Life is a Bowl of Cherries

Chapter 1

PG-13

Serenity Sea

(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)


Author's notes: Ages are as follows:

Memphis: 37

Sway: 36

Donny: 39

Otto: somewhere around his late 50's to mid-60's.

Sphinx: ??

Kip: 34

Tumbler: 34

Freb: 34

Mirror: 34

Toby: 31

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the GI60S characters and if I said I did, I think that's bunches worse than "using an aerosol can in a way other than directed." Castleback would be all over me.

DISTRIBUTION: You want it, you can have it. Just let me know where it's going.

Summary: After 16 years, Memphis Raines moves back to Long Beach and tries to change escape his past – without success. But things are different this time. This time, he's got a daughter. And she makes some very interesting friends at her new school.

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Serenity Sea

***

"I don't see why we have to move to Long Beach," Sage complained.

She was up in Kip and Tumbler's over-the-garage apartment, and recounting her newest tale of woe. Since they didn't always eat dinner as a family, and Kip need to be on 'the up and up' with his niece, he started her in the habit of telling him how her day went as soon as she got home from school. At first, it was annoying, and she resented it greatly. Sage thought it was a huge invasion of privacy – it was her day, dammit, and maybe she didn't want to share it – but soon she took it for granted and now it was just another part of her daily routine.

Unfortunately, at dinner the past few nights, she had expressed the same view.

Kip poked his head out of a closet and tossed some things onto the bed where she was stretched across. "Fold those," he ordered, and then ducked back into the closet. Voice muffled, he attended to her comment, "We're moving to Long Beach because that's where your dad wants us to go."

Sage rolled her eyes and folded two tee-shirts expertly. "Whatever. I want to go somewhere fun, like Hawaii. That would be awesome."

"I'll let him know that, kiddo," a deep voice came from the stairs. Sage turned to see Tumbler enter the room with his arms full of boxes.

Tumbler hadn't changed in 16 years. He was still well built, handsome, and—slightly—dumb. But everybody loved him and he roomed with Kip, thereby making him the fourth member of the house, so they overlooked his few moments of ignorance. In fact, Sage often thought, if she were older or he was younger, they would make a really great match.

He was pretty much everyone's favorite older brother. He teased her, and got her out of trouble with Kip—who mostly watched her since her dad was busy with work—and made sure she ate a sufficient amount of junk food. Because of him, she up to date on all the latest swear words and cool phrases and in return, she promised to ask her friends if they had any "hot older sisters."

"Would you?" She asked, rising to snatch a box from his arms and starting to pack more of her uncle's shirts in it. "Because I really think he picks the lamest places on the planet. At least New York was cool. Why couldn't we stay there again?"

Kip, who's head was visible again as he tossed more shirts to his niece, exchanged a glance with Tumbler. "Uhm, because it was too dangerous for you. It's not like we could walk you to school every morning and there was some pretty bad shi—stuff goin' down there."

Her eyebrows raised. "Guys, you can curse around me. It's not like I don't hear it at school."

"Well maybe that's why I pulled us out of New York, sweetheart."

Sage jumped and saw her dad leaning in the doorway. At 37 years old, he didn't look half bad, and she knew it. All her friends' moms' were always talking about him. Tall, medium-haired like hers, and piercing blue eyes made up the package that was Randall Raines. For some reason, she always thought he would look better in leather, but he stuck to jeans and oxford shirts these days, so she assumed she had inhaled too much smoke by accident.

He came to sit on the bed next to her. "I know this is hard for you, but I promise this is the last move we'll ever make." He grabbed her around the waist and squeezed her tightly.

"For real? You're not kidding?"

"Swear."

She breathed a heavy sigh of relief and hugged him back. Then she pulled away to look in his eyes. "I'm gonna hold you to that, Dad."

He smiled. "I know."

Without warning, Tumbler and Kip launched themselves on the bed and yelled, "GROUP HUG!" Sage was squashed between the three men in her life and she loved it. This was how her family was supposed to be. This was the way her life was supposed to go.

She could only hope it would stay that way in Long Beach.

***

(Two and half weeks later.)

The room looked like a bomb had gone off. Shirts were all over the place, pants were hanging half on hangers, half off. Her bed wasn't made and there was junk everywhere. All the drawers to her dressers were open and what scant clothing she had managed to put away from the move was also draped precariously over the edge.

She stood in the center of chaos, dressed only in a pair of low-rise jeans and her bra. Any minute now, Kip would be yelling up to her, telling her that she was going to be late for her first day at her new school, that she was going to miss her breakfast, and that he didn't care what the hell she was doing up there, she had better get her ass down here or there wasn't going to be a first day of school.

A knock on the door was her only warning before Tumbler burst in. "Sage, you better get down there. Kip's gonna have a cow and I'm don't think you want to see him give birth to the new Big Mac." He closed the door.

Sage fell back onto her bed with a loud groan. The door opened again and she sat up. "What?!"

Tumbler whistled. "Nice bra."

She reached for the pillow beside her and threw it at his head. He chuckled and left the room again.

For a minute she just sat there, looking over things in her room with a calculating gleam in her eye. Then, like a panther, she leaped over to her desk and started to go through the things in her chair. While she was wildly tossing things over her shoulder, Kip walked in.

He opened his mouth to speak and she accidentally tossed a pair of clean underwear on his head. Slowly, he reached up and pulled the panties down, as a low growl formed in his throat.

