Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters...blahblahblah

Sorry that this first chapter is so long. I guess I just had a lot to say in it (not a lot of interesting stuff, but that will come later), and I didn't feel like making 3 or 4 little chapters out of it, so you get one big one :) Just think of it as like...three or four chapters in one...I'm taking away the inconvienence of clicking the button...haha. Okay, I'm done. It's kind of shaky cause I'm still developing the plot, but I promise it's going to be more interesting as it develops.

The morning was a beautiful one in Playa Linda. It was still too early for businessmen to be rushing off to work, or for children to be outside playing on this Sunday morning as everything around was quiet. "4:30...almost there." Anna thought to herself as she looked out the window of the car. As they turned, the water came into view, and Anna sighed a small sigh of relief. "There it is; home..." She couldn't believe that they were actually there. After 2 days of driving from their old home in northern Wisconsin, they were finally there.

Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up in front of a fair-sized home located right on the beach. It wasn't like the home she had left back in Wisconsin, it was definitely larger in size and instead of living on the beach, she used to live on a small lot, with a backyard as an alley. There were no pine trees around and she had a feeling that she wouldn't be seeing eagles for a long time. Instead, there was sand and tall sea grass, waves and palm trees. It was the first time Anna had seen any of these things.

"Well what are you waiting for, kid? Get the hell moving this shit in the house. Don't expect it to move itself," her father sneered. Okay, so it had been her father's fantasy to move out to paradise. He'd always hated the "northern words" and had talked for years about getting away. If Anna's mother had still been around, (she'd died unexpectedly seven years earlier) she would have talked sense in to her father, telling him that it was unrealistic to just pick up and move from the middle of nowhere to the middle of somewhere. But Anna had a feeling that the move had something to do with her mother, even though she was gone. Ever since she had died, her father had not been the same man. Gradually, he had grown violent and crude. More often than not, he'd take it out on Anna; she always seemed to be "getting in his way". The more precautions she took around him, the more she seemed to disturb his peace. She did what she could, though, so keep the bruises covered, the cuts bandaged, and tried to keep herself as invisible as possible.

However, since Karen (Anna's mother) had died, her father's writing seemed to have taken off. He was an author. Spending his days drinking, sleeping, agonizing, or some other pitiful way of living had actually got him places. In the past three years, he had three books on the New York Times Bestseller List and the last two were part of a five-book series that had really taken off. For a lot of kids, it would be a strange transition to go from "just getting by" to really having money, but not in Anna's case. Her father hated spending the money he earned. The only time money was really ever spent was for him to buy liquor or another pack of cigarettes, and on occassion he'd send Anna for groceries. This house was the first signigicant thing he'd bought with his money, and you could tell he was proud.

Anna looked up at the house once more and began unpacking the car. Everything else had arrived the week before by way of the movers. Upon walking in front door for the first time, Anna could do nothing but look around in awe. The place was beautiful and large; a place she'd never imagine herself living in. And decorated! The whole place had already been set up. It was beautiful. The colors were brilliant and rich, and the television mounted on the wall was absolutely huge. Setting her boxes down, she looked around more. Anna didn't recognize hardly any of the things in the house. Everything was new and magnificent looking. She headed out the back door and found herself on a deck, furnished with outdoor furniture, hanging lamps, and a bit further down, a lovely gazebo. And of course the water. Anna sighed. Was she really at home?

She headed back inside and to her surprise her father was whistling happily, digging in one of the boxes. He saw her in the corner of his eye and looked up, smiling. "Well, what do you think?"

"It's...amazing. Wow, I can't believe this." Anna was still in awe of her new surroundings. This made her father smile.

"Have you checked out your bedroom yet? It's upstairs." He said, pointing to the winding staircase before him. Anna was particularly perplexed by her father's niceness towards her, but she wasn't about to question it.

"No, I'll go do that. Hey...Dad, how did this stuff all get set up?" She wondered.

"The decorator came and did it throughout the week. She wanted it to be ready for us when we got here." He answered, proudly.

