Missing

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: *sigh* responding to anon reader Gwen: Behavior patterns in children tend to revolve around how the child is brought up, not how a parent was when they were a teenager. If you're a young child brought up in a loving house with parents that care and also raise you to know right from wrong, you're less likely to act out than you are raised by parents that do not care, or are negligent and abusive. That said, neither Kyle or Amanda should be "mean" to people simply because their mother displayed aggressive behavior in her teenage years. Behavior patterns and psychology are not always equal to personality, but influenced by surrounding, upbringing, and interaction with others. It would be easier to say that Kyle and Amanda could be sarcastic because that might be their personality, but one cannot say they would be aggressive towards other kids at their age unless something was severely wrong with their home life. Which, we know from this story, that that there is not.

Enjoy the chapter! ALSO my regular readers with a good eye for detail will notice a little something I'm putting in here.

Chapter 37 (Making Friends)

Victoria shuffled her feet behind Kyle while walking into the classroom. There were several kids already there, but her focus was on the teacher. The woman had a kindred face and soft blonde hair that was short and wavy. "Good morning Kyle," Mrs. Putnam remarked, "Is this Victoria?" She stopped as every eye fell onto her.

Kyle pat her on the back and gave her a reassuring smile. "Yes ma'am, she's a little nervous. I thought my little sister was nervous about starting her first day, but hey, Victoria here's incredibly shy." He smirked and Victoria coughed.

"I am not shy! I just um…" She took a deep breath and looked out at the class, smiling warily while waving at them. "H-Hi there." She started to stutter, which was something she wound up doing when she first started talking to Kyle and Amanda. She remembered something her aunt told her about regarding the stuttering and stopped to breathe, then spoke slowly to avoid the stutter. "I'm Victoria. I'm happy to be here, and I'm looking forward to classes." She turned her head to Kyle and stuck out her tongue. "There. I'm not shy."

"Well it got you talking." Her eyebrows rose and Kyle made his way to an empty desk. "So introduce yourself a little more, Mrs. Putnam makes all of us talk about ourselves to the class."

"Only if you're comfortable with it," Mrs. Putnam added quickly, "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable Victoria. I did speak with your mother and your aunt already." Then she understood what the teacher was referring to, and once more, she did not want special treatment.

"I'll be fine." She moved up to the front of the room and looked out at the class. Her hands trembled nervously and a lump formed in her throat. While the other students looked at her, she could feel sweat forming at her collar and beneath her bangs. "I'm Victoria Vega." The stutter returned so she stopped herself and laced her index fingers together.

Mentally she counted the number of students in the class. Fifteen students, she made sixteen. "There's not much to say. I was kind of homeschooled most of my life. My mommy's friends taught me how to read, write, and other things."

"How old are you?" A boy asked. Victoria looked to the boy, he was four seats to the right of Kyle. He had sandy brown hair and a soft, inviting gaze. "I turn nine in the wintertime." She unlatched her fingers and let her arms fall to the sides.

"I'm eight."

"Cool Victoria, what does your mom do?" She saw Kyle roll his eyes and glare at the boy, it was as though he wanted to be the one to get her to talk. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Mommy doesn't work. She and my dad aren't married either, but her boyfriend works for the police. So does my aunt."

"Awesome! My dad's a personal trainer, he also teaches fitness classes at the university. My family's made up of teachers, like dad's uncle is the principal here. My name's Jack, it's good to meet you. I'm adopted."

"Oh, is your dad married?"

"No, but he recently got engaged. You should come sit with me and my sister in gym-well she's not my sister yet, but she and Lindsay are nice. Lindsay's her mom."

"I was going to show her around," Kyle said under his breath. Victoria frowned at him and started to turn down Jack's offer, but Kyle immediately shifted and interjected before she could. "Still you should. Jack and his sister are cool, and you need to make friends on your own. Though, those two are athletic, so don't be surprised if they want you to play sports and run around."

"Sounds fun." She shrugged and looked over to Mrs. Putnam. "Can I sit down now, please? I don't really know what else to say." The teacher smiled at her and motioned to an empty seat near Jack. "Thank you."

She took the seat and folded her hands over her desk. Mrs. Putnam let everyone know the class had a few minutes to spend time with each other before getting started, so she made sure to do as Kyle and Amanda.

"Mama had a friend named Lindsay once."

"Is your mom Trina Vega?"

"Yes."

"Awesome! Lindsay was talking about her recently, maybe they knew each other." She smiled at him and looked down at her backpack. For now, she was feeling comfortable with this new school.

During lunch, Kyle was busy with some of his other friends and she didn't feel like getting involved with them right now. It was more to do with her feeling uncomfortable with large groups of people, she preferred getting to know people on a one on one basis.

She ate quickly, yet still managed to savor every bite. Today's lunch was served up with a slice of meatloaf, mixed veggies, milk, a banana, and a small brownie.

