The bell of the little school rings vigorously, but no child rushes to the school, they are all gathered in the courtyard, shouting with excitement, surrounding two other crumpled and dirty children.

“Why are you defending them?” asks the brown-haired boy.

“Why are you hitting them?” replies the girl with the curly red hair. Huddled together in a corner, far from the fight, the black-haired boy cries while the dark-skinned girl comforts him.

“They’re just two stinkers!” says the boy, advancing on the distant children. The girl, who was quicker, knocks the boy to the ground.

“I told you to leave them alone!” the girl turns to the seated children “Hi! I’m Shib! Are you all right?”

“Ye-Yes” says the boy, still crying.

“Thank you for your help, but you didn’t have to do that,” says the girl” I’m Amy, this is Jason.”

The other boy gets up from the floor, his face red and filthy, with a cry of rage, he lunges at the red-haired girl, who knocks him to the floor again, before he can get up again, the school principal arrives, angry.

“In the headmaster’s office, now!”

In the principal’s office, the two dirty children sit quietly, staring at the floor.

“What happened?” asks the headmaster, the boy continues to stare at the floor.

“He started it!” says the girl, pointing. The headmaster looks at the boy, still staring at the floor.

“What did he do?” the headmaster asks

“I got to the playground, and he was pushing and saying bad things”

The headmaster sighs and looks at the boy “What did you say” The boy, still staring at the ground, rubs his hands together nervously “I said he was a faggot, and she was a stinker”

The headmaster frowns and glares at him angrily, he opens his mouth to say something, but puts his hands to his face and sighs loudly “And you hit him for that?”

“No, I told him to stop, then he told me to shut up and pushed me, then I told him to stop again, and he told me to go back and take care of my whore of a mother”

The headmaster glares at the boy, who, after looking at the headmaster, starts staring at the floor again.

“Okay, you’re both suspended, Eric, you take care of the toilets, Siobhan, you clean the blackboards”

“What? She hit me, and she’s going to clean the boards?!”

“She didn’t swear at you or your mum, did she?”

The boy shakes his head and leaves the room, grumbling, kicking and slamming the door.

“You’re going to talk to me more, aren’t you?” asks the girl

“You can’t hit people just because they say things, you can’t stoop to his level”

“It’s easy to say, it wasn’t your mum who was called anything”

The headmaster sits beside her, handing her a handkerchief to wipe her face. She smiles back as she wipes her face and gets up to leave.

“Clean the blackboards really well, huh” said the headmaster, getting back to work, and the girl nodded and left.

At room 3, she begins cleaning the board. She starts erasing the writing when Jason and Amy arrive and watch her from the doorway.

“Ah, hi!” Shib says as she wipes the board clean

“Sorry,” says Jason softly, looking down.

“What?”

“He apologised,” said Amy “for putting you in that situation”

“Hey! I put myself in that situation, no need to apologise, I’d do it again!”

Jason lifted his face, a little more animated.

“I told you! I told you!” said Amy, patting Jason on the shoulder “Ha! We saw Eric cleaning the toilets haha! It was great! Hey, do you need any help?”

“No, no, I’d better not, otherwise you’ll have a problem too”

Amy entered the room and started helping “I don’t care!” she said, smiling, and Jason joined in, helping Siobhan clean the rubbers.

After they cleaned all the boards, they handed over the cleaning materials and headed home. With the city lights already being switched on, Siobhan accompanied each of them to their homes, while Amy lived in a more remote part of the city, where the lights didn’t reach. When they said goodbye, Amy thanked him again and went home. When Siobhan dropped Jason off at his house, closer to his neighbourhood, he thanked her again and gave her a tearful hug. She went on her way, her neighbourhood was more in the centre of town, her house was the biggest of all in the area, it was noisy and bright, the kind of noise you hear from far away, her younger siblings were running around the garden, as soon as they spotted her they ran to hug her.

“SHIB!” they exclaimed, grabbing both her arms “Why are you late today?!”

“Ah! I’ll tell you at dinner, has everyone arrived?”

“Not yet, “ said his brother, clutching his left arm

“But Carol and Jim are helping Mum prepare the food” said his sister, clutching his right arm.

“Okay, now let me go, you little monsters! I need to get cleaned up!” She quickly lets go of her arms and runs into the house.

“Hey! No running in the house!” shouts Antonia, the eldest.

Antonia was the first to be born; as her mother menstruated early, she was called in for fertilisation quickly, giving birth to a girl not much younger than herself. Of all the children, Antonia looked the most like her mother, with slightly lighter skin but the same features and quirks.

Siobhan had always admired her sister, who, even with all the help they received, still contributed to the cleaning and organisation of the house.

“Sorry,” said Siobhan breathlessly, taking off her shoes.

Antonia comes up to her and looks at her “What happened? Why are you all dirty?”

“It’s no big deal, I’ll tell you later, I need to clean up now, do you need any help?”

“No, no, go clean up and do your homework, I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”

“Okay,” said the girl, hurrying up the stairs.

“Hi, OI! Why are you dirty like that?” asked her brother, George, who found her on the stairs.

“Oh well, I’ll tell you later!” she said, hurrying to the bathroom.

George was the older twin, very tall, muscular, and yet very gentle. He was the lighter-skinned twin, while James had darker skin, although their features were the same. They both trained to work with the city’s law; however, George, although stronger, trained for administration, while James, who was a little smaller, trained to be a police officer.

Despite their differences, they were very close, and both taught their younger sisters how to defend themselves against bullies.

Arriving in the bathroom, Siobhan quickly takes off her clothes and gets into the shower, while she’s showering, her twin brother enters the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I need to get something, “ he says shyly

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“It’s okay, I’m just finishing up,” she said, turning off the shower.

