"Fwank I don't want you to go."Claire whined as she clung to my leg.
"I'm sorry Claire. I have to."I sighed. I knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eye,"It's going to be absolutely fine. Lily will take care of you."
She nodded at me as I pulled her in for a hug. Her small body was shaking in my arms and her tears were soaking my t-shirt. I held her tightly and rocked her from side to side slowly until her sniffles had stopped and she was still.

For the last hour we had been rocking out to Slash and now she was exhausted I had hoped she would be asleep for when I left..

"Frank you have to go now."Lily said.

Through the whole week there had been no word from the couple. Lily had been quietly disappointed. She said she was fine when I asked her but I knew better. Claire seemed completely oblivious. No one had explained to her what this place actually was. Mrs Macy had said she was too young to understand. Which I spose she was at 4.

"Okay..."I carefully got up, being careful not to wake Claire. Lily walked with me in silence down to Claires room. I lay her down carefully on her bed and kissed her on the forehead.
"Fwaank I don't want you to go!"She screamed suddenly and clung to me. She started sobbing as I tried to hold back my tears.

"Claire its okay. I'll be back to visit you okay? Please don't cry."I cried. Her face was breaking me.
"Can I come down with you?"She whispered.
"Of course you can."I smiled. She hooked her arms around my neck and started humming along to Promise.

"About time. Mr Lockhart is waiting for you."Mrs Macy was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking pissed off. I could see the happiness over my leaving in her eyes though. She wasn't hiding it that well.

"Shit I forgot my bag."I said. I put Claire down and rushed all the way upstairs to grab my bag filled with more cds than clothes.

"Right. Are you ready now?"Mrs Macy scanned me. I looked around the place I had grown up in. As much as I hated it, it was still my home and childhood. The only people seeing me off were Lily, Claire and Mrs Macy. Although I'm pretty sure she was here to make sure I actually went.

I took a deep breath in and said,"I'm ready."

"I'm gonna miss you Frank. You better write and visit and call everryday okay?"Lily sniffed. I smiled at her and nodded as the tears found a way out. She rushed at me and wrapped her arms around me tightly. I closed my eyes and gripped her back.

We let go and smiled at each other.
"Fwank!"Claire clung to my leg, digging her nails in as she cried.
"Hey kiddo."I sniffed and picked her up,"You heard Lily. I'm gonna call everyday so we can talk on the phone okay?"

She nodded sadly and buried her head in my neck.
"I love you Frankie."She whispered.
"I love you too Claire."I smiled as she somehow managed to pronounce the 'r' in my name.

"I'm gonna see you in no time. You'll see guys.'I said as I backed away towards the front door. I waved goodbye to the two greatest people in the world. Before I ran back to them I turned around quickly and walked out the door.

There was a sleek black car waiting for me with a very kind old man in the drivers seat.
"Goodbye Franklin. Its been..."Mrs Macy had no idea how to finish her sentence.
"I know. Thank you for everything. Please make sure Claire gets a good loving home. Nothing less than what she deserves."I felt more tears leaking down my face.
"Of course. Bye Frankie."She smiled. I chuckled on the outside at her calling me Frankie but on the inside I was throwing a glass bottle at her.

"Morning sonny."The man that must have been Mr Lockhart smiled at me as I got in the passenger serat. I had never been in such a flash car.
_: :2) mr Lockhart is it?"I asked him.
"No. Call me Steven."He held his hand out for me to shake. I took it and almost gasped at how soft his hands were. They were so fucking soft. I put my seatbelt on and looked up at the house. Lily and Claire were in the front window waving at me furiously. More tears welled up in my eyes as I waved back.

As the car pulled away I couldn't help shake the feeling that that was the last time I would see my two best friends. I ignored it and looked ahead as we started driving a way I had never been before.

-time lapse-

"This is your room. You have to share it with two other boys I'm afraid. Mrs Macy did say to give you your own room but we're short of those at the moment sorry."Steven said as he opened the door to a room with dark red walls and three beds, one of which was bare.

I took one step in and dumped my bag on the bare bed. The room smelt like cologne and cum. Great. I had probably intruded on to dickheads that watched porn and jacked off together. Perfect.

