A/N: Here's the first chapter of a fic that I had the idea for yesterday. What if, instead of having sexist views drilled into him from an early age, Ezekiel found out he had a older half-brother who lived away from home, and who allowed him to lead a better life? AU, before TDI, may lead into TDI. This story has the following characters in it: Ezekiel, Izzy, Harold, Duncan, Trent, Noah, Beth, Cody, Gwen, Geoff, Alejandro, Eva.

On a related note, the pairings (which won't be implemented until later) are as follows: Heather/Alejandro*, Ezekiel/OFC, Katie/secondary OC, Duncan/secondary OFC, DJ/Gwen, Noah/LeShawna, Trent/Bridgette, Geoff/Izzy, Owen/Sadie, Harold/Heather**, Tyler/Sierra, Courtney/ OC.

So, without further ado, here's chapter 1 of Am I a Prairie Boy…..or a Young Hood?

Chapter 1- My WHAT?

(Ezekiel's POV)

"Ezekiel, get down here now!" my dad said to me, while I was laying on my bed pondering the events of the day, which had led to me being stuck where I am now. Oh, before I forget, my name is Ezekiel Housan-Prigmore. I bet some of you are wondering why I have two last names. Well, it started about two weeks ago, when I was sitting around the table at a family dinner, one I had no idea would be much much more than that…

(FLASHBACK, still Ezekiel's POV)

"Ezekiel, did you get your chores done?" my father asked me.

"Yes, sir. Got em all done, eh." I replied, somewhat fearfully, as I'd seen what my father does when you don't do what needs doing, unless you were a girl in which case you did nothing, since to my dad, girls are useless and weaker than boys, and always in need of a boy's guiding hand. I myself disagree with this, and still do to this day, since I've since had it proven wrong on many occasions.

"Good, boy, good. So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" my father asked.

"I dunno, eh. Probably just lay on my bed and do nothing." I replied.

"You most certainly will NOT. We just got this for you in the mail from a young man named Joshua, who claims to be your brother. You're to read this and then write him back, THEN you can lay about." my father snapped. I nodded semi-fearfully, knowing that if I valued my life, I should do what my dad said. So, I took the letter in my shaking hands, and went upstairs to read it. The letter read as thus:

Dear Ezekiel,

How are you doing, little bro? I bet you're wondering why I call you that AND how I know your name. Well, the answer is simple: I'm your older half-brother. Dad, as good a guy as he is, in his ignorance neglected to mention you had been born before he sent me to live with my birth mom, citing "unnecessary financial strain" as the cause for leaving me with her. Before you go to snap at our dear father, note that he probably had his reason, though I am worried that he might be corrupting you with his sexist views, and to that end, I asked my mom, and she's willing to let you come and move in to my house here in California, but we wouldn't be able to come get you for at least another week, if not two weeks. I know you might be wondering who I am, since I've yet to introduce myself. As Father probably told you, my name is Joshua. But my full name is Joshua Daniel Prigmore, though technically I could claim Prigmore-Hausen, since that's your last name as well, but since we have different mothers, I have only the Prigmore surname. Anyhow, so, how's life treating you? Write me back when you can, ASSUMING Father taught you to write and schooled you like he was supposed to. If you decide to come, and that's NOT the case, it will be remedied in quick order. So, be sure to write back, bro. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Prigmore

P.S.: Zeke, make sure you attach a picture so we can see what you look like. I've done the same in this letter, so you can get a look at me, assuming Father didn't burn them. Look in the envelope to be sure, bro.

I looked up from the letter, pale faced, but unsurprised, as Joshua had hit the nail on the head on several counts. So, I decided to go ask my father about the pictures. I timidly walked downstairs.

"Uh, Dad, you busy?" I called down timidly.

"No, Zeke, I'm not. Why?" my dad said.

"Did that letter have any pictures in it, by chance, eh?" I asked. My dad visibly sweated, and looked guilty.

"You burned the pictures didn't you?" I asked.

