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Alice Rose Worth sat in a cosy chair in her small living room reading a book. As her eyes passed over the words of Bridge to Terebithia, she twisted her thick brown hair around her finger absentmindedly. The book was just too captivating for Alice to pay any attention to her habit.

Alice's outgoing, heart-on-her-sleeve personality did not go well with how she liked to read (said her few friends). Her friends, Alice thought, were not real friends. Since Alice was related to George Worth III (her great great grandfather), the master carpenter of the 1800s, her family actually had a lot of money selling some of his work. Making the Worths technically rich. Since Alice got a fairly large allowance of $20 a week- for a TON of chores, don't worry- she spent it on a earring shopping spree at Claire's once a month. Her MSFs (Money Sucking Friends) always wanted to tag along because there was always enough green to go around, and since Alice always wanted to have real friends, she was always generous. However, she was a bit naive and didn't always remember that when you give a kid candy, they'll always ask for more.

The chair she happened to be sitting in was a prized family heirloom- one that her great great great grandfather had built when he had escaped from England in the early 17th century. The chair matched the small house in Tacoma, Washington (which George Worth III had built as well).

The eleven-year-old's hair-twirling went faster and faster as she went deeper into the words Katherine Paterson had woven into a story. Her eyes scanned faster over the words than before as she read about Jesse and Leslie and the wonderful fairyland of Terebithia when all of a sudden they were abruptly interrupted by the roaring sound of an engine and the obnoxious beep, beep, beep of a large eighteen-wheeler in reverse.

Frustrated and annoyed by the sudden disruption of her time to herself, Alice took a moment to wipe off the lenses of her glasses (red with a mosaic design on the sides), then pulled a cord and the blinds behind the prized chair drew up to reveal a large window. Through it, Alice could see a large moving truck pulling into the driveway of the Henderson house next door... the one that had been uninhabited for ten years since Mr. Henderson (the old coot) had died when Alice was one. Neighbors had claimed the house was haunted and no one had set foot in the house since.

At least, until now.

When Alice looked again, she could see a blue car behind the moving truck, with the supposed new neighbors inside. Even when she squinted, she couldn't see through the tinted windows. Oh well. She would have to wait until the people got out of the car to welcome them. Secretly, she hoped there would be someone around her age moving in- summer vacation had just begun, and all her friends were on vacation for the time being, which left Alice alone, and... well... bored. Having a new kid live next door to her house would be a great opportunity for bubbly little Alice.

Alice folded a dog ear in her book and went to the fairly large kitchen. She was going to bake some cookies.

Time lapse! An hour later...

Alice placed the finishing touches to her platter of sugar cookies. Using cookie cutters, a secret recipe and lots of enthusiasm, she had finished her project. The cookies now spelled out (sparkling with colorful sugar crystals, of course) WELCOME NEIGHBORS! Alice, proud and exhausted, slipped on her pink flip-flops and checked her appearance one last time. These people were impressionable souls, and the first impression was always important, Alice knew that. So, she would make it count.

She picked up the metal platter, walked to the front door, took a deep breath, and stepped outside into the front yard. Okay, Alice thought to herself. Cheerful, but not annoying. First impressions always count. Down the steps, into the yard, and knock on the door. Even she could admit that she got too nervous about these kinds of things. It was just welcoming some new neighbors that could be anybody and everybody. That were going to live next to her. That Alice had probably never met before.

Okay. So it might be just a teeny bit nerve-wracking.

Alice took deep breaths the whole way next door (such a long way, it seemed) and finally got the courage to tap on the door.

No answer. Mustering up all of her courage and cheeriness, she knocked on the door to the rhythm of "Shoes and a Haircut." As she waited, she couldn't help but be excited, and the sort-of-fake smile plastered on her face slowly turned into a genuine one.

She heard footsteps, and her heart began to beat faster. She looked down at her cookies to see if they were okay- shoot! The 'E' in 'NEIGHBORS' was crooked! She was fixing it when suddenly the white front door to the Henderson house was opened by a woman with greying brown hair put up in a messy bun. Her relaxed expression turned to confusion when she saw Alice messing with the E.

"Er..." she frowned, still looking at the strange little girl.

"Oh!" Alice looked up with a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry, ma'am..."

"No, it's all right. What are you doing here, honey?" asked the woman. She still had a perplexed look on her face.

"Oh, my name is Alice Worth, and I live next door. I saw you moving in to this house. Is that correct?"

"Why, yes, dear, you're right. We just had a long flight from Denver, and we just finished unloading. I'm Alisha Teavee, but just Mrs. Teavee will do."

Alice's smile grew bigger. There were new people ACTUALLY going to live next door to her!

But, somehow, the name Teavee rang a bell. It did sound like TV. That was it, Alice decided. She began to talk again:

"Well, miss, I saw you and the moving truck pull in, and I thought that it would only be appropriate to welcome you to the neighborhood."

Mrs. Teavee's tired look turned into a smile, though not quite matching Alice's. "Well, I'm glad! How old are you, hon?"

"Oh, I'm eleven. Why do you ask?" Alice frowned in confusion.

"Well, we have a son who's eleven, too. His name is Mike."

Wait... that sounded familiar. Mike Teavee... where had she heard that before? It wasn't just the Teavee/TV thing anymore. But the girl was too excited to worry about familiarity right then.