Anna nodded and bounded quickly up the stairs to the spacious second-level. She ended up in a square hallway. There were three walls, and when she turned around there was two big glass doors on the fourth wall. Walking over to them, she looked out and saw they led to a sundeck. Beyond the sundeck, she looked out over the water and watched as the sun began to rise. Anna began opening doors in the hall, trying to find her bedroom. She went through her father's room, two closets, and a bathroom before she opened one more door and felt her eyes widen. "This must be it." She told herself. It was massive and so beautiful. She even had her own computer, television, and phone. Anna felt like a princess. She walked around, checking out every detail. A private bathroom, another (slightly smaller and private) sundeck, and a beautiful bay window that overlooked the water. "Do people really live like this?" she wondered, as she sat down on her bed and slowly drifted off to sleep for a few more hours.

Around 11 that morning, Anna sleepily opened her eyes, remembering where she was. Smiling to herself, she took a quick shower. "God, I don't know what I did to deserve this, but thank you." Life had never been so good for her, and she was hoping it'd stick around for awhile. Getting out of the shower, she opened her closets and drawers to figure out something to wear that day. To her surprise, her new clothes were mixed in with a slew of fashionable new clothes. Mini skirts, halter tops, all kinds of things. "What the..." She started, as she looked through. Anna had never been too "girly". It's not that she was a complete tom boy, but living in Wisconsin her whole life, they had no use for mini skirts and heels. Plus, her mother hadn't really been around to guide her with clothes. Thinking for a moment, she decided on a tee-shirt from her old school, and her favorite pair of soccer shorts. She walked over to the mirror and looked in it and decided just to let her naturally wavy brown hair dry on its own.

Downstairs, Anna looked for her father but saw him nowhere. "Dad?" She called out. Her eyes fell on a note on the dining table.

Anna,

Went out to meet an old friend for lunch.

Here's some money if you get hungry or anything,

I shouldn't be long. We don't have any food yet, so

you'll have to go and find a place to pick something

up, but I'm sure there's something.

See you later,

Dad

Beside the note, there was two twenty dollar bills and a ten dollar bill. "Fifty dollars for food?" she spoke outloud.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Looking around, Anna was a bit shy of answering the door, but eventually she shrugged and walked towards the door, opening it. There stood three women, each holding some kind of platter. "Hello," said one of the women with a big smile. "Welcome to the neighborhood." Throughout that afternoon, many people stopped by to welcome Anna and her father to the neighborhood. Even though her father wasn't home, Anna had fun meeting her neighbors and getting food. Even though three-fourths of the food was jello, some people had made cookies, brownies, and Mrs. Jones who lived across the street had sent over a fruit platter. After each person had come to welcome them, Anna made sure she wrote down their name, where they lived in accordance to them, and the food they had brought them so that she could write thank-you's to them.

When it seemed as if all of the people in the world had dropped by, Anna laid back on the couch and closed her eyes, smiling to herself. Within thirty seconds, the doorbell rang once more. Shaking her head, she stood up, walked to the door and opened it. To her surprise, it wasn't just a woman this time, it was a woman and two children. "Hi," the woman smiled, holding out her hand for Anna to shake. "I'm Ava Gregory and these are Nikki and Derrick Westerly, my niece and nephew. We just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."

Anna shook her hand and smiled. "It's really nice to meet you, I'm Anna Scott. I really appreciate you coming to introduce yourselves. I'm sorry my Dad's not here for you to meet, he went out to grab some lunch with a friend awhile ago."

"Oh, do not worry about that, I'm sure we'll get to meet him later, afterall we do live just next door." Ava laughed. Anna smiled, she liked this woman. "Oh, and here, we backed you and your father some cookies this morning, Derrick and Nikki were excited to meet you." She said, as Nikki handed her the cookies.

"Oh wow, thanks so much, these are great. They smell really good." Anna smiled.

"So, Anna, where did you and your father move here from?" Ava inquired as Anna invited them into the house. They took seats in the family room.

"Um, Northern Wisconsin, up by Superior." She answered. All of their eyes widened.

