Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N Hmm.. The story's still at the explanatory stage, this flits back and forth with past and the present with the oh so familiar flashbacks. Don't worry, the drama'll start soon. Pwomise!

P/s Thanks for the review btw JustTheGirl07, hope you'll hang around, this is gonna be one long run, it's been festering in my head since forever and had begun to breed frenziedly. And if the reception's good, I may write a prequel and sequel, though the prequel's not gonna have anything to do with Playa Linda, but anyway, enjoy..

P/p/s Haha.. Please Review, don't read and do nothing. Reviews tell me there are people reading, and may motivate me to get off my fat arse and keep posting, thanks! )

Chemicals React.

The woman with wispy grey hair and worldly lines on her face stood with a half amused smile on her face leaning on the dresser as the girl with ashen complexion rushed around the room with one side of her shoes on picked up a rubber band and tried to fasten her almost entirely auburn hair into a ponytail while looking for the other side of her converse.

"Gramma!" the girl with the light shade of auburn hair whined at her grandmother's disapproving half amused smile.

The lady was dressed in a blue dress suit and a cream silk scarf around her neck, tastefully put together, like all her other outfits she's seen her grandmother wear. The girl with the ocean blue eyes was not exactly a pixie, but she was no giant either for a 13 year old, her hair tied into a messy ponytail and she adorned the classic prep school uniform but with anklet socks instead of knee highs.

"Do you want to be late for your first day of school, dare I ask?" voiced the lady with the grey wispy hair in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Oh, so you're telling me if I keep this up, I won't have to go?" she replied dryly while still scrambling to find the other side of her shoe.

It was no secret that she did Not want to be attending this private high school in New York, she'd just been uprooted from where she grew up and the people she knew and loved, and thrown into a world where she didn't know anything or anyone in this upper crusty and privileged world.

Her grandmother picked up other side of the purple converses from under her pile of pajamas sitting on the floor and held it out for her as she spun on the spot trying to spot the shoe before realizing her grandmother was holding it out for her.

She grabbed the shoe her grandmother held dangling in front of her and shoved it on as she grabbed her messenger bag and made a dash out the door while pulling the tie from the dresser over her head.

The girl's grandmother held out another bag, a newer more luxurious looking bag which it seemed had all her things in instead of the bag she seized out of habit.

The auburn haired girl spun around and grabbed the less worn but more expensive looking bag dropping the one in her hands before dashing out the door again.

"The limo's out, Allie, take the cab, Don't walk!" the lady shouted out after her before she sighed to herself and shook her head chuckling slightly before leaving the room herself but not before casting a disapproving look around the room complete with it's jumbled up fluffy comforter on the king sized bed and pajamas strewn on the floor making a note for Simmonette to clean it up.

The same girl with the same pallid complexion and piercing blue eyes awoke with a start as she fell in a heap onto the floor with a thud tangled up in her comforter. She groaned before noticing the other bed was empty and she grabbed the clock above her head on the side table glancing at it before giving out another groan.

Unraveling herself from the blanket, she hopped into the bathroom for a quick shower and changed into a brown hoodie and white shorts, with the straps of her brown two piece just slightly peeking out from beneath the hoodie, an outfit worthy of a true born and bred Californian.

At the breakfast table, Aaliyah sat with her omelet and orange juice in front of her. She wasn't paying much attention to it, absent mindedly scooping it into her mouth. If you were to ask her what she had for breakfast in five minutes, she wouldn't be able to answer you.

Aaliyah sat at the table with her fork in hand and a bustle of activity around her, Johnny preparing some more breakfast for some reason, Ava packing lunch, Susannah juggling the newspaper, an add prototype, her coffee and talking to Ava bout something at the same time, Bradin was already done and washing his plate at the sink, Nikki talking animatedly on the cordless with Amber it seemed and Derrick wolfing down his eggs and bacon.

The girl scurries down the spiral stairs and grabs a muffin from the tray laden with breakfast confectionaries held out in front of her and took a gulp of the orange juice that she was so sure her grandmother had someone to have freshly squeezed for her before dashing out the heavy set front doors.

She pinches off a little from the top and pops it into her mouth hails down a cab at when she reaches the corner, juggling her muffin, her bag and the door handle, she looks at the sun shining feebly in the clouds and jumps into the cab, giving the instructions to the cabbie she shuts the door with a thud.

Ava sets down a lunch package in front of Allie with a thump.

"I'm a little too old to have my lunch packed don'cha think?" Aaliyah said cocking an eye brow at the package set in front of her.

"It's for Derrick, you know, the boy sitting next to you? 13 year old, brown hair? Derrick?"

"Right," Allie replied shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts. The whole 7 people under one roof still needed some getting used to. She didn't get why Johnny didn't let her just stay at a hotel, she could charge it to her grandmother Lillian's card, or Eleanor's, not like it mattered, she never checked her bills, and she was probably at a shopping spree somewhere in Paris or Milan or.. something.

And her anger with Johnny still hadn't subsided, it did not take an adult to be an expert at the art of holding long grudges, and cold shoulders were one of her many strong traits.

"You'll need to meet Principal Morris by the way, before your first class, so you might not want to sit there and stare at your empty plate all day," Ava said and, automatically, Allie looked down and true enough, her plate was empty she looked up and saw Bradin by the sink, wiping his hand on the towel. She picked up her plate and walked over.

The old stone walled building stood before her. Towering over her comparatively small frame.

She didn't need a shiny gold plate to tell her she was at the right place. Nor the obviously expensive architecture or the ivy clad walls. The massive amounts of students slowly making their way into the compounds of with matching uniforms would have been a large tip off for any outsider.

Expensive cars continued to roll in behind her, people with the same uniforms she had on got off with an air of boldness and defiance. Designer shoes and bags lost amidst the crowd, though there were clearly many.

The bell rang and Allie took a deep breath before joining the throng of people entering the school compounds. Though the bell rang, the exodus of students moving into school did not seem hassled, they did not scurry for fear of being late but continued walking in their steady pace, the ones loitering around with their breakfast did not hurry to finish their coffees or yogurts or cartons of milk.

They were at ease with the whole routine. Relaxed.

Allie stood outside the building of Playa Linda High. Students dressed in whatever the hell they pleased rolling in from different directions, on bike, on foot, on skateboard, and a whole horde descending a bus. The sun shone bright over head and the wind came in with a hint of salt in the air.

Aaliyah smiled at the familiarity and if it was not an unnatural thing for Any teenager to do, she would have ran into school.