CHAPTER ONE:

Changes

Disclaimer: I don't own Coraline, Hollister, iTunes, iPods, the videos at the bottom of the chapter, or the songs The Only Exception by Paramore, The Best Day by Taylor Swift, or Changes by Butterfly Boucher & David Bowie.

x.X.x

"Okay, let's see…all of my stuff is packed. How about you, Max?"

Olivia Woods turned to her seven-year-old son, who was rubbing the sweat away from his forehead. The Woods family was burning up in the heat, despite the fact that it was December. It was always hot in southern California.

Max beamed at his mom "Yup." He patted his suit-case and moved around to the front of the car, climbing into the back seat.

"Great. What about you, Alli?" She turned to her twelve-year-old daughter who was sitting in the seat across from Max, her chin propped up on her hand, gazing out the window into the backyard, earbuds plugged in her ears. "Alli?" Alli still didn't answer. "Alli!"

Alli yanked the earbuds out of her ears. "No." She replied stiffly. Her mom opened her mouth to continue yelling, but her daughter cut her off. "I don't have Sam," she said pointedly.

Olivia let out something that was a mixture of a sigh and a groan. "Alli, the Pink Palace Apartments doesn't allow cats!"

Alli Woods looked over her shoulder to glare at her mother. "We don't have Dad, either," she said quietly, but loud enough for her mom to hear her. Olivia opened her mouth, then shut it and moved around to the front of the car, slamming the door shut. Alli turned her iPod back on, tuning out the rest of the world.

If only she could tune out the world all the time.

Olivia stepped inside the car and slammed the front door, jamming the key in the ignition, and they were off. Alli stared at their house until it disappeared, quickly blinking away tears.

The song on her iPod changed to a Billy Joel song that her dad had bought on iTunes. She felt tears welling up again and quickly changed the song.

"When I was younger I saw, my daddy cry, and curse at the wind…

He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it…"

Seriously? Alli changed the song again.

"I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on…

I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you, I run and run

Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home…"

Alli groaned and stopped her iPod, taking out her earplugs and throwing the device into her lap.

Alli glared out the window at everything she passed, blinking the tears away. She didn't want to move. She liked California, where it was always sunny and she could walk to Disney World or Universal or the beach. She liked that she could enjoy an ice-cream cone under the palm tree in the back yard sitting by the Jacuzzi. She liked that it was only one season, and she liked making trips to the Caribbean with her family every other year.

Sure, Oregon was only one state away, but it wasn't the same. Did Oregon have a beach? She didn't think so. At least, not one near Ashland.

And what about her friends? What about Julie Watson and Emma Carter? She'd grown up with them! She'd known them since diapers! And what about Jake? With his messy brown hair, bright, shining blue eyes…she had been sure he was going to finally ask her out.

Well, he couldn't now.

And then there were the dreams. She kept on having dreams about buttons for eyes and needles and sewing machines and a pink house and dolls. It frightened her, and for some reason, she knew it had to do with Oregon. And then she kept on feeling like she was being watched…

Alli shuddered and pushed those thoughts away.

And why were they moving?

Because of her dad.

Three weeks ago, her mother and father had gotten a divorce. Olivia had grown up in Ashland, Oregon, and she missed her hometown. And they couldn't stay in their old house anymore anyway. It belonged to her dad now. So they had just packed up their bags and left.

Alli sighed and pushed back tears again, turning on her iPod and playing a random song, trying to let the music drown her thoughts.

"Still don't know what I was waiting for

Any my time was running wild

A million dead-end streets and every time I thought I'd got it made

It seemed the taste was not so sweet

So I turned myself to face me, but I've never caught a glimpse

Of how the others must see the faker, I'm much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (turn and face the strain)

Ch-ch-changes. Don't wanna be a richer man…"

"Ugh!" Alli shouted. What is it with all these ironic songs?

She sighed and stared out the window. Changes. Oregon would have a lot of changes.

Far more than she could ever imagine.

x.X.x

"Are we there yet?" Max moaned for the umpteenth time.

Olivia gritted her teeth, tightening her hands on the wheel. "We'll get there when we get there!" She said, trying to sound calm. Driving made her nervous, along with dogs and impatient children.

Alli rolled her eyes and turned her head back to glaring out the window.

"Look! The Pink Palace Apartments! We're here!" Max squealed excitedly. Olivia

let out a sigh of relief.

"What a dumb name," Alli muttered.

Mrs. Woods rolled the car to a stop and turned around in her seat and gave her daughter what Mr. Woods used to call the 'evil-witch-mother-of-doom' glare. "Now you listen here, young lady, and you listen hard. We are new here. I want you to be on your best behavior to the neighbors, the movers, your schoolmates (when school starts), everyone! Do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," muttered Alli. Olivia gave her one last look before turning around. The brunette made a face at her neck.

Max eagerly hopped out of the car and Alli let out a long sigh before following him. The wind whipped her hair as she stared suspiciously up at the building. It was a terrible shade of pink and the paint was fading. The building looked over a thousand years old. But…for some reason, it looked familiar. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hi!" She whipped around to face two kids. One was a girl with blue hair and was extremely pale. She was the one who said 'hi', she guessed. The other was a boy with frizzy brown hair and a hunch-back. Alli quickly jumped away from them.

