Author's Note: After receiving good advice from a friend, I decided that my first draft was truly not good enough to be kept up. This is my reposting of the same basic story with better editing. Feel free to give lots of comments with critique and praise along with ideas of what you think should happen. If I like your ideas well enough, I might even use them. Happy reading. (:

P.S. The main character, Thais, is pronounced 'Tye-ees.' Not 'Thay-iss.'

Chapter 1

Thais sat in the new car her parents bought as they took their time driving to the family's new place of residence. She really wasn't looking forward to the new house in a new town and going to a 'fabulously fresh' school. In fact, she didn't even know why her mom was so obsessed with the term 'fabulously fresh.' It sounded like something used in a sanitary napkin commercial and that thought made Thais' stomach churn.

Turning her head from staring outside the window, Thais looked down at the pet carrier on the seat beside her. The black cat lying inside shone his green eyes back up at her. People were always surprised how much the emerald of the feline's eyes matched her own.

"What do you think, Avery?" she asked, pushing one of her fingers through the silver beams covering the entrance to the carrier. "Do you think you'll hate this new town as much as I will?" she continued, half smiling as Avery rubbed his face over her index fingertip.

"Now, honey…" her mother's voice drifted back from the front seat. "Don't be so hard on a town you've never seen. It's bound to be fabulously fresh and intoxicating!" The fake cheeriness made Thais want to vomit on the older woman's shirt.

"Intoxicating my ass…" Thais muttered to Avery who mewed in return.

"Thais! What did you say?" the woman in the front seat gasped while her husband chuckled in genuine humor.

"I said to mow my grass, mom."

This is going to be a sickeningly long trip, Thais thought as she turned back to stare at the changing scenery outside of the car window.

When the SUV finally pulled up in front of their new home, Thais couldn't help but gawk at the huge exterior of the stone house. Stepping out of the car, she looked up at the place she would now refer to as home and clutched the pet carrier holding her precious cat. It took her a while before she even noticed the steel colored Chevy sitting in the driveway.

"Who's car is that?" she asked, gesturing to the vehicle as she walked over to peer inside.

It looked brand new as it sat there all sparkly and such under the blazing brilliance of the winter sun. She felt the presence of her father standing behind her and tore her eyes away from the pretty vehicle to look up at him. He was really just a silhouette, lit from behind by the blinding star in the sky.

"It's yours unless you're giving it away," he said, smiling down at her as he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder before pulling her into a hug.

The shock made her senses go blank and she just stood there for a moment in his arms. It took what felt like forever before it finally hit her that she was the owner of a brand new car. And as her mother came up beside the loving father and daughter Thais vaguely heard the older woman mention how 'fabulously fresh' it was. But at that moment, Thais didn't even care about the stupid new phrase as it finally sunk in about being able to drive a car without any conditions. She was even able to forget about how much she was to blame for them moving to that town on the east coast for a few minutes.