Hi, I'm back! I know it has been forever and a day. I understand if you are a bit mad that this story has been incomplete for the past 3 years, but like on many instances life happened. First off I want to thank every single one of you for reading, reviewing, favoring, and following this story! Next I know there is no need for an explanation, but I want my readers to understand why this story has been on the backburner for so long and why I'm finally writing again.

I began this story my senior year of high school (wow that was 3 years ago) because of the joy I got from reading fanfiction and writing. As time went on I became busy with finishing up high school and writing became harder and harder to do. Before I knew it I was starting college and with the whirlwind of new experiences and college life I barely had time to write much less think of where this story was going. In the years that passed I had to balance a job, a man, and finding what I wanted to do with my life on top of school. Not that I'm complaining ;). I know a lot of you are probably thinking: Why did she post the story before even finishing it? What can I say, I was a young impressionable girl that found the lure of fanfiction and having people reading my story too overpowering. Every so often an urge to write would occur which lead to the sporadic posting of chapters within those couple of years.

Now to the present-day, it seems as if everything has settled down. I found a job, a major, and a man that I absolutely love. In the last couple of months I have found that I have a lot more time than what I used to. With all this free time I have decided to finish what I have started, which is Starting New. I will be rewriting the chapters adding some things in and taking away others. I have taken all the chapters down and will be reposting them after revision. I would advise you to reread them because there will be a lot of things changing.

I look forward to hearing from you all. I hope you enjoy.

A young girl sat on the front steps of James Campbell Elementary School her Barbie backpack along side of her. The sight would not be so unnerving on that particularly sunny afternoon had it not been for the fact that the school had been empty for the last hour. The yellow sundress she wore was now crumpled from sitting too long. Her pigtails swung from side to side as she gazed up and down the street looking for the bright red of her mother's car to come rolling through. The tears in her eyes were tempting to fall although this was not the first time for something like this to happen. Her mother had been late occasionally, but never this late. Whenever that would happen the school attendant, who stayed and watched the kids being picked up would call her mommy or daddy. On those days her mother and father would fight the most when they thought she was sleeping. Today the little girl had sneaked behind one of the bushes near the steps when the attendant wasn't looking. She didn't want her mom and dad to fight anymore, so she decided that she was big enough to wait on her own until her mommy came.

The sound of an engine approaching caught her ear. She quickly spun her head in the direction of the car. It was not the bright red color of her mother's car, but the dark grey of her daddy's truck that came into focus. A large grin spread across her face as she hopped up, brushed off her dress, and reached for her backpack. Her tears were quickly forgotten. The truck stopped in front of the school. A tall balding man quickly jumped out of the truck a look of relief passing his face as his daughter came into his sights. Disregarding the open car door and the rumble of the engine still on he raced over to where his daughter stood.

"Oh, baby girl." The man sighed falling to his knees in front of her and grabbing her into a tight hug.

"Hi, daddy!" The little girl erupted. Not only was she happy that she didn't have to wait any longer, but to receive such a big greeting from her daddy was what she needed.

"I'm so sorry baby, so sorry." The anguished filled apologies muffled as he buried his head onto the little girls neck.

"It's okay daddy. Where's mommy?" The little girl accepted oblivious to the implication of it all.

The man froze as pain shot through him knowing his little girl was oblivious to everything that had happened earlier that day. That he had only by chance discovered that his wife of almost 6 years had not just abandoned him but their daughter too. He had received a phone call from their nosey neighbor Ms. Greene describing his wife packing up her car and driving away. He remembered how his heart froze at that moment. He had once loved his wife, but tolerating her was as much as he could give. Ms. Greene had asked if she could have the ferns from the front porch assuming that the family was moving away not knowing that it was being broken. He had rushed home scared that his wife had taken their daughter, the only person he loved in the world. Finding that their daughters room was untouched he ran back to his truck praying for once that his wife had forgotten her at school.

"Don't worry about that right now." His words filtered through the gravel in his throat. Pulling away from his daughter he held her in his outstretched arms. He knew his wife never wanted children, but he thought they could work things out. He assumed wrong. "It's just going to me and you from now on okay?" His words reaching her as he looked her in the eyes.

"But, wha-"

"No, honey. It's just you and me. That's it. We don't need anyone else, but us. I love you Jasmine."

"I love you too, daddy."

The LA sun felt so good against my skin, hot, almost to the point of discomfort. I didn't mind it though. After three years in the icebox state of Washington this was paradise. Heck this place was my new home. I had better learn to love the sun, if I didn't.

LA was new and exciting with so much opportunities that an 18 year old girl with a small fortune could fulfill. Gosh, it sounds like I'm a snotty blonde, whose daddy bought her everything she ever wanted and more. No, I'm far from that, first of all I am not blonde. Not that there is anything wrong with golden locks. It's just that I have thick wavy chocolate brown hair that goes down to the middle of my back. I loved my hair. It was the only part of my physical appearance that I found was a truly beautiful. My nose was too rounded, my forehead a bit too large, and I was pretty sure one of my eyes was more slanted than the other. And that is just my face. I found faults in my body shape and height too. Although I did have a nice rack, I had wide hips with thick thighs to match. I had always been self-conscious with my height. At 5'7 I towered above many of the other girls in my high school making me feel like a fat assed giant more than anything else.

As for the money, yes I got that from my daddy. But if I could choose I would rather have him back than the fortune he left me. My mother ran away with some hotshot businessman when I was 5. My dad died when I was 15 from a heart attack. Leaving me in the custody of the only relative I had left in the world: my dad's sister.

