Authors note: Sorry for making it so long, I just wanted to introduce the characters and get you guys comfortable with the setting, and knowing whats going on. Hope you enjoy it.
Please Read and Review. Thank you.
:D
As I was watching the trees and objects fly by, all I could think about was my mother. She caused all this. I thought. She's the reason why I'm on my way to meet a new family. We have been on the road for hours, heading to meet the "Blaine Family."
"Okay, were almost there. Now when we get there, I'll just–"
I interrupted."I know what's going to happen. You have explained the same thing to me three times now." Idiot. I continued to stare out the window, seeing that the enormous amount of trees were slowing down. When we turned down the driveway, I almost gasped out loud, from the sight of the house. It was a two-story white house, with blue trimming, and a porch traveling all around the house. I only grew up in two bedrooms, one bathroom apartment. So this was amazing, but at the same time, It worried me.
"How many kids do they have?" I asked.
"They have three kids that are adopted, and two of their own." Mrs. Something said. I never got her name. The reason for that is because I never cared. I don't even know what her job is.
"You failed to tell me that. I don't like big families." I told her. She took her eyes off of what she was doing for a second, and smiled at me.
"You don't seem to listen well do you? I have told you everything there is to know about this family." She replied. I started to zone out, so I didn't have to listen to her annoying voice. When Mrs. Whatever, came to a stop, I didn't jump out of the car, excited to meet them. I actually didn't bother getting out of the car, till she came around to open my door. She stood there, waiting for me to make a move.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Victoria, get out of this car, their waiting." She snapped.
"Who's... this... Victoria, your talking about?" I snapped back. I crossed my arms, to imitate the way she was looking, and rolled my eyes. Behind Mrs. Crap head, the Blaine family made their way outside to greet me, some with smiles, and some looking like they were annoyed. Great. A parade to introduce me to the world. I glanced at Mrs. Loser, and she had the "ha-ha" look on her face.
"Victoria! It's so nice to finally meet you." A lady with a smile from ear to ear, was walking up to me, arms fully extended. She had long, straight, blonde hair that went down to the middle of her back, and icy blue eyes, also extremely tan. She looked to be in her 30's. I got out of the car slowly, showing no excitement, with my arms still folded. She paused, waiting for me to come closer, but then proceeded to hug me. When she let go, a man in his 30's walked towards me with the same expression as the lady. He had dark, spiky brown hair, with hazel eyes, and he was also tan. He gave me a big hug, and as he was letting go he whispered in my ear, "Welcome to your new home. I'm Chris."
"Well my name is Kelly, and this is Daniel." The 30 year old lady pointed to herself, then pointed to a boy that was at least 6'4. He's tall! He was tan, just like them all, and had his dark brown hair spiked up. A smile grew upon his face, that made his light brown eyes almost disappear. He waved. But I was too stubborn to wave back, knowing that Mrs. Whatever was looking at me. I'm not happy, so why pretend to be?
"Next to Daniel, is Faith." She was beautiful. She had long straight black hair, that went down to the middle of her back, which was tucked back behind her ear, on one side. And she had the greenest eyes that I have ever seen. Well, she's the only green eyed person I've seen. She waved, and gave me a quick smile.
"Next to Faith is Kyle." He was also huge, the same height as Daniel. But he had blonde "surfer" like hair, that flipped out at the ends, and went past his light brown eyes.
"Well Abigail and Andrew aren't here right now. There over at their grandmas. So you'll meet them later." She said with a smile on her face. Lady, you creep me out. You better get that smile off your face, or I'll do it for you. I laughed, and everyone stared at me, and I realized that I laughed out loud.
Mrs. Something broke the awkwardness and said, "Okay, well I have to go. I have somebody else, that I have to deal with." She gave me a quick glance, and went to the car to retrieve my stuff. As she got in the car, Daniel started to pick up my luggage, along with my book bag.
