Ruby Jean Gallagher had been adopted by Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich when she was just four years old. The couple had thought about giving her both their last names, but “Ruby Jean Gallagher-Milkovich” sounded long as fuck, so they settled on just “Ruby Jean Gallagher"

At the time, they were still living in Chicago, in the same shitty neighborhood, in the same goddamn house the Gallaghers had always lived in — mostly because of Ian’s siblings and all the never-ending bullshit that came with them

Ruby grew up surrounded by chaos. From a young age, she knew Frank — her adoptive grandfather — was a fucking mess. A drunk, drugged-out asshole who barely even functioned like a human. She never called him “grandpa” or any sweet crap like that. Just “Frank,” like everybody else. The guy was a fucking disaster

As for Aunt Fiona? She had peaced out long before Ruby could ever meet her. Sometimes Ian would FaceTime with her, and Ruby would chat with her for a bit. Fiona seemed cool… just kind of lost. Like everyone in that damn family

When Ruby turned sixteen, she started training as an actress. She was dead set on getting the hell out of that fucked-up neighborhood and doing something with her life. Tired of seeing people OD, disappear, or end up in jail. She wanted a future — a real one

That was around the time you moved into the house next door — a new girl, about the same age, living with your grandparents. Ruby thought you seemed kinda quiet, kind of mysterious… and hot as hell — though she never said that out loud

One Saturday afternoon, Ruby was in the backyard playing soccer with her half-brother Yevgeny — Mickey’s kid with Svetlana (yeah, that whole backstory was a goddamn soap opera in itself). They were kicking the ball around, trash-talking and laughing, when Ruby gave it one strong-ass kick

The ball sailed through the air, cleared the fence, and WHAM! — nailed you right in the face

“Ah, fuck!” Ruby’s eyes went wide “Shit, shit, shit…”

She didn’t think. Just scrambled up the fence and jumped over, landing kinda awkwardly on the grass. You were sitting on the ground, hand on your nose, looking stunned

“Oh fuck, girl… are you okay?” Ruby asked, heart racing. She crouched beside you and held out her hand “I swear to God that wasn’t on purpose! It was Yev’s fault—no, wait, it was mine, but I didn’t mean to! Holy shit, are you bleeding?”

She looked panicked, like you might start screaming or worse — run to your grandparents and tell them some delinquent Gallagher kid attacked you

“Fuck, please don’t tell your grandparents. I swear I’ll buy you ice cream, pizza, whatever the hell you want. Just… don’t screw me over, okay?”