Chapter One: Uproot
Standing outside the brand new black Range Rover that seemed to have taken over Lucy's status of Jason's prized possession, the Miller family looked up at the house with mixed emotions. With huge smiles printed across both their faces, Eve admired the 1920s styled art decor, imagining herself living like a 1920s Queen, whereas Jason admired the luscious lawn, dreaming of all the Sunday afternoons he'd spend mowing it or planting new flowers to please his darling wife. Lucy, on the other hand, was unsure. To her, the house looked nothing like she expected. The family home that she had grew up in and loved so dearly was a modest little suburban detached four bedroom house in a quiet estate on the outskirts of London. It was in a completely different league to this house.
"So, what do you think?" Jason asked his daughter and wife as he continued to admire the house.
"I love it," Eve beamed.
Lucy contemplated for a moment. Part of her wanted to tell the truth and demand they fly back to London Heathrow right away, but she knew she had to make sacrifices. "It's interesting, I suppose."
"Well, we had better go sign the contracts with all the paper work and then go pick up Lizzy," Jason announced proudly, causing Eve to grin with glee.
As Jason and Eve paraded down the path towards the entrance of the house, Lucy lingered on behind, dawdling and obviously in no rush to go and claim a bedroom as her own. By the time Lucy had made her way into the hall of the house, Jason and Eve had already signed the deed with the realtor. The realtor was a strange looking woman - a royal blue fitted blazer that was buttoned up right to the top and her short auburn hair styled like it wouldn't move even if a tornado struck at that very moment. Holding out her hand towards Lucy, the realtor flashed a warm smile to her. Lucy looked at her with suspicion. It was as if the woman was sort of mimicking Lucy's family.
"I don't believe we've met yet," the realtor smiled, still waiting for Lucy to shake her hand. "I'm Marcy."
"Lucy," she replied, giving Marcy the benefit of the doubt.
Lucy looked around the hall way. It all seemed to be a dark and dingy wood. From her facial expressions, it was easy to tell that Lucy didn't see the attraction in the house that Eve so easily saw.
"I can't believe how beautiful it is," Eve twinkled, looking around in complete awe.
"We should really begin the tour," Marcy insisted. "I have another client viewing a property on the other side of town in.."
Jason interrupted Marcy before she had chance to finish her justifying sentence. "I think we'd prefer to just look around the house on our own if that's alright."
"Very well," Marcy nodded.
Leaving the family to it, Marcy disappeared out of the front door and out the porch onto the path. Lucy stood outside the front door, watching Marcy as she waltzed down the path - it was like she couldn't get away from the house fast enough.
"Weird lady," Jason laughed as Lucy walked back into the house, closing the front door behind her.
"Lucy," Eve smiled as she turned around to look at her daughter. "Why don't you go up and sort some of your room out whilst we go get your grandmother?"
And with that, Lucy nodded and made her way up the spiral stairs that were made from the same dark wood as the rest of the hallway was lined with, wondering what her room was gonna be like and if it was going to be any better than her bedroom back at home - she doubted it. As soon as Lucy had vanished up the stairs, Eve turned to her husband with a look of guilt on her face. "I feel like we should tell her."
"No," Jason maintained. "She can't find out - not yet at least. Let her settle in and learn to think of this as home first."
Eve reluctantly agreed.
Walking into the room that Jason had already chosen for Lucy, she sighed to herself. Placing her phone into the docking station beside the bed, Lucy hummed along to the songs that played as she unboxed her life from the shipping boxes that were scattered around the room and began to organise all her possessions to make this house feel a little more like home. Her room at the house in London had been her room since she was born. Lucy sorted through all her belongings like she was making a trip down memory lane. Every thing she touched of hers brought an ocean of memories flooding back. Tears forming in her eyes as she thought of all the friends she was leaving behind and all the people she'd probably never see again.
As the car made its way down the highway towards the hospital where Eve's mother, Elizabeth - or 'Lizzy' as her family called her - was staying. The radio played in the background as Eve stared out the window at the scenery that was passing by as they drove out of Los Angeles.
"What's on your mind?" Jason asked his wife in concern.
"Nothing much," Eve smiled as she placed her hand over her husband's that he had placed on her leg. "Just all the memories of this place and.. I guess, I'm bringing my mother home to die basically."
"But there's nothing you could have done to prevent any of this, Eve," Jason sympathised, trying to reassure his guilt-stricken wife.
"I could have been there for her though. She never left me, not once, when I was a child. Whenever I was ill, she'd be there to pick me up from school and nurse me on the sofa with hot cocoa. Whenever I had school dances, she'd help me choose what dress to wear and she'd do my hair for me and let me borrow her make-up so I could impress my crush. She wasn't just my mother but she was my best friend. I should have got her to come live with us in England after dad died. I shouldn't have left her here by herself. She needed me and I wasn't here."
"You can't beat yourself up about it. Lizzy loves you."
Tears slowly trickled down Eve's face as she silently kept going over and over all the mistakes she had made with her mother throughout her life in her mind - from all the times she wished her mother would back off asking her about her love life to all the times she wished her mother would stop calling her twice a day every day when she first moved to London all those years ago. There wasn't one thing in Eve's mind at that very moment that didn't make her feel guilty in regardless to cutting her mother out of her life for so long.
Helping Lizzy out of the car, Jason and Eve smiled at each other as Lizzy wrapped her frail fingers around both of their arms. "I'm so lucky to be able to call you two my family," Lizzy rejoiced as they slowly walked together to the entrance of the house.
"Nanny Lizzy!" Lucy beamed as she ran to the front door from the lounge that was now set up into a little bedroom for Lizzy to stay in.
"Well, if it isn't my little Looby Lou!" Lizzy smiled, wrapping her feeble arms around Lucy and holding onto her tightly with all the energy she had in her whole body. "Haven't you grown."
After helping Lizzy over to the bed that Lucy had just made up, they all sat down on the sofa opposite to where Lizzy was slumped on the bed. Lizzy cherished every inch of her family as she looked at all three of them.