Her next move was to visit the library. The librarian, Mrs. Schorn, was a nice tall woman with wire glasses and auburn hair. The one thing Victoria enjoyed was reading. All throughout her life in that basement, she'd been given many books to read. Gary convinced Holly to allow it, so Andre, Cat, and Robbie all gave her books while teaching her various things.

Among her favorite were the Nancy Drew stories. She liked the Animorphs and Wishbone series too. Occasionally they would bring the Goosebumps series, and her mom would yell at them. Her mother told her all these books were from her childhood, so the three must have gone for children's books that they knew.

Her mom would sometimes read to her from what she called classic works, like Pride and Prejudice.

Truly, reading was the best way to pass the time in that dark place. She was curious about the books that were out nowadays, as opposed to books that were around when her mom was a child. The good thing about the elementary library was they allowed students to check out as many books as they wanted.

"Hi there!" The girl's voice startled her and she turned on her heels to see another girl in the section of books she was in. This girl had two long braided pigtails and had freckles on her cheekbones. "I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?"

"Victoria. I was looking for some books to take home and read with my mama."

"I'm Chelsea. I'm in fifth grade, what about you?"

"Third. Mom and Aunt Tori say I read at the fifth or sixth grade level. I really like to read."

"So do I." The girl's eyes widened and she leaned forward. "So you're a good reader? Would you like to be in the Battle of the Books this year?" Victoria paused and tilted her head to the side.

"What's that?"

Chelsea smiled and crossed her arms. "Every year the school competes with other elementary schools. We get five books to read and to remember, and compete for a medal. Of course you have to take a test first to see how much you know about the books you read, and if you know enough to make it onto the team-you're good to go!"

It sounded interesting, and she felt like it'd be fun to give it a shot. Although she'd be a little nervous competing, but was there any shame in trying to see if she could at least make it?

"I'd like to try that." She grabbed a book from the shelf and opened it up, smiling at the words on the page. It was about a dog that was lost in the wilderness. As she read the first page, Chelsea leaned over and her eyebrows drifted.

"You're a third grader? That's a sixth grade book."

"Yeah, I had good teachers." She looked up and closed the book in her hand. "I understand the words."

"Then we need to see if you can get in on the battle of the books!" Chelsea took her hand and guided her to the front desk in a hurry. Her cheeks flushed and a nervous smile flickered at her lips as the librarian smiled. "Mrs. Schorn, she needs to be a part of the battle of the books! She can read at upper levels." Chelsea held up the book and Mrs. Schorn looked impressed.

"Well. Victoria? Are you interested in trying out? I'll put your name down if you'd like." She didn't need to think much about her answer. Despite any hesitation, she truly felt like she'd enjoy this. Plus Chelsea seemed nice, so there was a chance for friendship.

"I would. I don't know much about it, but I like what Chelsea said. I like to read, so it's a good chance to read some newer books." The librarian nodded and wrote her name down on a sheet of paper.

Today was turning out to be a good day.

At the gym, she met with Jack and his step-sister, Michelle. They each sat in a single row, as the P.E. instructor had every student seated along the gym in this manner. "This is my favorite class," Michelle informed, "We get to do a lot of fun things around here. Do you like to run, Victoria?"

"A little bit." She'd become faster and a bit stronger over the time she'd been with her aunt, mainly because Kyle and Amanda liked to play a variety of games outside-their parents were apparent believers that children needed to play outdoors rather than spend their day indoor. "Kyle and his sister play tag a lot. Hide and go seek is fun."

"How often did you guys play?"

"Nearly every day. Mr. or Mrs. Oliver would drop them off and we'd spend all day running around." While she didn't tire out as easily as she did before and her legs weren't as sore, she was still affected in the way of endurance. "I'm getting faster."

"You seem like the type to enjoy playing sports." Michelle grinned and sat upright. "You know, Jack's in early karate class." Her brow furrowed and she turned her focus to Jack. Trina spoke about karate a few times, so she knew what it was.

"Mom was a blackbelt once, but she hasn't practiced in a long time."

Jack scrunched his nose and leaned his back against the wall. His shoulders rose up and he laced his fingers behind his head. "She probably still is. Dad says you don't lose your rank even if you don't use you skill for a long time. I could teach you a few things if you'd like to learn."

Michelle nudged him in the side and smirked. "I got her first, Jackson."

As the teacher led them outside, she looked around for Kyle. He was with a couple of his friends, so she elected to hang out with Jackson and his sister. On the track.

They ran together and chatted to get to know each other. Every so often she'd see the teacher watching, usually with a stopwatch in her hand. When she asked about it, Michelle said she always timed the students in class to see how fast they could run.

She wanted to invite them over because of their mom possibly being the same Lindsay that Trina talked about, but she didn't want to do that without checking with her mother first. Still she was happy, and no one asked about the eight years of her life she spent locked away in a basement.

If the first day of school went this well, then surely the next day would be even better.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, should be the last school chapter. Enjoy what is to come