A/N: Hi! Really quick, just wanted to say that this is about a Chinese girl in 70's San Francisco Chinatown, and I've never experienced any of this (I wasn't alive). However, as a Chinese American, alot of the experiences that Vivi goes through are ones I relate to. Please be kind in the comments, and acknowledge that real people have gone through these things. All the Chinese is manderin, and any italisized dialogue is in Chinese but has been translated. Sorry for such a long A/N, but anyways hope you enjoy reading!

Piao ling. That's what my mom used to call the girl crying on the street gutter. Literally, it meant wandering, or adrift, but she really meant homeless. 

Don't look at them.

They're dirty and lazy.

That's all she ever said about them. Funny how in just 10 years, I became that girl on the street. 

Five Years Earlier

Vivi laughed as Lin hopped from stair to stair, performing her Chinese New Year dance. She wondered why Lin had even wanted to do the parade - everyone in her class always talked about how tiring it must be. But Vivi had to hand it to her, she knew her way around the red qi pao (a slim red dress generally worn at fancier occasions). If Vivi ever tried to dance in one of those, she'd fall over just from the first twirl.

Lin giggled as Vivi did her impression, jumping from stair to stair like a little monkey, with none of the grace that Lin had when she'd demonstrated. Vivi practically fell off the staircase and tumbled onto the street in a final pose, modeled after those Hollywood girls. The pale ones, with the funny curls and painted face.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Lin cried while rolling on the steps laughing. "You're doing it wrong, you gotta get more kick! " and with a grin, Vivi watched her best friend jump around in an even crazier fashion than her, kicking out her arms and legs like spasms of energy. Both girls were giggling and jumping around as they watched the parade get set up, all the ba ba's (dads) of Chinatown stringing up lanterns and rolling out flyers for the famous dragon dance at the end of the night. Click. All of a sudden, both Lin and Vivi froze, slowly turning around as Mrs. Wu glared down at both of them.

"Get in here!"  Vivi's mom hissed, "Do you want the whole world to laugh at you? Vivi, I'm disappointed, I thought you knew better! You two looked like monkeys out there, jumping around like idiots! I don't ever want to see you two flailing around out there again. Do you understand?" Vivi stepped back, hanging her head in shame, her black shiny curtains of hair covering her embarrassment, she hardly wanted her mom to think she was weak. But Lin kept looking up defiantly at Mrs. Wu, and Vivi groaned, before tugging on her arm and pulling her back.

"We understand." She muttered, cheeks flaming. Lin nudged her ankle with the tip of her shoe, but Vivi kept her head down, and dragged Lin along with her, to her small room. "Are you crazy?!" She said as soon as she closed the door. "What are you doing? You know that you can't just make her mad like that! What if she decides to keep a closer eye on us? Then I'll never get to do anything!" 

Lin looked up, startled at Vivi's sudden outburst. "What do you mean? You act like your mom's some sort of monster, like she'll throw you out or somethin-

Brrr Brrrr Brrr Re-Rew-Rewind. 

*radio static*

Heh. Funny, huh? Oh, Lin was always so confident. So, so, so confident. Listen here, whoever you are, reading this, this isn't a joke. Not some game of life that Lin was so convinced we'd win, and certainly not just some words on a page to entertain you. This was real, real as the time my sister ran away, and real as my grandmother's funeral. So why don't I take it from here?

Back to that girl on the street. I'm that girl on the street now. Vivienne Wu, resident piao ling, Chinatown's finest homeless on these streets, at your service. I mean, no one wants my service anyways. It's not like I have been trying to get a job for half a year now or something. Oh, what a fall from glory, right? That's what you're thinking. From Asian Mom's Number One Model Daughter to the girl that other asian parents used as an example of what would happen if you weren't focused and hard working. 

Well anyways, here I am now. Might as well tell you why.