Chapter 1

It was dark and it was raining, yet she didn't want to go home, not now nor ever. She had to find a place to stay, but she couldn't come up with anything.

She could stay with Bill's family, but surely his mother would alert her dad and then he'd drag her home to that awful hag!

Aunt Taylor wasn't in town and she'd probably tell dad as well. Karen was on a summer vacation and Helen was out of town as well. She could stay in an Inn, but then again, she was broke.

She cursed loudly as the rain got stronger and to keep at least one inch of her clothes dry, she dodged under the first extendable roof she could see. She sat there for a good few minutes, but the rain didn't seem to stop. No, it was getting even worse.

The girl sneezed and rubbed her hands together, when a woman rushed under the same roof. She was closing her umbrella when she noticed the girl, somewhere between fourteen to sixteen years old, crouching by the wall.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked, looking rather concerned.

The girl looked up at her. She wanted to snap at her or yell, how happy she was right now, but for some reason her sarcastic bone [the biggest one in her body didn't seem to work, so she just nodded, looking and feeling miserable.

When the woman didn't seem to move, the girl understood why.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said rising up, "I didn't mean to block your doorway or take cover under your roof, it's just that it's raining so bad and… why are you smiling?"

The woman was indeed doing just that. "Where do you live?" she asked, not answering her question.

The girl scowled and waved towards the left, "About two miles that way, but I rather sleep in the gutter than go home!"

She wasn't definitely a kid that slept on the street, the woman marked. She was wearing expensive clothes and her sneakers were brand new.

"Do you have problems at home?" the woman asked now. The girl looked her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Well you are not going home even though it's raining this bad. You're scowling at the mere mention of your home and so, I just guessed."

The girl started to reply, but was interrupted by another sneeze.

"Poor girl," the woman said, back to her concerned self, "Come in."

"In?" the girl asked, looking shocked, "Why would you want to invite me in?"

"Well, I'm not going to let you sleep outside on the street while it's raining like that. Well, I'm afraid you could be stubborn enough to sleep anywhere, if it means you don't have to go home and if it has to be something, then at least you'd be warm and safe inside.

For a moment they stared each other until the girl grudgingly trotted into a hallway. Unintentionally, she whistled.

The woman behind her chuckled, as she took off her coat and placed her umbrella into the corner of the room.

"Make yourself feel like home," she said guiding her into the living room after she removed her shoes.

"It'll be one hell of a nice home," The girl muttered, but the woman didn't seem to hear. She looked up to see her gone. She blinked. Where could she have gone now?

Her question was answered a minute later, when the woman returned with a huge blanket. Wordlessly she gestured her towards the fireplace and the girl did so without a question.

"Hopefully you'll dry quickly enough for not to catch cold," the woman said, when a till was heard. She grinned slightly before rising and going through a doorway which the girl thought was a kitchen and then she returned with two big cups of hot chocolate. She placed them on the tiny table between the two armchairs, which were positioned in front of the fireplace.

She smiled as the girl stared the cups suspiciously.

"Don't worry, I'm not the witch you lures young kids into my house and then poisons them," she said. The girl looked at her and answered,

"You don't look like Sarah either."

"Sarah?"

"My father's girlfriend, who is the biggest witch in the history!" the girl exclaimed, "She keeps calling me stupid and moronic every time we're alone, but when dad's around… oh no – 'Sweet little angel, blah-blah- blah,' she imitated a high pitched voice and scowled even more, "She even said flat out that when she gets married to dad she'll have me sent to a boarding school somewhere on the continent. When I talk to dad, he won't even believe me!"

She seemed really upset and the woman knew it, "Chocolate chip cookies?" she asked, giving her the bowl. She herself always ate some when she was upset.

The girl seemed to be like her, because wordlessly she reached out and took a chocolate cookie. When she finished she looked somewhat more collected, but when she started to speak, the woman was proven otherwise.