"Wow, Wisconsin? This must be quite the change." Ava laughed.

Anna smiled. "Yeah, but it seems great here...really beautiful."

Ava nodded. "Nikki and Derrick here, and their older brother Bradin moved here awhile ago from Kansas. It was a shock to them at first, but they've all adjusted really well. I was going to have Bradin come too, but he had surf team practice so, I'm sure you'll meet him later."

"Oh that's cool, yeah it seems really nice here though. All of the people that have stopped by have seemed really nice and it's just nice to finally be here."

"Yeah, you'll really like it here," Nikki chimed in.

"So, are you starting school tomorrow?" Ava asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow. It should be interesting. Back at home I've had the same 30 kids in my class since kindergarten."

"Wow. Well, if you want, I can have Bradin stop over in the morning to get you while he walks to school. It's not too far from here. That way you'll at least know someone?" Ava offered.

Anna bit her lip. The thought of meeting new people her age freaked her out. She didn't want to trouble this kid that she'd never met. "Oh..no, it's fine. I don't want to bother him. Really."

Ava laughed at this. "I don't think he'll mind. I mean you're on the way, right?" Anna just nodded and smiled nervously. "Well Anna, it was really nice meeting you, I'm sure you'll be fun to have around these parts. And I'll talk to Bradin about tomorrow morning. Be waiting for him." Ava said, as they all stood up to leave.

Anna pushed the worry out of her mind. "Oh, and thank you guys for coming over to say hello, it really means a lot."

They walked over towards to door as they started to leave. "You guys ever need a cup of sugar or anything, we're right next door," Ava laughed. "See you later Anna."

"Bye you guys." And with that, they were gone. "What nice people," Anna thought to herself.

She brought the tray of cookies into the kitchen with all the other food and added their names to the list. Looking around, she laughed. She had never seen so much sweet treats in one room. One by one, she began putting them away in their respective places.

The day was turning out to be a beautiful one and Anna dearly wanted to go outside. Her father had been gone for hours now, which did not surprise her. Looking down at her arms and legs, she realized that her make up was wearing off, and you could see the peeking throughs of bruises and welts. She went upstairs, reapplied some, then changed into her suit. After inspecting herself closely in the mirror, she decided she'd be okay to go outside and read a book. Putting her soccer shorts back on, she went out in her top with a book under her arm. Anna walked down towards the water, sat in the sand, and began reading. However, she couldn't keep her mind on the book. She could see for what seemed like miles down the beach. People were out playing and having fun, and others were in the water surfing, or swimming and here she was alone, reading a book. Anna had never really minded being alone. Back home she had 2 "close" friends, but none that she felt too pained to be away from. They were all pretty independent people, and Anna was usually at home taking care of whatever her father needed done that day or at soccer practice. Soccer was one thing she loved. It just gave her a feeling of power and control that she couldn't get anywhere else. Plus she was extremely talented. This past season she had been first team all state. It was the one thing that nobody could take away from her. Anna turned back to her book and tried to concentrate on the words, doing her best not to think about the past anymore.

Across the way, Bradin jogged back up towards the house. Jay was standing outside, waxing his board. "Hey man," he said to Jay, propping his board up.

"Hey," Jay said, continuing to wax the board.

"Is Aunt Ava here?" Bradin inquired.

"Nah, I think she took the kids for something to eat. I haven't seen them around all afternoon." Bradin nodded at this, opening his water bottle and taking a sip out of it.

He looked out at the water for a moment then back to Jay. "There are some great waves out there today, man. Took me for a ride."

"Yeah, I caught some early this morning." Jay answered in his thick accent. "They were killer."

Bradin looked back out to the water, then surveyed the area around him. His eyes stopped on a figure in the sand from the house next to them. The long, wavy hair clued to him that it was probably a girl. This of course immediately held his attention. "Jay, who is that? Did someone move in next door?" He asked.

Jay looked up from waxing his board and peered down towards the figure. "Oh yeah, that author guy moved in. Ah...what's his name...James Scott, I think? Must be his daughter."

