AN: Only 4 reviews on the last chapter? And two from the same person? I'm disappointed. =( But to my three reviewers, thank you. =D

I have made an interesting plot twist in my head and therefore, this story will be considerably longer than I thought it would. The rating will probably go up as well.

Anyway, enjoy, and REVIEW! Please? =D

Disclaimer: Not mine, go away. Only Loren and… well, Loren, and Amanda and Justine and Jonathan. But that's all.

*

Golden Child

Chapter Seven

          Dubiously, I followed Loren's retreating form through the park, slightly embarrassed at the squeaking noises my bulky piece of luggage was making. I followed him deeper and deeper, into the woods that surrounded the forest, trying to keep up while struggling with my stuff, while wondering what I was getting myself into, until a clearing came into view and what appeared to be a… trailer park? I sighed.

          "Hey, I know it's not what you're used to, being a rich girl and all, but it's all I've got," Loren said sheepishly, apparently hearing my sigh of dissatisfaction, with not even a hint of sarcasm or coldness in his voice.

          "Um… Loren?"

          He turned. "Yeah?"

          "I… why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? I thought you didn't like me."

          He nodded. "That's the impression I was giving you. But when I saw you, all packed up with nowhere to go, my heart went out to you. I do have a heart, you know," he protested, after catching my raised eyebrow. "I've been there. And besides, you did save my life."

          "Oh," was all I could say, as he continued to lead me into the trailer park and through some old, stinky trailers, until we got to one that was a lot nicer than the rest. It was this one that he turned to, and opened the door and let me in. "It's not much," he admitted, as I put my stuff down and looked around, "but it's home."

          It was a lot better than I had expected. It was a bit small, but much bigger than the rest of the surrounding trailers. It was clean, too. It had a decent sized bathroom (from the looks of it) and two areas for sleeping. I smiled. "Oh, Loren, this is better than I could have imagined, except staying with family," I told him. "Thank you so much."
          "Yeah, well… are you hungry?" he asked suddenly. "Cause I am."

          I grinned. "Actually, I'm not too hungry, but I'll have a bite to eat," I told him.

          "Okay. Is… " he thought carefully. "You know, I don't usually cook much, other than heating up stuff like Top Ramen, but I do have one of these interesting boxed thingamajiggys. Would you want that?"

          "What do you have?" I asked him, getting up from the small table and peering in his freezer.

          "There's chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese—boxed is better, though—some pasta stuff, waffles, beef and veggies… oh, there's leftover Chinese, if you want, too."

          Somehow, I had a feeling that leftover Chinese wasn't too good anymore. So I opted for the "pasta stuff," as he called it. He took the box and attempted to open it, but I think he was confused as to how to cook it. I smiled and took it from him. "Hey, Loren, have you ever used your oven before?"

          "What? Um… there was that one time when my family went camping and I did," he said, sadly. "My mom used it to bake cookies."

          I nodded. "Oh," I said simply. It was the first mention of his mother that I had heard. So I readied the oven and put it in, and set the timer. "We're not going to be able to eat for about another half hour, so is it okay if I put my stuff away? Where do you sleep, so I can take the other end of the trailer?"

          "My 'room' is over there." He pointed to the end farther away from us. "So you can take any bed other than that." I looked around and claimed the top bunk of the bunkish area. I'd never had a bunk bed, so I thought it'd be cool. I threw my suitcase on the lower bunk and sat at the table, across from Loren. "So… what's a sixteen year old like you living in a trailer park? You are sixteen, right?"

          "Actually, I'm seventeen.* Just turned seventeen two months ago."

          "Oh." I nodded.

          "And as for living here… well… I don't have any other family. Except my aunt Carly, but… well, you know the situation there. I wouldn't want to impose. Besides, I don't think she even knows about me, anyway."

          "But you said something about… your mom?"

          He nodded sadly. "Yeah, she passed away about three years ago. I miss her so much, Kristina… she was wonderful. She was beautiful, she had this light in her eye that was just so full of life… and the thing is, she didn't have to die, either. She was murdered. Pushed off a cliff. Although people have been forced to believe that it was an accident, I know better. So did my dad. But he… well, he's not around either to help."

          "Did he…" I was afraid to ask. "Did he walk out on you?"

          Loren shook his head vehemently. "No. He was a great dad, too. But he had a thing for the Cassadines—your family, or one of them, anyway—that goes back to like, my great-grandfather or something. I don't know, you might know something. But his father had been driven insane by that feud somehow, and after my mom died, my dad blamed it on them and went crazy as well. He's in the psych ward at General Hospital—he's not that bad, but bad enough that he has to stay there. This was our trailer, our family's. My dad—see, he knew that he was starting to slip—left me this before he lost it, and he sends me money every month to help pay for it."

