There you go, Chapter 6 is here! Sorry it took me a little longer, because I have been stressed and frustrated with my design classes, and also had small writer blocks, but I will try to make this chapter interesting.

Enjoy! – Sorry for any typo.

Chapter 6: Pretty little girl

Miranda shook her head, pushing those thoughts away from her mind, she couldn't care about Shepard now, her sister was more important. "This is absurd!"

"Maybe...its love, Miranda. It does not have an explanation, if you don't know that, then one day you will." Shepard gave her a friendly smile, and that friendly smile warmed up Miranda's heart, it even made her blush for a second.

"I'm leaving now...tell your sister I will call later..." Shepard mumbled, and turned around; walking out of the school, like there was nothing wrong...like nothing happen.

Miranda simple watched Shepard walking away.That smile...

Lawson's Mansion

The very moment the Lawson's sisters got home, Oriana rushed her way upstairs voiding her sister's gaze and conversation. The ride home was silent, but Oriana could tell her sister was angry, and she didn't knew why, she tried to ask about Shepard as well, since she wanted to say goodbye, but her sister almost barked at her for the question, so she figured this was all about the kiss between her and Shepard, so she knew very well what she had to do now, which was run to her room and lock herself in there till next morning, and sneak away to go early to school without face Miranda.

But of course, not everything was at her favour. "Oriana!" Miranda shouted after her sister, as she was about to run upstairs, but she noticed one of their servants stand on the hallway, which meant he probably wanted to say something. Perking up an eyebrow, she looked at the servant, like waiting for him to say whatever he had to.

"Miss Lawson, I just wanted to inform you, your father will still be absent for few days. His businesses are taking a little longer than usual."

"Alright, thanks for the warning." Miranda said before move her hand like she was scooting the servant away. She was glad her father would still take a while before come back, everything was better when her father was away in business, at least there was nobody to bother her, but that new girl named Shepard came to annoy her as well…Oh yeah, she still had to have a conversation with her younger sister, there was no way Oriana was going to escape this.

Walking upstairs, she was about to knock on her sister's bedroom door, till she heard some voices, and that was impossible because her sister was alone. Tilting her head forward, she placed her ear against the door, and started to try listening what was going inside.

"Hey, don't worry pretty girl, I'm fine." Shepard's voice sounded

Wait…Was that Shepard's voice?! How?! Miranda was about to snap till she heard her sister.

"Still…I'd like to have you in front of me, and face-to-face conversation. Not through the phone."

Did her sister's voice sounded sad? It kind of made Miranda's heart break.

"Don't worry about it, Ori. I'm fine, really, it's just few bruises here and there, no big deal."

"I'm sorry if I think getting in a fight with somebody is no big deal."

A muffled laugh could be heard on the other side of the call. "Yeah, now you sounded like your sister, guess it's a Lawson's thing."

"Is it bad?"

"Why would it be bad? It makes you both special."

"Special?" Asked with a little smile.

Special?...Miranda thought.

"Yeah, like everybody's different, right? I mean you two have strong genes, you are almost twins, but I still think you are prettier than Miranda." Another low chuckle.

Oriana chuckled as well. "Nah, that's impossible, I think my sister's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Hey, don't say that. Sure, your sister is very beautiful and all, but you are beautiful too Oriana, on your own perfect way."

This words almost made Oriana cry, hell, they did, and she felt a small tear roll down over her cheek, as a shaky laugh escaped her lips. "Thanks, Shepard. Very much."

"Don't mention, girl."

"No, really. Thank you for everything, for joining the ballroom dancing classes even though you didn't liked, for be my partner, for help me with the Ed's situation, for the performance you showed today with me, and most of all, thanks for being a kind friend, I never had a friend like you before." Oriana's voice was getting shakier, clearly she was crying silently.

There was a big silence on the other end of the call, but then we could hear a small sniff, did it belonged to Shepard? "Yeah, well, thanks for being the one that appreciates me as I am. I have been having some struggling during these years to try fit in some place. It seems my luck is changing, for good now."

Oriana smiled as she heard Shepard's words, clearly the older woman had many secrets hidden, but Oriana would never dare herself to ask Shepard about that, since it seemed way too personal. "You welcome! Your luck will keep staying on the good side, I hope. I certainly wouldn't want another fight."

"You see as much as you try to run away from trouble, it always ends ups finding you. It's like my only friend, lucky me I have somebody named Oriana as a friend now."

A girly giggle escaped Oriana's lips as she wiped her tears away. "Glad we are friends, Shep." She bite down on her lip after saying that. She did not knew who Shepard fought, since the older girl only said this was some guys she had trouble back in the past, and since Shepard didn't wanted to talk about it, Oriana dropped it off at least about who were the bullies part.

"So am I. Anyway, shouldn't you be at bed? It's almost 11pm, and I believe you have classes in the morning as I do."

"Hey, don't act mom on me now."

"Little Oriana go brush your teeth, pee, and get ready to bed. I will be in your bedroom in five minutes for a goodnight kiss."

