered Near her only friend but that's because he was the only one that she could talk to. But she didn't think her and Near were that alike.

Matt rolled his goggle covered eyes and wrote back but his hand covered the message, preventing her from seeing it. Matt rolled the note back up and tossed it at the back of Mello's head.

"Matt! Mello!" scolded the teacher. "Passing notes is strictly forbidden in my class. I want you two to head straight to Roger's office after class!"

Matt shrugged and Mello snarled a curse under his breath. Sometimes it seemed like Mello was just mad at the world. Or so it seemed to Butterfly.

The classes for that day ended and Butterfly was in her room, sitting on the floor, trying her hardest to do her homework. She did only the minimal amount of homework, trying to lose her place as number two. She didn't want everyone to sneer at her and treat her like vermin for the rest of her life. Maybe third place would be better. She wrote the answer to number five absent mindedly as she stared blankly at her paper. Near was beside her, off in his own little world as well, he'd been given some Legos from the toy room earlier and he was enjoying himself in the way he could. Toys, books and electronics were donated to Wammy's from adults all over the world; most of them used to go to Wammy's themselves.

"Near?" She asked quietly. The albino looked up at her to show he was listening. "It's not fair…"

"What's not fair?"

"Life…" She muttered. "I spent my entire life suffering and somehow it's just as bad here… somehow it makes me wish I could just fade into nothing." Near nodded, not speaking and looked back down at the Lego airplane he was creating and added another little cube to the structure. Butterfly sighed and looked back down at her homework sadly. Sometimes it felt like Near just didn't listen.

Her fingers managed to scribble in the rest of the answers on the piece of paper and she tucked it into her book and slammed the tick volume shut. The book containing words, knowledge and all the homework the girl had just completed were set down on her nightstand. She stood there for a minute as she felt the need for something. She wasn't hungry but somehow her body was screaming for the taste of those cherry flavored candy beans to touch her lips. The bag L had given her many months ago was long gone and she'd been ignoring these urges for so long. The kitchen was usually packed with sweets due to L's request and she wondered if there would be any jellybeans.

Acting on the impulse for this tasty substance, she scooped up Baby in her arms and rushed out of the door.

The children weren't paying much notice to her, some smirked, some looked the other way but most of them pretended that she was just part of the wall. Butterfly was used to that feeling now, she was used to the feeling of unwelcome but she couldn't help but hate them for that. Yes, Butterfly hated these other children even though most of them had suffered like she did. She hid her face in the top of Baby's polyester filled head as she hurried toward the kitchen quickly, not wanting to spend this much time out in the open. It was eight o'clock, everyone had to be in there room at ten, and Striker's gang was usually out at nine-ish. Striker loved teasing the poor girl endlessly or anyone that happened to cross her that day.

As she turned a corner suddenly Baby was torn from her pale hands. At first Butterfly expected Striker, but no, the child holding baby above her reach had blonde hair.

"Is this yours?" Mello taunted.

"Yes…" Butterfly stuttered. "Give it back…" Mello smirked and held the bear/dog up higher.

"You'll have to jump for it, shorty."

Butterfly didn't feel like making a fool of herself today, so she instead stared up helplessly at the stuffed creature located just out of the black-haired girl's reach. She hated this! Why couldn't Mello just leave her alone? Why did he have to do this?

"Mello… please… Just give me back Baby," She said a bit more loudly. Mello smirked a bit more.

"Baby, is that her name? How cute…" He still held the creature up though. Butterfly gritted her teeth in annoyance. Sure, Mello was bigger, older and stronger than her but she was considering hitting him or kicking him. Anger began to fill her form but instead of coming out like that, tears welled up in her eyes. No… stop crying! Mello grinned, he wanted to see her cry and that just made her even angrier.

"Mello… just give her back the bear… 'kay?" said a bored voice that belonged to Matt. Matt didn't even look up to say it directly; he just stared down at his game. Butterfly hadn't even seen him walk up.

"Fine…" Mello sighed and dropped Baby to the ground and turned away. Butterfly grabbed the creature and cuddled it close to her and ran back to her room, not even bothering to hunt for jellybeans. She hated crying in front of others and she didn't want anyone else to attack her when she was already weakened enough. Her room was the safest place to be right now.

