Chapter One
"Is this the house?" Kalinda asks. I can hear the smile in her voice.
"Yep," I reply as I pull into the driveway of our new home. "Is it what you thought it would be?" I ask curiously as we get out of the car.
"Actually it's better. When you said we were moving to a little town I didn't think they would have houses like this," Kalinda exclaims with excitement. "I mean it's not as big as our mansion by far, but it is still one of the biggest houses on the block. It should be excellent for throwing parties," she smiles mischievously.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," I say with authority. "Now help me get our things out of the trunk."
"Do you even know how to have fun?" she asks as I open the trunk and start handing her luggage.
"Yeah, but I don't need to have parties to have fun," I say grabbing the last of the luggage and our parents fire safe that pretty much has all of our important documents inside.
"Yeah, and what do you consider fun? Popcorn and a movie?" Kalinda asks as we walk up to the house.
"Let's just get this stuff inside," I say setting down some of the luggage and unlocking the door. I pick it back up and walk inside.
"Wow!" Kalinda says putting down what she is carrying.
"Yeah," I say and look around. There was a pretty big living room with a fireplace. Then there was a staircase leading to a loft and our bedrooms.
"No mansion, but it's nice," Kalinda smiles.
I put my things down as well. "I have to go and take care of some things. I should be back before supper. Remember no opening the door for strangers and be careful," I say opening the door. "Oh, and your room is the one without the bathroom in it. No parties!"
"You're not my mom," she says as I step out onto the porch.
"But I am your guardian!" I say and she shuts the door in my face. "Bye!" I call through it and walk down the steps.
I get in the car and start it. First thing to do is go to Town Hall and get the deed to the house. Thanks goodness for my GPS or I would have been completely lost. After about ten minutes of driving I finally reach Town Hall. I park on a side street and get out of the car. I grab all of the papers from the Realtor and start walking to the Town Hall. While I'm walking I start to go through the papers to make sure I have them all. Unfortunately for me I can't look where I'm walking as well and soon run into someone, and sure enough, drop my papers as well.
"I'm so sorry," I say starting to bend down to pick up the papers, but they are not there anymore. Someone is holding them out for me to take. "Thank you," I say and take them. I look up at the person I had run into. He was at least a head taller than me with short brown hair and brown eyes. He looked very sophisticated in suit and tie.
"It's quite alright, and you're welcome," he smiles.
I smile, glad that he wasn't angry.
"So are you new to Mystic Falls?" he asks curiously.
"Yes, actually. My sister and I just arrived today," I reply.
"How lovely," he says. "Oh, let me introduce myself. My name is Elijah Mikaelson," he says while holding his hand out to be shaken.
"Paige Emerose," I say with a smile, and shake his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Emerose," he says with a smile and lets go of my hand. "Well I must be going. Goodbye, Miss Emerose," he says and walks away.
"Goodbye," I call and resume my walking to Town Hall.
I smile to myself as I walk. He seemed like a gentleman and the British accent and suit helped that fact as well.
I reach the building and walk up the stairs.
"Can I help you, Miss?" a woman asks as I walk through the doors.
"I am here to sign for the deed to the house I recently purchased," I say handing her the papers from the realtor.
She looks through them and then smiles.
"Right this way, Miss Emerose," she says leading me to a desk. "I will be back in a moment with the papers you need to sign," she says and then walks away toward the back of the building.
After a few minutes the woman comes back with papers in her hand. Once she reaches the desk she sits down behind it.
"Here is the deed, if you could please sign here," she says pointing to a line on the document that read signature.
I hurry and sign my name.
"And could you please sign here as well," she says pointing to another paper.
I quickly sign that one as well.
"And finally could you please sign here," she says pointing to yet another paper.
I sign that one as well.
"Ok, Miss Emerose, you are officially the owner of the house. Congratulations," the woman says with a big smile, standing up.
"Thank you," I say and gather my things and leave Town Hall.
Once I reach my car I hop in and turn it on. Now I had to go to the school and enroll Kalinda into school. Once I reach the school I notice that it is over. I shut my car off and walk toward the school hoping that there were still people so I could enroll her.
I reach the doors and thank goodness they are still open. I follow the signs to the office and knock once I reach the door.
"Hello, may I help you?" An elderly woman answers the door and questions.
"Yes, I am here to enroll my sister Kalinda in school. We just moved here today," I explain.