"You've all changed so much," Lizzy sighed as she struggled for breath.
"Mom, don't talk if you feel like it's too draining for you," Eve interrupted. "I don't want you to be in pain."
"How could I be in pain with my family with me?" Lizzy smiled. "I couldn't be any happier. I'm glad we're all together. We'll be happy here in this house, even once I'm gone."
"Lizzy.." Jason hesitated.
"I'm not going to pussyfoot around this," Lizzy paused. "I'm dying. I'm not sure how long I have left but I'm going to make the most of every second I have left on this planet."
Lucy looked at her grandmother in astonishment at how strong she was being considering the tragic circumstances she was in. Eve was holding onto her mother's hand whilst Jason has his arm draped over Eve's shoulder in a comforting manner. As the four of them sat around in Lizzy's makeshift bedroom, they began to reminisce about the memories they had shared together and they began to catch up on all the memories they had missed with each other.
Later that night once Lucy had retired to her bedroom for the night and Lizzy had taken her medication, causing her to fall asleep, Eve and Jason were sorting out the remainder of the boxes that were in the master bedroom of the house. As Eve passed her husband a pile of photo albums from the box she was emptying for him to place on the bookshelf beside him, he passed her a handful of candlesticks for her to arrange on the dresser beneath the window.
"So far so good," Jason smiled to Eve as he looked around the room that was empty just a matter of hours ago and now it seemed to have been transformed into a magnificent boudoir with a grand four poster bed in the middle of it.
"I know," Eve grinned as she stood back to admire their teamwork. "It doesn't look too shabby, does it?"
"I was talking about the.."
Eve cut into Jason's sentence before he had chance to blurt out the secret they were trying ever so hard to keep hush about. "I know what you were talking about. I just feel uncomfortable discussing it. I think from now on we both need to lock the thought of it into the back of our minds and forget we even got told about it. This is our home. Nothing can happen in here as it's our home - our safe place."
"We can't just keep acting like nothing happened here though," Jason argued. "I'd understand if it was something trivial but it isn't."
In a slight rage, Eve slid the box she was half way through emptying across the room and walked over to the bed, throwing back the sheets and hurling the scatter cushions onto the chaise longue at the end of the bed. "Earlier, you said yourself that Lucy can't find out yet. She isn't too keen on this place as it is. We need to wait until she's grown to like this house before we even consider telling her. If it means protecting my baby girl from a little ghost tale, then I can live with a secret."
As the Californian sunshine beamed into Lucy's bedroom through the windows, Lucy stood in front of her mirror, studying her reflection as she straightened out her dress, remaining undecided over what to wear. She had only just managed to get her body into some sort of routine that was updated with the adjusted body clock that came with the time difference between the time zone she had been used to for the past seventeen years and the time zone she had been thrown into, but now she also had to overcome to ordeal of getting ready for school and catching the school bus to her new high school before the clock even struck eight in the morning.
As she tried on different jackets to see which one went best with the white floral dress she had unsurely decided on, there was a faint knock on the bedroom door. "Come in."
"I just wanted to come talk to you quickly before you left for school," Eve smiled as she peered her head around the door. Closing the door behind herself, Eve walked into Lucy's room and watched her daughter continue to debate silently to herself over what jacket she should wear. "How are you feeling?"
"A little nervous, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Lucy smiled. "I mean, how hard can it be to start your life all over again when you only have eleven months left until you graduate? Oh, not to mention the fact that I know nobody here and all my friends that I've grown to know and love live on the other side of the planet to me."
"Lucy, I know you've taken this hard but we wouldn't have done it this way if we didn't think you would be able to cope with it all. You'll make tonnes of friends here and you'll settle into your classes in no time at all."
"I know I'll cope but I just miss home, you know?" Lucy sighed as she sat down on the end of her bed and began to fold her pyjamas up into a neat pile. "I don't want you or dad to think of me as selfish as I know why we moved here and I don't mind about that reason. I love Nanny Lizzy and I'd hate to think that she was alone in a hospital at a time like this but I just really miss home."
Eve leant closer to Lucy and brought her in for an embracing hug. "I tell you what, once we get the house properly sorted, you can invite some of your friends from back home over in the summer holidays for a few weeks."
Lucy nodded. "Thank-you."
Eve smiled before standing up from the edge of her daughter's bed as Lucy remained seated, cradling her folded pyjamas in her hands. "Oh, and Lucy," Eve paused. "I think the light denim jacket looks best on you."
As Eve left the room and shut the bedroom door behind her, Lucy looked across the room and spotted the light denim jacket that her mother was talking about flung across the armchair in the corner of the room. Walking over to grab it, she felt as if there was someone stood behind her. Turning around as fast as she could, she realised it was the cat - Tabby, a little black and grey tabby cat.
"Jesus, Tabby," Lucy laughed to herself, crouching down to pick her beloved pet up. "You nearly gave me a heart attack." Stroking his soft fur, Lucy sighed to herself. "I bet you miss home too. Don't you? I bet you miss the non-stop rain and the isolated feeling on the tube first thing in the morning with all the busy London commuters who think the slightest bit of eye contact with another stranger means they are destined for doom. I know I do, surprisingly. It's funny, isn't it? I never stopped complaining about those sort of things when I had to endure them daily but now they're gone, I miss them terribly. I'd give everything and anything to just have a proper cup of tea too."
Lucy stopped herself after a moment of realisation that she was talking to her cat like it was her diary or therapist or something.
"Sorry," she sighed, placing Tabby onto her bed.
Watching him as he rolled onto his back and began to lick his fur with his soft tongue, Lucy grabbed her school bag from beside her bed before kissing Tabby on the top of his little head.