Near looked up alarmed as Butterfly hurried in and slammed the door before throwing herself onto her bed. Butterfly wished that Near would ask her what was wrong for once, she wanted to talk to someone, anyone, but that person would and could never be Near.

Soon after, Butterfly drifted off into a rage induced slumber. Her angry mind did nothing to comfort her. Instead it did the opposite.

"You fucking brat!" Butterfly's mother screamed as she slapped the girl across the face. It stung really badly and Butterfly stumbled back, tears streaming down her red face.

"I'm s-sorry mommy… so sorry…"

"No, you're not sorry! You just had to come into this world! You just had to ruin my life!" Her mother began sobbing. Butterfly shook and cowered against the wall, cradling her stinging face. Joey came downstairs after hearing the screaming.

"What the hell is going on? I'm trying to get some damn sleep!" His soulless eyes flickered over to the child he had been landed with after marrying Kenny. A child he hated more than anything. Butterfly was ready to run; she knew that Joey was going to hurt her. Joey always hurt her, sometimes with fists, sometimes with feet and sometimes with whatever he had in his hands. She turned to run when Joey gripped her by the hair and spun her around, slapping her roughly. Whimpers escaped her mouth as the slaps kept coming. She just wanted to die, just to drop dead and for all of this to end.

"Joey, stop!" Butterfly's mother cried as she grabbed her husband's arm. Joey released the crying little girl and smacked his wife.

'Stop interfering! And you hit the piece of shit more than I do! You're the one that got knocked up!" Butterfly whimpered and ran, her little sore legs carrying her up the stairs into her room.

"At least Rue could've raised her better than you!" was the last thing she heard before she closed the door and cried herself to sleep.

"You didn't have to steal her bear, Mels," Matt said to his best friend as he lay on his bed playing Sonic. "It was kinda mean."

Mello looked up from his textbook that he had been studying along with his notes for the past hour. Matt had to admit that Mello was quickly growing obsessed with becoming number one, while Matt really didn't care much for succeeding a man they had only met once.

"Shut up, Matt," He sighed.

"I just don't get why you hate he so much, I mean she doesn't seem too bad."

"She's him, Matt," Mello said simply, looking back down at his notes. "Just like Near, his little copy."

Matt rolled his blue eyes. "Whatever you say…"

Mello went from being depressed about the death of his parents to being flat out angry at everyone, everyone except Matt. Mello threw himself into the frenzy at Wammy's, Mello wanted to beat Near. Matt found the whole thing completely pointless and overbearing. He just wanted to make it out of here. He moved his fingers over each button on his Gameboy with ease and effortlessly cleared the next stage. Now time for the boss…

Matt liked video games, he always did. He guessed it was because video games took him away from the hell life was, they were a way out, a haven. But sometimes too easy… Matt was glad to be out of his home, in fact he was relieved his parents burned to death.

"Mail… come here…" his mother cried sweetly .That's when Matt knew he was in trouble and that he'd probably be waking up hours later on the floor…

Near heard Butterfly crying out in her sleep but he couldn't bring himself to wake the girl up. He figured it'd be better for him to stay out of her affairs. He placed the last piece on his airplane and he held it up proudly. He set it down gently, careful not to break off any piece of it, and reached back into the box and pulled out the pilot.

The pilot had on a little helmet and wore drab colored clothes. But the smug little smile on the yellow face looked just like Near's father. Near popped the head off of the Lego man and put on a different one that he took from the body of the flight attendant. He put the figure into a sitting position and stuck him into the seat he belonged in.

The old head lay on the ground not far away and Near snuck a glance at that smug little smile.

Near rushed into the room where the muffled screams were coming from. Mom and Danny were gone and it sounded like Gloria was in trouble. Near pushed open the door only to see his father… what was he doing? He had Gloria shoved down on the bed, both of them had no clothes on. Near was lost and scared, he had no idea what was going on here. His father's hips kept grinding, shoving his…

Near backed away and his father turned to look at him with that little smirk on his face.

"Nate! Call the cops! Call Mom!" Gloria cried until Near's father covered her mouth.

"Nate… I swear to God, if you tell anyone about this, I'll find you and you'll be next.

Near tossed the head away from him, disgusted. He swore he'd never do that to a woman.

A/N: Not much to say... But thank you for reading my little story. Please review (it helps me update faster) and i'm sorry if things were a little dim in this chapter. I'm always open to suggestions :D