"James Scott moved in next door to us?" Bradin questioned, very surprised. He recognized the name from the news and just from seeing his books around. That guy was a huge success.

"Yeah, and have you seen that place? I can't even begin to imagine what the inside looks like. It's huge." Jay went back to waxing his board and Bradin continued watching the girl. Occassionally, she'd look up from what she was reading and look around her. Jay laughed and shook his head at Bradin. "Why don't you go introduce yourself? At least have some decency." He teased.

"Should I?" Bradin asked, seriously.

Jay nodded. "If you don't, you're a coward. Plus, at least from behind she seems cute. Just go. You have an excuse, you're her neighbor." He gave Bradin a push in her direction, and he started off walking.

"What do I say to her? Hi? That sounds so stupid. Maybe she doesn't want to be bothered...I mean she does seem pretty into that book...then again, maybe she'll be cool." All sorts of thoughts ran through Bradin's head as he approached her. He got nearer and nearer and his heart starting beating very fast for some reason. Stopping for a moment he looked back at Jay who was watching him and waved him on. Bradin turned back towards the girl. He came up very close to her and gently tapped her on her shoulder.

"AH!" She screamed as she jumped about a foot in the air. Bradin backed up, eyes wide. "Oh my God," she said, breathing deeply.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry. I did not mean to scare you." He inched closer to her. Turning to him, she let out a sigh of relief. Bradin looked at her up close and his breath escaped from him. He had just scared possibly one of the most gorgeous girls he had ever seen. Her long, wavy dark brown hair, shaped her thin, delicate face. She had a fair skin color and big, deep green eyes. After a moment, he realized he was staring and shook his head to bring him back. "Sorry, I just...I'm really sorry for scaring you..." He bit his lip and appeared slightly uncomfortable.

Anna gave a light laugh. "It's alright. I'm Anna," she spoke, offering her hand for him to shake.

"Bradin," he said back to her.

"Oh, so you're Bradin." Anna observed. He looked slightly perplexed.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you're aunt stopped over this morning to introduce herself, Nikki, and Derrick. Really nice people."

He sighed a little sigh of relief and took a seat next to her. "Oh, well that's cool. So you just moved here?"

"Yeah, from Wisconsin." She answered.

"Wow, another midwesterner. That's awesome." Bradin loved California girls, he really did...but his real weakness was midwestern girls. Something about them could not be found anywhere else in the world. They just got things.

"Yeah, you're originally from Kansas, right?"

"That's right. How do you like it here so far?"

"Oh, it seems real nice. It's a lot different, but I think that's a given. I'm just not used to..." Anna paused and looked around at the water and beach, palm trees and sunny sky. "...all of this...it's kind of like culture-shock," she joked.

"Yeah, you'll warm up to it though, it's really a nice place."

"I bet." They sat in somewhat of a silence for a few moments. Anna looked around and breathed in the fresh air.

"So...starting school tomorrow?" Anna laughed at this, then nodded. "That's cool. If you want, I can stop by before school and we can walk together...I mean if you want..."

Again, Anna laughed. "Your aunt already volunteered you actually. Only if you want to, though. I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Trouble? You're on the way. Of course I don't mind. At least then you won't be completely alone on your first day. Seriously, don't worry about it." He smiled at her, and she looked down smiling, trying not to meet his eyes.

"Alright, well thanks. That's really nice of you."

"No problem."

"BRADIN! TIME TO EAT!" Jay screamed down to him. Bradin closed his eyes and shook his head.

Anna's eyes grew wide at the accent. "Who is that?" She smiled, giving a light laugh.

Bradin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "That's...Jay." Jay had a knack for embarassing him in front of people, just for kicks. "Well, Anna it was really nice meeting you. I'll be by tomorrow morning around 7:30 or so to pick you up, okay?"

"Alright, thanks again Bradin. I really appreciate it."

"No problem...and again...I'm really sorry for scaring you before." Smiling, he waved and turned away.

Anna looked out at the water, sighing to herself. "Life is good."