With Lizzy settled in front of the television for the morning with a glass of milk, a packet of cookies and her medication, Eve finally managed to find the time to get the rest of the unpacking done that she had so desperately wanted to finish by the time Lucy returned home from school in the hope that it would make the house feel a little less like a house and more like a home to them all, especially Lucy. As Eve began to file through the final box in the dining room and place the final photo frame on the wall, she looked around the room with pride. Again, the dining room was decorated with the same wood as the hallway - and the rest of the house for that matter.
"It's finally to feel like home, isn't it?" Jason smiled to Eve as he walked into the dining room to see the finishing touches being put in place - a smile on Eve's face.
"You don't understand how much this means to me," Eve began. "I cannot thank you enough for what you've done for me and mom."
"How about you try and think of a way to thank me tonight when Lucy's asleep and Lizzy's taken her pills?" Jason teased as he kissed Eve's neck.
"Stop it, Jason," Eve laughed as Jason continued to kiss his way up and down Eve's neck, nibbling gently on her skin.
"Come on," Jason grinned as he began to unbutton Eve's blouse. "We still need to christen the house."
"Five minutes then," Eve reluctantly groaned as she gave into temptation.
"Five?" Jason questioned as he lifted Eve up onto the antique table, completely throwing Eve's dining table arrangement out of place. "Fifteen."
"Fine. Fifteen."
Walking through the corridor of Westfield High, Lucy looked around in complete uncertainty. She didn't have any idea of where to go, let alone who anybody was - the complete opposite to what it was like at her college back in England. Lucy wouldn't have exactly classed herself as one of the popular girls due to modesty, but she wasn't short of friends. With her father being a doctor at a hospital in Central London and her mother working as a beauty therapist in one of the top beauty salons in Knightsbridge, Lucy had grown up in London and was surrounded by people she had gone through her entire school life with. Being here was completely out of her comfort zone.
Checking her timetable that the receptionist had given her before he had darted off to deal with another student, Lucy realised it was no luck as the timetable to her just looked like letters and numbers sprawled across it. The only thing she really understood was the subject names - at least they didn't change much transatlantic. Without noticing, Lucy walked straight into the path of three preppy looking girls and bumped into them as she continued to study the timetable.
"I'm so sorry," Lucy apologised as she looked up to see who she'd just bumped into.
"Don't worry about it," the girl in the middle smiled, gently flipping her shiny brunette hair with blonde ombre ends over her shoulder as if she was a model on a catwalk in the London Fashion Week.
All three girls were dressed from head to toe in designer labels - it was as if they had just raided Rodeo Drive on a limitless spending spree. All three girls clutched hold of matching designer handbags with their perfectly manicured paws as they all smiled to Lucy with their clinically whitened teeth behind their bright red lipstick that was, yet again, designer.
"Wait. You're new here, aren't you?" the tall blonde that was sipping on a Starbucks coffee asked.
"Yeah," Lucy nervously smiled, unsure of how to approach the situation. "I just started today."
"Do you want us to show you around?" the third girl - a skinny but on the short side girl with bright red frizzy hair - added with a friendly smile.
"I don't want to be any trouble," Lucy modestly refused. "It's fine."
"Honestly, we don't mind," the girl in the middle responded. "You're English, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, is it true? Are all English boys hot?" the girl in the middle grinned.
"You guys don't get Jeremy Kyle over here, do you?" Lucy laughed to herself but soon shook her head as she realised her joking reference to the British version of Jerry Springer was completely wasted on them.
"What's your name?" the red haired girl asked.
"I'm Lucy, Lucy Miller."
"Nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Crystal," the red haired girl introduced. "This is Sophie," she continued, ushering her hands to her left, where the girl with the brunette hair and blonde ombre ends was stood, smiling back at Lucy. "And this is Summer." Crystal finished off the introductions by pointing at Summer, the girl who had blonder hair than the sun, who was stood at the very end of their threesome.
"Let me have a look at this," Sophie laughed, taking hold of the crumpled timetable from Lucy's hand before scanning over it. "I hated these things when I first started back in fourth grade, but you soon get the hang of them."
"It just looks like some foreign language to me," Lucy joked, trying to break the icy tension that had arisen since the introductions just moments ago.
"Look," Sophie smiled as she broke away from her little formation with her girlfriends and stood beside Lucy, pointing her manicure over the sheet so it was in broad view of Lucy, who was hiding her unloved nails behind her back. "This number here is the class room and then these letters here are the initials of the teacher teaching that class. So now you have Math in room 424 with JL."
"JL?" Summer asked.
"JL," Sophie smirked.
"JL?" Lucy questioned. "Who's JL?"
"Jonathan Lunbridge, also known as the super hottie of the staffing body of Westfield High," Crystal grinned. "I had him in seventh grade and couldn't stop staring at his ass."
"This can't be good," Lucy laughed. "I need to pass my maths to get into a good university."
"First thing of being an American high school student is drop the 's' in 'maths'," Sophie said, handing Lucy back her timetable. "Oh, and it's college, not university."
"Thank-you so much," Lucy smiled as she went to turn around to go to her next lesson.
"Where do you think you're going?" Summer asked, holding onto Lucy's arm as she tried to get away.
"To lesson?" Lucy replied, unsure of why they were stopping her from leaving them alone.
"We'll walk you," Sophie smiled. "By the looks of it you haven't really had the chance to make any friends here, so let us be your friends."
"Okay," Lucy laughed, still unsure of how to react to it all.
Sat at the desk in the study, Jason held the phone to his ear as he waited for somebody to answer it at the other end. A whole afternoon has passed by with the job search and there was absolutely nothing. Ringing around every head hunter that was listed in the phone directory was becoming a bit of a ball ache for Jason so it was hardly surprisingly when his mind began to wonder around the study, looking through the bits and bobs that the previous owners had forgotten to claim - mainly the shelves upon shelves of psychology books and therapist manuals that lined the room on the numerous amount of antique style bookcases. As Jason began to flick through one of the old notepads he discovered in the drawer of the desk that sat central in the room, somebody picked up on the other end of the phone line.
