Emily woke up. She shivered in the cold - it was getting into autumn now, and it was more important to save the money than pay for heating. Maria had already left, about an hour ago. She had to work her ass off to provide for the two of them, so Emily rarely saw her in the mornings. She dressed, ate, and half an hour later she was headed to school.

Emily knew how the other students thought of her. They didn't say it out loud any more, but she could see it. Some hated her some were afraid, some just wanted nothing to do with her. Not that she cared. The fact that she didn't care was a result of why they thought that of her, so the fact that they thought it was irrelevant.

There was a dangerously pale, thin girl arriving at about the same time as her. Even someone as socially disconnected as Emily could recognise her, if only for her unique condition. Like Emily, Victoria Romus had been mistreated for things outside her control, though Emily expected that the other girl had been more affected by it. Maybe she saw a kindred spirit in Emily for that; Emily couldn't be sure, though she did know she didn't and couldn't reciprocate that regardless, though she had become quite good at falsifying emotions.

It was then that Emily saw Victoria run a diamond ring across the screen of one harasser's phone. [i]Clever girl.[/i] She suspected she'd have done the same, had their positions been swapped. She smiled at Victoria, raising one eyebrow in appreciation. It wasn't real, but it looked the part.

Apparently Emily hadn't been the only one to notice Victoria's ring. One boy, who had apparently come from an even worse background than herself, had approached Victoria and began to speak to her. Perhaps it was unfair to assume the boy's intentions, but, again, had she been in such a bad situation it would have been the first thing on her mind. Still, there was a good chance that [b]something[/b] would happen, so Emily stepped to one side and leant against a wall about fifteen feet away, watching the pair as their conversation began.