CHAPTER 2

I stepped outside the airport and into the humid air of Miami. I couldn't help but feel a bit put off at the fact that nobody was there to greet me at the terminal. I had to carry all my bags by myself and it was not an easy task.

"Damn bags. Ugh! This is what I get for dragging my ass over here when I could be sunbathing by Lita's pool right now. This is just great." I walked around, muttering to myself and shooting death glares at anyone who looked at me questioningly.

I whipped out my cell phone and punched in my Rei's number.

"Sere?" Rei answered

"Hey you! How'd you know it was me?"

"Duh! It's called caller ID!"

"Oh," I giggled "I knew that."

"So what's up? Why are you calling? I thought you were supposed to be at your dad's place right now. Wait a minute! Did something happen? Where are you? What's wrong? Did you get lost? Serena what did you do NOW?"

"Rei calm down! Jesus Christ! Nothing happened. It's just that I don't think anybody's here to pick me up. Can you believe that? The nerve of those people! They can't even do one thing right. How the hell am I supposed to get to my father's place? I don't even know their phone number! This is just great. How do I get myself into these situations?" I whined, not caring if I sounded like a 5 year-old.

"You are such an idiot. How can you have not taken down your father's cell number? Oh good lord! What do I do with this girl? Your head really IS filled with meat balls."

"Well Excuuuuuse me but I had more important things on my mind. I don't even know why I called you! My head is SO not filled with meat balls. Your head is filled with stones. No wonder it's so big."

"Hey, I'm not the one who's stuck at the airport with no place to go." Rei snickered. Sometimes, I could just kill that girl.

"Rei stop being mean and help me find the damn person who's supposed to pick me up."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I'm sitting in my room all the way in Hamilton. Wait! Why don't' you call your grandparents? They probably know your dad's number."

"Oooh I didn't think of that. Oops."

"Sere, you hardly ever think."

"You're a bitch." I snapped.

"I know but you love me." Rei laughed.

"Sometimes I wonder why." I sighed and shut my cell phone.

I ran my fingers through my silvery blond hair, as if washing all my troubles away. I looked around and that was when I saw the guy with a sign that had my name on it.

"Hey you! Over here." I waved my arms up and down, trying to get the guy's attention. He didn't seem to hear me so I tried shouting louder.

"Oh great! Now they send a deaf person to pick me up. This day could not get any worse." I grunted and pushed my trolley to the person waiting for me.

"EXCUSE ME!" I shouted in the guy's ear. He jumped up and turned around.

"Miss. Monaco! There you are! I was just looking for you." He stuck out a hand as if he wanted to shake it. "You look just like the picture Mr. Monaco showed me." What a weirdo!

"You were supposed to pick me up like an hour ago." I said, ignoring his hand. "What the hell took you so long? Making the sign?" I raised my eyebrows and looked down at the sign he was holding. It said "SERENA MONACO, WELCOME TO MIAMI" It was really glittery and filled with flowers. I normally would have loved it, but I was hungry, sleepy and in a very cranky mood.

"I'm so sorry miss. It's just that the traffic was so heavy and Mr. Monaco was supposed to come and pick you up, but he had a very important business deal to be taken care of." The driver mumbled and looked down. I suddenly felt bad for taking out my frustration on him.

"No, that's ok. It's all good. At least you're here now. What's your name?" I asked in a softer tone.

"It's Melvin, Ms. Monaco." He said with a wide, toothy grin.

"All right Melvin, could you please help me with my bags? I don't think I could take it all to the car." I asked, picking up a couple of my handbags.

Melvin and I walked to the limo parked in one of the driveways. I got into the limo while he stuffed in my luggage into the back.

I closed my eyes from the exhaustion and allowed my self to drift off into dreamland. I had hardly closed my eyes for a minute when suddenly Melvin announced that we'd arrived. I looked out the window and nausea hit me full on. I remembered the last time I'd seen this place. It was so long ago but I could remember it as though it was just yesterday. I shook myself, determined not to cry. I slowly got out of the limo, not bothering to help Melvin as he struggled with my luggage. I looked around me. Everything was the same. The garden was overflowing with flowers and the grass was a modest green. I nervously walked up the stairs and rand the bell. A portly man with graying hair answered the door.

"Mr. Smithers!" I squealed, giving him a hug. The butterflies that had been in my stomach a few seconds ago were now long gone. "It's been so long. You look the same except for a few hairs misplaced here and there."

"And you, Miss. Monaco have completely changed." Mr. Smithers chuckled, "If anything, you've grown more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

"Oh psh, Smithers. Flattery gets you nowhere." I smiled and hugged the old man once more. Ever since I was young, Smithers was my favorite out of all the house hold staff. He made me laugh and treated me like his own daughter.

