Tom and I talked about how this was going down and what to expect. “Alan may seem strange and a bit of a jerk, but he’s not that bad once u get to know him. Yeah, he gets a new girl every week, but u have to look past that, you know?”Tom gave me a reassuring nod .“Yeah, I had a few friends at the boy’s home like that.”. When we got to the house, Mum greeted us at the door,“ Hey kiddos, how was school today? ”I looked at my mum with blood on my face from my knife. “Oh, it was interesting, to say the least,” I said as I led Tom to my brother's room right next to mine. “ Here, Tom. THis is gonna be your room while u stay here, ok?” Tom stopped, looked at the room, and smiled, then turned to me and said, “I haven’t had a room of my own since I can remember, in the home we were packed like sardines.” I looked up at Tom and smiled, “Well now u do, and you have clean clothes and warm food every day too.” Tom looked at me “Well, I don’t know how to even start paying you two back for the hospitality even though it was mainly a coincidence.” He chuckled as he headed into the bedroom. I looked at him and smiled,' Tom, u don’t have to pay us back your technical family anymore.’ I said with a wink. I hugged him and then walked to my room. After an hour passed, we started getting ready for dinner and then the meeting. When Tom was getting dressed, I heard him yell, “Surprisingly, your brother's clothes fit me;  Still, what happened to him and your father? I never hear you mention them.” I smiled at Tom and smiled painfully.” Well, my dad was killed 3 years ago. My brother Fox …well he” I stopped and looked at Tom with tears in my eyes “ well Fox, he was lost at sea as they told us. Still, we all know he had been killed in a war that took place. Now, all we have left are his room and his clothes..” As tears rolled down my face I saw a blurry Tom reach out and hug me and he said. ”I get that it was a while ago. Still, I understand the pain of losing a family member. I lost my parents in a freak accident that the cops played off as “gang-related activity,” that was a few years ago. I’m still feeling the pain. If you need to let something out I’m here, alright?” I looked up at Tom. I wiped my eyes.” I- Thanks, Tom.” out of habit, I reached up and kissed his cheek, then walked off to the dining room for dinner, leaving Tom stunned. A few minutes pass, and Tom comes down in casual attire. I looked up from my plate at the table and smiled. “ Hey Tom, come sit,” as I gesture at the chair next to me. ”sit, sit.” Mom spoke up right after Tom sat down.“Since it’s his first night here, why don’t you share something about yourself?”. “Well, my name is Tom, I've recently been “evicted” out of the boy's home, and I’ve recently just started Kisa Academy.''. “Tom, those are things the three of us already know; what about your favorite food, relatives, or even a past?” Tom looked at me and smiled.” Well, It’s all I’ve ever had in a while. Still, my favorite food would have to be tuna casserole. All my relatives died in a city-wide wildfire, and well, I moved from Chicago after a deadly fire burnt down my home with what was left of my family. I was found under some debris with minor injuries, while everyone else on the block was either burnt to a crisp or crushed. After the fire was extinguished, I was put on a boat set for England and the nearest boy's home since I was orphanized.” While Tom went on, I could see my mother’s eyes weakening with empathy as England was settling in for winter at that time. “After 3-4 years I woke to the sound of my roommates joking around with something one of them found while doing their pickpocketing runs. A brand new flip lid lighter. An old one would have at least a few scratches or a dent, but this one, it shined like nothing I’ve ever seen before. These idiots, as a “joke,” set a feckin’ sheet on fire and covered me with it. While that’s going on, we hear the headmaster walking down the hall towards our room, which means the jig is up. We hurry up and put out the lights and act asleep. He opens the door and starts yelling, “FIREE!!! EVERYBODY OUT OF THE ROOM!!”. We faked wake, and it turns out the lit sheet had caught the drapes and started up the wallpaper. We hurry up and out of the room, but something stops us. The lighter flicked open and started another flame on his bed. The headmaster tells us to go to the kitchen for water bowls to put them out. We get about 5 bowls full, but by the time we get to the room, it’s engulfed in flames, the door’s shut, and the headmaster’s gone”. Again while Tom’s explaining his past, I look towards my mother and see a nervous wreck whose attention to the outside world has gone blank and only tuned into the story. I look at the clock, and it’s fifteen till the meeting. I pull on Tom’s sleeve, and he gets the memo. “Well, that’s enough for one table talk discussion. We have to be going”. My mum snapped back to reality and realized what time it was, “Oh yeah, your ‘school meeting’s in a few minutes here,” she handed me a cup with what seemed to be water, “Thanks, mum, see you in a few.”, “Remember the curfew. After that, I’m locking up.”, “Alright,t mum, thanks again. Bye, Love you”. I said as Tom and I went flying out the door. As we came to a familiar brick wall, I stopped and tried to remember which brick was the key.