Edited: 5/26/16

Chapter 3

Awareness seeped into my mind, and I opened my eyes, blinking as the world came into focus. Slowly becoming aware of my surrounding, I rolled onto my side and propped myself up, looking around for my ever present guardian feline. When I didn't see her, I turned over and shifted the blinds covering the window, seeing darkness and faint outlines of plants illuminated by the light from the house. How long have I been asleep? I started to slowly move my limbs, knowing slight movement would wake the rest of my body at a reasonable pace. Groaning, I sat up and licked the inside of my mouth, wincing at the taste of sleep breath on my teeth. I stood up and walked into the bathroom, shucking clothes along the way trying to relieve the feeling of caked grease and oil on my hair and face.

After showering as best as I could, keeping the bandages from getting too wet, I walked back into my bedroom with a towel wrapped around my body. I found some overly large pajama pants and t-shirts in my closet, and I knew that they were some of Dawn's clothes. I carefully pulled the clothes on, instantly feeling better since I washed the dirt of travel off of me and was swaddled in soft, clean clothes. A knock came at the door once I had finished dressing and I moved to open it, finding Dawn on the other side.

"Hey sleepy head," she said, smiling at me. "I heard the water running so I decided to come up and see how you were doing?"

"Better, well at least I feel better now that I'm clean and in soft clothes," I replied. "Thanks for those by the way."

"No problem, I collected t-shirts and pajama pants in college like it was my job, I'm glad to give them to you. They're clean, but delightfully broken in."

I hummed in agreement, loving the softness of the flannel pants and cotton t-shirt. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked, going back to my thought when I had first awoken.

"A few hours, it's a little after 8 o'clock right now, I was going to come wake you up soon and ask if you wanted something to eat, I've ordered pizza tonight. Didn't feel much like making dinner after the day I've had, we've all had."

"Point me in the direction of the pizza," I demanded, following my oldest sister back downstairs as she chuckled. I followed her into the kitchen and found two very large pizzas. "Vegetarian and Hawaiian, my favorites," I squealed, heading immediately for the pineapple covered pizza.

Dawn chuckled again and slipped a piece of the vegetarian pizza on her plate and one of the Hawaiian while I was distracted. "Grab a slice or two, and a drink out of the fridge and you can join me in the living room."

"What are we watching?" I asked when I walked in the living room after pouring a glass of water out of the fridge and putting three pieces of pizza on my plate. I spotted Luna curled up on one of the pillows on the arm of the couch and an image frozen on the TV.

"Criminal Minds," Dawn replied. "It's on Netflix." She clicked a button on the remote and the show started playing again, and I grimaced at the gruesome torture occurring on the TV. Luna stepped over Dawn and made her way towards me, eying the pizza on my plate with a gleam in her eye. I rolled my eyes and started picking the ham off of my pizza, holding them out for the cat.

"Where's Stella?" I asked, noticing the absence of my other sister.

Dawn chuckled, "She's on a blind date tonight."

"What?"

"Yeah, her best friend wanted to go out tonight with her boyfriend, so she set Stella up with someone."

"Seriously?"

"Yup," Dawn giggled a little. "She tried cancelling and explained to Hailey what has happened, with you coming to live with us and all that, but she was insistent. Hailey is a force of nature." She took another bit of her pizza and a long drink out of her glass, "But she'll be back soon, she doesn't ever stay at these things long."

"What do you mean?"

"Stella likes dating, she's what you would call a serial dater. She doesn't date people but she goes out on dates. One-night-stands were her thing in college for a while, it was kind of embarrassing. But she hates blind dates, hates them with a fierce passion. She usually stays the required amount of time unless something pisses her off and then…" Dawn trailed off when the front door slammed open and a slew of curse words followed.

The door slammed shut and Stella stomped into the living room, flinging herself down onto the recliner and pressing a pillow over her face, letting out a loud, frustrated scream. "That good?" Dawn asked, snickering around the pizza in her mouth.

"It was worse," Stella wailed into the pillow before removing it from her face. "I mean, Hailey was no help; she and TJ just kept looking goo-goo eyes at each other, leaving me with a pompous, narcissistic, sexist jerk who eyed every woman that passed in his line of sight." Stella let out a huff, "I need food." She stood up and skulked into the kitchen and returned with a single slice of pizza and a bottle of beer from the fridge.

