Well, first story. Hope you all like it. Please review, good or bad. Bad ones help me write better so don't hold back. I'd say I don't own lab rats but that's obvious so I'm just gonna start the story...

Carly

"And finally," Uncle Donny says as he pushes the door open. "We've come to the main event. Your room."

As soon as I walk in I have to turn to see the room. I don't know what I expect to see. Maybe something big with pink walls and fluffy pillows. Instead I see blue. The ocean stretches outside my window until it reaches the horizon and touches the sky. There's a wooden patio outside the almost not-there glass doors. The walls are cream colored and form one huge square with a ceiling that rises as tall as three of me. the ground beneath me is polished marble and reflects every detail of the room. I see myself in it's surface, my brown hair hangs in limp curls down my face, almost black in the beige coloring. There's an empty king-size bed with out a comforter in the middle of the floor and brown mahogany nightstands on either side.

"Don't worry about that," Donny says, motioning towards the window wall. "We'll get some curtains. You know, give you some privacy. With the little hearts on them." He moves his hand in the air like he's drawing his design. I raise an eyebrow and his enthusiastic smile drops. "Polka Dots?"

I frown. He nods his head. "Yea, we've...got a lot of catching up to do…"

I nod. The last time we were in the same room I was small enough to sit on his lap. And while that still may be the case- I'm 4'11'', too short to be a human- I have changed substantially since then. I used to be obsessed with polka dots and pink, which is what he is referring to. Now I'm more of a minimalist type. Not by choice, but by lack of creativity and time to develope any ideas. I'm always moving anyways so there would be no point in spending so much time on something I'm just going to take down. Since I'm staying here forever, maybe I can explore some decorations. Maybe some posters, some colors, maybe some stripes…

"So you have your own bathroom." he points to one of two white doors on the left wall. "And your closet. Now, I needed some extra space so if you find a lady's swimsuit in there, it's not a leotard."

I blink.

"That's my compression body suit for Tuesday pilates- it's nothing." he attempts a save. I raise both eyebrows.

Pilates? I think. Shyness closes my throat before I can even ask so I just shake off the image.

Uncle Donny claps his hands, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Well, that's about everything. If you need me, I'll be in the la-Sauna room. Getting some work done." I purse my lips in confusion. Who works in a sauna room? Who has a sauna? "And if Tasha asks," he continues, "I don't have a Sauna room."

He says, I nod.

So much for catching up. I think. It's probably for the best, the majority of our conversations were filled in with awkward silences. It's going to take a while to get used to living here. As he closes the door I flop down on my bed, dropping my bag on the floor next to my feet. After a moment of waiting I unzip the suitcase and pull out a picture. The plain black frame houses a photo, the only one I have, of me and my family. My brother Cole sits on my father's back looking over a book we have sitting in front of us. I am in between him and my mother, who holds the blue book with one hand. It's unclear whether she is looking at me or the book, but the look in her eyes is unmistakable. She looks happy, she looks loved. All of us are smiling. I stare at Cole, the curious little boy he used to be. And my father, his innocence. And me, my head placed in my palms, I stare down at the fine print with raised eyebrows and not a care in the world. My pink and white polka-dot dress straps are barely visible on my shoulders. I miss that girl. The ghost of me.

I place the picture on the nightstand and take my phone from my pocket and check to see if I got any messages. None. Not even from my best friend, Tess, who is about the only person I text. I click it off shoving it back in my pocket just as there's a knock on my door. Bree Davenport sticks her head through my door, a welcoming smile on her face.

"Hi." I say because I have nothing else.

"Hey Carly. How ya holdin' up?"

"Fine." I say, "This place is huge." I look around the room, but I actually mean the whole house.

"Yea. Good thing. Makes it easier to hide from my stupid brothers and their stupid pranks and their stupid...stupidity." She twitches every time she says "stupid".

"Adam and Chase?"

"Or as I like to call them: "Dweeb 1 and Dweeb 2"." she flops down next to me. Something like a laugh leaves through my nose but it's more forced out of politeness. Truth is, I'm baffled by her admitted disdain for her brothers. I would never call Cole 'stupid' or a 'dweeb'. I barely call him at all- I should do that. In the beat of silence that follows I reach down in my bag for another picture. Me and Tess downtown in Miami at our schools Bike 'N Barbecue, on our bikes leaning against eachother. Her arm is around my shoulders and blonde hair hangs loose to her hips. That's how I remember how old the picture is, she's since cut it to her shoulders.

"Who's that." Bree asks, shocking me with her sudden conversation.

"My best friend." I answer.

"She looks cool. What's her name?"

"Tess."

"What's she like?"

"She's really cool, kinda crazy." Like me. I keep to myself. "Like, dye-your-hair-blue-and-wake-up-handcuffed-to-a-little-foreign-guy-with-no-memory-of-what-happened-last-night-crazy."

Bree laughs. "And that's without alcohol."

"Well." she says standing up. "If you like crazy. You'll love it here. We're really glad to have you here."

I blush, like I do every time I receive a compliment, especially from strangers.

"Well," she adds, "I'm glad you're here. You have no idea how good it feels to live with someone who doesn't try to sniff their elbow."

I smile.

"You don't try to sniff your elbow do you? You are normal, right?" she asks apprehensively.

"I wouldn't exactly say that."