Oriana puffed out her cheeks like in a grumpy manner, even though Shepard couldn't see it. "Geez, fine mom."

"Haha, good night, Ori. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Shepard. Good night."

And with that, their conversation ended, and Oriana went do what Shepard said, she walked in the bathroom that stayed within her room and began to brush her teeth.

Miranda still remained outside, with her ear against the door the entire time, and she was no feeling bad about this, she was going to step in and yell at her sister for her foolish actions about being with Shepard, but after witness how good and kind Shepard was with Oriana, she couldn't deny such happiness for her sister, right? Even though she still couldn't understand what was the "Ed's issues", wasn't he her sister's boyfriend? She never really liked the boy, but she was social enough to not be mean to him, since her father seemed to enjoy him pretty much, or more like his money and family.

Huffing out, she shook her head and went to her bedroom, she still couldn't remove that small heart ache she had after hearing her sister's conversation with Shepard. She was conflicted, on one hand she was happy for her sister, and on the other hand she was angry at Shepard to be with her sister, angry at her to take advantage on her sister, if she was really doing that, but deep inside she was feeling slightly jealous, and that was messing around with her. Why the hell was she jealous about her sister being with Shepard? That was just fucked up, and she felt like smashing things now, why Shepard messed up with her so much? Why couldn't she simple ignore her existence like she does with almost everybody she hates. It seems this Shepard girl is way too mysterious for Miranda to ignore.

The next day didn't go so smoothly, Shepard finally showed up after being twenty minutes late at the math class, but she was having trouble this morning to hide her bruises, it was moments like this she cursed herself that she didn't had better make-up, the only one she owned had over five years, and it was a cheap one, so it was already messed up and ruined. Plus she went to house this morning, in a rush to ask her if she could remove the bandage on her cheek, wondering if her cut would be better, but simple changed the bandage, since the old one was already dirty with blood, the wound was covered with dry blood and that was good, but the bandage still had to remain there in case it began to bleed again, and she wouldn't catch an infection.

Either way, she looked awful and she hated it, she had a small white bandage aid on her eyebrow, squeezing both skins together, so it would heal quickly and not leave a big scar, then her lower lip was still swollen and the fresh bruise was obvious, so was the other bruise mark under her left eye, she felt fucked up. A cut on her right cheek, a dark purple mark under her left eye, a cut on her right eyebrow, a bruise on her lower lip, and everything looked dark, red or purple, and she was hating it. When she arrived the academy, she went quickly to the bathroom, to take another last look at her, she didn't wanted to show up like this, it was weird and not pretty, she didn't seemed to be a person to care about her looks, but she did, at least enough to not show up at a place like this.

This Ed guy was totally going to pay, when she had the chance she would throw herself at him and beat him like they were both animals fighting for survival, of course she wouldn't kill him, but leaving him some deep painful bruises would be good enough for her. This was what he wanted to do with her, mess around with her mental and physic as well. – Time to push those thoughts away and face this, she seriously thought about not coming today, but If she done that she would be in deep trouble, and she was starting to like this Academy no matter what consequences she faced on the way.

The very moment she stepped inside the math class, and apologized for her delay, everybody started at her and gasped, some were disgusted, others were worried, others were simple amazing her bruises, like Jack and Aria, another people fucked up in the head, but Shepard always thought they were those kind of people once they were loyal to you, they would never leave your back, and she appreciates that on people.

Shepard sat down on her usual seat besides Kelly and began to remove her math book and her notebook, also a pen.

"Are you alright?" Kelly decided to ask as she had worry crossed all over her face.

"Huh?" Shepard frowned slightly as she turned around to face Kelly. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just had some trouble with somebody, no big deal." Shepard tried to smile, but she remembered how much it hurt her cheek and lower lip if she tried to smile, and feared her cheek would start bleeding again; she wanted it to heal quickly and leave minimal scars on her.

"If you need to talk, just call me and I will listen to you." Kelly smiled at Shepard.

It was a warm feeling for the blonde girl, she thought Kelly would start trying to get the truth out of her, but all she did was say if Shepard wanted to talk she would listen to her, she didn't even asked once time about what happen, she just said if she wanted to talk, she would be there, and that was a new thing for Shepard. Maybe Oriana was right, her luck would stay on the good side.

…

After the math class, chemical one, and the languages one, it was finally time for lunch and Shepard's stomach watched how hungry she was.

"I always wonder how you humans could make that…" Tali asked as she stood beside Shepard and perked up an eyebrow, she even stretched out her hand and poked Shepard's belly softly.

Even though the touch was soft, it still kind of hurt her, made her remind the kicks Ed had placed on her stomach, but she totally ignored the pain and looked down at Tali with a smile. "Yeah, well we don't do it on purpose, it just happens every time we are hungry. It's like 'If you won't feed me, I will make a noise so the others can know you are hungry and they will feed me' " Shepard finished her words with a small laugh, still trying her best to ignore the all pain that made her body feel.