"So what happened?" I asked.

"It was after dinner, we were waiting for dessert when he decided he was going to try to cop a feel. I kicked the shit out of his shin and left, catching a cab back here."

"And Hailey and TJ?" Dawn questioned, a smirk on her face.

Stella crossed her eyes, "I don't care, she's the one that got me into this mess."

Nearly half an hour later, the front door banged open and a loud, accented voice called out "Stella!"

Stella rolled her eyes and slouched further in her couch, having traded her dress for track pants and a tank top and her pizza for a large bowl of ice cream. "Go away," she yelled, her words muffled around the spoon in her mouth. "I'm ogling Shermar Moore, leave me alone." I smiled into my own bowl of ice cream as I took in the petulant expression on my older sister's face, torn between watching the TV and observing the pending interaction.

A few seconds later a young woman in her early 20's, about Stella's age, entered the room followed by a man around the same age. The young woman had choppy dirty blonde hair that went a little passed her shoulders and brilliant toffee colored eyes, while the guy she was with had sleek, dark bluish hair that brushed the back of his neck and ocean blue eyes. "Stella darling, I can't bear it if you were to stay made at me," the woman said, her British accent thick as she spoke.

Stella just hummed into her ice cream, resolutely ignoring the two who had just walked into the room. The woman carried on despite Stella's reluctance to speak to her. "TJ and I had no idea that Dalton was such an arse, did we sweetie?"

The man, TJ, nodded his head emphatically. "I didn't realize how much of a jerk he was even though I shared a suite with him in college. He might not have been that bad back then," his accent was also as thick as the woman's but sounded slightly different.

When Stella continued to ignore the two, the woman sighed, "Alright, you give me no choice, time to bring out the big guns as you Americans would say."

"Wha- no!" My sister yelled out a split second before the woman launched herself at her, lying on top of her on the chair. "Hailey, Hailey getoff," Stella muttered, trying to push the woman off. The woman, Hailey merely shrugged and latched on harder like a koala, clinging to my grumbling sister. "Alright alright, if I forgive you will you let me go?!"

"Thanks Stella," Hailey crooned, bouncing up off the other girl while my sister let out a groan. I chuckled at my flaxen blonde haired sister's expression, and the dirty blonde haired woman looked towards me at the sound, her toffee colored eyes brightening when she saw me.

"Oh, you must be Serena, Dawn and Stella's younger sister right? Stella's told me a lot about you over the years, and she mentioned that you had come here to live with Dawn," she started, her eyes friendly. "I'm Hailey Harrison, Stella's very very very best friend-"

"Only sometimes," Stella interrupted with a grumble though Hailey continued on like she hadn't heard her.

"-though if you ask Stella, she might tell you differently," Hailey chuckled. "And before you ask, everyone in my family has an 'H' name." I giggled and her exuberance and bubbly nature, trying to figure out how she and Stella, my boisterous, grumpy and very un-bubbly sister could be friends with someone so… just so much. "And this is my boyfriend," Hailey continued, pointing to the guy that had come in with her.

"Triton James Huntington the fourth," he introduced himself, "Everyone just calls me TJ." I could tell that he was a quieter person by nature, mainly because it seemed like Hailey did enough talking for both of them.

"It's nice to meet you," I said, smiling at both of them. Something about them seemed familiar, but I wasn't quite sure what it was.

"I would love to stay and get to know you Serena, as I'm sure you want to know all the dirt on your darling sister here-"

"Don't you even dare you little-"

"-but unfortunately TJ and I have to go," Hailey finished, stuffing a spoonful of ice cream into Stella's mouth to keep her from speaking. "We need to do something later this week Ella, get our nails done, something before you head back to work and we head back to London."

"Just call me," Stella agreed, her mumbled words coming out around the ice cream in her mouth.

I laughed at Stella's irritated expression as Hailey and TJ disappeared back out the front door. Suddenly, a golden blur raced down the stairs and jumped up on the couch next to Dawn, revealing itself to be a golden cat, far bigger than Luna. "No," Dawn said, lifting her ice cream out of reach, "You'll get none from me, your not supposed to eat ice cream. And you've already had your dinner." The cat then turned to me and studied me for a moment before rubbing its head on my arm, beseechingly purring, trying to get to my bowl.