"Um, yeah, I suppose you can help me actually. My name is Jason Miller," he began to explain as he shoved the notepad back into the drawer and sat back down on the chair, grabbing a pen from the pen pot as he prepared to scrub the agency's number off his long list of numbers that were majority already scrubbed off as being useless. "I'm looking for a job in a hospital as a doctor or even a general practitioner in the Los Angeles area."
Instead of getting the usual 'I'm sorry, Mr Miller, but there are no vacancies on our records at the present moment in time regarding a job of your criteria', Jason was surprised to find out that there was tapping at the other end of the phone line, as if somebody was typing on a keyboard.
"That sound perfect."
A rejoiced facial expression finally appeared on Jason's face after a dragging afternoon of getting absolutely nowhere.
"Saturday at 11am?" Jason nodded. "That's perfect. Thank-you so much."
Hanging up, he called out Eve's name instantly.
"Yeah," she replied as she walked into the study, carrying a pile of books that she placed on the empty shelf below all the psychology books.
"I've got an interview!"
"Finally," she smiled. "Do you want me to box these books up and ask Marcy to see if the previous owners left a forwarding address for their possessions or.." Eve paused in realisation. "Do you want me to box these books up?"
"They're fine," Jason replied as he turned back to the desk to tear out the page of numbers in his notepad. "I think it adds a bit of character to the room."
"Very well then," Eve said, before disappearing back out of the room to finish unpacking another room.
Scrunching up the piece of paper, Jason tossed it into the paper waste bin that sat on the opposite side of the room. Opening the drawer of the desk back open again, he placed his notepad in it before pulling out the notepads that were already in there. Thumbing through the pages of the notepads, Jason realised they were all filled full of notes on various people, presumably patients.
Anxiously, Lucy walked into the math class, feeling like she had a million eyes on her - but she wasn't far wrong as the majority of the class of thirty were all staring at her, apart from one girl who sat at the very back, doodling on a piece of scrap paper, being completely oblivious to her surroundings. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, unlike every other girl Lucy had set eyes on in this school that treated the school like a fashion parade.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" Lucy asked the girl, pointing to the empty seat beside her.
Looking up from the piece of paper, the girl took the headphone from her ear that was blaring out music and smiled up at Lucy. "Sure."
As Lucy took the seat and began to get out her belongings from her bag, the teacher waltzed into the classroom.
"They weren't wrong," Lucy sniggered to herself as she stared at the teacher with his black hair that was sleeked back and his olive toned skin.
"What?" the girl sat beside Lucy asked.
"Oh, I got told the teacher is a bit of a hottie," Lucy giggled quietly, making sure nobody else could hear her apart from the unknown girl that she had sat beside.
"He's alright, I guess," the girl shrugged.
After a few moments of silence, the teacher, who was now perched on the edge of his desk, looked out at the class through his piercing eyes and began to take a register. "Emma Ascot?"
"Here, sir."
"James Benjamin?"
"Here, sir."
"Tammy Conner?"
"Yeah," the girl sat beside Lucy replied.
"Tammy?" Lucy asked as the teacher continued to read out the register and the students continued to say they were present with the default response of 'here, sir'.
"Yeah."
"That's a really nice name," Lucy smiled, trying to kill the elephant in the room. "I have a cat called Tabby so you two are nearly name twins."
"Name twins?" Tammy laughed. "I suppose so."
"Well, it's only one letter different," Lucy grinned, trying to justify my stupid comment, but at least it worked - the awkwardness had disappeared and Tammy had finally broken a smile. "You can see where I was coming from, right?"
"I do," Tammy nodded.
"Oh, by the way, I'm.."
Before Lucy had the chance to say her name, the teacher did it for her. "Lucy Miller?"
"Here, sir."
"Where?" the teacher asked, looking out onto the sea of students like he was the captain of the ship on the high seas- hand above his eye and everything. Lucy placed my hand up, mentally preparing herself for another examination by her new fellow classmates. "Ah, welcome, Lucy. I'm Mr Lunbridge. I'll be your math tutor for this semester, and hopefully for the upcoming one too."
Lucy nodded as he turned away to face the blackboard that was hung on the wall beside the projected computer screen. As Mr Lunbridge crawling page numbers on the board in chalk, she turned back to talking to Tammy. "So, what are you drawing?"
Sitting down on a table in the cafeteria, Lucy chomped on her apple as Sophie, Summer and Crystal discussed their plans for the weekend. This school wasn't half as bad as Lucy thought it would be, she thought to herself. She had managed to survive a whole four hours of being an American high school student and, although it wasn't exactly like Hollywood and Disney portray it to be, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to have happened to Lucy.
"What do you think, Lucy?" Sophie asked, making Lucy return back to Earth as she exited her deep trail of thought and reflection over her new life in Los Angeles.
"Sorry, I wasn't really listening," Lucy confessed, putting her apple down on the lunch tray. "What did you say?"
"Us three might hit the mall this weekend. Do you fancy it?" Summer smiled.
"Mall?" Lucy repeated with a tone of uncertainty in her voice.
"I think you English call it a shopping centre," Crystal laughed.
"Oh, I know what it is," Lucy smiled. "It's just my nan isn't very well so I'm helping my mum take care of her and we still have a lot of unpacking to do so I'm unsure if I'd be able to go. I'd love to. It's just.."
Sophie interrupted me. "We're not taking a no for an answer."
"Okay," Lucy reluctantly agreed.
"Where do you live?" Sophie asked. "Crystal's dad has just bought her a new car so we need to give it a test run. We'll pick you up on the way there."
"939 Berro Drive," Lucy replied, taking a sip of her orange juice. "The 1920s Victorian style house."
As Lucy continued to tuck into her lunch, she failed to notice the change in facial expressions her new found friends were experiencing once they learnt of Lucy's address.
"Hey, Lucy. It looks like we've both got chemistry together too so do you wanna walk with me?" Tammy asked as she turned around from the table behind where Lucy, Sophie, Summer and Crystal were sat to look at her. "It'll save you getting lost."