"Zeke, please understand, I did it because I didn't want you knowing him. He's a disgrace to the family, you see." My dad answered. I saw red quickly afterward.

"First of all, my name is Ezekiel, second of all, from what I read in his letter, YOU are the disgrace to the family, and third of all, I wasn't sure before, but now you convinced me-" I started, as my father cut me off.

"Convinced you of what, eh?"

"Convinced me to accept his offer to go live with him, because he knew about EVERYTHING." I replied, visibly half-scowling at my father, who sputtered, then drew a shotgun and aimed it at me.

"Now listen here, you reject. You should be more grateful to me, since I loved you, taught you everything I know, showed you the truth of the world, taught you-" my dad started as I cut him off again.

"Taught me WHAT? Some half-truth about how girls are weaker and dumber that boys, and worse at sports? Well, guess what, Father? You're wrong. I've seen for myself that this is not true. AND, you haven't taught me ANYTHING, at all. I'm going to be glad when I've moved in with Joshua, because I will be well-taught, and not ignorant, like I probably would have been had I allowed myself to blindly believe your lies, but thankfully this will never be the case." I snarled.

"Right, then, that does it. Time to show you to respect me." My father said, as he cocked his shotgun, and fired at me, repeatedly…..

(end flashback)

(Meanwhile, Joshua's POV)

"What's taking Zeke so long to come to the door?" I asked my mom as we waited out in front of Ezekiel's house to pick him up, as we had received word a week before from Ezekiel to come and get him as soon as we could, and we left the next day to fly out and come get him, only to be told by Ezekiel's mom, who was surprised by my resemblance to Ezekiel, that he was sick and couldn't leave for a couple of days, until she finally came to us and said that he was well enough to leave this morning, which is how we got to be here now. Then, I heard it. BOOM!

"Mom, did you hear that too?" I asked my mom.

"You mean that gunshot, Josh?" My mom replied.

"Yes, and it sounded like it came from upstairs." I said as I moved back to get a good view of the upstairs window, and I found myself astounded at what I saw…..

It was Ezekiel, laid out against the window, visibly bleeding from a gunshot wound in his left shoulder blade, but he was punching what appeared to be Dad, presumably as a result of an argument, most likely over me.

"Mom, we need to get in that house, NOW." I said.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"Because Ezekiel was the one shot, and he's bleeding up there." I said.

"Okay, you go call for help, and I'll try to save Ezekiel." Mom said to me, so I ran to a nearby house to try and phone the authorities, while Mom used her metal rod and broke down the door, then rushed upstairs, and found her ex-boyfriend beating on what was clearly Ezekiel, though he did a poor job of fighting back, due to the amount of blood that he'd lost.

She then took her rod and smacked Dad upside the head, knocking him out, and saved Ezekiel, struggling to stop the bleeding. When she succeeded at this, she managed to pack a couple of bags of Ezekiel's stuff, then get Ezekiel on the bed, and keep him safe until the ambulance arrived, followed closely by the RCMP, and then finally I came into the room, and when I saw Ezekiel laid out on the bed, with the gunshot wound, I went in, and punched Father right in the jaw, and said,

"You jealous fucking sexist redneck prick, I hope you get everything that's coming to you for this atrocity and then some. Goodbye.",

Then I slammed his bedroom door behind him, as the RCMP entered and arrested him for child abuse, and attempted murder, and then they took Ezekiel's mother away, due to supposedly trying to knock out the RCMP as they came to take Father into custody. One of the RCMP stopped and turned to face me.

"Ordinarily, what you just did could have serious consequences, but due to the circumstances, we'll just let you off and call it self-defense. I hope you can give your brother a better life." he said to me.

"My mother and I can definitely do that, officer. Thanks." I said to the officer, then went back into the room where Ezekiel was laying, being treated by the paramedics, while Mother held his hand and told him he was going to be okay, until, some fifteen minutes later, the paramedics got up.

