Disclaimer: I don't own the Host.

A/N: Hey guys, I'm just editing my mistakes and making the story better :)

Melanie's P.O.V:

I walked into the airport. Nobody was here to collect me, my flight had been half an hour early, but I didn't mind. It gave me time to think and prepare myself for the drama sure to surface in... about twenty eight minutes time. I sat down on one of the hard, plastic chairs and watched the busy people pass to and fro with their luggage until I closed my eyes and thought back to how all of this had happened.

(Flashback)

I was up in my bedroom, lying silently on my bed. I had been grounded all summer for getting expelled from school. I tried to slow down my breathing, trying my hardest to hear the conversation that was going on below. My body was tense, preparing for whatever punishment that I would be charged with.

"Melanie!" My dad called up the stairs. "Into the living room please." There it was. There was the call I had been waiting for.

As I made my way slowly down the stairs, I tried to relax my body, to calm my mind, to slow down my racing heart. What would happen?

I entered the living room. My mother looked at me disapprovingly while my dad avoided my gaze. I took a seat, the one furthest away from the both of them. The room was filled with silence.

"Melanie." My mother spoke first. "We have come to a decision." I just nodded obediently, bracing myself and digging my fingernails into the side of the seat. "We are going to send you to live with Jeb and Wanda for the new school year."

"What?" I screeched, jumping up from my seat.

"Melanie," my father said icily. "If you do not sit down and listen we will send you off to boarding school."

I sat down slowly, trying to make the words sink in. "Why?" I croaked.

"We think it would be best if you... spent a little time away from home." My mother stated. "We think you are getting a little too wild for our liking and it would do you some good."

"That and it was one of the few school that would accept you after getting expelled, especially for... your reasons." My father added. Wow I was really feeling the love.

"Why can't you see that I am the victim here! Most of it isn't true! I can't believe you would believe a complete stranger over your own daughter." I cried out in anger. That was a lie, of course I could believe that they wouldn't take my word over another's.

"No!" Jamie screamed, bursting in through the door. "You can't send Mel away!" Tears were streaming down his face.

"Jamie, we are not going to have this conversation with you right now. Go to your room." My father told him in an emotionless voice.

The next day I was handed my bags and driven to the airport.

(End of Flashback)

I must have dozed off because the next thing I know, I'm being shaken awake by none other than Mr. Jeb Stryder. "C'mon sleepyhead. Wanda's got the dinner cookin' down at our place and I don't like to leave her alone for too long. That and I can't carry you and your bags at the same time." I grinned widely and gave the old man a hug. He shook his head with a smile and led me to the van, Betsy.

"Since it's your first time in ol' Betsy here, why don't you pick the radio station?" Had Jeb always been this nice? I just grinned and nodded. It had been ages since I saw him and Wanda. I was kind of overwhelmed though, this was a big change and since school was started very soon, as in tomorrow soon, I didn't exactly have a great deal of time to adjust.

We arrived at Jeb's flashy apartment and entered the kitchen. As soon as I was a step in, I smelt only my favourite food ever - macaroni and cheese!

"Wanda!" Jeb called as he put my bags down. "Guess who's here!"

"Mel!" Wanda shrieked, running out of some random entrance and embracing me in a fun-sized hug. The girl was as small and fairylike as ever.

"Well," I teased. "I see you have missed me more than I have missed you." She gave me a pout that made her look like a twelve year old, although she is seventeen - the same as myself.

"That is certainly not what you imply in your emails." She said grinning at me, knowing that she had somehow won this round. I stuck my tongue out at her immaturely. "I made your all time favourite, macaroni and cheese with cheetos for dessert." Damn this girl knew me.

"Thanks Wanda." I grinned madly, like the Cheshire Cat.

. . .

After dinner, Wanda gave me a grand tour of the apartment and my bedroom. The walls were painted lilac and there was a single window with a nice view. A double bed in the corner and beside it a wooden wardrobe, big enough to hold everything I ever owned and more.

"Your school things are in the wardrobe and we don't have a school uniform, thank God."

"Sounds like my kind of school." I smiled.

"There are towels in there too if you'd like to take a shower. Any questions?"

"Just one, what is the school like?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know Mel." Wanda gave me an uneasy smile.

"Why not? I thought I was going to the same school as you!" I started to get a bit worried.

"We are, I've just... never been there before. It is a fresh start for both of us." Wanda gave me a nervous smile.

"Oh... I think I might go for that shower. Night Wanda." I replied suspiciously.

"Night." She left the room closing the door behind her.

It looks like I'm not the only one with secrets around here...

A/N: What do you think? Better? Worse?