"Yeah, thank-you," Lucy smiled as she finished the rest of her orange juice off.
"I'll take that," Tammy offered, picking up Lucy's empty lunch tray from the table and carrying it off before Lucy had the chance to argue with her offer.
"What are you doing?" Sophie asked, looking confused.
"Going to Chemistry," Lucy smiled as she climbed over the seat to get out of the table and picked up her bag from the end of the table. "I'll give you all a text tonight to arrange this mall trip then?"
"No, we mean, what are you talking to that freak for?" Summer laughed, looking at Tammy as she walked back over with a smile on her face.
"She's not a freak," Lucy insisted. "You can't call her a freak when you don't even know her."
"But look at her," Summer giggled. "She doesn't even wear any make-up."
"What's up?" Tammy asked as she realised there was tension in the group.
"Nothing," Lucy smiled before she turned back to Sophie, Summer and Crystal. "I'll text you tonight then?"
"Yeah," the girls chorused in unison as Lucy disappeared out of the cafeteria and into the corridor as her and Tammy made their way to their chemistry class.
As the corridor began to get busier with all the other Westfield High students rushing around, trying to get to their different classes before the bell rang, Tammy turned to look at Lucy with a half-hearted smile across her face. "It's okay," she smiled to Lucy. "I know your friends don't approve me talking to you. I know I'm not the coolest person in this school."
"Hey, I don't care what they think," Lucy reassured. "I can talk to who I want. I'm not their toy or something they can control. I'm my own person."
"Yes, you are," Tammy laughed as Lucy linked her arm around Tammy's arm as they walked into the chemistry lab.
The chemistry lab didn't look much different to any other stereotypical laboratory classroom - rows and rows of high desks lined the room, all with fitted bunsen burners and gas taps dotted around. Posters on the periodic table hung by the huge whiteboard that clung to the wall at one end of the classroom. A shelving unit along one side of the wall was full of textbooks, test tube racks, experiment equipment and chemical bottles. At least the desks weren't covered in writing or doodles from the bored students like the desks at Lucy's old high school back in England were, she thought to herself. As the students piled into the classroom, a young female teacher stood by the whiteboard, writing chemical symbol equations on the board from a textbook. She didn't look like she was a proper teacher though - she barely looked like she had just graduated high school herself.
"Ms. King, this is Lucy," Tammy said, introducing the new girl to the teacher, who looked over from the textbook with a warm, welcoming smile across her face. "She's new here."
"Lucy, I'm Ms. King," the teacher, now who was known to be called Ms. King, smiled, holding out her hand towards Lucy for her to shake it.
Shaking the teacher's hand, Lucy nodded. "I'm from England."
"So your curricular will be slightly different to our curricular but don't worry, I'll pair you up with someone who will be able to get you up to date with all the goings on and help you if you get a bit confused," Ms. King explained. "Let's see who you can sit with and be paired with." She turned around to face the class, who had all taken their seats. "Jesse Porter."
"Yeah, miss," a boy on the back row smiled politely as he flicked through a textbook, obviously not paying attention to anything in the book.
Just by looking at him, Lucy could tell he was the one boy in the grade, if not entire school, that had all the girls swooning over him. It seemed like even Ms. King had a little crush on him with the way she smiled at him. His short brown hair was mostly hidden by a grey coloured beanie. Sporting a plain white shirt and khaki brown chinos, it was also obvious that Jesse Porter wasn't the sort of guy who would spend hours upon hours deciding on what outfit to wear the night before school - he just threw on anything and still looked twice as good as every other boy in that classroom.
"Do you mind if the new student comes to join you?" Ms. King asked as she placed the textbook she was holding onto the desk and took her seat behind the desk, not taking her eyes off of Jesse.
Lucy groaned to herself - she had already been branded as the 'new student'.
"That's fine, miss," Jesse smiled.
Apprehensively, Lucy made her way to the back of the classroom - walking through the aisle in the middle of all the rows of lab desks with all the students looking at her and judging her. Usually, Lucy wouldn't have been bothered by people judging her but with being a strong believer in first impressions counting, she was like a bag of nerves. By the time Lucy had got to the spare desk beside Jesse, Ms. King had already began to introduce the class into the lesson on the periodic table.
"Hey, I'm Jesse," he smiled to Lucy, attempting to break the awkward tension that had formed between them since Lucy had sat down beside him.
"Lucy," she replied.
"Is that an English accent I hear?" Jesse whispered.
"Yeah."
"Not very talkative, are you?" Jesse asked.
"I am," Lucy smiled. "It's just I'm trying to pay attention to what the teacher is saying."
"I'll leave you alone for now then," Jesse chuckled as he turned to look at Ms. King, who continued to write chemical equations on the board.
Closing the front door behind her, Lucy made her way into the lounge area, where Lizzy was fast asleep in her bed - the television still blaring away to itself. Creeping around the bed, Lucy turned the television set off, trying ever so hard not to awaken Lizzy from her rest as she did so.
"Good day at school, darling?" Lizzy smiled to her granddaughter as she stirred in her sleep.
"I didn't mean to wake you," Lucy apologised. "I just thought you would have a better sleep with the television off."
"I wasn't really asleep," Lizzy replied. "Sit down and tell me about your day."
Without arguing with her beloved Nanny Lizzy, Lucy sat down on the sofa beside the bed. "It was really good. I made a few friends and managed to learn my way around the school. I got lots of homework already too. These American schools don't like to waste time, do they?"
"Your mother was the exact same when she was your age. She hated homework," Lizzy laughed. "Like mother, like daughter."
Lizzy's weakened hand reached over the side of the bed and placed her hand on Lucy's hand. "How's your day been, Nanny Lizzy?" Lucy asked, taking hold of Lizzy's hand firmly.