"What's his name?" I asked, as the cat moved on to the other occupant of the room when I also reject its advances.

"Her name's Sasha," Dawn replied. "She's a rescue, found her a few years ago. My friend Fauna, she's a vet, she thinks she's a Maine Coon cat, or maybe one that has a bit of some kind of wild cat in her. I'm not sure, she's way bigger than any other house cat that's for sure, but she's a sweetie, bit of an attention hog though. She usually stays outside or in my room. Luna hasn't seemed to have a problem with her, except for when she tried to steal some of Luna's food." I laughed, imagining the large golden cat being chased around by the small black one. It was an amusing visual to be sure.

"So what happened while I was napping," I asked.

"Not much," Dawn replied. "I contacted the right people to get guardianship of you transferred to me. Wasn't hard to get the process started, especially since you felt you needed to cross several international borders before you felt safe. I'm also having a copy of your birth certificate sent to me…"

"Whoa, birth certificate?"

Dawn looked confused for a minute, "Oh, you don't know, well not surprising they wouldn't tell you. Although Kenji and Ikuto are Japanese citizens, Kenji worked in America for his company for years. We were all born here, so we have citizenship. When Ikuto fell pregnant with Shingo when you were, what, three, four, they decided to move back to Japan."

"Is that why I can speak and understand English better than a non-native speaker?" I asked.

"Totally," Stella murmured around her ice cream. "While we spoke Japanese at home, we spoke English at school so we were bilingual at an early age. You were in daycare so you were exposed to it there, and remember when you were a kid, we spoke English a lot when it was just the three of us."

I thought back, memories of childhood growing hazy with age, but I do remember speaking English a lot when we were at home, away from our parents. "Anyway," Dawn continued, "The process has started to have you placed in my care, as it is, I have emergency custody. My lawyer didn't seem to think that it would be hard to get full custody, but we'll have to get you checked out by a doctor here and have your records from Tokyo sent over. It'll be a mess, but that's for me to deal with, not you. Only thing you need to be concerned about is if you want to keep your last name."

"I don't want anyone from my life to be able to find me," I said hastily. "The ones that matter are the ones that already know. What family name do you guys use?"

"Parker, this middle-aged couple adopted us when we got to this country. They couldn't have kids, but we fully willing to adopt a couple of teenagers looking for a family. We took their last name with the same idea as you, we didn't want Kenji and Ikuto to be able to find us," Dawn replied. "We can ask them if they would mind you using their name as well."

"Will I get to meet them?"

"Eventually, they moved to England a couple years ago, right after Stella and I finished college. They attend a lot of Stella's performances and attend the opening night of whenever I start a new show though, so we always know they're there to support us," Dawn replied.

"Jeremiah and Eliza are good like that," Stella agreed. "Good people."

I smiled in relief, glad that they had found people that would care for them. And buy things for them, I thought as I remembered Dawn said that her adoptive parents had paid for her house after she graduated. "You mentioned shows," I said, recalling Dawn's words, "What do you mean shows?"

"Blondie here is an actress," Stella interjected. "Broadway loves her, though television and movie producers are starting to come after her as well. She's also an artist and does gallery showings, so there's that as well."

Dawn shot Stella a dark look, "Blondie, really?"

Stella just shrugged and stuck her tongue out at our sister. I ignored them as I thought about Dawn's career. "Why acting, and why art?"

"We went to a Magnet school for the arts, and I tried a lot of different things when I started there," my oldest sister replied. "Kenji and Ikuto discouraged a lot of that, so I wanted to explore. I tried music, but it didn't click with me the way it did Stella. I mean, I can sing, and play a few instruments well enough, but I didn't have the right type of drive to be a musician. I loved theater when I took it and art classes; both really helped me work out a lot of my issues with our darling parents. I kept at it, went to college for both and now here I am. It wasn't an easy road, I'm pretty sure the only reason I got my first few auditions was because my drama teacher pulled some strings, but I am grateful for her."