“What are you doing? I thought we were going to the meeting?.” I turned and looked at Tom.” We are going to just figure out which brick opens the door first.” As I look around, Tom presses his hand on the brick on the far left, and it opens the door. Oh, I found it .” Tom says with a chuckle. As we walked down the corridor, we were stopped by Sanju and his gang. “Hey hey hey, pretty mama, where u think you're off to this late at night.” As he says this he pins me to the wall, ”Sanju let me go” as I reach for my knife. Still, it’s not there. I looked up at Sanju’s men. Sure enough they had it. ”fuck.” I mumble. I looked at Tom unsure of what to do. Tom gestures to try and help me. Still, I wave my hand down to signal him off. “Come on Sanju, we haven’t started anything recently, have we?” Sanju looked at me and chuckled, “ Mama, we’ve had shit since u moved here.” Sanju’s gang started to surround us in a circle. I looked at Tom and back to Sanju. I started to breathe rapidly like I was hyperventilating, and I started to shake. I was panicking because I realized what had to happen. “ Sanju, do what u want with me ik u want to beat the ever-living crap out of me. So just do it!” Sanju looks at me and grins as starts to punch my face repeatedly and hard. Tom was heated with anger as he saw what was happening. “ OI U PRICK, LET HER FRICKIN GO!!” As Tom said this, he went full speed and then grabbed me. “ U ok, Edith?!” I look at him, scared, as Sanju gets up. “ T-Tom u, shouldn’t have done that.” I turn around, and roundhouse kick the guy with my knife and grab it as it falls. “ I’ll be taking this back now.” I turn to stab Sanju in the shoulder and twist. “ Maybe this will make u think next time to not mess with me.” I say as I pull out my knife and start to walk off with Tom. Sanju yells, “ THIS ISN'T OVER, MAMA!!” As he says that, he collapses and blacked out.  We walked fast and purposefully to the meeting so that we weren’t late. When we got to the main room, we saw Alan wave at us from a table worriedly. “What the hell happened to you?” As Tom and I hurried to the table, I tripped on something out of nowhere which led to Tom sweeping me up and kissed me in the process. I look up wide-eyed. I pushed Tom off and continued to the table. I said to Alan, “Sanju got a little payback, Tom pulled me out, and Sanju may have a reason to hate us more, " I said, raising my voice higher on accident. Alan turned to me, “Did that not just happen? Or am I seeing things?” He looked towards me. “Alan, let's not talk about this rn, ok!” I look at Tom, who's off in the corner sitting on his own.” Oi, Tom get over here!” I looked at him and smiled shyly, slightly blushing as I said that. “Alright, but after this, you’re telling.”“ Telling what, Alan ?” I looked at him, slightly mad. “Nothing.” He said quickly. “Good, that's what I thought” I walked over to Tom and grabbed his arm softly, dragging him over to the table next to me. “ Now that we're all mostly here… We can begin.” I sat down, and so did everyone else.“Welcome to the Black Mafia entry questions. “We have two new members, Tom and Lucille. The first question will be; What do you see in this group?” I pointed to Tom, “Well, I don’t know anyone else. I’ve already been seen with Edith, so I’d consider myself stuck here or dead in a few days.” I giggled and looked at Tom.” You’d be dead faster than a mouse in a rat trap. But nonetheless, you're stuck with me either way.” I then pointed to Lucille, “What about you? What do you see?” “Well, I see a responsible leader, a helpful friend. A frail man with no happiness.” I stared at her, “ well, that’s intriguing, to say the least,” She smiled, “Well, without a strong leader, you’d have anarchy. Without someone helpful, you’d have no one to turn to in a troubling situation. Without a depressed frail man, you’d have no one to feel sorry for.” I tried to give a subtle glare. Still, it turned out to be a death glare from hell. She jumped back from shock, I’m guessing, and quickly said, “look I get you don’t like it when I call ‘that’ a frail man. Still, just look at 'em. He has no muscle and no fat on his bones.” I get up, walk over to Lucille, and grab her shoulder hard. ”Listen here u, Git! Just cuz he looks weak doesn't mean jack shit got it. Just cuz he looks like he could be blown away by the wind. He's as strong as an Ox.” I let go and slap her. “ So next time, don’t fuck with the guy I like, got it git!” Before I realized what slipped out my mouth, I had walked back to my seat and sat down. “Well then, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. You can continue the meeting, ok?”. I look at her and nod. “Ok next question. What are your weapons of choice? Mine’s obvious”. I placed my blade on the table and forgot that there was still blood on it from Sanju. I looked at the group; Lucille started to gag under the table, Alan gestured her to the bathroom, but Tom seemed familiar with the sight of blood. I looked at him and asked, “I’m gonna guess that you’re used to this?”, “Yeah, in the boy’s home, people usually get ganged up in the alley.”. Huh, guess things are pretty bad on the streets as in school. “ Well, in this school, you’ll have friends to have your back now.”, “Thanks,” Tom said with a faint smile. I smiled back and looked towards the bathroom, waiting for Alan and Lucille. “If they’re gonna be part of this school, they’re gonna have to get used to the sight of fresh and unfresh blood. Or I swear they’re going to get killed somehow in the future.” I rolled my eyes. I yelled for them to hurry up, or I’d slit their throats. Alan walks out, looks at me, and flips me off. Lucille came out later with one arm around her gut, signaling that she had thrown up. I asked her, “Everything alright?” Lucille rolled her eyes and cussed me out. “Gez, I get it u hate me! But listen here, u, you pricks, just cuz u think u rule the world doesn't mean u rule us. I gestured to all of the members except her. We’re all family here, got it? So start acting like it .” I turned and looked at Tom with a smile. He returned one but disappointed. I looked down towards the ground and huffed. ”Well then, I guess the meeting’s done.” I got up fast and walked out the door with tears in my eye, confused with Tom, I wanted to say something, but I waited till I got home to say anything.