A/N: Hello everyone. As you can probably tell, this is a new chapter one! yay! *round of applause* Anyway, it is revised and better than the original. So I hope you'll read it and review it, if it lets you.

BRTxoxo


I suppose when you read these stories, the main character always says they're an average girl, with a loving family and best friends galore when suddenly some fictional character winds up living with them and they fall in love and live happily ever after. Or maybe they're an average girl with only one parent or an abusive parent and they're just the sweetest little thing you ever did see and a fictional character falls into their life and they fall in love and then everything gets so much better, it's just peachy keen perfect.

I guess you could call me average, only slightly less so since I live in a mansion/hotel like house-a chateau really-on a whopping plot of land at about 160 acres, complete with an Olympic sized pool with a water fall and hot tub on the side and a huge garden with different scenic sections, smack dab in the middle of Colorado in the foot hills-although why someone would build a chateau in Colorado, let alone the U.S. is beyond me. We're extremely rich and it annoys the crap out of me because my parents love to flaunt it, as in they're going to go on a trip whenever they feel like it (meaning all the time) and throw huge parties for holidays (when they're home long enough) and bring back the most expensive souvenir they can find whilst on their trip to who knows where, for who knows how long.

My name is Pippin, short for Penelope. I hate it when people call me Penelope, so people usually call me Ms. Ritz, Pippin, Pip, or Penny. As far as I know, I've been called Penelope all my life and when my parents decided to abandon me and my brother I started going by Pippin. Right after I watched Lord of the Rings. Because he is the most adorable hobbit I'd ever seen, not to mention we're both short, have auburn hair, and green eyes. That was six years ago. I graduated high school a year ago, almost two, and now I'm nineteen, living alone because my twenty two year old brother lives with his best friend Dave-who I've had a crush on since forever-downtown to be closer to work; because we both totally need jobs. My best friend Lexy still lives with her parents until they decide they've lived with her long enough so that she can move in with me. She's always been there for me.

So this day started out like any normal summer day. Normal meaning what every summer day had been like since I was thirteen. I woke up around 9, changed into my ripped jeans and favorite cut off Star Wars tee, ripped a brush through my short choppy hair, put on my makeup, bracelets, and my favorite few necklaces before wandering down the huge halls that reminded me of the Beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast to get some breakfast. In the kitchen I opened my laptop to check my email and my Facebook, finding nothing interesting. From there I fed Frou Frou (froo froo), our tiger striped tabby cat.

My mother seems to have problems naming every pet we own. A few years ago she brought home a German Sheppard dog, like the ones the police use, and named it Princess. After about six months, one night she didn't come back inside.

Anyway, I texted Bruce and Lexy that I was up, even though I knew Lexy was still asleep. As I said, my day started out relatively normal; checking Facebook, texting people, missing my parents-no matter how much I hated them for never being home, especially through the most critical time of my life-feeding the cat, and ultimately having nothing to do.

After eating I sat alone at the large twenty person table, tapping the dark mahogany top with my black painted nails, staring into the crystal wine glass in the china cabinet. I wasn't even thinking about anything, except for how lonely it really was in this huge monstrosity of a house, and wishing I had magical household objects to keep me company.

Then the phone rang. I rolled my head to the side to stare at the blinking receiver. I squinted my eyes to see who was calling. All it said was collect call. Moaning in boredom, I got up and picked up the vintage phone right next to the newer, caller ID phone. "Yeah?"

"Oh good you're awake! I thought you would still be asleep."

"Mom?! Hi!" Like I said, as much as I hated my parents for never being home, I still missed them and loved them.

"Hello darling."

"How's your trip?" I started picking my nails.

"Oh it's wonderful! You'd never believe how beautiful Holland is!"

"That's awesome. When are you, you know, coming home?"

"We don't know sweetie. We're thinking about staying a little longer. Maybe a month or so-"

"A month. Mom you haven't been home for months already."

"I know darling but it's just so beautiful here and we want to see as much as possible. Oh but if you were here you'd understand."

"Yeah well I'm not." Couldn't my own mother tell she was nearly killing me? It'd been months since I'd seen her, weeks since I'd last heard her voice-they obviously didn't think that Skype would work- and they're going to stay away from me longer? What did I scare them? I wouldn't doubt it. I blame them. If they would have just stayed home with me, things would be different. People always say that someone's personality is based on a nature-nurture bias. And it's true. I grew up in a lonely environment, without parents for almost eight years, was betrayed tons of times in those eight years. And some people wonder why I'm not comfortable around strangers. I'm sorry if I offend anyone but seriously, it's not easy to grow up without parents.

Although, I suppose that I really did have parents, but I don't know if I ever saw them like that.

My mother was going on and on about how I should be more respectful and less upset and such when I hung up on her.

"Whatever," I mumbled and sat back down at the table. I started crying, and cried for a solid hour, and then stared at the phone for another hour. She never called back, so I assumed she really didn't care. Frou Frou jumped on my lap, his loud purrs rumbling his chest as he rubbed his head under my chin. I scratched behind his ears and under his chin before he jumped back down and went into the kitchen. With a sigh, I pulled myself out of the chair and sulked to one of the parlors we had, a purple one that I really despised but often found myself in.

I turned on the TV and pushed play on the DVD player, almost smiling when I saw Frodo's bright blue eyes and grinning face pop up. The funny thing about me is, I'm not really one you would find watching the fantasy movies I do, or Star Wars and Star Trek. I have posters of Aragorn, Eomer, Han Solo, Darth Vader-because he is totally b.a.-and Jack Sparrow plastered all over my bedroom walls. Other girls from school called me weird. I'm pretty sure they could deal. And I just about hated Lego-what's-his-face. He was too perfect, and obvious. It pained me to watch him.

Around the time Merry and Pippin set off the firework, my cell phone started obnoxiously ringing "Iron Man" in the kitchen.

"Crap!" I scrambled off the couch, tripped over the rug edge, and slid into the kitchen, knocking my cell phone to the floor. "Hello?" I said breathlessly.

"Hey Pippy. You okay?"

"What? Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just left my phone in the kitchen and was in the purple monstrosity. What do you need?"

"Just checking in. Dave and I will be there around noon. Did mom and dad call?"

"Yes, Bruce, they did." I sighed heavily and sat down on the floor, leaning against the refrigerator. "They're staying even longer in Europe. I have no idea what they could possibly be doing! Like, honestly? They've been over there who knows how many times for who knows how long!" not even knowing that Dave would be here could make me feel better.

"Hey, hey, hey Pip it's okay. Dave and I will be there at noon and I'm sure Lexy would love to come over and it'll all be just brilliant."

"Yeah, okay."

"If you don't cheer up, I'm going to hold you down and let Dave tickle you. Listen, I have to go. We'll be there in a few hours. Love you."

"You too." I snapped my phone shut and went back to sit in the parlor. Suddenly the hobbits became annoyingly cute and I turned the TV off. With another sigh, I trudged back to my room, changed into my bikini, black and white checkered with pink ruffles and a skull on one side, grabbed a towel and my tiny sunglasses-how anyone can stand wearing those bug eyed things that cover half your face is beyond me-and went outside to lay next to the waterfall/hot-tub and try to forget this morning.

I almost fell asleep, just listening to the water, when a vertical gust of wind startled me. After the wind, I heard a thud and a groan. I rolled onto my back, propped myself up on my elbows and stared at the figure before me.

Soon, my green eyes met his piercing blue orbs, set perfectly in his perfect porcelain face, framed by perfect golden blond hair. "Who are you?"

"You have got to be bloody well joking me."