Sage gradually stopped her frenzied searching and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened dramatically and she reached into the pile one more time, emerging victorious with a bell-sleeved dark green shirt. She pulled it on over her head, grabbed the well-used book bag that was resting innocently by the doorway, and scooted past her irate uncle to scarf down her omelet.

Kip counted to 10 and prayed for strength, then headed after his niece, who was going to be in a world of hurt when he was through with her.

"I swear on the hood of my Porsche, Sage, if you are late to school this morning, I am going to beat you."

She nodded and furiously continued forking egg in her mouth. Five bites later, the plate was clean and she'd chased the egg down with a glass of orange juice. "Let's go."

***

"Okay, now you know to refer to us all by our real names. No Memphis for your dad, and it's gotta be Tommy for Tumbler. Don't mention that you rarely see your father, and that you've moved 17 times in your life. They'll find that out on your transcripts, and I really don't think that's something you need to announce to your class. Also—"

"Uncle Kip! I know. I'm could write the book on this." She reached in the back of the sports car for her book bag and threw her head forward to tousle the waves in her hair. "I'll see you at 2." She kissed him on the cheek and exited the car.

Kip waited until she was safely inside the front doors before peeling away from the curb. He dialed a number on his cell-phone and spoke into it. "I just dropped her off. So far, so good."

***

Sage glanced down at the schedule in her hand and up at the door. Yep. This was definitely her first class. English. What fun.

Tumbler would tell her to stop being such a freakin' wussy and go in already, so she hesitantly pushed the door open and stepped into the classroom. Immediately, all conversation stopped. The room was silent.

A young woman, with very dark brown hair and light green eyes looked up from her notes. "Come on in. You must be Sage, our new student. I'm Ms. Nichols, by the way."

She nodded and walked to the center of the room. "Where should I sit?"

The teacher looked up again and gave her classroom a look. "Um… Why don't you take the seat in front of Jesse and then we'll continue with our lesson. I don't believe in that embarrassing "Introduce yourself in front of the class" crap."

Sage took a seat near the back of the class, in front of a handsome African American boy, her shoulders slumped gratefully. Even though she'd done it countless times, standing up and introducing herself to new classmates seemed like an obscure form of torture employed only by teachers who had no hobby but to make their students miserable.

Ms. Nichols smiled at her. "You guys, this is Sage Raines. She comes to us from Reno, and now we are going to keep learning about Beowulf. If you have any more questions, kindly direct them to Sage herself, after class."

There was a collective groan and as she pulled a binder out of her bag to take notes, she was glad this was her first class. It was obvious this Ms. Nichols had a cool relationship with her students and that they loved her just as much.

The class went by pretty quickly after that. She scrawled some nonsense about Grendel and the meaning the book had for her life today and then the bell had rung. Her next class was gym and she'd passed it on her way in, so she didn't stay to talk to anyone.

On her way out the door, however, Ms. Nichols stopped her. "Sage?"

She walked back into the room and stopped at her desk. "Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that if I don't know a student's parents through school games or class trips or something, I usually send a letter home to set up a conference. I didn't want you to be worried or anything when you got one in the mail later this week."

She smiled gratefully. "Thanks. My uncle, for some reason, gets very hyper about those sorts of things and I'm sure he'll appreciate your doing so."

The darker brunette had a confused look on her face. "Your uncle? Is he your legal guardian?"

"No, he just lives with me and my dad. But my dad usually doesn't have time for my school-related things. I barely see him. So my uncle and his best friend have pretty much raised me all my life. He always goes to my parent-teacher conferences, too."

Ms. Nichols looked dubious. "Okay, if you say so. But I really would like to meet your father, Sage." She looked at the clock. "Shi--oot. I think I just made you late to your next class. Hold on a sec, I'll write you a pass."

Sage took it with an inward grin. It wasn't everyday that a teacher slipped like that. "Thanks. Showing up late on the first day is not a way to score points with the teachers."

Her teacher watched her as she exited the room and frowned. "A father she never sees, her transcripts indicate she's changed schools 13 times… What has this girl been through? And her name is Raines. God, I have a weird feeling about this."

***

Gym went well and she headed off to Lab Chem, where she was once again, paired up with Jesse. She basically took notes the entire period and her hand was about to fall off when she left class.

After Chem was Trig—not something she was looking forward to—at all.

The teacher waited for all the students to sit and then pointed out the only available seat… which was in front of Jesse.

When their teacher faced the blackboard and started lecturing, she felt movement behind her and moments later, shivered when she felt his breath on her neck. "I'm sensing a pattern here."

"You're not the only one," she muttered, hoping he didn't hear her.

"Mr. Castleback! Miss Raines! Does there seem to be a problem here?" But unfortunately, the teacher had.

Sage slid down in her seat and wished a very painful injury on this woman. But from behind her, Jesse spoke up. "Not at all, Mrs. Clark. We were just discussing Sage's schedule. Since she's a new student and all, I offered to help her. Turns out we have nearly every class together. How's that for a first day of school gift?"

The teacher looked somewhat bewildered. "Yes, well… Linear equations…"

When she turned back to the board, Sage whirled around in her seat and glared at him. "Are you nuts? She's going to kill us!"

His brown eyes twinkled and he tapped her on the nose playfully. "She will if you don't turn around, or my name isn't Jesse Castleback."

He left her to ponder his level of sanity and the strange feeling she got when she was near him. Hey, I wonder if Kip knows Jesse's dad?'

***

That's all for now! The real stuff comes in the next few chapters. REVIEW!!!