"Do you think this place will be good or bad?" Ethel asked as they were on their way to their new home.

"I don't know, I am not getting my hopes up though cause that has never ends well." Juliette answered, Ethel and Juliette may not be blood related but they are basically sisters

"Thank you for being available on such short notice. Um, this is Ethel." Mrs. Martini said as she motioned for Ethel to step in, so she did moving a little to the side.

"And this is Juliette." And in stepped Juliette, Juliette could almost hear the shock from the woman guess she hadn't expected two kids, on the other hand the man seemed kind of excited, Juliette didn't show any emotion, she stopped doing that after being kicked out of her third foster home, the sixteen year old girl was thrown into foster care when she was ten and in six years she had been in eight different foster families, she was sent back due many different reasons, she hadn't spent close to a year in any of them.

"Wow. Okay. Hi." The man spoke.

"Ethel and 70 other children were removed from a religious sect." Mrs. Martini spoke.

"Religious sect? You mean like a cult?" The man asked, the question was completely ignored.

"And her?" The woman asked pointing to Juliette.

"Juliette has been with us since she was ten years old, she's been in a total of about eight different homes so far." Mrs. Martini said like it was nothing.

"Eight? What did she do to get kicked out?" The woman asked, clearly worried about what the girl was capable of.

"Oh that's her stories to tell when she's comfortable not mine, sorry." Mrs. Martini said which did not give the woman any sense of calmness.

"Say hello to your new foster family, girls." She then spoke, changing the subject.

"Hello." Both girls said at the same time.

The man and woman looked at each other with different looks on their faces.

"Hey, Ethel, Juliette. Veronica's setting up for you in the living room. In the meantime, pick your poison. Parcheesi? Monopoly? Clue? No? Yes? Maybe? Wanna go to the park? Throw the old pig skin around?" Kevin as Juliette had now learned, said as soon as he walked into the kitchen where the girls were sat.

"I haven't done my chores today." Ethel said.

"Yeah, me neither, not that I'm complaining, but I'd love to help if anything is needed help with." Juliette spoke, it's true, she would love to do chores if there was anything that needed help getting done, but if not she didn't mind.

"Huh?" Kevin spoke.

"Our chores. Don't you have any for us to do?" Ethel asked for both of them.

"No. Like what?" Kevin asked.

"Scrubbing floors, washing dishes. Hemming, pickling, canning, laundry?" Ethel spoke out all the chores she would like to do.

"I'll take the dishes and laundry, that's what I'm best at, but whatever you need" Juliette spoke in all honesty.

"Let's go grab a burger. There's a new kids' place where the waiters dress like famous gangsters. Although I have no idea what that has to do with kids. Or burgers. What?" Kevin spoke, and that's when Juliette went silent, the food. Juliette had lots of different reasons for being sent back, and a shit load of trauma, you see she wasn't the problem, the families were, either they were druggies, drunks, the dads were abusers and rapists, she get so disgusted with herself with all the things she had to do in those homes, that she'd stop eating due to the men not buying new food, so it would be moldy stuff in the house or there would be nothing in the house, and only the parents went out to eat, she rarely got left overs, they'd call her fat even though she wasn't even fat at all, so she just stopped and that was it, she didn't eat anymore, when she was forced to be watched she would eat it, she would just puke it up after.

"The bible says that chores keep the soul pure." Ethel spoke, Juliette was not paying attention since she was reminded of food she'd go relive all the reasons she did eat, that was one of her worst habits.

"Juliette!" At that she snapped her head up to look at Kevin, frightened that she'd done something wrong she flinched.

"Sorry."

"No hey I'm sorry for yelling, I've just called your name five times and you didn't answer. I asked if you wanted any chores too? Ethel says it keeps the soul pure." Kevin asked.

"Yeah I could do dishes and laundry, or I also know how to cook." She answered, the rare times where the foster parents actually had food in the house, they'd make her make the food.

"And how old are you?" Veronica asked Ethel.

"She's thirteen." Juliette spoke as she walked into the room, she started speaking again, for now they didn't seem bad so the least she could do was communicate with them.

"Oh, my..." Kevin said as he leaned back.

"I'm gonna bust your ass." Veronica spoke making Juliette giggle as she walked closer.

"What about you?" Veronica asked, looking at the girl who had walked in the room.

"I'm sixteen." The girl answered.

"You've been in eight different foster homes in six years?" Kevin asked, he sounded kinda concerned but not scared because he thought she did anything to get sent back but concerned for her.

"Yup." The girls simply answered.

"Hey, hey, I want you guys to meet our new daughters." Kevin said as he walked into the house.

"Foster daughters." Veronica spoke.

"Why you gotta do that?" Kevin asked.

"You've got two?" Fiona asked from the kitchen.

"Yup." Veronica responded walking to the kitchen.

"Where is the other one then?" Lip asked them.

