"This is it. This is the end of the line."

Well, this is it, the day of the 'big move' me, my mom and twin brother Daniel are moving from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California.

Daniel and I are going to be seniors in a new high school, and our mom is trying for a new job in some computer thing that I don't think even she understands what it is.

"You're telling me" Daniel muttered to himself as he sat still in his seat not wanting to get out, unlike me, I couldn't wait to get out into the sun and work on my tan.

I glanced out of the window of my mom's 1969 Chevy station wagon, which was so beyond repair, I saw nothing but palm trees and coconuts, which means eternal summer.

I love summer, the warm breeze, never being cold even at night, and the long days, but being half Italian, it's nothing unusual to enjoy the summer unless you're Daniel who likes the winter.

"Come on all hands on deck" Mom encouraged us as we got out of the car to start unpacking, Daniel struggling with his bike and I was grabbing the luggage.

"We gotta get this thing unloaded before it sinks," Ma joked as she looked up at the sky smiling softly, making me sigh contentedly to myself; she's finally happy with her life. No looking back now.

"Look at those palm trees! Damn, do you know what that means?" Ma calls out to us excitedly, but my twin looks unenthusiastic as he struggles with his bike.

Daniel looks up at the palm trees at the instance of our mother "Yeah, watch out for falling coconuts," he replied scornfully making me roll my eyes.

"Wiseguy-" Ma laughs lightly smacking my brother "-No more Newark winters!" I could help but smile at the thought, but I knew my twin would have something to say about that.

"I like winters ma" He replied to her like a petulant child. "Oh, you like sore throats? You like frozen toes?" Mom asked rhetorically, winking at me as she knew she was always right.

"I don't like smog" Daniel replied in the same reprimanding tone as I huffed it seemed like one of us would always be unhappy with something, it must be hard have a set of twins so different to each other.

Mom picked up one of the smaller boxes with the laundry stuff in it and gave us both a look. "Did I tell you about the pool here?" she inquired, trying to bait us into being happy with uprooting our lives.

"Just about 100 times, ma, "I told with a knowing smile, nothing could get my mom down from this happy high. She really thinks this is the best day of her life, but nothing ever goes to plan for the LaRusso family.

"Okay, so make it 101" She laughed, walking towards the worn-looking apartment complex. "Open your eyes, my darling twins. This is the Garden of Eden".

"Come on," she instructed, backing into the gate to open it. "Listen, we're in apartment 20, okay? One flight up," she shouted to us, walking towards our new home.

Daniel and I didn't speak much less look at each other as we grabbed our luggage, I saw him struggling to carry his bike and suitcase, but I didn't offer to help.

Although we were twins, we hadn't been the best of siblings for a long time, neither one of us putting in the effort to be civil with each other anymore, so we pretty much pretend the other doesn't exist.

I thought Daniel was too weak, often cared about people too much, and is always sticking his nose into other people's business; one day, that will bite him in the ass.

Daniel believed I was too much like our father, whose emotions we often kept bottled up until he exploded on us; he'd always apologize after, but the damaged had already been done by then.

We lost our dad when we were eight, and our mother had been left a widow with two children, although life was a little easy without our father in it we couldn't help but feel guilty for our Ma who had to raise us as a single mom.

I locked the car doors while Daniel pushed his ratty bike into the apartment complex, I heard him yell and then a big bang, I quickly turned to see he had kicked the wooden door open.

Running over to see what happened, I notice that my idiotic twin had kicked the wooden gate into someone's face, "Aww making friends already?" I snorted as my brother began to panic.

"Are you okay?" Daniel began to stutter and apologize to the stranger who was now sprawled out on the floor, holding his nose, which wasn't bleeding and didn't seem broken.

"Don't worry about it," the guy laughed sounding much kinder than I would have been if a total stranger knocked me on my ass.

"Let me help you up," my twin said, stumbling trying to hold his bike and help the stranger off the floor where he had unintentionally kicked him.

"Thanks," the guy replied, smiling at Daniel, who looked embarrassed "I shouldn't have done that. It was stupid," my brother responded, trying to justify his actions.

"You must be the new people in 20, right?" the guy asked his rubbing his head. "Yeah, I guess so," Daniel answered, squinting up at our apartment as I followed his eye line.

"Freddy Fernandez, apartment 17," he told us, shaking Daniels's hand with a smile which showed his dimples.

"Daniel LaRusso," he told Freddy, who in turn glanced at me "This is my twin sister, Katherine," Daniel said to him with a small huff.

"It's Kat," I butted in looking Freddy up and down, causing my new neighbor to blush slightly under my gaze.

"How you doing? Let me help," he said, grabbing the suitcase from Daniel's bike and the heavier one from me, which I gladly gave him, making my brother give me an annoyed look.

"No, it's fine. It's heavy, man" Daniel said embarrassed at the help, but Freddy still took the suitcase with a helpful smile, was this some weird Californian hospitality.

Daniel glared at my willingness to let Freddy carry my baggage to which I shrugged my shoulders with a smirk. "I got it," Freddy told him, still gazing at me with a wide smile.

"So twins, that must be cool," he prompted, glancing at the two of us "not really," I answered, seriously shaking my head, noticing Daniel scowling at me.

Freddy started to look uncomfortable with my short answers and unwillingness to talk to him, so he turned to my brother instead for conversation, which is definitely okay with me.

"Where are you from?" He asked as we started walking to our new apartment.