"No, I can get that." I snatched my book bag away from him, and everyone gave me a weird look. What? I have some personal stuff in here people! Kelly, led the group towards the house, and I just stood there looking around. The house was surrounded by trees, and a big yard. As I looked into the trees, I saw nothing but a small river, and a bridge built over it. Great. I live in the middle of no where. I was used to the sounds of cars, and people screaming, or police sirens. Also other buildings surrounding mine, and pollution in the air. Not nature, and birds chirping or fresh air. But I have to admit. It's kinda nice. When I zoned back in, Daniel was standing next to me saying, "Did you hear me, Victoria?" I turned to look at him, and nodded no.
"I was telling you to come on, before you get eaten by the bears." He laughed, when he saw my expression.
"I'm just joking. Now come on!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me up the steps, and into the house. The house was amazing inside. It had dark hard wood floors, and huge stairs leading to the second floor. Everything was very elegant, with colors that only consisted of golds, maroon, and cream. Holy sh–
"Haha, by your expression I'm guessing you like it?" Daniel interrupted with a smile. I didn't attempt to say anything, and just started walking into the living room that was next to the front door. I looked at some of the pictures on the wall, which had the whole family together, either them having fun, or just portraits. As I sat down on the elegant couch, I started flipping through the "family album." I saw two little blonde kids, one girl with long blonde hair, and light brown eyes, and a boy with short spiky blonde hair, and icy blue eyes. Underneath the picture it said, Abigail and Andrew 2007. Oh, so these are their real kids?
"That's Abigail and Andrew, their fraternal twins." I looked up to see Kelly looking at me, with another one of her smiles. I smiled back, but just this once!
"You want to see your room? I know your going to love it!" She started walking towards the stairs and I got up to follow her. As I was walking up the stairs, small, flashes of memories of my mother and I, flooded my head. It happens a lot. Ever since my mother ditched me. Sometimes they would be long, horrible memories, or short ones. Ugghh, get out of my head! This memory was when me and my mother went to the park, and we stayed there till' dusk. The best day of my life. I thought to myself. When I finally came back to reality, my face was meeting the hard wood stairs. Oh god. That hurt. When I touched my nose, red blood was gushing out of it. I realized that I was at the top, and I thought there was another step.
"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Kelly was helping me up. Oh yes, my nose is gushing out blood. IM GREAT.
"You seem to zone out a lot don't you?" Kelly said, followed by a laugh. She led me to a bathroom that was at the beginning of a long hall and handed me toilet paper to stuff up my nose.
After awhile the blood started to give up, and I looked around to see blood everywhere. I gave Kelly a half smile, to let her know that I was sorry.
"It's okay, I'll have Kyle to clean it up. Now are you finally ready to see your room?" I nodded, and she helped me off of the counter, and guided me with her hand on my back. When we reached the end of the hallway, Kelly opened the door, and light flooded my face, making me squint. When my eyes focused, I saw the colors green and black. My favorite colors... how did they know? As I started to walk around, I noticed how all my stuff was put in the closet, and pictures of me and my friends up on the walls, or sitting on the desk.
"Mrs. Adams–" Haha, so that's her name. "–told me about your favorite colors, and me and Faith set up your room so you felt like you were home." Woman, this place will never be like my home. I nodded, and smiled, indicating that I was happy, and thankful for what they have done. She walked off, and closed the door, leaving me alone to explore. I set my book bag on the floor and walked to the closet and walked in. Yes, a walk-in closet. Which I never had a closet before, and this closet was the size of my bathroom in the apartment. All my stuff was hanging up neatly, with pants, shorts on one side, and t-shirts, and jackets on the other. Also clothes that I have never recognized before. I walked out of the closet and headed for these two big windows on the opposite side of the room. When I opened these so-called windows, I almost fainted at the sight. It was a balcony above a small yard, and was surrounded by a lot of trees. The trees were taller than the two story house, but the yard made the trees really far away, so there was no shade. I walked back inside to find Kyle opening up the door.
"Victoria, can I come in?" He said with a hushed voice. I walked to the door, and nodded, allowing him to come in. I know what your thinking, but I'm not talking just yet. I'll wait for the right moment.
He walked with such long strides that he was sitting on my bed after just three steps. I sat down on my desk chair, waiting for him to say something.