Tali chuckled at Shepard's words, so did Liara and Kelly who were standing around her. The trio had agreed to shut up about Shepard's bruises and pretend like she wasn't even hurt, if Shepard wanted to open up she would, and they would listen to her, if she didn't wanted to say a thing, they wouldn't bother her about it.

They sat down at an empty table, with their tray of food right in front of them as they started eating while chatting about how cranky Udina was this morning at the math class, but that man was always cranky, so, Shepard commented about him being sexual frustrated at how it could mess up somebody to not have sex for a long time, and that's when Tali got her…

"So, you talk because you already know?" Tali asked with a silly grin. As much as adorable she looked, and how her voice sounded, this was totally out of character; here she thought Tali would never say such things, but she was a pervert cute quarian then.

Shepard almost chocked on her food, before look at Tali and clear her throat. "Maybe…" She admitted before look back down at her food with her pale cheeks slightly pinkish.

"I knew it!" Tali laughed and Liara simple tried to hold back a giggle, and the blush that was slowly showing up upon her blue cheeks. Kelly just allowed herself with laugh along with Tali but felt slightly sorry that Shepard faced Tali's pervert traits.

Before the girls conversation could go any further, somebody stepped closer to their table, somebody that they weren't waiting for, which was Miranda.

"Miranda…" Kelly mumbled as she looked up at the dark haired girl.

Miranda simple ignored everybody else and leaned down, getting herself closer to Shepard, as she softly whispered into her ear, only leaving Shepard able to hear her. "You better not hurt, Oriana, Shepard. Or I'll make sure to be the first one who gets you this time." After finishing those words, she simple removed herself away from Shepard, looked down at the other three, and did not smiled, nor showed any emotion, just her simple poker face like she always has, then she simple walked away, going back to her life.

"The hell was that?" Tali asked, perking up an eyebrow.

Kelly and Liara were as confused as Tali and looked at Shepard, waiting for her replay.

Shepard was a bit speechless not at Miranda's words, because she was already waiting for those words, but she was speechless that Miranda decided to approach her and whisper something in her ear in public. Ignoring that, she looked back at her friends, who were as confused as her, but she simple shrugged forcing a small smile. "Miranda's issues, nobody knows what the hell she has going on in her mind." Not even me…

…

It was the end of the day, and Oriana had spotted out Shepard on the hallways, and she asked Shepard if she could wait a bit outside once her classes were over, she would go quickly meet up with her, because she had something to discuss with her.

Now, Shepard simple waited outside the school, sitting on the benches that remained at the courtyard, she had her back leaned against the bench and her ankles slightly crossed in front of her, with her palms over her stomach, and her bag by her side over the bench.

"Shepard!" Oriana called out as she skipped happily towards Shepard.

Shepard turned her head and looked up at the young girl, she picked up her bag and placed it upon her lap, so Oriana could sit right beside her. "Hey little girl."

Oriana sat down besides Shepard and puffed out her cheeks in a grumpy manner. "Stop calling me that, it makes me feel little."

"Well, you are little." Shepard chuckled and poked her cheek softly.

"It doesn't mean you have to mention it!" Oriana giggled, trying her best to sound mad, but it was almost impossible, she really liked Shepard's company.

"Alright, alright. So what did you wanted to talk about?" Shepard smiled looking at Oriana.

"Well, first of all, how are you feeling?" Oriana frowned slightly, getting worried now. She stretched out her left hand and pressed her finger very softly upon Shepard's bruised eyebrow.

"I'm fine, it's not as hurtful as it looks." Shepard kept her small smile, and yes it was as hurtful as it looked, but she was a tough woman.

Oriana didn't want to bother Shepard about it, so she simple shrugged it off. "Alright, if you say so." Oriana made herself more comfortable on the bench, before clear her throat, and try to gain the courage to ask Shepard something.

"Something's wrong?" Shepard wondered what was going with Oriana.

"Well you see…" Oriana cleared her throat again. "A-Ashley is throwing a party…like a Christmas tomorrow, since it's our last day at school and its Friday, she's throwing a party at some rented place at 8pm, and I was wondering if you wanted…" Oriana couldn't find any more courage to continue her words.

"You want me to go with you?" Shepard smiled a bit as she watched how nervous the girl seemed.

"Y-Yes!" Oriana almost jumped on her seat, but quickly got herself together. "I mean, if you want to as well.."

"Hum, let me see. I'm actually wondering why my fake girlfriend would be so nervous to ask me out." Shepard teased Oriana around.

Oriana couldn't help but to blush and giggle nervously. "Yeah well.."

"Don't worry, little girl. I will go with you." Shepard just chuckled slowly before place her palm over Oriana's head and ruffle her hand wildly through her short hair.

"Hey, hey!" Oriana yelped, before remove Shepard's hand away from her head and start fixing her hair, or try to. "Thanks for coming! But don't call me little girl there, it will be just too awkward."

"I will try, little girl, I will try." Shepard grinned at Oriana, who simple laughed with her adorable smile and her hair slightly messy.

Yup, not an exciting chapter, but next one will be, since it involves a party and teenagers. :)

Stick around!