A/N: A part of me wants to do the story from this chapter on in first person past and another wants to keep it third person. I'll keep it as is unless someone feels like it'll flow better as the former. Also, since this is a crossover with the Terre d'Ange series (which has mature sexual themes), there's a good possibility of that in later chapters if this holds my attention long enough.
Chapter 1
Liyah lounged on the couch as the voices of Jack and Sarah drifted from the dining room. He had been back for a couple weeks and won't talk – won't by military classification or didn't want to relive what happened, Liyah didn't know – about what had happened during the time he had been gone. She had straightened up after the night Pops had caught her sneaking back into the house and it seemed that Aunt Sarah hadn't been told.
"I'm not going to fight for custody over her," Sarah's voice drifted in. "You can have full. I want to keep the house."
That meant moving. And possibly a new school and a whole new group of classmates that'll judge her the moment she stepped foot into the school. Rolling herself off the couch, Liyah dared to enter the dining room. "I don't want to leave my friends."
"Don't you worry about that, hun," Jack told her. "I'll figure out a way to make sure you stay in the school district." He reached out and squeezed a hand. "Now, run along. We'll talk later."
Liyah stole a glance to Sarah before nodding and leaving the dining room. She didn't liking how fast things were changing, her family has basically dissolved around her and there wasn't much that she could do to keep a hold of what was left. Standing in the entrance way, Liyah stared into the living room and barely acknowledged the television was on. Turning, she left the house. If she was to be moving within the next few months, she would do what she could.
"Come on, Liyah, you gotta eat something," Amira prodded her. "You're wasting away like this."
"I'm not hungry." She pushed around the food she had bought from the school cafeteria with one utensiled hand and supported her head with the other hand.
"You gotta. There's no point on starving yourself especially when you're going to be moving after school."
Liyah wasn't sure what she would do if she hadn't met Amira in grade school. It was more like Liyah rescued the other girl when a group of girls who were a couple grades older than the two of them were teasing Amira about the large birthmark on her face. Liyah had managed to turn the attention of the older girls from Amira to her and the situation was on the edge of being physical when several teachers came in. Amira was her best friend since that day in the fourth grade.
"Do you want me to come over and help? Would your aunt mind the extra company?"
Liyah shrugged. Sarah seemed to barely tolerate having her around for the past couple of weeks, and Liyah wasn't sure if she would handle having her friend over. "I don't know." She picked her head up off her hand and let go of the plastic fork. "It seems that these past few months, she had grown to not being able to tolerate me being around more than necessary. But…maybe if she sees that you're there to help me pack and move, she wouldn't be so quick to have you leave."
"See, now you're thinkin'." Amira sipped at her drink. "Now eat. You're not gonna last through gym at the end of the day if your blood sugar's low."
Liyah picked up the plastic fork and shoveled a few bites of food into her mouth before having to get up and leave due to the half hour lunch break being done. Stashing the couple snack items and bottle of pop into her backpack, she zipped the pack up and slugged it over a shoulder before joining Amira in the attempts of going to their next class. Her usually good schoolwork had slipped a little, but she had caught herself after Sarah's father caught her, yet her teachers had grown concerned when her grades slipped.
She slid into her seat in the back of the class just as the bell rang. Looking at the projected images on the white board, she found that the day's science class would be comprised of actual lab work instead of taking notes and listening to a teacher who seemed to be someone who had been kicked out of the scientific community and had to settle for a teaching job just to get by. Glancing over the lab instructions, Liyah heard the shifting of the desk next to her.
"Wanna go down to the store and get some snacks and marathon watch movies all weekend?"
"Can't, Taylor." Liyah jotted down the boring paperwork stuff for the actual lab experiment. "I'm moving my stuff to my uncle's new place."
"I didn't realize your aunt and uncle moved."
Liyah looked away from the white board and over to the one guy that she trusted beyond a doubt. "It's … just my uncle. They're doing the paperwork and all that for a divorce. My aunt didn't want to fight over their joint custody that they had when my mom left me with them years ago."
"I didn't know that happened."
"I don't usually tell people that my mom dumped me on my aunt and uncle's porch when I was ten years old and haven't heard from her since." Liyah finished up with copying from the projected writing on the write board and grabbed her papers and headed back to a four person lab station. She hadn't been able to figure out the reasons behind why her mother had left her and not having received any sort of communication in over six years.
"What's going to happen now?" Taylor asked, joining her at the lab station. "He's not going to make you change school districts this late in the school year, is he?"
"With two months left, I don't think so. But I don't know about senior year." Liyah set aside her papers and slid onto the stool and looked down to the item in front of her. A frog was on its back on a dissection plate. "Might as well make the best of the next two months. Now, let's get this frog dissected. Five bucks on the captain of the varsity cheer over there running from the room before class is done."
Liyah lifted up the tailgate of Jack's truck and turned to rest on the bumper. This was the last load that had to be taken to the new house, and it felt odd to be leaving the house that she basically grew up in. On the porch stood Pops and Liyah could have sworn she saw Sarah standing behind the living room window. She hadn't shown herself around for most of the weekend that Liyah, Jack, and Amira were moving furniture and belongings. Standing, Liyah started for the porch and stood in front of Pops.
"Thanks for keeping my little rough patch from Aunt Sarah," she started. "I don't know what she'd do or say if she found out."
"Don't worry about it, Liyah. I'm glad that you've managed to pull yourself up from the hole you had started to dig."
Liyah smiled and hugged the older man who had basically taken it upon himself to be her grandfather. "I'll do what I can to come visit."
"You take care of yourself first. But I do want to be kept up to date with your grades next school year."
"Deal." Liyah gave him another hug as Jack walked up.
"Well, that's everything," her uncle announced as she pulled away from Pops. "Thanks for looking out for Liyah."
"It was a pleasure, Jack."
Liyah turned her attention over to the window that looked into the living room to see that Sarah – if she had been standing there – had moved away from it. She wasn't sure if she should actually give her farewells to her aunt, but was called away by Jack who was ready to leave. Liyah shifted away and started away from the porch and climbed into the front passenger seat of the truck.