"Today he told me that they are getting married! He didn't even ask how I felt about it, he just said it! 'Hello darling! Guess what? I'm marrying the hag who keeps bugging you. Aren't we all excited?"

For a moment both of them stared into the fire and then the girl asked, "What's your name anyways?"

The woman chuckled for a moment, before she answered,

"Gabriella, Gabriella Black."

"Oh. Well you can call me Max. All my friends do anyways."

"Why, thank you," Gabriella answered, laughing. "Now what do you say we call your dad. He's probably worried."

Max shook her head with all of her might, her brown hair flying around. "Please don't make me call him. Not yet anyways… Maybe I'll call when I'm fifty."

"Max…"

"Miss Gabriella, pleeeeaaaseeee," The girl said. Their brown eyes locked and for a while neither of them spoke until…

"Fine, you can stay over for tonight. But you'll call your dad tomorrow, okay."

"Alright," the girl said. "I just need a place to stay until the rain stops anyways."

"Wait, let me amend that," Gabriella said, "You'll talk to your dad tomorrow."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

moment of silence

"Really have to?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

Another moment of silence

"Are you married?"

Gabriella's head turned until she faced the girl. "Why are you asking that?"

The girl shrugged. "No reason what-so-ever. Just wondering."

Gabriella shook her head. "I was married once, but he died two years ago. His picture is on the fireplace, see? Orlando Black. He had an untreatable heart disease."

"Oh," Max said, "Sorry."

"No problem," Gabriella answered. "You dried up enough?"

"Guess so," Max said, "See no dripping."

She stood up and Gabriella nodded, her clothes were dry enough, but not close to what they should be so they could go to sleep.

"Guess we'll hang out here for some time more," Gabriella marked, "Want to watch a movie?"

"Sure, what are we watching?"

"You've seen Ella Enchanted?" Gabriella asked, looking through her videos.

"Oh yes," Max said, "I love it!"

"Yeah, me too," Gaby said with a grin. She then took the remote and sat near the fireplace and turned on the TV. And in the back of her mind just a tiny thought was nagging her. Why the hell did the girl next to her look so familiar.

XxXxXxXxXx

Gabriella Black woke up the next morning to find herself in a weird position. She had fallen asleep in the armchair. On her arm a big bunch of the blanket had been piled and on it a head rested. It took her about ten seconds to remember who exactly she was.

Gently she shook her arm. The girl woke up soon enough and looked around groggily. She jumped when her face was turned enough to see Gabriella staring at her.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, don't scare me like that," She gasped out after she took control of her heartbeat again.

Gabriella laughed out right and rose from her chair, "We must've fallen asleep during the second time we watched the movie."

"It's a good movie," Max protested, "I just fell asleep because it was late, it was warm and I was comfortable."

"'Course," Gabrielle agreed, "Now, we're going to clean up, have breakfast and then you're going to call your father."

"Can't I just live in your backyard?" the girl asked, yawning.

"What?"

"I mean I could sneak to my house, grab the tent and the sleeping bag… maybe some seeds from Aunt Muriel and then I'll grow my own food!"

Gabriella shook her head as she laughed, "You're having me on, right? Right?"

"Maybe," Max answered with a sleepy smile, "Maybe not."

"Oh you promised to call your dad yesterday and you are not going to break your word are you?" Gabriella asked, leaning against the door and looking at her with raised eyebrows.

Max muttered something, before she asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

"Upstairs, first door to the left," the woman directed. "Do you want eggs, bacon or both?"

"Both please! No ham in the eggs though, I hate when people do that."

Gabriella laughed, "Me too. So I honestly wasn't going to put any in!" She didn't know if she heard, but she said it anyways. Actually having someone else in the house was rather fun.

Gabriella had moved to L.A four weeks ago, since she got a job offer for one of the best Medical Research jobs and that's exactly what she was interested in. Since she specialized in biomedical diseases, the job was right down her alley and the fact that it got her away from Washington helped.

She had lived in Washington for about nine years. At first she had went to a college and specialized in medicine. Her co-student Orlando was often paired with her for projects and so they got closer. When they both ended up working for the same hospital for practical experience their bond grew.

