Sasha knocked on the front door.

Catching her breath, she glanced at the paper again to make sure she had the right house number, but before she could even focus on the number, the door opened and a woman stood in the doorway.

Pretty, she wore a t-shirt with thin jeans, brown hair sat on her shoulders and she had a face that told Sasha to leave immediately.

"Hello,” Sasha breathed in. “Does Eva live here?" She hoped the pretty lady was Eva's mom. Isn’t she supposed to be at work?

The woman’s eyes scanned the area. "Where are your friends?" She asked, but sounded more like a command. "If you’re here to bully-"

"Eva is my only friend,” Sasha interrupted before the pretty lady could continue her assumptions. “I moved here not too long ago. There were a lot of rumours going around in school today and I wanted to check on Eva," Sasha inhaled another big breath, not yet recovered from her run.

The pretty lady gave Sasha her full attention. "How did you find this house?" She demanded.

A mother protecting her child, Sasha witnessed this desperate need for the very first time. Nothing was going to hurt Eva, not while her mother stood here. The determination in her eyes-

Sasha hesitated, but handed the woman the paper that led her here. "I overheard a girl saying she knew where Eva lived, so I asked for an address.”

The woman glanced at the paper, before scanning the neighbourhood once more. Only then did she relax. “Eva did mention she met a nice girl yesterday,” she said much more calm. “Did she show you around the school?"

"She helped me a lot,” Sasha nodded.

"What's your name? You can come in but stay by the door okay?" Eva’s mom ushered Sasha inside.

Sasha stated her name.

The house was nothing spectacular. Sasha quickly identified each room.

The woman left her in the entrance, turned a corner. A door squeaked open.

"Sasha's here?" Eva sounded surprised.

Sasha didn't hear anything else before Eva's mom showed up again.

"Take off your shoes, you can stay. If you need a ride home later I can provide one as an apology for my own behaviour."

"I don’t live very far away.” Sasha replied as she took off her shoes. “I can walk." She held back a curse when she realized she left her bag at school. I’ll just get it tomorrow.

The woman led Sasha through the house and opened a bedroom door. The bed, a carpet, a decorated desk, a poster- two posters gave a girly look to the room. The walls a default white.

This all reminded Sasha of her first bedroom.

A mess of clothing was scattered all over the floor, and in the middle of it, sat the girl Sasha met yesterday.

"Hello,” Eva smiled.

Sasha could tell it was forced. There were bags under her bloodshot eyes. Was she crying?

A winter hat sat awkwardly on top of her head, none of her hair visible for Sasha to see, the hat, no doubt, had the sole purpose of hiding it.

Eva's mom turned to Sasha, and stared at her as if her eyes could talk. They said: Don't hurt my daughter!

Sasha nodded an understanding before stepping inside. The door closed behind her, but not all the way.

"Your mom is cool," Sasha broke the silence as she walked over and knelt down in front of her new friend.

Eva avoided Sasha's gaze but sat still in the middle of the floor surrounded by clothes.

“You know, I was called a little pink bunny rabbit today.”

That made Eva smirk, but she resisted Sasha's attempt to cheer her up and the smirk vanished as fast as it appeared.

Sasha sighed. “Are you going to let me see your little problem or not? I’m pretty sure I can help fix it. I have two little sisters who have hair problems at least twice a month.”

“Nothing as bad as this I bet,” Eva grumped.

“Well, if you still have the full length of your hair then you've just lost that bet.”

That got her to look at Sasha with curious and pleading eyes, like she wanted details.

Sasha pointed to the pink decorated desk where all her makeup and stuff was bound to be. “You have to take off that hat and find a chair if you want details.”

Eva nodded and stood up, bolted out of the room to find a chair.

Sasha took a moment to skim through the tools she had to work with and frowned.

I'll need to raid the kitchen.