When We First Met
Chapter 1
At 16 Penelope's mother and step-father were killed in a car accident and now here she was in a city she had never been to before as her Aunt Carmen pulled into the driveway of her house, Penelope got out of the car and sighed she didn't really want to have to move but she had no choice being that her Aunt was the only living relative that she had her step brothers had gone to live with their grandparents, Penelope was bought out of her reverie when she felt her Aunt Carmen wrap her arms around her and hugged her tight tears began rolling down Penelope's cheeks at the thought of never feeling the loving arms of her parents around her again.
Carmen kissed the top of Penelope's head before saying "I am so sorry that this has happened to you and that your life has been up rooted from the only place you have ever known but everything will work out and I know that your Mother and Step-father loved you, ok and it wasn't your fault that they were killed" which only caused Penelope to bury her face in her Aunt Carmen's shoulder even more as a new batch of tears streamed down her face but Carmen continued to hold Penelope tight while rubbing soothing circles on her back, but what Penelope or Carmen had yet to realized was that they were being watched from the front window of the next door neighbor as they stood there, as Fran Morgan witnessed the heartbreaking moment she couldn't help but think back to all those years ago when she had lost her mother.
Finally Penelope had calmed down enough that they could make their way inside, Carmen and Penelope unloaded the suitcases from the car and took them upstairs and put them into the room that was now going to be Penelope's room, Penelope looked around the room as she set the suitcase she was carrying down at the end of the bed she would get everything put away later but all she wanted to do now was lay down and sleep, meanwhile next door Fran was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee as she looked through a photo album of her and her mother, Derek walked into the kitchen and said "hey Mamma" Fran jumped and said "oh hey Baby Boy" not looking up Derek looked at his Mamma a little confused before he said "Mamma are you ok" Fran tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall as she looked up at her son but as soon as she looked at him her tears began streaming down her cheeks.
Derek noticed his Mamma crying and went and wrapped his arms around her as he asked "Mamma what's wrong" Fran gathered her emotions and said "you know Carmen from next door" Derek nodded his head and waited for his Mamma to continue when she began again "well while you were out I was sitting in the window reading when I saw her come home but she wasn't alone she had a young girl with her who I have never seen before and the young girl was very upset and that is when I heard Carmen say I am so sorry that this has happened to you and that your life has been up rooted from the only place you have ever known but everything will work out and I know that your mother and step-father loved you, ok and it wasn't your fault that they were killed and that got me thinking about my own mother" Derek didn't know what to say but he just held his Mamma tight.
Carmen left Penelope to familiarize herself with her new room and so that she begin to put her clothes away, Penelope looked out the window and saw into the kitchen of the next door neighbors house and began to tear up at the sight of the mother and son bonding moment, she stood there staring out her window at the people that would now be her neighbors as she thought about what she would miss out on with her parents she was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice was that the mother and son were no longer hugging and that the son had moved over to the window where he was getting his first glimpse of the girl that would be living next door, Derek couldn't help but smile as he saw the most beautiful girl that he had ever seen in his life and he was going to do everything he could to get to know the beautiful angel that he saw in the window.
Fran noticed Derek staring out the window and said "Baby Boy what are you staring out the window at" Derek's smile grew bigger as he turned to face his Mamma and said "I am staring at the new girl next door, I caught her staring down at us a few minutes ago and she still is she looks so sad but at the same time she looks like a beautiful angel" Fran made her way over to the window and looked out and up towards the window and she smiled she agreed with her son that yes she was sad but she was also very angelic her curly blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, Fran knew from that moment that her son was smitten with the girl next door, Penelope shook her head to clear her thoughts and when her mind was clear that is when she realized that not only was she still staring out the window but there were two people staring back at her both of them with smiles on their faces.
When Penelope locked eyes with Derek she couldn't believe her eyes as she had just seen the most handsome guy in her eyes he was like a god, a small smile graced her lips before she quickly turned around and moved away from the window, Fran heard Derek sigh when they saw Penelope move away from the window and that is when she decided to ask Derek a favor as she put her hand on his shoulder she said "Baby Boy" Derek turned to look at his Mamma and said "yes Mamma" Fran smiled and said "can you do me a favor" Derek nodded as he listened to what his Mamma saying as she continued "can you keep an eye on the new girl when you are at school and help her if she needs it" Derek couldn't help but smile because he knew that he would do anything for the new girl next door before he said "of course Mamma, I will do what I can to help if she will let me" Fran wrapped her arms around her son and said "thank you Baby Boy" Derek felt his heart begin to race a little at the thought of getting to know the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on.