"So you didn't start high school knowing what you wanted to do?"

Stella snorted, "Some people don't start college knowing what they want to do and they don't have to. What you do doesn't define who you are and you aren't what you do, I always hated how much pressure was placed on figuring yourself out in high school."

"Pretty sure we know some people our age and older who still haven't figured themselves out," Dawn smirked.

Both of them looked at each other and blurted out "Aunt Bee" at the same time and broke down laughing. I wasn't sure what they were referring to so I just waited until the got control of themselves. "Anyway," Dawn wheezed out, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to check out the school, since you'll definitely need to go. Unlike Japan, I can get into some major trouble if you don't attend school."

"When does the school year start?"

"Should be… last week of August," she murmured. "You'd have a little over a month."

I chewed my lip nervously, "I wouldn't know what classes to take, or anybody there." I didn't have a problem with making friends, it came naturally to me, but my last experience with friendship left a bad taste in my mouth.

"My best friend's little sister attends there," Dawn said. "She'll be a sophomore this year, so same as you. I'm sure she'll be glad to help you out. She's very… enthusiastic."

"Your best friend?"

"Who's also my lawyer, so she knows about you," she replied. "She kicked ass to finish college early and start law school and again kicked ass all the way through that and finished with top marks on the state bar exam. She was in my year in high school, but wanted to pursue a law degree."

I fidgeted lightly in my seat. Luna jumped onto my lap and started to knead my legs as a comforting gesture. "So she, she knows?"

Dawn placed her hand on my shoulder and I looked over at her, falling into soft blue eyes. "Attorney client privilege Serena. She knows, but she won't tell anyone, Christa is good like that." I thought about it for a few more minutes before agreeing to meet Dawn's friends and check out the school. "Good, we're meeting them for shopping and a makeover in a few days. You have a doctors appointment the day after tomorrow." I rolled my eyes at her words, not wanting to deal with any more doctors but understanding why I needed to go. "I've got paintings I need to work on while I still have a few days off from the stage, and you need to go back to bed."

"Dawn," I whined, "I'm not tired." My body betrayed me as I yawned in the middle of my words.

Stella yawned, "You may not be tired, but I am. I'm going to go stay awake for a few more hours in my room because that makes total sense." She moved to the kitchen to get rid of her dishes before waving at us as she walked passed the living room back to her wing of the house.

My oldest sister rolled her eyes and took her own dishes to the sink. "All right, no complaining, up, bed." She snapped her fingers and Sasha popped up from where she was lounging on a pillow and the cat darted up the stairs.

"Fine, fine, bed," I said, slowly standing up. Luna hopped off the couch and ran up the stairs as well. "Can I see your room before bed though? You didn't show me earlier."

"I have to get you some more clothes to wear anyway until we can go shopping," Dawn answered, waving me to follow her up the stairs. We turned left at the top of the stairs and my sister pushed open the door to her room, motioning me to head in first. I walked in and gasped. It truly was a master bedroom. The room was large with a couch and window seat against one wall, a TV with an entertainment system against another and several doors against another. A large, King-sized bed was placed against the back wall, facing the entertainment system. Like the other bedrooms in the house, Dawn had painted a mural in the room, a pride of lions reclining in the bright sunshine, on one of the walls. The rest of the room also kept with warmer tones, creams, yellows and golds.

"I love this room," I sighed, falling back onto the bed. "It feels so warm, it really suits you."

Dawn walked to one of the doors and opened it, revealing a large walk in closet. She disappeared inside the closet and came back carrying a few shirts and a pair of jeans. "Thanks," she smiled. "New pack of underwear, bras, clothes, do you want to borrow some pajamas or are you good with yours?"

I blushed, taking the clothes out of her hands, "New pajamas please." She moved to the side of the room to the dresser I hadn't noticed and pulled out a t-shirt and shorts, adding them to the pile. "Where do you paint?" I asked, not noticing anything in the room that could be an easel or paints.

"There's a room above the carport," she said, pointing to another door near the windows that I didn't notice. "Keeps the smell of paint thinner and oil out of the house. Sasha and Essie aren't fans."