"I'm going to come right out and say this." He cleared his throat, and began.
"You may not like it here, and you may not like us. But Kelly and Chris, are really excited that you're here. I have been living with them for 9 years, and I was in–" Blah. Blah. Blah. You know, Kyle is really attractive. He looks like a guy from a modeling magazine. Tan, blonde, tall, muscular... his face is very manly looking. Ooo, Tori focus! "–we moved here from California. So all I'm saying is that, even though you may not like it here. Please, just please, pretend. For Kelly and Chris." I just stared at him, trying to understand what I missed, but then just nodded.
"Well, thanks for listening, and if you have any questions, just yell, or knock on my door, which you'll be able to know which room is mine." Kyle smiled quickly, and got up from the bed. Once again, taking only three strides and he was at the door. When I explored everything, I headed down the long hallway, looking for the bathroom, because I forgot where it was. As I was passing rooms, they each had signs on them. Like, Faith had her name and stickers on her door. Also Daniel just had his name on his door, and nothing else. How boring. And Kyle had his name painted across the door in big neon green letters, with drawings that he had made. Well I guess this is what he meant when he said 'You'll be able to know which room is mine.' When I came across a door that had no sign on it, I guessed that It was the bathroom. And sure enough, it was. It was beautiful, which made me confused on why I didn't notice it when I was in here earlier. It had pretty counters, and gold sinks, and the shower was really big. Everything was put in order, and the towels were folded neat. I'm surprised that anybody would go to the bathroom, because It was really that nice. As I was looking around I got a small glimpse at my self in the mirror. I hate looking at my self in the mirror. But I do it anyways. I realized, that I had huge dark circles under my dark brown eyes, so I turned on the facet and cupped my hands so I could get water to my face to try to clear the tiredness away. After I dried my face I looked in the mirror again trying to fix my brown wavy hair, but another memory was creeping into my head. This time it was me and my mother in the bathroom, with her putting make up on me, and me putting make up on her. Of course, I looked like a princess and I made my mom look like the ugly step sister. There was a knock on the door, which made me jump a little, but helped me come back to reality. I opened it and Faith was standing there with her arms folded, clearly telling me that she didn't want to talk to me.
"Dinner is ready down stairs." She walked off, with her arms still folded, and a sort of attitude in her walk. I have a feeling, that I'm going to have some troubles with that girl. I sighed and headed for the stairs, preparing my self for a game of 20 questions. With that thought in mind, I started to think of questions I could ask each of them... That is, if I want to talk to them... I could ask them... hmm, how old they are? No, that's stupid. How about when does school start? No, it's not the right time to ask that question. How about– My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Kyle screaming and telling me to get out of the way. When I turned around I realized I was half way down the stairs, and Kyle followed by Daniel were rushing towards me. So I grabbed onto the hand rail and held on for dear life.
"Haha, not this time brother." Kyle said with a grin on his face.
"You wish. You never can beat me." Daniel pushed Kyle off to the side and jumped the last few steps, followed by Kyle landing on top of him. Daniel started to push Kyle off and got up, cupping his hands together and waving them in the air.
"Thank you! Thank you! Once again, I win!" Daniel headed towards the dining room with his nose in the air, also ignoring his brother. Kyle started to do the same, and breathed in a deep breath. That's when I realized that I was still hanging on the railing as if someone was going to kill me. I relaxed and let go, and headed for the dining room smelling something really familiar in the air. When I reached my destination, they were sitting in their "assigned" seats at a long table. Kelly at one end and Chris at the other. I walked slowly towards the table and hesitated, not sure if there was a certain seat I had to sit in.
"You sit next to me." Daniel said, followed by a smile. I slowly reached the chair and sat down, feeling that all eyes were on me but I didn't dare to look up. After a couple of minutes Faith came in smiling and sat down across from me, next to Kyle. When she looked at me her smile faded and I could almost swear that she was glaring at me. Kelly got up from the table and returned with platters covered up by a silver cover.
