This chapter is purely history.

Charming was a small town. It was one where gossip spread quickly and somebody's eyes were always watching. You had to be squeaky clean at all times. Once you lost your reputation, there was no getting it back. Most of the teenagers followed the rules and were polite to their elders because if you were a bad kid, it reflected badly on your parents.

Gemma Fields grew up on Oak Street in Charming. It was located just a few blocks north of Main Street. Her mother, Rose, was an unbearable force of nature. She judged everyone and tore everyone down who got in her way. Gemma's father, Nate, had taken so many years of verbal abuse, but was blinded by love. He should have packed Gemma up and taken off, leaving her awful, bitch of a mother behind before she had a chance to poison her innocent daughter.

Sandra O'Reilly grew up in the house next door to the Fields'. Her household was completely different. It was the epitome of small town suburb. Her mother was a first grade teacher at Charming Elementary School and her father owned the Hardware Store on Main Street. The O'Reilly's house was the kind that dinner was always waiting on the table at six o'clock and they took turns clearing the dishes each night. Gemma often sought refuge from her own house at Sandra's.

By the time they started first grade the two were inseparable. They walked to school together each morning and home each afternoon. Martha, Sandra's babysitter would have cookies and milk waiting for them when they got home. After scarfing down their snack and scribbling across their homework sheets they would disappear into Sandra's bedroom. There they would discuss everything and anything. It was during one of their late afternoon chats where Gemma first voiced her dreams of running away.

"I want to get out of here, Sandy," She said one afternoon. The girls had just started sixth grade and the teacher had asked them what they wanted to be when they grew older. Sandra had seen how the question had affected Gemma. It got her really thinking. As the other girls in the class answered mother or teacher, Gemma told Mrs. Weber that she would get back to her.

Sandra chuckled, figuring this was just one more of Gemma's daydreams. "What are you talking about?" She propped herself up on an elbow and looked at her old friend, who was lying on her back a few feet away, with her dark hair spread across the plush carpet.

"Charming," Gemma said, her eyes not leaving the white ceiling. "I'm getting out of here. Soon as I turn sixteen."

Sandra slid back against the floor and shook her head. "Whatever you say, Gem."

In those moments where they shared their secrets and hopes in Sandra's room, it never occurred to Sandra that Gemma was really going to make good on her promise. Sure enough, the day after Gemma's sixteenth birthday there was a loud rapping noise on Sandra's bedroom window. She cracked an eye open and was hit by the overall stillness of the room. The alarm clock on her nightstand read three o'clock in the morning, she groaned and shuffled across the floor to look through the window.

Gemma was standing on the grass a story below. She was still wearing plaid pajama pants and a black tank top. Her outfit was not what scared Sandra. The two duffel bags stuffed to capacity lying at Gemma's feet sent shivers up her spine. She threw her window open, letting the cool night air wash over her skin.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed into the night air.

"I came to say goodbye," Gemma answered.

Sandra knew that was why she was there, but the words still made her sick. How could she just get up and leave? Then she remembered all the times her and Gemma lay on her bedroom floor. When Gemma would whisper the horrible things her mother said to her that morning. It was only a matter of time before she sought permanent refuge.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sandra asked, although she already knew the answer. Nothing she said was going to stop Gemma from leaving Charming.

Gemma nodded, then really looked up at her friend. "I have to," She sighed. "I can't stay here anymore. Not with her," She tilted her head toward her own house. It was quiet and dark. "I love you, Sandy, but I need to do this for me."

Sandra was quiet for a moment. She did not want Gemma to go, but she did not want to be the thing that stood in her way from being free from her poisonous mother. She bit her tongue and swallowed the lump in her throat that threatened tears. "I know," She whispered. "I love you, too, Gem," She reached for the window, ready to pull it back into place. "Keep in touch. And be careful, promise me you'll stay safe."

Gemma nodded again, then reached down to hoist both bags over her shoulders. In the faint moonlight, Sandra could make out the angry scar running down the center of her friend's chest, just barely visible above the neckline of her tank top. "I'll see you again one day." Gemma promised before disappearing into the night.

Nine years later.

Sandra sat in the center of her living room floor. The plush rug rubbed up against her bare thighs. She cooed down at her daughter, who was rolling around on the blanket she'd spread out. "Hi, baby," She said before blowing a strawberry on the girl's bare stomach.

A lot had changed in the last nine years. She had heard from Gemma on and off for the first five years. Then the letters and phone calls started coming less and the time between the contact was longer before it stopped altogether. In the time since Gemma left, Sandra married Benjamin; her high school sweetheart. She continued her father's hardware store business, while Ben went through trade school to become a certified mechanic. Last year they had their daughter, which was when Ben finished school and Sandra decided to take time off from the store.

The doorbell rang. When Sandra didn't respond immediately there was a hard knocking on the door. Tentatively, Sandra stood and opened the front door. Her face went pale like she saw a ghost. Her mouth dropped to the floor and she was trying to figure out how to lift it back up to speak. When a familiar voice spoke for her.

"Miss me, baby?"

Gemma was standing on Sandra's welcome mat in tight jeans, leather boots, and a leather jacket. Her dark hair was streaked with thick blonde pieces and a tattoo of a crow was sitting on her left breast. The most shocking part was the accessory sitting on the woman's hip. A baby boy.

"Gemma Fields?" Sandra asked, still in shock.

"It's Teller, now," Gemma corrected, carefully hoisting the baby higher on her hip.

Teller. Sandra didn't question it. It was not surprising that Gemma had run off and found someone crazy enough to handle her free spirit. The long pause became awkward and Sandra chuckled lightly. "Well, come in," She stepped back and let Gemma walk over the thresh hold.

"Is he yours?" Sandra asked, leaning down to coo at the baby.

"Yeah, Jax. He's a year old," Gemma answered, then turned to the boy, like she just realized he was there. A huge smile spread across her face.

"Well, sit down," Sandra gestured to the small love seat in the living room. "We have a lot of catching up to do," She started to walk to the kitchen, then stopped. "Can I get you something? Coffee?"

Gemma shook her head. She easily adjusted Jax onto her lap before studying the little girl on the floor. "No, thanks," She answered absently. She looked up at Sandra again, then. "But we do have a lot of catching up to do."

An hour later, Sandra and Gemma were laughing like they did when they were fifteen. Gemma had told the entire story that filled up her last nine years. The man she met, John Teller, the outlaw motorcycle gang he created with his best friend and their need for a small town to root themselves in. How Gemma married John, then led them here after finding out her parents had moved out a few years back. Sandra filled Gemma in, too. She told her about Ben, their wedding, her job at the store, her parent's accident, and finally the birth of her daughter, Tara, last year.

By the end of the night Jax and Tara were rolling around on the blanket together and cooing loudly in baby gibberish. Gemma and Sandra were sipping coffee and throwing back their heads in laughter as they remembered old times together. Sandra finally felt whole again. Her entire life she had pictured this very moment; Her and Gemma's kids playing together while they sipped coffee and laughed about their golden years. When Gemma left nine years ago, she had simply dismissed the dream.

This chapter was written to explain the history I have established for this fiction. I'm sorry it's so short! The following chapters will focus more on Jax and Tara. Please leave reviews and let me know what you think!