I nodded my head in understanding and Dawn bustled me out of the room back to my own. She kissed me on the forehead before leaving and I changed into the borrowed pajamas, crawling into bed and falling asleep.

"So, makeover?" I asked hesitantly as I trotted after Dawn walking down the street a few days later. We were heading to her usual salon to meet up with her friend Christa and her sister Anna before going shopping.

"You need a haircut," my sister stated firmly. "I don't know what Ikuto was thinking restricting you from cutting your hair. That places an immense pressure on your head, neck and spine, causing all kinds of pain and problems." I nodded my head agreeing; frequent headaches and migraines often made it difficult for me to focus on classes and schoolwork. "And I don't know about you, but getting my nails done always makes me feel better," Dawn continued. "I can only do a clear coating, but it still feels good just to be pampered. When you're feeling up to snuff, we'll go to a spa."

"I don't think I've been to a spa in my life," I sputtered out.

"Either a spa or a Turkish bath, those are really beneficial, scrubbing all of the dead skin cells off your body and then soaking in steam. Taking care of your body is extremely important," she finished, stopping in front of the salon door and waving me inside. I walked through the doors and took in the hanging lights, mirrors and glass creating the high-end salon. Stylists were bustling around quickly, hands flying as they cut and styled clients' hair, and manicurists were buffing and treating nails.

"Dawn, over here," I heard and Dawn and I turned to the voice, spotting a woman around the same age as my oldest sister sitting a one of the chairs. She had bluish black hair that settled around her shoulders and burgundy eyes that locked onto me and sent warmth straight through me. "You must be Serena," she greeted, sticking out her hand. "I'm Christa Danvers, Dawn's told me a lot about you over the years." I shook her hand smiling, willing away the butterflies as I remembered that this woman was a lawyer and Dawn's best friend. "This twerp," she said, motioning to the girl next to her, "Is my sister."

The chair spun around and another girl with long black hair pulled up into a ponytail and maroon colored eyes grinned at me. "What my less attractive sister meant was this is my gloriously awesome and fabulous sister," she said, jumping up to hug me. "Anastasia, but most everyone calls me Anna unless they want to have their tonsils rearranged."

"Such a delicate flower, my sister," Christa sighed, sitting back down in her chair.

Anna stuck her tongue out at her sister and tugged me into the chair next to her. "So, Serena right, tell me everything about yourself. Lay it all out there, because I can tell we're going to be best friends, so might as well."

The stylist walked up to me and tugged at my hair, pulling it out of the braid that Dawn put it in and whistled at the length as it pooled onto the floor. "How does your head stay up girl? This has got to go, no way is this healthy," the stylist said, burying her fingers in my hair.

"Can you leave enough to go to my mid-back please?" I whispered, gulping slightly at the thought of my hair being cut.

"I'll leave enough sweetie, I know it's rough having to part with your hair, but I'll try to make it easier," the woman said as she got to work. She tied my hair off around the small of my back before cutting it off. My head instantly felt lighter as the hair fell away and I breathed a sigh of relief. The stylist bagged my hair and handed it to me, "We usually ask if people are willing to donate their long hair, but I can understand if you want to keep it."

"No, you can donate it, I don't need it," I replied. She nodded and pulled me away to wash my hair. The last of the honey blonde coloring disappeared down the sink as my hair took on a flaxen color. I was put through another hour of getting my hair and nails done, which helped me relax before I was dragged out of the salon to go shopping.

"Serena girl, you look so much better," Anna said as we left the salon.

I smiled slight as softly ran my fingers through flaxen strands that reached the middle of my back in loose layers. The stylist had brushed my bangs to the side away from my forehead and told me to start training my hair to part on the side. It felt weird, but I knew I would grow used to it eventually. "It's… odd, but I like it," I said. "My head definitely feels lighter."

"A few days and you'll be good to day," Dawn smiled. "Now, clothes, shoes, computer, phone. School supplies and stuff will have to wait until after you sign up for classes."

Several hours later, Dawn helped me put away my new clothes while I set up my new computer and phone, contact details for Anna and Christa already put in by the boisterous brunette and I put in details for Stella and Dawn from the sheet of paper in front of me. The older blonde left and I shot off a quick email to Mina before heading downstairs to help Dawn make dinner.