"Lunch is at half past 12 so whenever you're ready just come down to meet everyone."He smiled and left me to unpack. There was a set of drawers underneath the window on the far side of the room. I walked over to it and started looking for an empty drawer. I opened the middle one and was about to close it but I stopped when I spotted something familiar. I pulled out the black t-shirt and stared at it.

Never in my life had I met another person that liked greenday. Now I was sharing a room with someone that had an american idiot t-shirt. I folded it back up and closed the drawer feeling happy in anticipation of meeting this guy.

I emptied my clothes out into the empty drawer below then sat down on my bed and started to assess the situation.

I was in a place I didn't know filled with people I didn't know. The two people I did know were far away and I had no fucking idea how to get back to them. My only chance was the boy with the greenday top.

I looked over at the two beds, trying to figure out which one his would be. Oine of them had a white duvet cover and was made up nicely. There was a book on the bedside table and I could just see some pjs peeking out from under the pillow. The other bed was completely messy with a black duvet and an ashtray on the bedside table. Under there were empty beer cans and bottles and cigareete butts. I think I found my guy.

I jumped as a kid slammed the door open and stared at me angrily.
"Uhh hey?"I tried.
"What the fuck Steven?! I told you I don't want to share a fucking room!"The kid screamed over his shoulder. I stared at him uncertainly. What a fucking nutjob. He already shared a room.

"Jack I fucking told you yesterday this was happening but you were too fucking obssessed with your stupid girlfriend!"I heard Steven yell back. Jesus christ. Jack glared over his shoulder at Steven who must have been down the hallway. He looked back at me and walked in, slamming the door behind him.

"So kid. What's your name?"He asked politely. My mouth opened and closed with no noise coming out. What the fuck was up with this guy?
"I asked you what your fucking name was!"He yelled and took a step closer. I didn't even see it coming. His fist collided with my jaw and made my lip split instantly.
"Fuck."I coughed out the hot metallic blood allk over my favourite fucking t-shirt.

"Oh is that it? Is your name fuck?"He grinned at me. I glared at him and stood up. I wasn't going to live like this anymore. Moving away from that school and home was supposed to be the end of it.

"Fucking hit me again and see what happens."I spat out. He laughed quietly and brought his fist back and smiled at me. Right before he started swinging I spat the blood in my mouth at him, hitting him square in his face. He swung at me blindly but I caught his fist in my hand and shoved him back until he hit the wall, smacking his head.

"You little punk!"He screamed at me and came towards me but was held back by Steven.
"Nice shot Frank. Now no more of this. Jack you should know better than to cause fucking fights.He growled down at the fuming Jack. He rolled his eyes and shook himself free of Steven.

"You better fucking watch your back."He said and jabbed a finger in my chest. I shot daggers at his back as he walked away.
"Nice going there."Steven said.
"Wy didn't you come in earlier and sop him?"I asked as I sat down and wiped away the dried blood.
"You'll find that this place is very different to your previous home. Everyone here is tough as guts over being abandoned and won't take shit from anyone. I wanted to see how well you could defend yourself."

I stared at him before answering,"And? How well did I do?"
"Pretty damn good. Jack is considered the second roughest in the house by some of the kids."
"Who's more brutal than that bastard?"I asked him as I took off my top and stared at the little spots of blood on the eye of the skull. (Its a misfits top fyi)

"You'll see at lunch. If he's still here that is."He said and got up.
"Aye?"I looked up at him.
"Gimme that. I'll get it washed for you so it doesn't stain."He said and yanked my top out of my hands before I could say anything.

"Uh thanks?" I said and got up to get a new top. Without looking I pulled a t-shirt out and shoved it over my head.
"Good luck."Steven grinned as he stared at my top. I looked down and saw that it was my 'homophobia is gay' one.
"I aint taking it off."I said as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Come on then."He motioned for me to follow him so I did. The building was set out similar to my old place. Four floors with lots of rooms. Only difference was that one side of the house had all the gilrs and the otherside the bnoys. Oh and there was a basement.

