Here is chapter 2! I'm glad to see some reviews on my first chapter already!
Dre and his mom were already at the airport, bright and early like the day before. Both of them were exhausted from cleaning out that room. As they waited for Lia to come through the gate, Dre leaned against the fence while holding up a sign with her name on it. "What time was she supposed to be here mom?'', he asked with a sigh. Sherry looked down at her son, rolling her eyes ''Just be patient Dre, she will be along soon'', she said to him. Just as the gate opened up, Sherry and Dre looked for Lia, holding up her sign to let her know where she should go.
Lia was morally exhausted as well, walking off the plane with her carry on. When she looked around the crowd and saw her name on a sign, she smiled and walked up to her aunt and cousin. Dre was stunned, Lia had grown up; a lot. Her figure told the story of hard work outs and puberty has done good to her. She was just a bit taller than Dre, her eyes carrying the family color of blackish brown and her skin naturally darker than a typical white girl due to the mix in the family. Her long black hair was pulled to one side, in a messy bun that covered her right ear. Her outfit being a pair of black yoga pants and a light blue jacket that covered her white tanktop. When she got closer, he then noticed she had a knee brace on. This only said one thing, some abuse took place back at home. This made his blood boil.
"Lia welcome. You're so grown up baby'', Sherry said as she smothered her with a hug. Lia hugged back, her eyes widening at the squeeze of the hug. "Hi aunt Sherry, its been a long time. Nice to see you as well Dre'', she said as she waited for him to give her a hug. Dre smirked and hugged her lightly ''Hi Lia, its nice to see you too.'', he said softly. Lia sighed heavily, walking with them to the baggage area. "I know you're tired baby, but you can't go to sleep when you get home. Otherwise you'll be up at 2am. Dre can show you around the city for a while, introduce you to his friends and his girlfriend'', she demanded to Dre, who only glared at her. "Right Dre?'', she asked him, hiding the glare she was giving him from Lia. Sighing heavily, he rolled his eyes and nodding "yeah, its gonna be fun'', he said with a dull voice.
Lia caught onto his sarcasm, shaking her head ''I see you haven't changed one bit Dre.'', she commented.
Once they got to the apartment and got Lia's luggage into her room, Dre took her out to the park where his friends were. He knew Mei Ying would be there along with Harry, but he was really hoping Cheng wouldn't be there. When they got to the park, Dre didn't see any sign of Cheng, sighing out of relief. "Sheesh Dre, its not going to be that bad. I have matured up some you know'', she said to him, thinking he was embarrassed she was there. Dre shook his head to her words, lightly touching her shoulder ''No Lia, I'm sorry. Its not that. I have some enemies that usually hang out here, I don't want them to mess with you just because you're hanging out with me'', he said to her. Lia raised an eyebrow and looked around, seeing all the Asian kids running around playing basketball, ping pong, hackey sack and other sports. "Dre, how do you make enemies here? Did you say the wrong thing in Chinese?'', she asked him, smirking as she waited for that to be the right answer. Raising an eyebrow at her, he shook his head once more and continued walking towards the basketball courts. "Close, but no. I'll tell you later, lets just have some fun ok?'', he said to her as he ran over to Harry. Lia followed but didn't run, still feeling a bit of pain in her knee from what happened back at home.
"Hey Man whats up?'', Harry asked as he shook hands with Dre. Looking back to where his cousin was, Dre looked back at Harry '' Not a lot, just showing my cousin around. She just got here '', he said as he looked back at Lia, Harry liking what he was seeing. "Your cousin huh? Why don't you introduce me?'', he asked. Dre caught onto his friend's voice, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow ''Dude, she just got here. Don't start flirting with her until she's used to the time zone'', he said as he walked back to his cousin. "Lia, this is Harry. He was the first friend I made here. Harry, this is Lia '', he said as he watched Harry hold out his hand to her. Lia smiled kindly and shook his hand, taking a step back ''Nice to meet you Harry. I see you play ball'', she said as she took the basketball away from him.