"That's what me wife says, too." He replied, shaking his head. "Now, you come with me and let's find you something to eat." Linking arms, we walked towards the kitchen.

"I'M HERE!" I shouted gleefully, walking in through the door with Smithers.

"Good lord, child! You've grown. Oh! And you look just like your mama. God bless her soul." Mrs. Locust gushed, rushing over to welcome me with open arms. Mrs. Locust was the house cook and the food she made was to die for.

"Aaw thank you, Mrs. Locust. You all haven't changed a bit." I beamed, looking at the warm faces around me.

Once Mrs. Locust had stuffed my face with more than enough of my favorite Black forest cake, she and Smithers ushered me out of the kitchen to go get some rest. Melvin showed me to my room, where he had put all my bags. I closed the door and sighed. This was not so bad after all, I decided.

Of course, the hardest part of the trip had not arrived yet, which was meeting my family. It seemed that my father had gone to fix something with a client of his and my brothers were at some football game with their friends. I would see them all at dinner, which was in a few hours. It shouldn't have surprised me. I should have known that my family would not have been here to welcome me. But, I could not help but feel hurt that they'd shown so openly how much they didn't care.

Shaking myself off of anymore thoughts that concerned my family, I started to unpack. Unpacking was a hard job, since I had brought all my clothes, accessories, shoes and everything else that mattered to me, which was a lot. There were still some boxes filled with more of my stuff being shipped in from Hamilton after my arrival.

Once I had finished unpacking, I took a good look around my room. It was large, adjoined with its own bathroom. There was a huge canopy bed, with a dresser and chairs. There was a television on the other side of the room with a couple of sofas surrounding it. I walked in to the bathroom. Not surprisingly, it was also massive. I sighed and went back into my room to take out the necessities I needed to take a long, hot shower.

An hour later I emerged from the bathroom in my robe, feeling fresh and clean. I quickly blow-dried my hair and put on a long sweatshirt. I looked at the clock. It was only 5:30pm. Dinner was at 8pm, so I had about 2 hours to waste. I plopped onto one of the sofas to see if anything good was on the Television.

I must have dozed off because one of the maids, Molly, was knocking on my door, informing me that dinner would be in half an hour. I thanked her and shut my door. My mind went all of a sudden into panic mode.

I quickly punched in Lita's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello" Lita answered. I felt a wave of relief wash over me,

"OMG! Leets! You've gotta help me. I have to eat dinner with the 'devil family' in like 25 minutes and I've NO idea WHAT to wear!" I wailed into the phone.

"Sere, you've got to be kidding me. You probably have more clothes than Misha Barton and Kate Hudson put together." Lita exclaimed.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean anything. Oh god Lita. What am I going to do?" I sighed into the phone.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing. Just wear your jeans and that nice brown top you have. The one with flowers on it."

"But it's BROWN." I wrinkled my nose "What about the pink one? I like pink!" I said.

"Nah, it's too sluttish. I like the brown one better. But if you don't like my choice, way don't you wear the nice red top? It's so pretty." Lita said thoughtfully.

"Which one are you talking about? The long one or the one with the sequins?"

"Obviously the one with the sequins. It's gorgeous. But wear a pair of white pants with it. That'll look good. Wow! You guys really get dressed for dinner, don't you?" Lita laughed.

"Tell me about it. I'm surprised they don't wear suits to dinner. It's such a pain." I grumbled.

"Sere, I know this is hard for you. But everything's going to be fine. I promise. Besides, if any one of them hurts you, just tell us and we'll kick their ass."

"Aaw, thank Leets." I laughed "I'll remember that. Anyways, I gotta go now but I'll call you later with all the details. Love you."

"You better call me. Love you too, hun" Lita said and hung up.

I clicked off the phone and started getting ready. I changed into the top Lita had told me to wear and found a pair of white jeans that matched. I brushed my golden hair till it shined and shimmered. Then, I applied some bronze eyes-shadow and lined my eyes with a thick black-liner. I dusted my lashes with mascara to make my eyes seem even bluer than they already were. I dusted some rouge onto my cheeks to give it a healthy glow and put on some lip gloss. I sprayed a little bit of Rykiel Rose onto my neck and stood back to inspect myself. The red top clung to me nicely, showing off not too much. My hair was loose and for once it was just the way I wanted it. My make-up looked good, too. I smiled in satisfaction. I looked good. I put on a pair of sandals and walked out my door.

I descended down the stairs and winked at Melvin, who blushed a deep red and looked down. He showed me to the dining room where everyone was seated.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.

Let the games begin.