“Damn! Where is it?” says Kieran in frustration, rummaging through the bathroom cupboard.

“What are you looking for?” Siobhan wraps himself in a towel.

“My other glasses, I can’t find them!”

“The last time I saw it, it was in the storeroom”

“Why?”

“Because we went to get some olive oil, remember?”

Kieran slaps his hand to his forehead and hurries downstairs. Siobhan goes to the room he shares with his brother. Like George and James, they had different skin tones, but theirs was more obvious, since Kieran was pale and skinny, while Siobhan had tanned skin and was more muscular. Of course, she liked to run, climb and wrestle with her brothers, while Kieran liked to sit at home and preferred reading books or putting puzzles together.

Someone knocks on the door, and Antonia tells her that dinner is ready. Siobhan hurried downstairs to the dining room. The maids set the table, and the nannies seated the younger children as everyone gathered around.

As her mother was one of the women who had more than five children, the government gave her the right to have more than three nannies, but as most of the children were older, the house only had two. As their house was the largest in the neighbourhood, help was also available to look after the house, such as gardeners, cleaners and cooks, although, her mother preferred to do this herself, she still had kitchen assistants.

Even with all this help, their mother never neglected or under-loved her children; although always pregnant, she did her best to teach, play and give them affection.

With everyone gathered around the table and dinner served, everyone ate and talked together amongst themselves.

“Hey, wait! Shib, you still haven’t told me what happened today!” said Adam, passing the salad to Owen.

“Oh, yeah!” said Siobhan, settling into his chair.

“What happened? What do you mean?” asked Mum, motioning for silence with her hand.

“So, when I got to school today, that annoying Eric was picking on two kids, calling them horrible names, so I went to defend them, then he started swearing at me and trying to push me, then-“

“Oi! Wait, did he push you?” James asked, worried.

“No, he tried to, but I dodged it, so every time he tried to push me I dodged it, and he got angrier and redder haha"

“You didn’t hit him, did you?” Mum asked, staring at her.

“No! But when he tried to hit the other children, I hit him back”

“Really?” asked Carolyne excitedly, almost choking on her water

“He fell on the floor?” asked Owen, also excited

“Yes! Haha!” said Siobhan, laughing along with her brothers, but when they saw their mother’s serious face, their laughter stopped.

After dinner, they gathered in the living room to talk and play some more, while Siobhan and her mother continued at the table, now sitting next to each other.

“You know I like it when you stand up for others,” she says seriously, looking at her daughter, who nods in agreement, “but hitting others is very bad, I know you didn’t hit him, but I’d like you to avoid any physical contact with those boys"

“Okay”

“Because there’s a chance that the situation could get worse, you know?”

“Yes”

“OK, you can go now”

Siobhan hurries into the room when he hears the doorbell. One employee answered it. Outside stood a short lady with black hair tied up in a bun, and behind her was Jason. Siobhan saw him and headed for the entrance hall.

“Jason!” she exclaims

“Do you know him?” asks the server

“Yes! He’s a friend from school”

“Oh, you’re Shib? I’d like to speak to your mother.”

“I’ll call her,” said the server, heading for the living room.

Siobhan invites them inside, showing them where to leave their coats and shoes, and then the servant returns with the lady of the house, who dismisses him. She takes them to the study in the library, where they can’t hear the noise in the living room.

“Is this about today’s mess?” asks the pregnant woman, sitting down in a big chair.

“Yes,” says the other woman, sitting down opposite her, “I’d like to thank you and your daughter”

“I didn’t do anything”

“Well, you brought her up, and I imagine you taught her to stand up for her friends, and for that I’m grateful. Jason is my youngest child, and the most delicate, so I always worry. His brothers bother him in the house, but my husband and I manage to defend him, but outside... What I mean is that with your daughter being his friend, I’m a little calmer.”

“Of course, I don’t encourage violence, but I always tell her to stand up for others, and I appreciate it too.”

The girl looked at her in surprise. “Why?”

“My daughter is lively, stubborn and a bit of a brute, so she doesn’t have any friends apart from her siblings, and I’m grateful that your son is her friend.”

While the mums talked, Jason and Siobhan sat at the front of the room.

“Your mum is beautiful,” said Jason softly

“So is yours!” she said, patting him on the arm

“Your house is huge! How many brothers do you have?

“Nine” as he said this, Jason’s eyes widened.

“Wow, I only have four and that’s a pain! Imagine nine!

They both start laughing, Jason a little more forcefully than her.

“Are your brothers mean to you?” she asks carefully

“A bit,” he replies after a pause, looking at the ground, Siobhan observes him, he seems sad to share the information

Their mums leave the library with smiles on their faces. Jason and his mum say goodbye and go home. Siobhan and her mum go into the living room to meet the rest of the family. They are playing charades in the living room.

The next day Siobhan meets Jason on the way to school, he is still very shy around her but is more talkative. In the school playground, they meet Amy, who was waiting for them at the entrance, since then, the three became inseparable, they were always in some sort of adventure, running around town and in the surrounding woods. Siobhan taught them a few moves on how to defend themselves, and in return, they also taught her what they knew. Jason was good at cooking, so he would often share the foods he and his mum would make. Amy was good at tracking and hunting since she and her dad didn’t have enough rations for both - even with her dad being the town’s engineer - the government would give only them enough rations for one, so to get by Amy and her dad would go hunting together.

They spend so much time in the woods near the town so much, they manage to create a fort - with the help of some of Siobhan’s siblings - where they spend most of their time after school.