"Well Mrs. Adams told us your favorite dish, so I decided to make it, as a welcome dinner." My favorite food? How would Mrs. Adams know my favorite food? Kelly must have noticed the confused look on my face before answering,
"Chicken and dumplings. Right?" I froze. No...no. How would they know!?!? How? She revealed six bowls of chicken and dumplings, and sat down. More memories of me and my mother flooded my head. This time it was me and my mom cooking chicken dumplings, my favorite dish, and it was hers too. I would sit on the counter and pass her things that she needed. This time was the one time I will always remember. This is the night we got into a flour fight. I came back to reality and quickly got up from the table, keeping my head down, so I didn't have to look at the confused faces. I ran up the stairs almost tripping over my own feet, and also from the tears forming in my eyes, making everything a blur. When I made it into my room, I flopped down on my bed, digging my head into the pillows. Maybe I should run away. I can't take it anymore! Im 16 I can live on my own. With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy and I finally let the tiredness take over me. Luckily I didn't have to deal with the memories of me and my mom in my dream. My dream consisted of just me as a child playing with my good friend, who lived a couple houses down from me. We were at the park playing in the sandbox, it was the time another kid came up to me and took my toy. My good friend stood up to him, which he was a head smaller than the other kid, and punched him right in the stomach. The boy fell to the ground screaming and that's when me and my friend ran. We ran into the woods, and got lost.
I woke up from the sound of the door slamming open. I sat up rubbing my eyes, trying to adjust to the light that was turned on. When they finally adjusted, Kyle was sitting on the desk chair, and he didn't look to happy.
"What the hell was that about?" I gave him a confused look, not sure of what he was talking about.
"At dinner. You made Kelly very upset. I told you, if you don't like it here at least pretend to be happy." He gave me a deathly glare, that made me pissed off.. I didn't know what to say. He doesn't need to know my problems. I fell back onto the bed, and let out a loud sigh. I'm not going to say anything. That would surely piss him off. He turned around and propped his feet up on the desk, and he put his arms behind his head.
"I'm not leaving till you tell me what that incident at dinner was all about." Ooo great, he's a stubborn one. Well if he wants to play that game, then let's see who wins. I got under the covers and started to read a book that Mrs. Adams gave me when she found out that I like to read. It was neatly placed on the bed side table, next to a photo of me and a girl I met at a summer camp, a few years ago.
When I was half way through the second chapter, I looked over to see Kyle still propped up on the desk. "Hmm. I can do this allll night."He said followed by a fake yawn, and he turned around to look at me with and devilish smile, that's when a loud knock came at the door and Daniel walked in. He cocked his head to the side, confused about what was going on.
"I'm not going to ask. But Kyle we need to go, they called." Kyle got up quickly but still had the devilish smile on his face, telling me that this game wasn't over. They both walked out closing the door, this time they didn't slam it. I wonder what that was all about. What do they mean by 'they called'?
I didn't want to deal with it so I just ignored their stupidity, and decided to go and talk to Kelly, because I felt bad about what I had done at the dinner table.
I walked down the long hallway, wondering where she would be. I guessed and headed down stairs to the kitchen, thinking maybe she is still cleaning up. When I reached the kitchen, sure enough, Kelly was there cleaning the dishes, and putting them in the dish washer.
I sighed so she would know that I was present, and finally got the courage to talk for the first time.
"Kelly?" I asked quietly, not sure if she could have heard it.
She turned around and she set the sponge down and wiped her hands on her apron. She just stood there waiting for me to finish what I have started, with a blank stare.
"Kelly, I came down here to apologize for the way I acted at the dinner table. It's just that, the dinner reminded me of some memories I tried to keep away for good. Please forgive me." Wow, I'm sucking up good.
It took her a while to respond but when she did, relief washed over me.
"Thank you, for apologizing. I just wasn't sure if you were already not liking the thought of living here... or my dinner looked horrible to you.. I just wasn't sure." She smiled, dismissing me from the conversation.
As I was leaving, she stopped me saying, "Oh, and also it's great to know that your not a mute." She smiled, and I smiled back, and walked off.