"New Jersey" Daniel replied nonchalantly, Freddy chucked a bit, and I didn't know whether I should take offense or not that he was laughing about where we were from.

"What are you doing out here?" he inquired again, making me realize I don't like small talk. You would think that all my negativity would depress me, but it doesn't, I love being a lone wolf. Or so I tell myself.

"Our mom got a job with some company out here. Rocket Computers. Flight of the Future. I don't know," my twin told him, not knowing the exact details of our mom's new job; actually, that's all we knew before she shipped us out here.

"I never heard of it," Freddy chuckled again as we passed the pool, which wasn't a pool as much as it was a puddle. I snorted unladylike at him and said: "I'm not surprised."

Daniel had just noticed the pool at the same time as I did and didn't look impressed, funny it the only thing we've agreed on in months other than this move "Is this the only pool you've got?"

Freddy nodded his head but looked disinterested. "That's it. What was that, karate?" he asked my brother eagerly.

"Yeah." I looked at Daniel with a raised eyebrow, but he promptly ignored my gaze. "Have you been doing it long?" Freddy started to look excited now that Daniel said he knew karate.

"Yeah, a while, "my brother lied, making me splutter in surprise as Daniel peered at me with begging eyes as if to ask me not to tell Freddy the truth, which was that he had gone to a few classes at the Y.

"Did you ever use it?" Freddy questioned, making me wonder why he was so interested in Daniel's assumed 'Karate' skills.

"A couple of times," Daniel told him modestly, still not knowing if I was going to rat him out, but I wasn't he can learn the hard way of his lies.

"I bet you could kick some ass" I snorted to myself Daniel was usually on the other end of the ass-kicking, I knew this first hand.

We do get into physical fights with each other, but I'm usually the one winning, or our Ma splits us up. I'm a biter with a knack of fighting dirty.

"I'd like to learn that. Maybe you could teach me" It sounded like Freddy just wanted Daniel to teach him karate, was this the reason for his interest in my twin.

"Sure. That's cool. Any time" Daniel tells him enthusiastically, forgetting he didn't actually know karate and was saying this to impress his new friend.

Just as we reached the stairs to get to the apartment, a voice stopped us in our tracks.

"This place is a dump. You should go back to New Jersey," an old gypsy looking woman told us she didn't look up while talking to us as she read her paper.

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion and questioned her "How did you know where we're from?" she still didn't look at us, and I'm not sure if she's rude or doesn't give a damn.

"'Cause I'm from New Jersey. I got a nose for my own" The woman explained to us like it was common knowledge that she used to live in the same place as us.

"Well, what part?" Daniel questioned her; I glanced at Freddy to see him laughing a bit to himself before grinning at me when he noticed I was looking.

"Parsippany," I heard the gypsy woman telling Daniel, "I never should've left."

"Our Uncle Louie's from Parsippany," My twin, told her sounding excited, I've never noticed before how much Daniel is like a puppy dog as he gets excited about everything.

"Louie Martini?" she urged us, looking up for the first time since we started talking to her as I shook my head, "Louie LaRusso."

"Louie LaRusso? Don't know him" she waved us off, Daniel had a weird smile on his face which I couldn't place. "Hey pup," he said, leaning down and petting the little dog that was under the gypsy woman's chair. "How you doing? You thirsty?"

Freddy tapped Daniel on the shoulder and make a sign that the woman was crazy; he whispered something that we couldn't hear.

"What?" we asked, not quite hearing what he said.

"She's not playing with a full deck," Freddy explained to us in what seemed to be the nicest way he could.

"She's nice" I defended, I could be like that old lady one-day talking a load of crap and not even giving a shit about what people think of me.

Actually thinking about it, she reminds me of my aunt, Tessy. I shivered at the thought. Freddy laughed as if I was joking, and Daniel just shook his head.

"What are you two doing tomorrow?" Freddy asked us while helping Daniel up the stairs with his bike.

"I don't know. I guess nothing," Daniel replied as Freddy looking at me for confirmation to which I shrugged my shoulders and muttered, "Same, I guess."

"We're having a beach party. Want to come?"He explained eagerly; his positivity was starting to freak me out. I don't know if all boys are like this in California, but I'm not sure If I like it.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Daniel told him quickly, obviously not wanted to go with me, I ruin most of his friendships, and I'm proud of that. I'm like the disease that you just can't get rid of, and I'll make you sick.

"Sure, that's cool," I replied with a smug smile on my face as I see Daniel frowning at me, Freddy grinned widely thinking I was smiling at him.

"I'll come to get you in the morning," he smiled at me and then turned to Daniel suddenly. "Both of you," he stuttered a little as I let out a small laugh.

"Here's apartment 20" we all looked at the apartment we had stopped outside, Daniel's looks was a bit different to Freddy's happy one.

My brother didn't want to be here, but we love our ma, and we'll try to be normal for her; if that includes letting her moves us to a whole new state, then we'll do it.

"Should I leave this here?" Freddy gestured to our hefty suitcases, we both nodded our heads rapidly "Yeah, thanks for the help." My brother stated to our neighbor, who just nodded.

"Nice meeting you. Take care," Freddy said, shaking our hands. "See you tomorrow morning," he said before running back down the stairs, obviously going to where he was supposed to be before my brother knocked him over.

Grinning at my brother maliciously, I could tell he hated that he had to share his first friend here with me, "Well, doesn't he just seem like totally super-duper."