Gaby still doesn't know if what she had with Orlando was real love, but when he proposed… Having someone like Orlando to rely on made her feel safe and loved. And safeness and love were things she craved for at that period of time.

"Hmm, this smells good."

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Gabriella said, a bit distraught. "So how many do you want?"

"I usually have two and three," Max answered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine, why shouldn't I be?"

"Dunno," Max answered, shrugging, "You looked like you were on another planet."

"Well I'm not and while I'm on this planet, I'm making sure that you call your dad."

Max tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before she looked up at her. Again, Gabriella felt all weird for some reasons, but she chose to ignore it. "Okay?"

"Alright, whatever you say, ma'am."

"Uh, don't call me that," Gabriella said, frowning, "Makes me feel like I'm fifty."

"So how old are you?" Max asked, sniffing the bacon on her plate.

"Guess."

"Twenty…five?"

Gabriella laughed, "You're a charmer, aren't you?"

"What?" Max asked, confused. "You're older?" Gaby nodded "Twenty seven?" Gaby shook her head "Thirty?" Nope "Thirty two?" Close! "Thirty three?"

"Yeah, you guessed it," Gabriella answered, smiling.

"You don't look older than twenty five though."

"Wow, thank you," Gabriella answered, smiling. "And you? How old are you? Sixteen?"

"Whoa, I'm flattered that you think I'm that mature and everything, but you're overbidding."

"Fifteen?"

"Nope."

"Fourteen."

"That's half right and half wrong," Max answered, "I'm getting fourteen in a month."

Gabriella nodded, before she pointed to the phone, "Now we call your dad."

Grudgingly, Max finally called their home number.

"Hello."

"Uh… Is dad there?"

"You little brat," Someone screeched and since it was on speaker even Gabrielle took a step back. "Because of you I had to spend an hour trotting around in the rain last night! You get your stupid little head home right now! Last night I fell and broke a nail…"

-Beep-

"Why did you do that for?" Max asked looking up at Gabrielle who had disconnected the call.

"Is she always like that?" Gabrielle asked, looking rather disgusted at the voice she heard.

Max shrugged, before she grinned. "I knew something good had to come out of this."

"That is?"

"She broke a nail – Hah! If there's something she loves more than her hair, it's her nails and now her nails are sooo uneven!"

Gabrielle laughed, "Go on; call your dad's cell."

"I called already…"

"You promised to talk to your dad…"

"Fine," Max said, dialing another number. This time she picked the phone up though.

-Beeeeeep- -Beeeeeeeep-

"Hallo?"

"Daddy?" Max hesitantly started.

"Julie is that you?"

"Yeah, daddy it's me." Gabriella smiled caringly and Max found herself smiling back.

"Where are you? Don't move! Go home! I'll come there as soon as I get off work!"

"…Am I supposed to go home or not move?" Max asked and Gabriella laughed next to her.

"Whose that?"

"Uh, that's the woman I stayed over with… No, I didn't check her… what? Alibi? What did she need an alibi?"

Gabriella laughed out loud by now and Max found it rather encouraging sound, very much unlike Sarah's screeching.

"Yeah, I'll go home and wait," Max said, "I love you too."

She then hung up and stared at the phone for a few moments, before she resignedly sighed, "I think I got to go home."

Gabriella smiled, "It's not all that bad. Your dad will be home soon and then you can speak to him about this… Calmly and without that horrible woman around preferably."

"See, you don't like her and you've just heard her speak for a half of a minute. I've had to be around her for months!"

"Well a person who does a sound like THAT, can't be all normal can she? I mean I knew a pair of siblings who used to make funny noises to relax in high school and compared to her… they were doing the sounds of angels."

"You know what?" Max asked, "I pretty much like you already."

Gabriella laughed and picked up her keys from the counter. Max looked at her with risen eyebrows.

"What? I'm dropping you off. I need to do the groceries anyways."