We got to the bottom floor and entered the kitchen. There was a tall man with hairy arms stirring something in a large pot. On one side there was a window looking out to the garden and on the other side there was a large hatch to pass food through. Through it I could see people sitting round a long dining room table. Some of them were looking through at me but most of them didn't give a damn and were talking to their friends.

"This is Taylor the cook. He cooks everything. And by that I don't mean breakfast, lunch and dinner I mean literally every meal you could possibly think of."Steven pointed to the hairy dude who turned and grinned at me.

"Can you do anything vegetarian?"I asked him.
"Oh suure! Got a couple of other vege dudes here as well. What do you want? Lasagne? Moussaka?"
"Oh god. I was thinking more along the lines of a sandwich."I laughed slightly trying to ignore the looks I could see out of the corner of me eye.
"Well now I can whip you up a nice sandwich. After I've fed the lions in there though."He chuckled.

I decided that I liked taylor.
"Come on. Come meet everyone."Steven pulled me out of the kitchen and round the corner into an open planned dining room/tv room.
"Everyone shut the fuck up."He yelled over the babble of voices. Immediately everyone went wuiet and stared at me.

"This is Frank. He came from the Mace house."Steven informed them. Therre were a few mumrurs around the table. It was almost like a mexican wave. I looked round the table at everyone. Jack was sitting with what must have been his cronies with a very pretty brunette holding an ice bag to the back of his head.

I spotted a kid that I used to share a room with until I got my own room. My eyes fell on a kid whose face I couldn't see. He had a big black hoodie on with his hood up covering his face. The ends of his long black hair was falling out from underneath.

He wasn't paying attention to what steven was saying (something about treating me right or some stupid fucking thing). I couldn't stop staring at this unknown person. He was scratching something into the table with his knife.

"Frank? You in there?"Steven waved a hand in front of my face and broke my concentration on the boy.
"Uhh what?"I blinked at him.
"You wanna say hi? Find a seat?"He grinned.

"Uh sure... Hello?"I shrugged my shoulders and looked for a seat far away from jack. I couldn't help but notice that the faceless kid was by himself. Three free seats on one side and two on the other. I contemplated sitting next to him. When I realised I would have to sit at least a little close to him I decided to fuck it.

I marched round the table and plonked my arse down on the seat to his right. There was more mutterings straight away and someone gasped.
"Hey. What's your name?"I asked him quietly. He ignored me and continued scratching what looked like a grenade into the table.

"What are you drawing?"I tried again. He dropped his knife and pushed his chair back to stand up. I watched as he turned away and left the room, only just managing to catch a glimpse of bright green eyes under the hood.
"Damn. I was hoping to get some foor in him before he left."Steven sighed.
"Uhh what did I do?"I asked as I noticed a bunch of people staring at me.

"That's Gerard. Moved here from Pansy last year. He's a runaway."A girl close to me informed me.
"Oh... What's Pansy?"I asked suddenly.
"Another orphanage. You came from Mace house cause of Mrs Macy. Pansy is cause of Mr Pettle and the fact that the only flowers in the garden are pansies. I'm from the library."She said and sat up straight as Taylor brought in the pot of soup. Steven was bringing bowls through the hatch and handing them out.

"Why is it the library?"I asked her.
"Cause the building used to be a library."She said and patted the chair next to her. I moved over to sit next to her as Taylor came round and sat two plates with club sandwiches down in front of us.
"Thanks Tay."The girl said.

"You a vege dude?"She asked as she picked up a sandwich.
"Uh yeah. If that's a vegetarian in this place."I laughed and picked one up for myself.
"Yeah. This place has a lot of nicknames for things. I'm Sarah by the way."She smiled at me.
"Frank."I replied.
"I know."She grinned at me. I blushed and looked around at everyone.

"So how is the old mace?"Someone asked me. I looked for the source of the voice and spotted the kid I used to share a room with.
"As shitty as ever."I smiled as I tried to remember his name.
"Its Ryan. I can see you struggling to remember me."He supplied helpfully.
"Ryan! Good to see you man."I said.

It wasn't too bad here. Friendly enough people apart from Jack and his mates. One familiar face and a friend made already. Not bad for a couple of hours. If only school would be as easy as this.