"She'll be here in a minute." Kevin responded.

"I know I haven't been the most exemplary father... ...for the past three or 15 years. But I'm gonna need your help to get through this. From this point forward, we're going to be a family again. What the hell is that? And who the fuck are you?" Frank spoke as he then looked from his kids to Ethel and then to Juliette who had just walked in.

"Everybody this is Juliette" Kevin spoke and she just stood there hitting one hand over the other not knowing what to say or do as everybody looked at her.

To keep Frank busy they made an obstacle corse throughout the whole house, Juliette didn't want to play so she just sat on the floor and watched and heard as some of the other tumbled around the house.

"Hey, the piano." Frank said as he stopped running, he then sat down and began to play.

"I didn't know Frank played the piano." Kevin said as he sat down on the couch beside Veronica.

"Neither did i." Fiona said, then Frank began sining.

"Is it okay if I just go home?" Juliette asked, she kinda made home sound like a question, not sure what to call it.

"Sure, but don't you want company? I mean Lip you seem like you're bored, why don't you, Karen and Juliette hang out, go for walk, have some fun, something." Kevin said, he didn't want her to just sit at home alone.

Juliette looked up at Lip and Karen who were sitting behind her.

"I better head home, but I mean you guys can walk me and then I don't know then you two can just hang out after." Karen spoke, both Juliette and Lip agreed to that and they then headed out.

"So are you and Karen like together or?" Juliette asked breaking the silence, her and Lip were sitting on the edge of a small bridge, water beneath them.

"No were just friends, you know but I mean we've slept together." Lip explained.

"So friends with benefits?" Juliette asked, putting a word to what he said.

"Yeah, like that." Lip said.

"Cool." It then became silent again and Lip pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, Juliette looked over at him.

"Can I have one?" Juliette, smoking wasn't a constant thing for her, but sometimes she didn't mind it just once in a while.

"Sure. But aren't you a little young? Aren't you like thirteen?" He asked, at that Juliette laughed.

"What?" He asked.

"No! That's Ethel. I'm sixteen, if you can smoke so can I" She spoke, Lip let out an 'oh' and handed her one and the lighter.

And so they just sat there for a little while both smoking, in comfortable silence, until they decided to for another little walk through the streets, just making small talk, about how Juliette was feeling about the place so far, and hearing stories about Lips life, just enjoying each others company.

A whistle was heard from behind them, both of them turned around to see a group of boys walking up to them.

"Hey how much?" One of them asked.

"How much? What?" Lip asked confused as to what they meant.

"How much for a turn with the girl?" Another boy then asked.

"Not for sale. Asshole." Juliette spoke. Dumb decision. she immediately thought as all help broke loose.

"The fuck did you just call me?" The same boy who had asked how much for her asked as her stepped toward her, she back away but wasn't fast enough as he reached forward and grabbed ahold of her arm.

"Ow! Hey! Get off!" She yelled, Lip stepped in and pushed the guy and the guy pushed back, they kept doing that until the boy swung first, then it all happened so fast, they started fighting, Juliette was so worried about the fight that she forgot about the other boys, it wasn't until a pair of hands grabbed her waist that she remembered, she turned around and slapped the guy across the face, she didn't actually mean to, it just kind of happened, so guy took a step closer to her, but he didn't get much further when another guy showed up and stopped the fight between Lip and the other guy, and pushed the other guy away from Juliette and they ran away.

Juliette thanked the guy over and over again, tears running down her cheeks as she helped Lip to his feet. They made their way to the Gallagher house, everyone was asleep now, Juliette stayed with Lip the whole night, she tented to his few scratches and did the best she could about his forming bruises, she didn't sleep much that night she couldn't she just sat there looking up at Lip here and then but sat on a chair, she eventually fell asleep for about twenty minutes to thirty minutes not much but she was used to that by now.

She did however spend her awake moments crying, she might have been used to it by now but that didn't mean that she likes it. She even had to sneak out the house for some air a couple of times.

Authors note!

Hello, i am super excited for this book I hope this is okay for a first chapter, I do know that this is a lot of trauma and stuff for a first chapter, I just love hurting my oc's lol, anyways I really just wanted to kick start the friendship between Lip and Juliette. I am in NO WAY trying to romanticise sexual assault it's and awful thing and it should not be treated as a way to make people fall in love with each other, take this as a way of Juliette learning that maybe she could trust some people to help her, if that makes any sense.
Love ya'll.

Also unfortunately this kind of stuff is just the reality for Juliette, she has been through hell and will continue to for awhile, but she will get better, she will be happy, but as of right now, sorry but not sorry.

If you've been through stuff like this I am really sorry, but please do not suffer in silence, If you need someone to talk to but feel like you can't talk to your friends or family about it yet, you can always reach out to me on insta, tiktok or even here. I love you, remember that.