"I'm Coraline Jones," she continued. "I live on the flat below you."

"Great," muttered Alli, setting her suitcase down on the dirt. She pushed her dark brown hair back. Why does she have blue hair? And what is she wearing? That's the tackiest raincoat I've ever seen!

"This is Wyborne Lovat," Caroline introduced her friend.

"WYBIE!" The hunch-back shouted indignantly.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Whatever. He doesn't live here, but he lives nearby. His grandma owns the Pink Palace Apartments." Wybie waved. "Anyway, what's your name?" She grinned.

"Uh…" Alli looked over her shoulder and saw her mother inserting keys into the front door to their new flat. "I've gotta go." She grabbed her suitcase and turned around, calling over her shoulder, "Bye Caroline and Wylie!"

x.X.x

"Ugh!" Coraline said once the girl was out of ear-shot. "Why does everyone get my name wrong?"

Wybie stared after the girl, dumb-founded. "Wylie? Really?" he said in disgust.

"We didn't even get her name," Coraline snapped, rolling her eyes. She watched the girl head into her flat. She was pretty, with short brown hair and green eyes. She was normal weight – not too fat, not too skinny, with a nice figure. She was wearing a Hollister shirt (She's probably a Prep, Coraline thought) and regular jeans. Coraline couldn't help but think that she knew the girl from somewhere, although she had no idea where. But she'd definitely seen her before.

And suddenly, she knew exactly where.

She was the girl from the dream.

Coraline gasped and staggered backwards. It was the girl that she hadn't recognized – the exact same one. She was even wearing the same outfit. The only difference was that she didn't have button eyes.

How on earth had she dreamt something that hadn't even happened yet?

"What?" Wybie looked at Coraline weird – apparently her gasp was louder than she meant it to be.

"Uh. Nothing," She stared at the girl for a moment longer, before she grabbed Wybie's arm and turned around. "Let's just go inside."

"Okay…" Wybie followed his friend inside, while muttering, "Wylie? I'm not a coyote…"

x.X.x

"This is it?" Alli asked warily.

For some reason, she had expected it to be bigger. Not that it was small. It was fairly medium-sized with a kitchen, dining room, three bedrooms, a living room, a storage area, and two bathrooms.

"Our other house was bigger," she muttered, pointedly eyeing her mother.

Mrs. Woods sighed like she was tired, but didn't reply. She turned to her two children. "Why don't you go and find a room you'd like?" She asked. Max hurried up the steps and Alli sighed but followed.

Alli walked into a random bedroom upstairs. It was medium-sized, big enough for her bed and her postcard collection, definitely. She explored every crack in the room before wandering over to the window seat and gazing out the window.

It looked so awful outside. The sky was gray, and fog was collecting across the lawn. It was dreary. It was dead. She could just make out the woods that they had passed on the way here on the skirts of the land. There was a pink barn on the side of the lawn, too. Hmm. Well, that's kind of interesting.

But still. She'd rather have a beach.

Alli drew the curtains back, staring back around her room, deciding places where her books and postcard collection and bed would go. She decided that the room was nice.

But her old room had been better.

She sighed. She was already missing her old friends in California…especially Jake. She pulled her ENV3 cell phone out of her back pocket and sent a text to Jake saying, "Hey. I just got to Oregon, and I already miss you. It's so boring here."

She didn't get a reply.

"Ugh." The only thing that could make her feel good right now was…she climbed down the stairs and poked her head into the kitchen. "Hey, Mom, do you think we could go to the mall tomorrow?"

Olivia sighed. "Alli, I'm busy right now. Shouldn't you be doing homework or something?" She busily began typing on her laptop again. Another part of why they had moved there was because she had gotten a job as a realtor.

"Mom, I've got two and a half weeks!" the twelve-year-old cried indignantly.

"Alli, I said I'm busy. Why don't you go and bother your brother or something." Olivia waved her hand.

The words stung. Hard. Seriously? Did she really bother her mom that much? Alli drew in a shaky breath. "Fine." She turned around and began to walk back up the stairs, before she stopped at the landing. "This is the reason Dad left, you know." She said it softly, but she made her voice loud enough for her mom to hear.

Olivia slammed her fist down on the table and wrenched her head to the right to face her daughter. Alli flinched. "ALLISON GRACE WOODS, GO TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING OUT!" Olivia screeched at the top of her lungs. Alli scowled and stomped up the steps, slamming the door shut with a mighty thud.

Olivia closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, then continued typing, pushing back her tears.

X.x.X

A/N: Ta-da! What do you think about my OCs? Good? Bad? Cheesy? REVIEW. (:

And yeah, I know. Pretty long chapter, but this story has a lot of those – just a warning.

Songs Mentioned in this Chapter (copy and paste links into the URL bar thingy without spaces):

The Only Exception – Paramore:

http :/ /www. youtube. com/ watch?v=gYY0k34ukFY

The Best Day – Taylor Swift:

http :/ www. youtube. com/ watch?v=memsP8-k5Ew

Changes – Butterfly Boucher & David Bowie:

http :/ www. youtube. com/ watch?v=E6xxgNTaiQs

I DO NOT OWN THESE SONGS, OR THESE VIDEOS!