Fan to Family.

"You're a Runner"

I flinch, but hope no one notices. Pencil skirt clears her throat and buttons the upper most button on her cardigan with steady, slim fingers. Tyler tenses up.

"What?" He questions, as calm as possible. I can hear the strain is his voice. The strain to stay respectful and calm.

"Thank you so much for informing us that you found out you had a little sister, oh and thanks for the call that you adopted her with Josh's asisstance. Thanks for telling us in person, instead of us finding out because someone wrote a long-winded E-mail to me about everything going on," the suit says very sarcastically. His eyes land on me again. I try not to shift in uneasiness, but I can't help it. Suit makes me nervous.

"You," He practically growls. I gulp. Pencil skirt's eyes burn into me, licking my cheeks and eyes. "I have issues with you."

I clench my jaw out of habit and lean forward. Without realizing what I'm doing, I open my mouth and spit, "I have a name, thank you. You could use it. Don't just call me you, I've gotten that far too much. No one bothered to learn my name for years. But hey, I bet the world knows your name, Boss Man."

"You can cut the shitty attitude, you little jerk. My name is Edward, little miss 'I have issues with authority'. Try using it. Oh and you could be a little more respectful."

I roll my eyes.

He turns back to Tyler, gripping a minilla folder. My name is printed across the front. This gulp is loud and I'm 100% sure everyone saw that flinch. "Ah, her file. Let's read it, shall we?"

Josh looks hesistant, Debby and Jenna sit up and Tyler grips my shoulder. I jerk forward, almost jumping at him. "You have no right to read that, let alone have it!" I growl, "who gave it to you anyway?"

He smirks, "I have my resources."

The muscle in my jaw strains, "You can't read that."

"Oh but I can," He smiles evily, opening the folder up.

I shove Tyler's hand off of my shoulder.

"Looks like you've got a police record..." He trails, thumbing through pages, "Ohhhh... so juicey!"

Tyler opens his mouth, but Edward beats him to it.

"Tyler, Josh, did you two know that little miss blue hair was an 'At Risk' kid before you adopted her? Cop reports and a couple runaways."

I let my jaw relax. "You know what those cop reports say? They tell you about abusive foster parents, the time I ran away from one them, the time I fought back one of the kids that was harrasing me and beat me sensless every 5 days. One of those also tells you about the time I was framed for felony because a girl from my group home set me up for stealing. I've been in and out of of homes where no one cares about me. I have been given up countless times. I've been beaten and abused. Yeah, I'm a runner, but I needed to be. Those felony charges were exonged. Don't assume you know me based on a few lines on a paper in my file. I am much more then a file. I am a human being with feelings and thoughts and cannot be defined by a Child Protective Services agent's rundown of my crappy life."

"Wait- You're a runner?" Debby blurts? I shrugs. Edward rolls his eyes, he prattles on with his insensitive, crude comments about my life and choice of dress. This douche isn't going to rule me.

"Zip it. I'm not taking shit from you, you and your stupid thosand dollar suit and shiny shoes. You know, rich guys are always the douchiest. The numbers from their bank account get to their head and they think their money makes them better then everyone else. Guess what? It takes zero dollars to be a decent human, maybe that is why you can't be nice for 5 seconds, because you let that ridiculous amount of money define you. "

Mark and Michael have been oddly silent....

"Edward, really? Why are you being such a prick to her? Is you're boss being conrtolling or are you just secretly a jerk who hates anyone younger then 18?" Michael asks. Edward sighs, finally letting his shoulders droop.

"Honestly, I barely managed to say any of that, you seem like a very nice girl and I know these guys wouldn't keep you around if you weren't a gem. I resenate with you, very much, I was a runaway too and I was given up. I feel so horrible saying that to you, don't hate me. Those words were force fed to me. I had to say douchy things to you and try to get the boys to drop you," Edward huffs out. He loosens his tie and unbuttons his jacket. Pencil skirt calms down a great deal.

"Then why the hell did you do it and why are we here?" Mark blurts.

Edward gulps and fiddles with a handmade bracelet on his wrist.

"I mean, you can sue or whatever but-" Edward begins.

"Get to the damn point!" Josh finally bursts.

"Either you 'get rid of her', their words not mine, or the label is dropping you."