Aunt Ruth was not the best person to end up with. She was ruthless when it came to putting someone down and most of the time it was directed at me. I had learned to keep my heart locked up in a metal fortress. Between the things she would say, a mother that abandoned me, and a father that had recently passed away, my internal turmoil was off the charts. I found it best to lock up my feelings never letting anyone in. I kept to myself. Yes, I had friends, but not many. It seems that in those three years I drifted from going to school, to work, to home, and most of all avoiding dearest Aunt Ruth all together.

I did try to get away from her. I would not say I was a genius, but I was gifted. I knew the harder I threw myself into academics the closer I would be to freedom. I advanced in my classes quickly. I even managed to get some college courses under my belt. That was not enough in the end. I didn't have enough credits to graduate high school at such a young age and even if I did I had no money to support myself.

So, I stayed for three fucking years. Three years of being verbally assaulted and mentally exhausted. Three years of hell. That all changed with a knock on a door a few days before my high school graduation.

Music blared throughout the small room as a teenage girl danced amongst the few furniture within it. The fast beat of the music causing her to shake her hips as she flung clothes from a nearly empty closet to a large duffel bag resting on a nearby bed. Her brown hair danced with her as she moved around the room picking up objects and placing them on the bed.

A faint pounding over the music caused her to freeze. A frown formed on her face as she moved to the stereo lowering the volume down. As soon as she did that the pounding was not so faint anymore. She moved quickly towards the front of the house where the source of the noise was coming from. The front door seemed to be shaking from the pounding still coming behind it.

The girl flung the door open causing it to slam against the wall. All was quiet as she glared at the stranger, who had interrupted her so rudely. The look of shock passed through the face of the man who was responsible for the pounding; his arm still awkwardly suspended in the air. She gave him a once over starting at his shining loafers, going to his crisp expensive looking suit, and up to his distinguished face topped with greying hair.

"What?" She snapped. The attitude rolling off her stunned the man momentarily, but he quickly collected himself. He cleared his throat as he straightened up and dropped his arm.

"Hello, miss you must be Jasmine Sumers. I am Charles McMicheals. Do you have a minute?" The man perplexed her. What would a tight-laced chump be doing in this area looking for her? The man noticed her pause.

"Oh, how rude of me. You're probably wondering why I am here. I need to talk to you about your father. I am a lawyer from Townsends & McCloud, the firm your father hired to take care of his affairs. Sadly, the lawyer in charge of his case passed not so long ago. I was left with all of his work. I was just recently notified that you had turned 18. If so we must get some things in order." At the mention of her father Jasmine grew anxious to hear what this man had to say.

"Sure. Come on in." Jasmine moved aside allowing the man to enter her eyes never softening as she watched the man closely. She closed the door after him and led him towards the small living area. She sat herself onto a recliner directing the lawyer to the loveseat across from her. The young girl never spoke a word as he sat awkwardly onto the loveseat placing his briefcase on the coffee table in front of him.

" were you aware that your father left you all his assets and you will be the sole recipient for his life insurance policy?" asked as his eyes skimmed a large amount of papers he pulled out from his briefcase not once looking up at her.

"I knew he left me some money, but I never knew how much." Jasmine stated briskly, curious to what this man wanted. At her statement Mr. McMicheals looked up from the papers and to her.

"Ms. Sumers your fathers life insurance in itself will make sure you never have to lift a finger again, if you call that 'some money' in addition to the assets he had." He stated quite frankly.

"So, what you're saying is that…" Jasmine paused as Mr. McMicheals words rolled through her head.

"What I am saying is that you have just inherited quite a bit of money now that you are 18." Anger coursed through Jasmine. Her brain could not process that the money could be hers. This man must have been trying to pull a once over on her.

"Cut the bullshit." She seethed. "Now if you're done playing games. Get the fuck out of my house." Jasmine stood abruptly from her seat throwing her arm up and pointing towards the door. Mr. McMicheals was startled by her outburst. Usually in inheritance cases the recipients yelled at him for receiving so little money not for getting so much.

"Ms. Sumers I must ask you to settle down. I would never do such a thing and lie to you. If you would look here." He pointed towards the papers on the coffee table. "You would see that all of this is legitimate."

"Why did I not know about all of this?" Jasmine asked skeptically still not convinced.

"Like I said, the previous lawyer that was handling your case recently passed and to be honest he wasn't in the best of places in his later years."

"This is all true then?" Jasmine asked grabbing the papers on the table and sitting back down.

"Yes, Miss. Now if we start the paperwork today I can have it processed by the end of the week. You could have your inheritance in a month or two.

Jasmine sat dumbfounded looking at the paperwork in her hands. Tears streamed down her face convinced that even in his death her father was still taking care of her.

It's strange how quickly things can change. After graduation I left Aunt Ruth's house with no resistance from her and stayed with some friends until my inheritance came in. In that time I thought of what I would do once I had the money. I knew I wanted to get out of Washington and start somewhere new. I needed somewhere with a lot of sun, but was not too far from the west coast. I had to be honest with myself though. I was too scared to put so much distance between Washington and myself. On top of that I had to be smart with my money. I knew it would not last forever. I did my research online and found someforeclosures online in California. They were all beautiful, but one stuck out the most. It was in a decent neighborhood and was close to a major city without being in the city itself. I wanted to settle down before I decided if I wanted to go to college or if I wanted to go straight to work. I wanted to find myself. I wanted to be happy.

Hope you all enjoyed! How did you like it? Jas and the story are a bit different. Please review and let me know.