Los Angeles, CA

18 June 2015

"Please be sure to take all your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have!" Dad chuckled to himself as he listened to the jokes the flight attendant cheerfully gave over the intercom, "Please enjoy your time in Los Angeles, California!"

"Isn't she just a hoot, Liver? I'm going to have to save that one about the Kangaroo pilot...Think she'll tell it again so I can write it down?" The mustached man chuckled as he nudged the girl next to him in good spirit.

The brunette next to the window groaned in exaggerated pain at the man. "Dad, please, can we get up and go? I just want to go to bed," she grumbled as she pulled her hoodie over her head and looked out the window.

She wasn't feeling the jokes. She really wasn't feeling anything other than tired. Her bones were aching, and the cast on her arm was sweating already, 'we could have at least moved somewhere less warm...'

The older man's smile slowly left his face at his daughter's attitude and sighed quietly, "alright pumpkin," he started as he got out of his seats and opened the overhang, "let me grab our bags and-"

"I can carry my own bag, y'know? I'm not a freaking cripple, dad!" Olivia snapped as she shouldered her pastel pink bookbag and aggressively got out from the row. She winced as her arm hit the row in front of her. She drew in a sharp breathe but looked determinedly at the bag in the overhang.

Using her left hand, the brunette firmly grabbed the pink roller and dropped it on the floor in front of her. Olivia angrily took out the handle and stomped off to the front of the plane as her dad rubbed his hand across his face.

"I never said..never mind." Edward decided to leave it alone. The man chose to pick his battles wisely. Smiling awkwardly at the rows of people behind him, he chuckled sheepishly, gathering his own bags, "teenagers, am I right?" The passengers didn't respond, and he nodded his head quickly and hurried out of the plane, thanking the flight attendant on his way out.

"Great jokes, by the way! Could you repeat that one about the Kangaroo? I wanted to write it down, but I-"

"Dad, come on!"

"Thank you for choosing Delta!"

...

Encino Hills

18 June 2016

Olivia hurriedly got out of the car and let out a shaky breath as she stared at the fancy house in front of her. She was used to her one-story home back in Charleston, where she could navigate to the kitchen with her eyes closed. Her hand gripped her roller bag painfully, and her shoulders tensed in unfamiliarity. This, this... this was too much. She didn't deserve this, she didn't want this, she didn't...

"Hey, let her go! She doesn't deserve that!"

"Alright, cupcake! I wanted you to go ahead and pick your room," Ed paused for a moment and thought for a second, "except for the master bedroom, of course. Can't let you get that room, short stack." His mustache moved with his smile and chuckle as he placed his hand on her head. Olivia flinched away from his arm, and his smile dropped to a frown, "Liver?"

"..." Olivia stared at the ground as she willed her tears to go back up, "...whatever. When will the furniture get here?" The brunette started a slow pace to the front door, taking in the hedges and fountain in front of her. Edward's eyes squinted, and his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he pulled out his cell phone to check the email update.

"According to my calculations, the load will be here in..." Olivia stopped at the front door and stared at the intricate glass design of the front door. "... two days? Yeah, two days" the older man nodded to himself as he put his phone away. He continued his walk to his daughter while pulling out the keys. Olivia stepped aside and turned towards the side of the house while her dad unlocked the door, "alright, kiddo, go ahead and find your room. The master is on the second floor, and there should be three or four to choose from."

Edward had always dreamed of affording such a home as this for his family. Their humble beginnings started in a small double-wide trailer, and two years ago, they were able to buy a decent home. With this new job, the Reynolds could afford to live in a higher-end community for the first time in his life.

Olivia shuffled in and took a look around, feeling overwhelmed at how lovely the house was. As she stepped into the foyer of the home, she took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Liv knew that this meant a lot to her dad. They went from free lunches in first grade to this, and she knew she should be grateful. When she let out a breath, she let go of the handle of her pink roller and opened her eyes. The 14-yo girl turned around, faced her father, and using her uninjured arm, she gave him a firm hug.

"Thank you, dad. This is...awesome," she whispered, "I am so proud of you."

Ed quickly took his only daughter into his arms and gave her a firm hug, "Thanks, pumpkin. I hope you know I am so proud of you and if you ever need me... I am always here." Olivia's eyes squeezed shut as she tried to hold back her tears and enjoyed her dad's hug.

After a few moments, Olivia shoved back and rubbed at her eyes with a slight grin, "I wonder which room has the easiest window to sneak out of."

The greying man's eyes narrowed in playful seriousness, "And go where? Olivia Maria, your mom had to kick you out of the house last summer for a day because all you did was read."

Olivia giggled and rolled her injured shoulder in discomfort, "Who knows, dad, maybe I'll meet a boy with a mohawk who will sweep me off my feet."

Mr. Reynolds let out a cackle as he carried his bags upstairs, "I let you go to Warped Tour one time, and now your taste in boys has been poisoned." He smiled over his shoulder, "go pick your room and put your bags in. We're going to go pick up a few things from the store while we wait on the U-Haul. Meet you back here in 30!"

Hazel's eyes followed their dad up the stairs as she chuckled to herself at her dad's antics. As she became aware of her loneliness, her smile started to drop.

Olivia found that even though the house was well lit, the darkness was suffocating.