          I nodded. "Do you ever get lonely?"

          "Sometimes," he admitted. "I miss them so much, you know… the way we used to be. The only thing that keeps me going sometimes is finding out who killed my mother. That's what I was doing that night when we met. I was looking for clues to who did it. I don't go there often, but I do go, periodically, when I can sneak on the island."

          "Oh, Loren… I'm sorry. I didn't know your life was so hard. Mine is simple in comparison."

          "Actually…" He smiled wretchedly. "If it were, you wouldn't be in here."

          I laughed. "True."  Then Loren asked, "How did you get yourself into this anyway?"

          "Didn't you hear it all at the park?" I asked, confused.

          "Not all of it," he admitted. "Only the part where you found out that you're not a Quartermaine, but really a Cassadine and that Sonny Corinthos is your dad."

          "Well, that's the gist of it."

          "Have you told Sonny yet?" Loren asked.

          "No, I mean I just found out yesterday," I exclaimed. "I don't even know the guy. Actually, that's a lie—he's just the father of my best friend."

          Loren inhaled. "Ooh. Toughie."

          "Yeah, how do I tell my best friend's father that she's my half-sister as well? God, my life sounds like a messed-up soap opera," I said, putting my head in my hands. "And less than forty-eight hours ago, it was blissfully uneventful."

          "Life has a funny way of doing that to you," my companion advised. "You just gotta take what you have and deal with it."

          "Yeah, make lemonade, right?"

          "What?" Loren looked confused.

          "Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?'" I asked.

          He shook his head. "Not until now."

          I laughed. "You have a lot to learn."

~*~

          A few minutes later, the "pasta stuff"—linguine with alfredo sauce, apparently—was sitting on the small table, ready to eat. I frowned at the box. "Fifty-two percent sodium? You should eat healthier stuff."

          Loren just laughed. "You know, as much as it bugs, I miss that."

          "What?"

          "Women nagging me. It's been a while since a girl's been in here. It doesn't have quite the womanly touch, although I do try to keep it clean. I'm sort of a neat freak."

          I rolled my eyes, although the implication that there had been other girls in here before bothered me a bit. "Just eat your food, Loren."

          "Yes, mother," he replied, mocking my tone of voice. We sat there in silence for a while, chewing, until Loren asked, a bit ungracefully since he still had food in his mouth, "So are you going to tell him?"

          "Tell who? And don't talk with your mouth full like that, that's disgusting."

          "Sorry." He swallowed. "And I'm talking about Sonny."

          I sighed. "I know I should, but I'm so scared. What if he rejects me? Or worse, forces me to stay with him? What if I don't want to stay with him?"

          "Why not? He's the coolest mob guy ever, his wife is awesome, and you're best friends with his daughter."

          I pondered that while chewing on my food. "Yeah, maybe it won't be so bad. But how do I go about telling him? Bella said I should tell Jason."

          Loren nodded vigorously. "Morgan? Yeah, you should. You're close to him, right?"

          "Yeah."

          "Then do that. I think that would be best."

          We sat there in silence again until I asked him, "Do you hate the Cassadines as much as your father and grandfather did?"

          Loren's eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you ask that?"

          "I'm just curious."

          He leaned back. "Hate is a very strong word. I don't hate anyone. However, I have an extreme prejudice towards the Cassadines, only because I have a feeling they killed my mother. You, on the other hand, did not grow up Cassadine. Neither did your mother."

          "How do you know that?" I wondered.

          "Her last name isn't Cassadine, is it?"

          I shook my head. "No."

          "Then I take it she didn't want to be like them. Why did you want to know?"

          "Because you have a Cassadine sitting across from you right now. Part Cassadine, anyway."

          "Like I said, Kristina, you didn't grow up like that, and neither did your mother. I learned to not judge after I met you. And I'm sorry for the way I acted before when I was mean to you and everything."

          I smiled. "It's okay, Loren. I guess it's just been a hereditary thing or something."

          "You know what, I have an idea. Let's make a truce, a pact, that we won't hate each other on the basis of last name alone. Let's defy the Spencer/Cassadine feud once and for all. I know my father and my uncle Nikolas tried, and failed, but I think we can do this." He held out his hand.

          "It's a deal." I extended my hand to shake his, sealing our newly found friendship.

*Loren was originally going to be Kristina's age, or a bit older, like fourteen, but for the new direction the story's going in, I needed to age the characters. So now Loren is seventeen and Kristina is sixteen, which makes more sense for the story. I'll go back and edit chapters. And, I'm changing Amanda's name to Hope, for a reason that will be explained later.

I was gonna write more, but this means you have at least another chapter coming, right? =D

Review! Please!!!