D: I havent made a story in the longest time:{ stupid schoolness. But I deciced snice I have had NO ideas for my last HeatherXAl fanfic. I have a new one:] with ALL the chapters planned out,oh yeah. Thank you one hour long study hall :D ...Chapter onee...

They told me there'd be plam trees.

I didnt believe them,but thats what they told me. The told me I'd be able to see them from the plane.

Oh,I know they have plam trees in southern California,I mean,Im not a complete moron,

I've watched 90210 and everything. But I was moving to northern California. Not after my mom told me not to give away all my sweater.

"Oh no,"My mom had said. "You'll need them. Your coats,too. It can get cold there. Not as cold as New York,maybe, but pretty chilly."

Which was why I wore my black leather jacket on the plane. I could have shipped it,I guess, with the rest of my stuff, but it kind of made me feel better to wear it.

So there I was,sitting on the plane in a black leather jacket,seeing these plam trees through the window as we landed. And I thought, Great. Black leather and Plam Trees, Already fitting in,just like I knew I would... Not.

My mom isnt particularly fond of my leather jacket, but I swear I didnt wear it to make her mad,or anything. I'm not resentful of the fact that she decided to marry a guy who lives three thousand miles away,forcing me to leave school in the middle of my sophomore year.

Oh yeah, I'm not a bit resentful.

The thing is,I really do like Andy,my new step-dad. He's good for my mom. He makes her happy.

It's just this moving-to-California thing that bugs me.

Oh,and did I mention Andy's three other kids? They were all there to greet me when I got off the plane. My mom,Andy,and Andys three sons.

Sleepy,Dopey,and Doc. I call them. They're my new stepbrothers,joy.

"Heather!" Even if I hadnt heard my mom squealing my name as I walked though the gate,I wouldnt have missed them.

Andy was making his two youngest boys hold up and sign that said " WELCOME HOME HEATHER"

Everybody getting off my flight was walking by it going "Aw how cute" to there companions,and smiling at me in their sickening way.

Oh yeah. I'm fitting in. I'm fitting in just great.

"Okay..." I said walking up to my new family fast. "You can put the sign down."

But my mom was to busy hugging me to pay any attention.

"Oh heathie!" I hate when anybody but my mom calls me Heathie, so I shot the boys this mean look over her shoulder. They just keep grinning at me from over the stupid sign, Dopey, because he's to dumb to know any better, Doc-well, I guess because he might have been glad to see me. Doc's weird that way.

Sleepy-The oldest, just stoond there.

"How was your flight kiddo?" Andy took my bag off my shoulder, and put it on his own.

He seemed surprised by how heavy it was,and went,

"Whoa,what've you got in here anyway? You know its a felony to smuggle New York City fire hydrants across state lines."

I smiled a huge fake smile. Andys a really big goof,but he's a nice big goof,but I wasnt fond of chessy jokes.

" It's not a fire hydrant,"I said."Thats just my tank tops. I have four more bags."

"Four?"Andy pretended he was shocked. He knew I had boat-loads of clothes. I only brought 1/4th of my clothes,giving the others to GoodWill.

"What do you think your doing,moving in or something?" Did I mention that Andy thinks his a comedian? He's not. His a carpenter.

"Oh Heathie!," My mom kept saying."I'm so gald your here! You're just going to love the house. It just didnt feel like home at frist,but now that you're here...Oh, and wait untill you've seen your room. Andys fixed it up so nice..."

Andy and my mom spent weeks before the got married loooking for a house big enough for all four kids to have their own rooms. They finally settled on this huge house in the hills of Carmel,which they'd only been able to afford because they'd bought it in this completely wretched state,and this construction company Andy does a lot of work to fix it up. My mom has been going on for days about my room,which she keeps swearing is the nicest in the house.

"The view!" She kept saying. "An ocean view from the big bay window in your room! Oh,Heather,your going to love it! All right, Let's get your bags." Then raising her voice she called, "Jake,come on!"

She had to call sleepy by his name,snice he looked as if he fell alseep standing up.

This was my frist trip to California,and let me tell you, even though we were still only in the airport, You could tell we werent in New York anymore.

But that didnt appear to be a problem.

But you know what is strange, Everybody here was just way calm.

I guess I could see why. I mean, it didnt look to me like there was anything to get upset about. Outside, the sun was beating down on those palm trees, There were seagulls scratching around the parking lot.

Unreal.

Lindsey-she was one of my best friends back in Brooklyn-told me before I left that I'd find advantages to having three brothers. I didnt believe her at all untill, Sleepy picked up two of my bags,and Dopey grabbed the other two,leaving me with excatly nothing to carry. I realized what she was talking about. They can carry really heavy stuff, and not even look like it's bothering them.

Hey, I packed those bags. I knew what was in them. Let me tell you, they were not light.

My bags secure,we headed out into the parking lot. As the automactic doors opened,everyone including my mom, reached into a pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Apparently, they all knew something I didnt know. And as I stepped outside,I realized it was sunny.