...

Edward and his daughter sipped on their milkshakes as she looked at the colors they grabbed from Lowes.

"I'm thinking that this green would look good for the living room, and this blue would be good for the office."

"I guess so. I'm not good with...look stuff."

Olivia's dad went suspiciously quiet.

"What?!" Ed asked defensively.

"You're not supposed to agree with me!"

"Sweetie, you've got tons of talent... interior decorating is not one."

Olivia's eyes narrowed at her father, "you are so lucky that my arm is in this cast, or you would be done, old man. DONE!" She pointed at him in emphasis. Ed chuckled and held his hands up in surrender.

"Why don't we settle this like responsible adults," Edward smirked as he reached in his bag. Olivia's eyes narrowed in the challenge as she reached towards her purse.

"You're on old mad!" She exclaimed.

They stayed like that for a few moments, hands grabbing onto their respective weapons, eyes narrowed at each other. Quickly they pulled out their weapons and yelled

"I challenge you to a d-d-d-duel!"

It was Ed who introduced his daughter to the life of a nerd. Starting with Star Trek and building their way up to card games and DND, the man had infected his daughter with the geek gene. Card games were a happy accident as it started with Pokemon, led to Yu-Gi-Oh, and the two's current fascination was Magic! The Gathering .

In their hands, they held their decks. As they started to set up t, the doorbell rang. Olivia snapped her head to the door and groaned in annoyance. Edward grunted as he stood up and cracked his neck, "don't think this is over Liver!" He commented in good fun as they walked to the front door.

The brunette snorted and itched at her cast as she became more aware of the injury.

When the older man opened the door, they were greeted with the sight of a family of four, friendly faces all around. Well, three, if you don't count the kid on the handheld who seemed like he was dragged over.

"Hi there!" The older woman said with a smile as she held out a vase of flowers, "we're the LaRusso's, and we live across the street. We noticed you just got in, and we wanted to introduce ourselves." Edwards smiled in a way only extroverts can, enjoying the fresh blood to tell his dad stories too.

"Thank you so much!" Olivia's dad replied as he took the flowers, "My name is Edward, and this is my young squirt Olivia." Olivia gave a peace sign with her left hand in greeting. "We don't have any furniture yet, but please come in! We have some state-of-the-art folding chairs in the living room, and fancy cans of coca-cola" Edward waved the LaRusso's in a while.

His daughter gave him a nasty look, they didn't need to talk to any strangers. They literally just got here.

Once the LaRussos and the Reynolds were sitting on cheap patio furniture, Edward carefully placed the vase of flowers on the island in the kitchen and headed over to his own chair.

"Thanks so much for coming by. The flowers are awesome" Mr. Reynolds shook hands with the older LaRusso, "my wife and I had hydrangeas in our wedding back in '96." Mr. LaRusso smiled kindly as he grasped his hand and returned the pleasantries.

"I can't claim credit for those beauties. That's all my wife right there," the man chuckled, "the name is Danny LaRusso, and this is my wife Amanda, daughter Sam, and son Anthony." Danny went around the circle and pointed out his family in introductions. To be honest, Daniel felt relief that the man had a daughter that looked to be near his own daughter's age. Sam was starting high school soon, and he wanted to make sure she went in with more than one friend.

Olivia was feeling out of place and unsure of what to say. If she should say anything. Sam looked nice enough. Still, she started to feel a pit of dread in her stomach at the thought of having to make a new friend.

"We're best friends, you nerd. Just go!"

"No, I-I can't just..."

"GO!"

"It's great to meet you guys! Word on the block is you're from across the country!"

"Yessir, let me tell ya'..."

The injured girl was suffocating. The beige walls started to close in as she started to feel smaller and smaller. The smiling family in front of her began to get farther and louder as she sweated. 'This-this... I can't... I need..'

"...and then we ended up here! Olivia will be attending West Valley High in the fall as a freshman..."

"Hey, that's where I'm going," Sam piped up cheerfully as she looked at her with hopeful eyes, "I'll also be starting my freshman year. Maybe we could carpool or something?"

The other brunette took in a sharp breath through her nose as all two, four, six, eight, ten...ten eyes landed on her. Even little Anthony took a pause in his game to look up at her, expecting. All of them expecting her to answer, 'of course! I would love to!'

But what if she didn't want to. What if she didn't want a new friend... or any friends?

'I'm so tired...' Olivia grasped her jeans with her left hand to remind herself where she was. She let out her breath slowly and smiled cautiously as if she would be reprimanded for whatever came out of her mouth, 'just say maybe...'

"S-sure! That sounds, Uhm, awesome!"

Olivia screamed in her head as she grinned awkwardly, 'that was not a maybe! Now you're obligated to talk with her more in the future, you dumb idiot!'

The LaRusso's and Olivia's dad looked happy at the answer. However, her dad seemed to be feeling more relief than anything. The young girl felt herself relax and gave a small smile to the fellow teen in the room. 'Best behavior, Olive. Do it for mom, do it for..'

"What happened to your arm?"

'Ah... best behavior..."

A/N:

Idk, idk, idk. I didn't realize writing was this much work. I haven't even gotten to anything significant. Stay tuned, or don't. I just gotta get this story idea out of my dang head.