Smirking, Harry took a step closer to her as she backed up, spinning the ball around her body in a teasing matter. "Yeah I do, I see that you may as well. Wanna play some one on one?'', he asked as he tried to get the ball away from her, but Lia quickly spun around and bounced the ball between her legs, through Harry's legs and toward Dre. "Nah, I have some knee problems. I can't do anything too active '', she said as she sat down on the empty bench close by. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You seem like you would be good at basketball. How long before you can play again?'', he asked her, only to be interrupted by Dre stealing the ball and running towards the court. Instead of waiting to hear her answer, Harry took off after Dre. Laughing at the scene of the two boys goofing around, Lia leaned back against the bench and sighed heavily.
FLASHBACK
Lia was on the floor, her face cut up and bruised up from being hit, her knee dislocated from being thrown across the living room by her father. Her mother was not home at the time, screams and crashing of the furniture could be heard outside.
" Listen you little bitch, if you tell anyone about what happened here; I promise I will make your life one you wish you were never born into'', her father said to her as he watched her recover from a beating she just sustained. "Like you don't already make my life a living hell? FUCK YOU!'', she yelled at him before she was backhanded once more, knocking her out before the cops came barging into the house. Someone next door had heard what was going on and called the cops, saving her life.
END OF FLASHBACK
Lia was snapped out of her thoughts by a hacky sack smacking her in the side of the head, landing next to her on the bench. Picking it up, she eyeballed it and looked to see who it belonged to. Her answer came along when a Chinese boy with a face with attitude walked up to her ''Sorry, they kicked it too hard'', he said as he held his hand out; expecting her to hand it to him. Lia raised an eyebrow and stood up, the Chinese boy shockingly taller than her. ''Kicked it too hard huh? Maybe your friends should watch where they are kicking stuff yes?'', she asked him as she dropped it in his hands. The boy looked at her with a raised eye brow, eyeing her features ''You're not from around here obviously, I haven't seen you around before'', he said to her. Lia smirked at how stupid he sounded just now ''Well yeah this is China, where did you think you were? America?'', she asked him. Cheng was about to say something back to her, his face changing from irritated to intimidating but a voice stopped him from saying anything further " Cheng leave her alone!'', Dre yelled as he got between his cousin and his enemy.
"I knew she looked familiar, she's your family isn't she Parker?'', he asked as he stepped closer to Dre, not intimidating him one bit. Dre stood his ground, pushing Lia back a bit ''She's my cousin Cheng, she just got here. Leave her alone or you'll have to answer to me. I beat you once, I can beat you again'', he said to Cheng. Laughing at his words, Cheng backed up a bit, using his hands to usher Dre to attack ''Come on then Karate Kid. Beat me again'', he said as he got into a fighting stance. A crowd of kids started to crowd the two of them just like the first day Dre was here. Lia rolled her eyes and backed up, crossing her arms "Is fighting about this really necessary?'', she asked both of them. Dre looked over at her, then looked back at Cheng who was ready to fight. ''She's right Cheng, I will not rematch you here where it all began. You're just going to have to accept the fact you lost the tournament to me, that's it'', he told him. Cheng stood straight, walking closer to Dre. " You just make sure you keep an eye on your cousin before her big mouth gets her into some trouble'', he said to him. Lia's blood ran cold when she heard that, her body turning into a rock from the tension.
As soon as Cheng walked away, she let out a sigh of relief; running a hand down her face. Dre turned towards his cousin, shaking his head ''Watch yourself around Cheng Lia, he is just as good as I in Kung Fu, if not better. He shows no mercy for anyone, so please..don't get yourself into trouble'', he said to her. Lia smirked and raised an eyebrow at him ''Isn't that what I came here for? To stay out of trouble?'', she asked him. Nodding, Dre put his hands in his pockets and looked at Harry ''So how about a game Harry?'', he asked him, taking the ball from him and running once more. Lia sat back down on the park bench and sighed heavily out of relief. Cheng reminded her so much of her father just now, the voice was different but the words, not so.
Cheng looked back at Lia after walking away, smirking in delight at how feisty she was. Liang walked up to him, tapping his shoulder ''I knew you would like her the minute she gave you an attitude. Why don't you start over with her?'', he asked him. Cheng looked back at him, giving him a glare ''I don't know what you're talking about man.'', he said before kicking the hacky sack towards someone else, periodically looking at Lia.
''I have never met a girl like her before, this is going to be an interesting school year'', he thought to himself as he smiled at the girl before going back to his game of hacky sack.
