Chapter 1: Getting Settled

The furniture had already been put in its proper places and all that remained were for the family to unpack their personal belongings. It had been agreed, or rather ordered, that the unpacking would be done before anything else despite bitter complaints. So just ten minutes after entering the new house, the whole family were busy running up and down the stairs, arranging their rooms as they saw fit.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Alexander, the oldest of the two daughters, looked around her large bedroom at the front of the house and decided that she liked it. It was all arranged perfectly, the large bed, the cot in one corner, the two dogs beds in another, her wardrobe and her desk. Two large boxes and a bag containing her clothes and other belongings sat in the middle of the floor and two blue baby bags held the clothes of her one year old son, Jordan. Jordan seemed settled already, crawling around on the floor with the dogs, and getting in her way, and she was glad of that. He had not been conceived in the best of circumstances, but she loved him dearly and he was the most important thing in her world. The dogs, Shadow, her three-year-old collie and Laddie, the family's six-year-old German Shepard both seemed happy enough too. Emma knew that her family had undergone some hard times in recent years and she truly hoped that, at least for her mother's sake, things in Summer Bay would work out for them. As she carefully unpacked her CDs and put them on the shelf, she paused for a moment to look out of the window at the sandy beach, the deep blue ocean and the cloudy blue sky, and quickly came to the conclusion that moving certainly had had its good points, even if it could not wash away unpleasant memories…

In the next room, the smallest bedroom in the house, thirteen year old Lucy Alexander stood looking at all her belongings which had been tipped out of their bags and now lay scattered across her floor and her bed. Skimpy summer tops, shorts, swimming costumes, one or two books, CDs, videos were all there and she looked around, trying to decide what she was going to do with them. She hated putting things away and she really wanted to go outside, but her mother's rules had to be obeyed. Grumpily she pulled open a drawer and began putting things in it, just wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. From next door, Lucy could hear the calm, gentle voice of her older sister Emma as she spoke to baby Jordan. Lucy had always loved her older sister, although the two girls were as different as night and day. Emma was quiet, shy and withdrawn where Lucy was outgoing and confident. Emma preferred to be alone, on the outside of things where Lucy loved being the centre of attention. Emma had loved school and Lucy hated it. Emma had quiet hobbies, reading, writing, listening to music and occasionally horse-riding or skateboarding. Lucy loved dancing, going to parties, swimming and hanging out with a large crowd of friends. She also wore make-up and rather revealing clothes and her older sister favoured comfortable sports gear. But most of all, Emma was mature, levelheaded and generally responsible when Lucy still often acted like a child. That was what young Lucy hated most, that and the fact that her sister was prone to depression and therefore was given a fair bit of attention. Nevertheless, they were still sisters and, although they had their fights, they looked out for each other as sisters did. And Emma needed someone to look out for her, Lucy thought grimly; since one of her main faults was that she was too nice and let people walk all over her. That gave the young girl an idea and she left her messy room and went next door to see her sister.

"Hey Emma!" she called through the closed door. "Have you finished?"

"Almost!" her sister called back. "Why?"

"Well in that case," Lucy pleaded. "You couldn't come and give me a hand, could you?"

"Do it yourself!" her older brother's voice drifted across the landing and Lucy made an offensive gesture towards his half-closed door.

"Please Emma," she said again, smelling the delicious smell of bacon and eggs coming up the stairs. "Otherwise I'll never get it done before breakfast."

"Oh, okay," her sister gave a frustrated sigh. "You go and get started and I'll come and help you when I've got Jordan changed."

"Thanks sis," Lucy smiled to herself as she began to walk back to her own room. "You are the best sister in the world."

In the room across from Emma's, twenty-two year old Benny Alexander was busy unpacking his shirts, shaking his head and marvelling at his youngest sister's cheek.

"She's too lazy for her own good, that one," he muttered as he threw one bag aside and began to unpack another. His girlfriend of three years, twenty-four year old Jessica Lovall, who was busy unpacking her make-up and hair accessories, gave a sigh at his words.

"She's only a kid, Benny," she pointed out, flicking her long blond hair over her shoulder. "Don't you remember being that age?"

"Of course I remember being that age," Benny gave a short laugh and turned to look at Jess. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Yes," Jess ran a hand through his hair and smiled lovingly at him. "So, what do you think of this place? Do you think we will all be happy here?"

"I hope so," the young man said thoughtfully, and he truly did. Times had been tough for the family in the last few years, what with him serving a prison sentence, his father running off with another woman, everything that had happened with Emma…Yes, things had been difficult all right. But they had survived, just like they had always survived.

Jess watched him carefully. He seemed happy, and she liked to see him happy. But there was no reason for him not to be happy, he was with his family who he doted on and he had her. Not that their relationship hadn't been rocky at times. She had remembered how opposed her family had been to the relationship, which was why she had finally moved out and come to live with the Alexander's. At first she hadn't been completely sure about the move, had wanted her and Benny to get their own place, but now she loved it there. Susan Alexander, the mother, treated Jess like her own daughter and both Emma and Lucy treated her like an older sister. Yeah, everything had worked out before and she was certain that it would again.

The couple were jolted from their thoughts with a start when Lucy called out that breakfast was ready.

Next chapter: The family meets the locals