"My day has been lovely. I made a new friend today," Lizzy smiled. "She's called Moira and she's the housekeeper here. A lovely elderly woman. She made me a cup of tea earlier when your mother and father were unpacking and sat with me for ages. We even watched a bit of television together."
"That's nice."
"Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. You need to get your homework done. Don't want you to be getting any detentions in your first week, do we?"
Lucy shook her head. As she stood up, she leant across the bed and softly kissed Lizzy's cheek. "I'll be back in later when I've finished my homework to keep you company," Lucy promised.
As Lucy disappeared into the kitchen, Lizzy turned the television back on with the remote and settled back into the pillows. Lucy walked into the kitchen and walked straight to the fridge-freezer. Opening the doors, she grabbed hold of the orange juice and gulped it down as Eve and Jason walked into the kitchen, carrying the last of the boxes.
"Thought it was you," Eve smiled.
"You didn't tell me we had a housekeeper."
"A housekeeper?" Jason asked, confused by what his daughter had just said.
"Yeah. Nanny Lizzy said she's been talking to the housekeeper today," Lucy explained. "Some elderly woman called Moira apparently."
"Moira?" Eve asked.
"Sorry, have you been replaced by parrots whilst I've been out?" Lucy joked.
"Lucy, I think we need to talk," Eve said, taking hold of Lucy's hand off the fridge door and walking her across to the breakfast bar that sat in the middle of the room.
Jason gave his wife a look of uncertainty as he watched Eve and Lucy sit down at the breakfast bar.
"You know Nanny Lizzy has cancer, right?" Eve asked, resulting in Lucy nodding. "Well, sometimes she can't quite remember things in the same way as they happened. So she might think she's been sat with a woman called Moira, but she could have just been watching television where the show had a character called Moira, who was an elderly housekeeper."
"Okay," Lucy smiled. "I didn't think it sounded right to be honest. You'd never said anything about a housekeeper before and I didn't think we were doing that whole 'staff' thing just because we live in Los Angeles now."
"You just have to take the things Nanny Lizzy says with a pinch of salt. She doesn't mean to tell little lies as to her, it's the truth," Jason added.
"I know now," Lucy nodded.
"Now go get your homework done and then you can help me with dinner," Eve instructed as she stood up from the breakfast bar and began to empty out the box of plates and mugs, sorting them out into a neat arrangement in the cupboards around the kitchen.
Leaving Eve and Jason to finish sorting out the kitchen - the final room of the house to be finished, Lucy walked into the study and dumped her school bag on the sofa. Sinking onto the sofa, Lucy let out a huge sigh. Looking around the room, Lucy's attention was drawn to all the books from the previous owners - a collection of psychology books that looked like first editions they were that old. Getting her chemistry book out of her bag, she walked across the room to the desk that stood in the middle of the room and sat down on the chair.
"Write a balanced symbol equation for the reaction between sodium and water," Lucy sighed as she read the question.
After she scribbled down a few notes, she looked at the paper and groaned. "It just doesn't add up."
"The two is in the wrong place," a voice said from behind where Lucy was sat at the desk.
Turning around in horror, Lucy realised she wasn't alone. Stood behind Lucy was a teenage boy - he couldn't have been much older than what Lucy was and his grunge-like appearance was complimented with his messy blonde curls. Smiling down at Lucy, he leant over her and pointed at the equation. "You see, you need another two there."
"Who the hell are you?" Lucy demanded, completely ignoring the fact that this stranger had just completed her homework for her.
"Who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" the strange boy grinned.
"I'm the hell who lives in this house," Lucy growled.
"That makes both of us then," the strange boy winked.
"Lucy," Jason's voice called from the corridor, followed by a knock on the door. "Are you okay in there? I heard talking."
Jason slowly turned the door handle and peered around the door. Instead of the shocked expression Lucy was expecting from him when he caught sight of the boy who'd broken entry into the house, Lucy received a smile from Jason. Confused, Lucy looked to where the boy was stood just moments ago to find there was nobody stood there - she was sat all alone in the room. It was like he had just vanished off the face of the Earth.
"I was just listening to some music," Lucy lied, still confused as to where the boy had disappeared to.
Sitting up in bed, Eve rubbed moisturiser into her hands as Jason sat beside her, reading a travel guide book on Los Angeles. Looking at her hands in a deep trail of thought, Eve sighed to herself before turning to look at her husband. "Do you think Lucy bought the lie about mom?" she asked with a worried tone in her voice. "I hate making out that she's imagining things when we both know she might well of been talking to a woman called Moira."
"I know you hate lying but would you rather tell Lucy the truth?" Jason asked.
"No," Eve shook her head. "God, no. She'd freak out."
Elsewhere in the house, Lucy was laid in her bed in complete darkness apart from the light from the street outside that was breaking through into the room, causing shadows to dance on her bedroom wall. Turning away to face the wall, Lucy sighed to herself, completely unaware that the boy from before was lying beside her, watching her chest move up and down as she breathed silently. The whole house was in absolute silence apart from the slight mumble of the television from the lounge where Lizzy was laid watching television, probably already asleep. Trying to get comfortable to be able to drift off to sleep, Lucy turned over and realised she wasn't alone.
"Boo," the stranger whispered.
"Who are you and why are you in my room?" Lucy calmly asked the stranger without raising her voice.
Without answering, the boy disappeared again on the spot. It wasn't even like he had ran off out of the door or climbed out of the window - he just vanished into thin air. Lucy shook her head as she sat up in bed, turning the lamp on that was sat on her bedside table and grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills, emptying two out into her hand and gulping them down her throat, followed by a glass of water.
Saturday morning soon approached and Lucy finally had the chance to have a lie-in. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Eve was sat at the breakfast bar, opposite Jason, discussing her plans for a new business - a beauty salon. Eve was a huge beauty enthusiast - her hair was always perfected with no strands out of place; her make-up was always perfected with no lipstick smudges or eyeliner smears; her nails were always perfected with no chips or wiggly lines. She previously worked as a beauty therapist in a high-end salon in Knightsbridge for the rich and famous Londoners, but always dreamed of owning her own business some day and now it was her chance.