Not just sunny, but bright-so bright and colorful, it hurt your eyes. I had sunglasses for sure-13 pair to be exact- but snice it had been about forty degrees and sleeting when I left New York, I hadnt thought to put them anywhere easily accessible.

As I stoond in the parking lot, squinting at the hills surrounding the San Jose International Airport, I saw that there were a lot of hills, and the grass on them was dry and brown.

But dotting the hills were these trees,, trees not like any I'd ever seen before. They were squashed on top as if a giant fist had come down from the sky and given them a thump. I found out late these were called cypress tree.

As we drove off arching above all the trees, a sky so blue,so vast, that the hot-air balloon I saw floating through it looked impossibly small- like a button at the bottom of an Olympic sized swimming pool.

Being from New York, my glimpses of ocean-at least the kind with a beach- had been few and far between. I couldnt help gasping when I saw it. And when I gasped,everybody stopped talking.

"What?,"My mother asked,alarmed.

" Nothing,"I said. I was ebarrassed. Obviously,these people were used to seeing the ocean, They were going to think I was some kind of freak, that I was getting so excited about it.

"Just the ocean."

"Oh,"My mother said."Yes isnt it beautiful?"

Dopey went, "Good curls on those waves. Might have to hit the beach before dinner."

"Not untill you've finished your term paper." Added his father.

"Aw dad!"

This prompted my mother to launch into a long detailed account of the school to which I was being sent to, the same one Sleepy,Dopey,and Doc attended. The school, named after Junipero Serra, some Spanish guy who came over in the 1700's.

I wasnt really listening to my mother. My intrest in school has always been pretty much zero. The whole reason I hadnt been able to move out here before Christmas was that there had been no space for me at the Mission .

"Um, Mom. When was this school built again?"

The eighteenth cetury,"Doc replied. "The mission system,implemented by the Franciscans under the guidlines of the Catholic Chruch and the Spainish government,was set up not only to the Christianize the Native Americans,but also to train them to become successful tradespeople in the new Spanish society. Originally,the mission served as a-"

"Eighteenth century?"I said,leaning forward. I was wedged between sleepy and Dopey.

I could feel my heart starting to pound hard,as if I'd been running for miles.

"Thats like three hundred years old!"

"I dont get it?"Andy implied.

We were driving through the town of Carmel now,all the picturesque cottages,beautiful little restaurants, and art galleries. Andy had to drive carefully now because the traffic was thick with people in cars and out-of-state licenses.

"What's so bad about the eighteenth century?"

"Heathie has never been very wild about old buildings."My mother said,without any inflection in her voice.

"Oh,"Andy said. Then I guess she isnt going to like the house."

I gripped the back of my head rest. "Why?" I demanded in a tight voice. "Why am I not going to like the house?"

I saw why,of couse. The house was huge,and impossibly pretty,with Victorian style turrets and a widows walk. My mom had had it painted blue and white cream, and it was surrounded by big,shady pine trees, and sprawling flowering shrubs. Three stories high,constructed entirely from wood, it was the lovelist,most tasteful house in the neighborhood.

And I didnt want to step foot in it.

I knew I'd agreed to move in with my mom, and I had also agreed to alot of changes.

The biggest change was going to be sharing my mom with other people. In the decade snice my father had died,it had just been the two of us. And I had to admit I kinda liked it that way. But if it hadnt been for the whole"Andy makes mom happy" thing, I would have put my foot down and said heck no to the whole friggen thing.

My mother keeps glancing in my direction as we climbed the many steps to the front porch. I knew she was nervous about what I was going to think. I was kind of irked at her,really, for not warning me. About the house that is.

Because my moms right: I dont like old buildings.

"Come on Heathie,Come see your new room." I couldnt help but shudder.

My room was upstairs,just above the roof of the front porch. My mother had been going on nervously for almost the entire trip about the window seat Andy had installed in my room. The seat look out over the same view as the porch, that sweeping vista that incorporated all the peninsula. It was sweet of them,really, to give me such a nice room,the room with the best view in the whole...old...house.

And when I saw how much trouble they'd gone to, to make the room feel like home to me-or atleast the excessively feminine,phantom girl...not me. I had never been the glass-topped dressing table,princess phone type-how andy had put cream-colored wallpaper, dotted with blue forget-me-nots, all along the top of the intricate white wainscoting that lined the walls.

I felt bad about the way I acted in the car. I really did. I thought to myself as I walked around the room, Okay this isnt to bad. So far your in the clear,Maybe it will be alright,maybe no one was ever unhappy in this house,maybe all those people who died here derserved it...

Untill I turned toward the bay window,and saw that somebody was already sitting on the window seat Andy had so lovingly made for me.

Someone who was not related to me,or to Sleepy,Dopey,or Doc.

I turned toward my mother, to see if she'd noticed the intruder. She hadnt, even though he was right there in front of his face. All she saw was my face. I guess my expression must not have been the most pleasant,snice her own fell, and she said with a sad sigh,

"Oh,Heathie,not again."

A little confused? Thats good:3 This chapter kinda sucked, it just showed alittle bit about her life and whatnot. But keep on readingg, it gets better soon, pinky promise.