"Ma'am, his bleeding has stopped, and we were able to heal most of the injuries, but we still suggest you take him to the hospital for a professional once-over, before you take him home, okay?" The main paramedic said.

"Yes, sir." we said, and while the paramedics left, we took Ezekiel, well Mom carried him while I loaded up his stuff and we headed out to the car, and drove to the hospital. Once we got there, however, Mom tried to get out of the car, only to feel a lot of pain, and I saw why: her ankle was bleeding and looked like it had sustained an injury there that hadn't been there before.

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, son." Mom replied.

"If you say so, but I still think we should get you looked at just to be sure." I said, and she hobbled into the hospital while I carried Ezekiel, who was still unconscious, in my arms, and Mother held my shoulder.

"Excuse me?" I asked the lady at the front desk.

"Yes, sir, may I help you?" she said, turning around.

"Yes, my brother is severely injured and may need medical attention, and my mother looks to have been shot in the ankle." I replied, gesturing to where Mom was leaning on my shoulder.

"Very good. Katie!" the lady at the front desk said, gesturing to one of the nurse's assistants. She was fairly pretty, with light milk-chocolate colored skin, fair complexion, an attractive hourglass figure, and had what appeared to be black hair.

"Yes, Ma'am?" Katie asked.

"Take this lady and young man back to the ER, so that they can be looked over. This young man (here she gestured to me) is going to help carry the other young man as apparently they are brothers." the lady at the front desk said.

"Yes, Ma'am. Well, the two of you can follow me." Katie said, gesturing to me and Mom. We then headed into the waiting room.

"So, you, what's your name, and what are your brother and mother's names?" Katie asked me, smiling slightly, so that I found myself momentarily looking into her luscious chocolate colored oval shaped eyes, and thought to myself, Wow, she's really pretty, and easy on the eyes, then I found myself blushing slightly, though thankfully she paid it no notice.

"My name is Joshua Prigmore, and these are my mother Lavender, and my little brother Ezekiel." I said, gesturing to Mom and Ezekiel, who was still unconscious, but in Mom's arms while I was interviewed by Katie.

"Ok, then. How old are you, Mr. Prigmore?" Katie asked me.

"I'm currently 15, but I'll be 16 in about 2 more months." I replied.

"I'm 14, myself. How old are your mother and brother?" Katie asked.

"Mom's 59, and Ezekiel is 13, going to be 14 next week." I replied.

"Okay, so what seems to be the problem?" Katie asked.

"Ezekiel here was found being abused and apparently shot by our father. While Mother was inside rescuing him alone, I ran to phone the authorities, who currently have our father and Ezekiel's mother in custody. Also, I think my mother got either hit or shot in the foot while she was rescuing Ezekiel, and as a result her ankle is bleeding. " I replied.

"I see, well, I need you to help your mother to the ER, but Ezekiel might need to be carried on a stretcher." Katie said, signaling for a stretcher.

"Okay." I said, and Mom and I headed to the ER, while Katie wheeled Ezekiel in, then she told me to wait outside while they examined Mom and Ezekiel, so I did, opting to walk outside to phone Justin and inform him of the situation, but not before asking Katie to have someone let me know how the examination went, which she agreed to, before she went back inside, though not before I spotted what looked to be the faintest hint of a blush on her cheeks as she went back into the ER.

I then turned around and went outside to phone Justin and Jesse, and let them know how our trip went, though I was unaware of the presence of two pairs of eyes staring at me from inside a pair of bushes directly behind me….

A/N: And here ends Chapter 1! So, what do you think? Good? Not so good? Should I continue the plotline? Leave me a PM or a review letting me know so I can prepare accordingly! Also, for anyone who reads my Total Drama Reloaded fic, I'm working on a chapter for it next! So please leave me reviews and PM's! Thanks!

Sithlorde1988

*=Heather and Lindsay both develop crushes on Alejandro, BUT Heather is the one to get him.

** Alejandro, however, has other agendas, as Heather will quickly find out, in addition to her discovering her hidden feelings for one redheaded nerd who possesses "mad skills".