"Really? Cool" was all Alice managed to say. She couldn't believe it. They had a kid! HER AGE! She was smiling so much her face started to hurt. She had to practically restrain herself from squealing. When she finally calmed herself down (with a few weird looks from Mrs. Teavee), she said:

"Well, anyways, I made cookies for you. To eat after you unpack or for dessert tonight or whatever."

"Oh..." the woman seemed to hesitate before taking the platter of cookies. "My husband and I will enjoy them."

Alice frowned. "What about... Mitchell? Doesn't he like cookies?"

"Mike. And actually, no, he doesn't." Mrs. Teavee replied. "He doesn't... prefer sugar at all, actually."

"Oh. That's all right," Alice assured the simply-dressed woman. "That's actually good, right?"

"Oh, um..." Mrs. Teavee, Alice could tell, was almost as nervous as she was. "I guess it is. I mean, he won't get cavities, right?"

"Yeah!" Alice interjected. "I mean, it's not all that weird. I have a friend who doesn't like ice cream." (A.N./:Actually, this is true with one of my friends.. Another friend of mine doesn't like bacon.)

Just then, Mrs. Teavee did something Alice didn't expect. "Excuse me for a moment, Alissa." The tired-looking woman then put her head behind the door and started yelling into the house.

"MICHAEL!"

"WHAT?!" Alice could hear a boy's voice coming from deep inside.

"COME TO THE DOOR, PLEASE, AND SAY HELLO TO YOUR NEW NEIGHBOR."

"New neighbor?" another voice inquired. Just then, a man with a pastel blue shirt, wire-rimmed glasses, and an ugly combover appeared next to the brunette woman. "Well, what do we have here?" he asked in a bored voice. (A.N.:/ Please note that Mr. Teavee is not actually bored in this particular part of the story, but 'bored' was the only adjective for his voice I could think of at the moment ^_^ Please suggest a replacement word in the review section. Winner gets one of Alice's cookies!) This man looked familiar. Maybe she had seen the Teavees somewhere before.

"Dear, this is Alissa-"

"Pardon me, miss, but it's Alice." the bespectacled little girl replied. "Sorry to interrupt."

Mrs. Teavee closed her eyes for a moment before snapping them open and continuing. "Ahem.. this is Alice. Apparently she lives next door and was so kind as to make us cookies."

"Oh! Well, thank you, miss Alice, they look scrumptious."

As the man was speaking, Alice heard a voice- the Mike's voice, in fact- ask "What new neighbor, Mom? I have, like, 7 more terminating robots to kill."

"Well, you can pause it for a moment. I want you to meet this girl."

Alice heard Mike exhale in frustration. "Mom, one does not simply" was all he could get out before his parents parted for the kids to see one another.

Alice looked the boy up and down. Light brown eyes, hair the color of chocolate (funny, since he supposedly hated chocolate), and he was still in his pajamas. The pajamas had a disturbing image in which some sort of s

dagger had been stabbed into a skull (which had an unsettling amount of blood spewing from the crevice the dagger had made). Now he seemed even more familiar than before.

During all this, the eleven-year-old girl could tell the Mike was sizing her up as well. Even though she was mostly happy and bubbly on the outside, Alice could feel a little uneasiness at the thought of a boy she had never met before looking her over, and probably judging her every move. But now was not the time to act insecure. Again, she thought to herself, Impressionable souls. Make the first impression count.

Introduction? INTRODUCTION! "Uh, hi," Alice greeted the boy. "I'm Alice Rose Worth, but you can call me Alice if you like." Pretty good.

She held out her hand and smiled. Not a fake, shiny smile, but an excited smile.

"Hi..." the Mike reluctantly shook, his fingers loose. He seemed almost surprised to see he had a neighbor. But his voice... Alice HAD to have met him before.

"Do I... know you, from somewhere?" Alice asked him the question as casually as she could.

"Um... I don't think so, no," the boy replied, confused. "We just moved here from Denver, and we've never lived anywhere else. Duh."

"Are you sure? Because I swear I saw you on TV or something..." The irony.

Mike's vibes turned from confused to nervous and embarrassed in one second. "Um.. that is... yeah, I'm pretty sure we've never met before... uh.."

Mike wasn't the only one seeming nervous. His parents, especially Mr. Teavee, looked equally as stressed.

"Dang, I forgot to eat lunch," Mike awkwardly interjected. "Better go make it!" And with a shputed-over-the-shoulder "See ya" to Alice, Mike disappeared into the former Henderson house.

Mrs. Teavee held out the plastic blue plate holding the cookies to Mr. Teavee. "Dear, would you please take these into the kitchen?

"Of course." Mr. Teavee took the plate and disappeared into the house as well.

"If you'll excuse us, Alice, I think we'd better get unpacking soon." Mrs. Teavee said this with a strained look on her tired face.

"Oh..." Alice paused before saying: "I was just about to think about getting home, actually."

"Well then, goodbye, Alice! And thanks for the cookies."

"Er... you're welcome," Alice said suspiciously. "G'bye."

And with that, Mrs. Teavee promptly shut the door.

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On her way home, Alice couldn't help but think. She had definitely seen at least that Mike kid somewhere. She had seen that entire family somewhere. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

But one thing was for sure. She was going to see what that family was trying to hide. And she was going to find out soon.