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My first fanfiction so be kind. This is pretty much background info for the first few chapters but I promise it will get jucier as it goes on! R&R Thanks
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Chapter 1
The world rushed by out the window in a blur of indefinable shapes and colors as the car sped down the high way. That was the way her whole life had felt lately to Livvie, a blur. The glimpses of trees and houses and fields were all just a flurry of color and looking at them made her dizzy. Why wouldn't the world stop spinning for just a minute so she could have some time to breathe? she wondered. Everything had been happening so fast, she barely had a moment to register how much it had all changed. It had only been a month ago that this whole mess had started.
Olivia Grace Ranford had had a perfectly normal life and was a perfectly average 15 year old. She was born and raised in a tiny town in North Carolina called Jackson Hollow and lived with her free spirited- mother, Charlene. Charlene had run away to this sea side town to escape a privileged life on New York's Upper East Side. Charlene's father, i.e. Livvie's grandfather (although she hardly considered him family seeing as how she had never laid eyes on the man) was Charles Ranford, one of the most powerful real estate moguls in New York. Her mother had always been a wild child and just couldn't handle the pressures and the rules that came with being a young lady of society. So she ran, ran as far as she could, and was promptly disowned by her father in the process. Livvie vividly remembers those summer nights she and her mother would camp out on the beach and stare up at the stars and talk all night long. "I just needed somewhere I could breathe Liv," her mother would say as she told her about her past.
And if Jackson Hollow had anything at all, it was breathing room. It was a very inconsequential little town that felt very Mayberry. You know, the type where every knew everyone else and had the same families living there for practically the past bazillion years. Livvie loved everything about Jackson Hollow, the way the air smelled when a thunder storm was about to roll in from the sea, the way Old Mr. Miller would always complain about the stray cats that loitered about the neighborhood, unbeknownst to him that old Mrs. Miller secretly left food out for them every night on the back porch, but most of all Livvie loved her house.
The little yellow cottage at the very edge of the beach had been the only home Livvie had ever known. Charlene was constantly "remodeling" and the cottage still wasn't finished even though her mother had owned it for nearly 17 years. She would often come home from school to find her mother in tattered old overalls, paint splattered all over her hair and clothing , staring at a new color on the wall, or up on the roof hammering away at the ancient shingles that seemed to be blown off by even the slightest breeze.
Livvie's room hadn't changed much in the past fifteen years. She enjoyed opening her eyes in the morning and being greeted by the pale lavender colored walls and the sun streaming in the window and through the mobile made of sea glass she and her mother had collected. The patchy old quilt on her bed had been made for her when she was born by Miss Hattie, who owned the only restaurant in town and who also kindly gave Charlene a job when she first got to Jackson Hollow. Yep, the little yellow cottage was just about the most perfect place Livvie could imagine
Even school here was something Livvie didn't mind much. She wasn't really one of the popular kids at Jackson High School but it wasn't like she was a complete social outcast either. She was a very bright girl for her age but she wasn't going to win the Nobel Prize or become a brain surgeon any time soon. She was just very…..average. Her shoulder length dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes had always been very plain to her but her mother always told her she was the most beautiful girl in school. While the other girls in her class were friendly enough to Livvie at school, she was never that close to them. Her best friend had always been her mother. She could share secrets with her and laugh with her better then she could with any one her own age. That was something Livvie never wanted to forget…her mother's laughter. It brought a tear to her eye when she thought about how she would never hear it again.
She could only vaguely remember the night, about a month ago when she found out that her mother was dead. Charlene had been late getting home from her shift at the restaurant, although that was hardly unusual because she was always forgetting things and having to run back for them. Livvie was reading on the plump moss green love seat when there was a sudden knock on the door. Thinking that her mother had somehow lost her keys on the way from the car to the house, Livvie opened the door with a laugh. But instead of her hare-brained mother, Officer Grady stood in front of her. He told her Charlene had been found near the boat docks with her throat slit and drained of her blood and that the police were investigating but so far nothing looked promising.
Everything after that had been a little fuzzy to Livvie after that. Police and lawyers and a whole parade of different people talked to her through out the next few weeks but she barely heard a word anyone said to her. She had gone numb. It felt like she was under water, and everyone looked and sounded muffled and distorted. The sadness slashed through her body like a thousand little knives. She hadn't really wanted to believe that the most important person in her life was gone for ever.
The little yellow cottage was sold along with most of their possessions. The rest were packed up into boxes. Livvie couldn't bear to do it herself, so Miss Hattie came to help her. The last item to be packed was Livvies favorite picture of her and her mother, taken on Livvies second birthday. Charlene wore the huge smile of a proud mother as she stood next to a chubby baby in a high chair whose face was covered in cake. They shared the same blonde hair and chocolate colored eyes. Livvie kissed her mothers picture before safely tucking into the last box.
Packing was nowhere near the worst part of this whole ordeal. No, the worst part came later when the lawyer told her where she was going to have to live. Charlene hadn't left a will and her only living relative was the person her mother had tried so hard to distance herself from… Charles Ranford.
That was how Livvie found herself where she was at the present time, in the back of a sleek black Bentley that was speeding her away from everything she's ever known. Charles (Livvie still couldn't bring herself to call him Grandpa) had insisted that she come to live with him in Manhattan and he had already enrolled her into one of the most prestigious private schools in all of New York City, St. Benedicts Academy. She was dreading being the new kid, like she needed more of a reason to stick out. Kids that went to this school were RICH, waaaaay out of Livvies league. She and her mother never really had much money and Jackson Hollow wasn't exactly Paris or Milan when it came to fashion. Livvie much preferred flip flops to prada heels.
"Miss, we're here," said the driver as he opened her door, snapping Livvie out of her thoughts. She gave him a small smile and a thanks as she stepped out of the car and into her new life.