"How do you know it's on your way?"

"I'll make it be on my way," Gabriella answered, throwing her head back in a snobbish way, her black hair waving behind her. She grinned when Max burst out laughing.

"Is your hair naturally black?" Max asked as she climbed into Gabriella's car and fastened her seatbelt.

"Nope, actually it's more like dark brown… something similar to yours. By the way it's a nice tan you have."

"It's not a tan," Max said, "I'm like this all seasons. Something with dark blood along the family. And if I have a good tan, then what do you have? The super-tan?"

"If it comforts you I don't getting anything out of sunbathing either, I'm like this since I was born," Gabrielle answered laughing as she pulled out of the driveway. Max looked as the house got smaller and smaller.

"I'm trying to memorize what it looked like," she answered to Gaby's unasked question.

"Didn't you memorize it last night?"

"Are you kidding? All I saw of your house from the outside was the inside tiles of the roof."

Gabriella laughed as Max asked, "What's that funny? I could have caught a cold! Actually… I'm extremely lucky that I ended up under that roof… everyone else probably would have thrown me out of their property."

"Oh not all people are that bad," Gabriella said, "Just some of them."

"I live here," Max said pointing to a white house with red roof. It had a white fence around it and on the sides of the house some flowers had been planted. Gaby stopped the car and Max climbed out.

She said goodbye to Gabriella and walked towards the house when out of nowhere Sarah practically jumped out.

Max groaned inwardly as she put a sickly sweet smile onto her face. "Hello."

"Oh don't you hello me," Sarah snapped, "Where were you last night?"

"Why do you care?" Max snapped back, her politeness forgotten.

"As long as your actions concern me, I care! Do you know how much it costs to get my boots and pants, which right now are covered in mud, dry-cleaned."

"Like you're worried about that. You'll use daddy's money as always!"

A smirk appeared on Sarah's lips and for a brief second Max just wanted to strangle her.

"Oh yes. His money. Thank you for reminding me the reason why I put up with you in the first place. Now go to your room!"

"You can't order me to…"

"I SAID, GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

"No, I…"

"YOU DO AS I SAY!"

"Oh, hello!"

Sarah wheeled around on her spot in record speed to stand practically face-to-face with a woman about two inches taller than her. She had almost waist length midnight black wavy black hair, her brown eyes bore deep into her green ones and her skin was in dark tones. She was dressed in black jeans with regular, yet classy white shirt. She was holding a small sweater and to Sarah she looked a bit angry.

That's because Sarah has just a half of a brain. To Max, she looked boiling of anger, but she could also tell she was trying to appear calm.

Instead of hitting Sarah like Max hoped she would, she smiled. The same sickly sweet and 100 fake smile Max wore around Sarah.

"Hello," she repeated, "I'm here to speak with Max's father."

"Max's…father…"

"Yes… Max's f-a-t-h-e-r," Gabriella repeated, wondering if Sarah's hair dye was absorbing itself into her brain.

"You want to talk to Max's father?"

"Didn't we just establish that?" Gabriella snapped, reminding Max a bit of herself. "Do I have to spell it out, again?"

Max snickered while Sarah looked like she was getting ready to panic. "Why would you need to talk to her father?"

"Well…" Gaby wasn't the quickest thinker in her year for no reason as her mind reeled over things in mega speed. If she told her that she needed to talk to him about what she just heard, she'll go into defense mode and that'll do no good. She could also say it was business, but then again she didn't know who Max's father was professionally. But she couldn't leave Max here either.

"I need to talk to him about the ancient vase his daughter broke."

For just a split second Max looked caught in headlights, but then again, she wasn't the brightest kid in the class for nothing. "I said I'm sorry," she snapped in a tone, that apparently said everything Sarah needed to know, "I won't help you out with gardening and groceries just because some stupid vase! Sarah can pay."

Sarah looked at her and when she did, Gabriella threw her head back a bit and voicelessly laughed.

"Yes, you are young lady."