"I have a meeting with the bank on Tuesday. I was thinking about somewhere not too far from here," Eve explained to her husband as she showed him the presentation she had spent the majority of the last three days creating. "Just a little salon for now. I could always expand into a bigger salon, or even a chain if it goes well."
"Sounds good," Jason smiled, handing the plans back to Eve as he scoffed away at his oatmeal.
"I was thinking Lucy could help me out in the salon as well when I get it up and running," Eve beamed. "It'll be like a little family business."
"What?" Lucy asked as she walked into the kitchen in a dressing gown and slippers, looking like she had just rolled out of bed moments ago.
"How would you feel about working in the salon when I get it up and running?" Eve asked, looking like she was about to explode with happiness at any moment.
"Um, yeah," Lucy paused. "Where's the orange juice?"
"Here," Jason replied, holding up the carton of orange juice that was on the breakfast bar in front of him.
Slouching onto the stool, Lucy poured herself a glass and downed it within seconds - her parents looking at her in amazement. "Thirsty?" Eve asked.
Lucy nodded as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What time is your interview, dad?"
"11am," Jason smiled. "But I'll be back by 3pm so we can go exploring the city if you want. I know you've always wanted to go to Los Angeles."
"Yeah, on holiday," Lucy laughed. "But it's alright. I'm going to the mall with some girls from school."
"Mall?" Jason asked.
"Shopping centre," Lucy smiled.
"No, I know what the mall is. I'm just surprised you're going to the mall when you weren't too happy about moving here in the first place."
"But I suppose I should give it a chance," Lucy sighed. "It's not been that bad so far. The only thing is this house is a bit creepy."
"It's all the history behind it," Eve butted in before Lucy had chance to question anything else about the house that would cause Eve to lie even more to her daughter - something she hated more than anything. "But you like your school, don't you?"
"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "It's alright."
"Well, I'd better get going. I need to find the hospital before I have my interview," Jason smiled as he got up from the stool and pushed it beneath the breakfast bar.
"Good luck, dad," Lucy grinned. "I know you'll get it. They'd be stupid to turn you down. You're a great doctor."
"There's a big difference between being a senior doctor and fixing a few cuts and bruises in A&E though," Jason sighed, flashing a half-hearted smile to his wife and daughter as they continued to eat breakfast. "But thank-you darling."
"Ring me as soon as you get out of the interview to let me know how you get on," Eve smiled, giving Jason a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm taking mom for a little walk today. Just a little run around the park with her wheelchair. Getting her out of the house for a bit will do her a world of good. I think."
After the good lucks and goodbyes, Jason grabbed his briefcase and all his paperwork that was sprawled out on the kitchen counter and made his way into the hallway, towards the entrance of the house. Walking out of the house and closing the door behind him, he unlocked his car and jumped straight into the driver's seat. Jason sorted out all his paperwork into a neat pile and placed it in the briefcase that he had placed on the passenger seat beside him. As he did this, something in the house caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Looking up at the house, he saw a couple stood in the window of the master bedroom that belonged to himself and Eve. The man's arm was wrapped around the woman as she cradled a baby in her arms - both smiling down at the bundle of blankets. Jason blinked again as he looked up at the house, but they disappeared.
"Jet lag," Jason groaned as he began to reverse the car off the drive.
Standing beneath the shower head in the bath, Lucy let the water fall over her face to refresh her. She had been depending on sleeping pills for the past week to try and regulate her sleeping pattern but it didn't half make her wake up feeling groggy. After running her hands through her hair, she leant down and turned off the taps. Reaching her hand through the shower curtain that ran the perimeter of the bath tub, she grabbed a towel from the side and pulled it back through to the bath, wrapping it around her, embracing the warm towel hug. Gathering the curtain to one side, she clambered out of the bath and walked over to the sink. Using her hand to wipe away the steam and condensation from the mirror, she spun around as she realised the strange boy from the other day was stood behind her.
"What are you doing in here? Who are you? What do you want with me? Why won't you just leave me alone?"
"I don't want to hurt you," the boy smiled.
"Why are you stalking me then?" Lucy pleaded.
"I'm not stalking you."
"Well, why are you in here when I'm in the shower? Where did you disappear to the other night?" Lucy asked. "You can't just keep turning up like this. I don't know who you are."
"Magic," he smiled.
"Who are you?" Lucy repeated.
"Tate," he grinned. "I already know you, Lucy."
"How do you know my name?" Lucy asked, confused. "I haven't told you my name."
"I've been watching you. I've been watching your whole family. I'm always there - even if you don't think I am. We all are."
"We?" Lucy questioned. "What do you want with my family? We don't mean no harm."
"No, but people mean harm to you. There's some dark secrets in this house, in these walls," Tate explained. "You haven't seen nothing yet."
"Just leave me alone, you psycho," Lucy growled, opening the bathroom door and shoving him out into the corridor.
Slamming the bathroom door behind herself, she looked in the mirror that had already began to fog up again and stared at her reflection.
Rummaging through the rail of clothes in one of the stores at the mall, Lucy sighed to herself. Her mind was still overtaken with what happened earlier. She didn't want to tell her mum or dad as they wouldn't believe her - they would just make out that she was secretly seeing some boy and had sneaked him into the house behind their backs. She knew how they would react straight away. Instead, Lucy decided to keep quiet about it all and hope that 'Tate', if that was even his name, had got the message by now and would leave her alone for good, or at least for now. Yet Lucy still couldn't help wonder by what he meant about the 'dark secrets in this house'. People were out to harm her? But she, nor her family, had done anything wrong in their lifetimes, let alone in this short time since they had moved into the new house just a week ago.
"What's up with you?" Sophie asked as she inspected a dress she was holding. "You've been so quiet since we picked you up."
"Nothing," Lucy lied. "I'm just worried about my dad. He's got a job interview and I really hope he gets it."
