Every morning it is the same old routine; get up, shower, get ready for school and then help my younger brother and sisters get ready. I hate it. I have to share this really small cramped up room with my mum, and Clara, Christabelle and Gavin get the other one that is three times bigger than mum's and mine. Just over a month ago, my parents separated. Mum said Dad didn't want us anymore; that he had found a new woman to replace her and some kids to replace us. Dad made us move out and Mum was lucky enough to find a two-bedroom apartment. But I hate it. I miss being near my friends and my school - but most of all I hate my Dad. I can't understand how he can just stop loving us, I can't understand how he can just forget all the good times that we all had together.

Sleeping in the same room as Mum is even worse than sharing one with my brother and sisters. Every night when she thinks I'm asleep she cries. She muffles them with her pillow but I can always hear them. I lay awake for hours just listening to her. Gavin is ten and so Mum thinks he is old enough to understand what is happening but Clara and Christabelle are only six, (identical twins), so they don't know the full story. Every morning they ask when Daddy is coming over and I can see Mum's heart braking all over again. Tears always come to her eyes and she looks away, "Soon, babies, soon." She says but I know that she is lying; Dad is never coming back.

In the kitchen it looks like the remains of a holocaust. Gavin is sitting at our miniature, second-hand table that we had to buy because Dad wouldn't give us the old one. He is staring glumly at the porridge Mum had made the night before, pushing the lumps around with his spoon. Mum is still in bed. She never gets up early in the morning now; in fact she spends most of her time in bed. I normally have to do all the cooking and cleaning. Clara and Christabelle are fighting in the bathroom, I can here their arguing and I know if they don't shut up then Mum will get up and scream at them.

I walk in and find them fighting over the hairbrush. Both are trying to get ready themselves but they aren't doing a good job. They both have long blonde hair, which is very curly and gets into tangles easily. The only way you can tell them apart is by looking into their eyes. Clara has a darker shade of blue than her other half.

"Stop it girls, do you wanna wake Mum up and get us all into trouble?" I say, taking the hairbrush from their dainty little hands.

"I was using it first!" Clara says.

"Why can't we share?" Chrissie asks.

"You both are not doing it right, let me do it." I say and begin to brush Clara's hair, and then tie it back.

"My turn!" Chrissie says.

I do the same to Chrissie and then go back to the kitchen. "Gavin, can you put away the dishes?" I ask him.

"I dunno," he replies, not looking at me.

I sigh and begin the chore myself. Clara and Chrissie come back out of the bathroom and sit down at the table. "I'm hungry," Chrissie says.

"Me too." Clara adds.

"Gav, can you heat up some porridge for the girls?" I ask Gavin, but then see that he has vanished, probably to his room. I sigh again and pull out two plastic bowls from the cupboard. I fill them with porridge and put them in the microwave. Mum comes out of our room, yawning.

"Morning Mum!" I say cheerfully, hoping that she will be happy today.

"Hi," she mumbles and walks straight into the bathroom.

The porridge is heated and I put the bowls on the table. The girls dig into it and then off to brush their teeth after Mum leaves the bathroom. She slumps down at the table.

"Love, could you get me some porridge and a coffee please?"

I do as I'm told, though I feel like screaming at her. Why can't she pull herself together for our sake? Here I am acting like the mother and she acts like she's the daughter.

"Mum, when are you gonna get a job?" I ask, laying the coffee down in front of her.

She sighs, "I've been looking but one hasn't come up. I'm not fully equipped to be anything. I was studying law until I met your father and had you, he wanted me to quit school and be a full time mother."

"I know, but maybe you can get a job cleaning or looking after kids, something like that, we really need the money."

"I will not do those kind of things Bella! I'm better than that!"

I wanted to tell her that it didn't matter what she did, as long as we got money, we barely had food to eat. I was going without breakfast and lunch just to feed the younger kids and Mum.

I shook my head and turned away. "We have to go now Mum or we'll miss the bus."

"Bye love." She replied absently.

I called for the others and together we trudged down the stairs to the bus stop at the end of the road. Normally I had enjoyed catching the bus; all my friends caught it but since we had moved we had to catch another bus. I didn't like the people who caught it. They were all rich snobs from the hills. They would give you these looks if you came too close, as if to say, come one step closer and I'll chuck a lawsuit on you so fast you won't know what hit you. I stayed away from them most of the time, but sometimes this kid named Joshua James would talk to me. His father owned all these department stores in town and he thought he was on top of the food chain, the king. Joshua James had to be the most snobbiest and egotistical person I had ever met and he was British.

Anyway, he would sometimes talk to me, I don't know why, but somehow he always managed to get me mad and irritated. I hated him almost as much as I hated my father. All the girls wanted him, and I had to admit that he was very good looking. Dark brown hair and eyes that were almost as green as grass. He had a tall, lean figure and he was star of the boy's basketball team.

The bus rolled up and I clambered on, holding onto Chrissie and Clara's hand. Gavin sauntered on after us and sat down with a few friends. The girls rushed off to their friends and I found a seat on my own. I stared out the window, feeling my stomach grumble. Someone sat down next to me and I looked towards him.

"Hey, bell!" Joshua exclaimed, draping an arms around the back of the seat.

I sighed, "What is it this time, Joshua?"

"Just catching up with my fellow grade tenners."

"Ok then, bye." I said and turned away to look out the window.

"So, how ya been?" he asked me, watching me with those intense green eyes.