Max took a few calming breaths so she wouldn't start laughing at the way she said young lady.

"I've always been nice to you…" 'Both Max and Gabriella rolled their eyes' "but it's time you took care of your own troubles. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I was worried…" 'More eye rolling from Max and Gaby ensured'

"So you'll go with this nice lady and help her out until she believes that the vase is paid for… How expensive was it?"

"The vase?" Gabriella asked, this time thinking about the vases she had at home, "Not that much, just 3000 dollars."

If Sarah's mouth could've hit the ground, it would have. "3000 dollars? A vase?"

"Yeees, I just said that… again."

For a moment there was a thoughtful look on Sarah's face. A look that was very rare on her face.

"You're the woman who moved into the Black's house down the street, aren't you? The sole heir of late Orlando?"

Yes, if it has something to do with money or gossip, Sarah knew. Though it wasn't a subject Gabriella was willing to discuss with anyone, especially the woman in front of her.

"Yes, well that's true, but I don't see how talking about my husband will solve the problem with the vase…"

"Oh, of course," Sarah quickly said, her eyes gleaming, "Max will come with you right away and you'll just have her do what you need to be done. She's a good kid. And of course, you're welcome to stop by; we could discuss our common points of interest."

"Yes, I'll have to check my calendar. I'm a very busy woman and I'm starting work from the 1st September."

"You work?" Sarah asked, with such wide eyes like Gabriella had just told her she was an alien from out of space.

"Yes, I work. Don't you?" Gabriella was getting more and more annoyed with the woman and keeping up the polite façade was getting harder.

"No, I believe it's the men who should keep up the families…" Gabriella tuned out her voice and looked at Max instead. She looked right back at her and they both rolled their eyes together.

"Yes, miss… Sarah, right?" Gabriella said, "It was a pleasure meeting you, but I have some groceries to do and I have to hire someone to take care of the yard near my house and I also have some other errands to run… Excuse me."

She turned around and started to walk away, before she turned her head, her hair doing a beautiful arch, "Max, are you coming?"

Max blinked, before she pushed herself away from the post she had been leaning on and caught up with her.

As they were out of the hearing range both of them started to rant at the same time. They stopped, looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…" Max started to chant.

"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked, smiling at her.

"Since I'm eternally grateful, I might as well start now," Max explained, "So you're rich?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because that could be the only explanation why Sarah is nice to anybody. Either that or she wants something really bad."

Gabriella opened the car door and climbed in, Max doing the same.

"I'm not that rich, but yes, I do have 3000 dollar vases in that house," Gabriella said with a smile, "Actually most of the money I own came from Orlando… or his father to be exact. When his father died he gave all of his money to Orlando, who didn't really want any of it. Some problems they had with each other."

"Well, when Orlando told me about his heart disease, I was devastated and when he told me he was going to give me all of his money – I sent him to hell. Not that I meant it literally, but I was so furious at him… He had known about his disease since he was five and yet, he told me nothing."

Max was listening with huge attention as Gabriella continued,

"But he insisted. Probably because it was either me or his cousin who was a gambling addict and well, he knew about me and medicine and he was happy with the way I said I'll be spending at least some of it."

"How?" Max asked as they turned left.

"I donated it to medical research facilities and some other charities."

"This'd be a good point to mention that this is an even bigger difference between you and Sarah. She'd rather buy herself one million pair of shoes then give away a dime," Max said, scowling at the mental picture of her.

"About Sarah… Where did you dad find a girl like that?" Gabrielle asked, her mind thinking about two most obvious places – Fast food restaurant or Hooters.

"Probably some place like Hooters," Max said. When Gabrielle burst out laughing, she gave her the 'weird eyes'.

"Sorry, it's just that I was thinking exactly that," Gabrielle said, straightening up shortly afterwards. "Since you're pretty much stuck with me for this month presumably… which way to the mall?"

XxXxXxXxXx

A/N – Come on, give me reviews and tell me if I should continue or not… It's not I get anything else for a reward than your reviews :D