"Hey, Lucy. This will suit you," Summer smiled, holding up a red and white dress from the rack she was scavenging at.
"I like LA as you can wear dresses all year round," Lucy laughed as she took hold of the dress and held it against her, looking in her reflection in the mirror. "This looks nice."
"Nice?" Crystal questioned. "It looks amazing. If you don't buy that, I'll.. well, I don't know what I'll do, but just buy it."
After contemplating for a few moments, Lucy eventually gave in and walked over to the cashier, getting her purse out of her bag.
Walking out of the store with all their shopping bags, the girls headed towards the food court to get some lunch. As they walked through the foyer of the mall towards Subway, something caught Lucy's attention. She only caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye but she knew she wasn't mistaken. Without a doubt, she knew what she saw. Leaving Sophie, Summer and Crystal to walk over to Subway, Lucy departed from their formation and walked straight over to a stall that was set up next to the water fountain that was spraying water in the middle of the mall. Taking a closer look, Lucy was startled to realise she was right with what she saw - her house.
"Hello miss, would you like to book a tour?" the short, plump sales rep smiled to Lucy as he noticed her taking interest in the board below the stall.
"That house," Lucy paused as she analysed the board even closer, unsure of what to do or think.
"Ah, the notorious 'Murder House'," he smiled proudly. "Yes, it's a highlight of our 'Eternal Darkness Tour'."
Lucy froze as she realised what he had called it - 'Murder House'? Surely he was mistaken. Lucy had always heard of these stories of Los Angeles tour agencies lying about certain attractions to get more money and more interest from tourists - tourists loved this sort of stuff.
"Would you like a brochure?" he asked, offering a brochure titled 'Eternal Darkness Tour' to her.
"Thank-you," Lucy replied, taking the brochure from his hand and flicking through it.
"There you are," Sophie laughed as she stood behind Lucy, followed by Summer and Crystal. "You just disappeared."
"Is that your.."
Lucy interrupted before Summer had chance to finish her sentence but everyone, including the sales rep, knew what she was about to say. "Yeah, that's my house."
"You live in the 'Murder House'?" the sales rep asked, sounding more excited than he looked - which seemed like an impossibility, but he proved it wrong.
"Yes."
"Right, that's enough shopping for today," Crystal commented, ushering the girls off in the opposite direction to the sales rep, who was evidently eager to find out more about Lucy's abode.
Sophie and Summer rushed into Subway, joining the queue before Lucy managed to catch up with them as she dawdled along behind with Crystal by her side.
"Do you know about my house?" Lucy questioned.
"Know?" Crystal paused. "The whole state does basically. It's one of the most famous houses in California, let alone Los Angeles."
"Why didn't I know this then?" Lucy asked, confused as to what she was hearing. "Why is it so famous?"
Crystal sat down at a table at the back of the Subway store and waited for Lucy to sit down opposite her before she answered Lucy's question. "I doubt half, if not seventy-five percent, of this is real but apparently every family that have lived in that house in the past, well, since it was built have died in some gruesome way."
Lucy froze again.
"The girl who lived there a few years ago was in the grade above and she just disappeared. Her mom died in childbirth with twins - one was stillborn and then the girl, Violet, ran off with her baby brother after her dad committed suicide."
"That's awful, but it doesn't mean that it's a 'Murder House' though?" Lucy paused.
"The couple before that were a gay couple - they both died. Apparently one of them shot the other and then shot himself," Crystal continued to explain. "Then the family before that.."
Lucy stopped Crystal. "It's fine. I get it."
Placing the dinner plates around the dining table, Lucy smiled to her grandmother, Lizzy, who was sat in her wheelchair at one end of the dining table. Eve was right - a gentle stroll around the local park in the Californian sunshine did Lizzy a world of good. As Eve carried in a tray of vegetables and placed them around the dining table in a neat and orderly fashion, the front door opened and in walked Jason.
"Jason, is that you?" Eve called as she carried the oven gloves back into the kitchen, in a hurry to find out whether her husband had got the job or not. "I told you to ring me as soon as you got out of the interview."
Placing his briefcase on the breakfast bar, Jason broke out into a huge grin as Eve looked at him in anticipation, waiting to find out the verdict from his interview. "I got it."
Throwing her arms around Jason, Eve kissed him. "I knew you can do it!"
"Well done, dad," Lucy beamed as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cutlery from the cutlery stand on the kitchen counter.
"What's this?" Jason questioned as he noticed the 'Eternal Darkness Tour' brochure on the counter beside Lucy's handbag.
"Oh, some guy at the mall was giving them out today. Our house is in it," Lucy smiled as she walked into the dining room, carrying the cutlery and putting them neatly at each place setting, just as her mother had shown her whilst she was growing up.
"Lucy, could you come in here for a second?" Eve paused as she and Jason gave each other the same look.
"Look, it's fine. I know you knew the house has had murders in it. The realtor has to tell you - it's the law. But I'm fine with it," Lucy encouraged. "It's awful that those people got murdered in here but from what my friends were telling me at the mall, it wasn't anything too gruesome. The tour brochure just exaggerates it, but they have to make it into something that it isn't otherwise they wouldn't get any business."
"So you're still fine living here?" Jason asked.
Lucy nodded. "Just because bad things have happened to the previous families doesn't mean that bad things will happen to us. Dad, you've just got an amazing job and mum, you're about to start the planning on opening your own business. Don't you think if this was a bad house that bad things would have happened to us by now?"
Eve and Jason looked at each other before looking back at Lucy.
"You know I'm right. Nothing's gonna happen to us. It's fine," Lucy smiled as she walked into the dining room, followed by her pleasantly surprised and reassured parents.
As Lucy sat down at the dining table, accompanied by Jason, Eve and Lizzy, the chalk that was attached to the chalkboard on the wall beside the fridge began to move up and scrawled patterns on the board in the shape of letters.
"There's dark secrets in this house."