"What do you care?" I snapped, not looking at him.

I felt him shrug next to me. "So how come you moved?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" I retorted, not liking all these questions.

He shrugged again, and then stood up and went back to his friends. Next stop saw the younger kids off and I waved goodbye to the twins and Gavin. The bus moved forward and then a few blocks later we arrived at Thompson Secondary School. I clambered off and spotted my friends waiting behind the fence. Melanie, Rachel, Olivia, Noah and Ben were standing there shivering.

"Hi," I said to them and they responded cheerfully even thought they were obviously freezing.

"How's your mum?" Melanie asked.

I shrugged, "Same as usual, though today she actually got up before we left." Melanie nodded, all my close friends knew of my parent's separation and what has been happening since . The bell rang and we went off to class. In fifth period, (Child Studies) Joshua and his drongo (for the Americans or whoever doesn't know what that word means it is like 'dork' or 'jock' in Australian slang) friend Brian Kelser were moved into our class. He winked at me as he walked by and outside I could here his teacher yelling at Mrs Cronin. It was quite obvious she couldn't handle them anymore. What was worse was that he took the seat behind me. I could feel his every breath, but ignored it and continued on with the worksheet Mrs Cronin had given us.

"Gotta spare pen?" I looked up and there he was, standing right beside me. I didn't even here him get up.

I unzipped my pencil case and handed him a pen. His hand lingered a moment longer on my hand and then he sat back down.

Mrs Cronin came back into the room looking agitated, "Well, class. It seems that we have two new students. Joshua James and Brian Kelser." She bent down and wrote their names on a piece of paper and dropped it into a box.

A few girls turned their heads and looked at Joshua but I pretended I hadn't noticed.

Mrs Cronin continued, "I was just about to hand out the assignments before we were interrupted so let's do them now." She picked up a little box and held it high in the air. "All the girls will pick a name out of this box and the name you have will be your partner." She put the box down and then held up an egg, "These eggs have chicks growing inside of them, you and your partner will have to care for it until it hatches and record your results down every day, I will also give you another assignment sheet that you have to complete together."

All the girls stood up and waited in line to withdraw a name. I waited impatiently until it was my turn. I put my hand in the box and felt the pieces of paper. I quickly pulled one out and walked back to my desk before looking at it. My hurt sank and I moaned: Joshua James. Why me, Lord?

"Who ya got?" he asked casually, leaning over and trying to peek at my paper.

"Someone I don't want!" I got up and walked over to Mrs Cronin. "Uh, Miss. Could I please swap?"

She looked up at me, "No swapping." Then she raised her voice and yelled, "Here that class? No swapping."

I walked back to my desk, humiliated and angry. I slapped the paper onto Joshua's desk and he jumped surprise. "I got you," I snapped and slumped down in my chair, fuming.

"Nice to know I'm wanted." Joshua mumbled.

Mrs Cronin came round, handing out the eggs. As she passed me she said, "Sit up properly Bella!" Immediately I shot up and heard Joshua's amused chuckle.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, turning around.

"You!" he replied. I glared at him and faced the other way.

The bell rang and I stood up and rushed outside, carrying our egg. I stood impatiently, waiting for him outside. He came and stood by me.

"I'll take care of the egg tonight, and I'll do the assignment sheet as well," I said.

I was about to walk away, but he grabbed me and spun me around. "What?" I snarled angrily.

"Why can't we do it together? I'll come over your house after school," "Oh will you now?" I growled, "I think not!"

"Why not?" He asked, surprised at my coldness.

"Coz', that's why!" I turned and ran away before he could stop me.

That night, after putting Gavin, Clara and Chrissie to bed, there was a knock on our front door. I wondered for a moment if it was dad, but I knew that it wouldn't be. Mum was lying down on the couch, totally wasted with a bottle of vodka cruiser in her hand. I could hear her moaning from the kitchen. I got up from the small kitchen table where I was doing my homework and went to open the door. The devil himself was standing there!

"What do you want?" I growled at a surprised Joshua.

"Who is it Bella?" My Mum called, her voice slurred. "Roy, is that you? I miss you Roy, please come back to me." She started crying loudly.

I stepped outside into the corridor and closed the door. Crossing my arms I said, "Well?"

"Is your Mum alright?" he asked me, looking concerned.

"Just fine," I replied through clenched teeth.

He eyed me for a second. "Well?" I said bitterly, losing my patience.

"Whoa, chill. I was coming over to help with our project? Remember? I am your partner after all,"

I felt as though I could have killed him then and there, right on the spot. I sensed tears beginning to form behind my eyes.

My voice was soft as I said, "Please, Joshua . Not tonight, and not here."

"Hey, come on, don't get upset. We don't have to do the assignment here if you don't want to. Come over my house tomorrow."

I shook my head, "I can't, and I have to catch the bus back with my brother and sisters."

"They can come with us," He suggested, "We have a huge playground in our backyard,"

"I don't wanna be too much trouble,"

"Hey, its no skin off my neck, our servants can look after them,"

I didn't know what to say; instead I just stood there, staring at him stupidly. His green eyes seemed to shimmer for a moment, as he waited for my answer. He gently touched my face.

"You haven't been eating well," He announced, as if I didn't know that.

I smacked his hand away, annoyed, "Like you would care!"

He jumped a little and was about to say something, but my Mum called out to me, her voice loud and full of anger. "I have to go," I stammered, before rushing inside and slamming the door in his face.