"Your sister? Where are your parents?" she questions with a raised eyebrow.
"They died in a fire, and I am now her legal guardian," I explain.
"Come and let me check your papers and then I will get the papers ready for you to fill out," she says leading me to an office.
I notice some flyers on a bulletin board as we pass it, and one catches my eye. It was talking about how they were hiring for a new chorus teacher. I would definitely have to ask about that.
"May I see your papers so I can show them to the principal?" she asks once we reach a door that said Principal Showers on it.
"Sure," I hand them to her.
She knocks and it is a moment before anyone answers.
"What is it, Carrie?" a man asks, opening the door.
"She would like to enroll her sister in school," the elderly woman replies.
"Well, please come in and we will get her registered. May I see your papers?" he asks as he closes the door to his office once we are all in.
"Here they are," the woman hands them to him.
"Please have a seat," he says gesturing to some seats in front of him. I politely take a seat. He looks through the papers, and after a few moments looks up at me. "Everything seems to be in order, let me get you the papers and we should have her registered and ready to go to school tomorrow," he says, standing up and walking over to a filing cabinet and pulls out some papers, and brings them back to the desk and sits. "If you could please fill these out," he says handing me the papers and a pen."
After about 20 minutes I finally finish up filling out all of the papers. I hand them to him and he takes them and looks at them.
"Excellent. When she comes tomorrow we should have a schedule for her," he smiles.
"Thank you," I say as he leads me to the door.
"No problem," he assures.
I stop once we reach the door because a thought crosses my mind.
"I noticed a flyer saying you were in need of a new chorus teacher and I was wandering if I could apply because musical education was my major in college," I say hoping that he would consider.
"Yes, come tomorrow at 3, and we will do your interview, Miss," he pauses.
"Paige Emerose," I introduce myself.
"Nice to meet you," he smiles and shakes my hand.
"Well, Miss Emerose, I will see you tomorrow at your interview," he says while opening his door and I exit.
While leaving the school I can't help but to think how wonderful things were going so far, especially since we have only arrived in town today. If things keep going this good Kalinda and I should feel at home in no time.
I break out of my train of thought once I get to my car. I get in and start it up and start driving toward the grocery store, the next thing I Had to do was get food.
Surprisingly, the store was not that hard to find. Once I shut off the car and get out I check my cell phone to see that it is ten till five. If I don't hurry I am not going to get home to Kalinda in time to make supper.
I quickly walk into the store and look at the signs hanging from the ceiling and quickly make my way to the frozen food aisle. I grab a few frozen pizzas along with some milk and eggs and head down to the snacks/beverages aisle.
As I turn toward the chips I feel something hit my cart. I look over and see a woman with short blonde hair, and a police uniform on.
"I'm so sorry," she says pulling her cart back.
"It's okay. My cart was probably too far out in the aisle," I say apologetically.
"It was definitely my fault, but thanks for making me feel better," she says with a smile and laugh. "I'm Sheriff Forbes," she says introducing herself and holding out her hand to be shaken.
"Paige Emerose," I say shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Paige," she smiles. "So are you new in town? I haven't seen you around before," she questions. It almost appears that she is looking at me skeptically.
"Um, yeah, my sister and I just arrived today," I answer.
"Where are your parents?" she asks curiously.
"They died in a fire not too long ago," I answer not wanting to go into the detail of that day.
"I'm terribly sorry to hear that," she says sincerely. "Where did you move from?"
"Florida," I reply hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions. I know she's Sheriff, and it is probably her job to know things about people, but I don't feel like getting interrogated in the middle of the grocery store.
"Nice, I bet it was pretty nice down there," she says trying to start conversation.
"Yeah, it was, and I miss it, but this seems like a pleasant little town," I say honestly.
"It is," she confirms.
"Well, I have to get going, I need to be home to make supper for my sister. Goodbye," I say, dismissing myself.
"Goodbye," she says in return.
I finish up shopping and hurry home to Kalinda.
Once I get there I quickly unload the groceries and enter the house.
"Kalinda, I'm home," I call kicking the door shut. "Could you help me with the groceries?"
"Coming," she calls from upstairs. "What did you get for supper?" she questions taking some of the groceries.
"Pizza," I say showing her the frozen ones I got.
"Nice," she smiles.
"Let's hurry up and get these put away and then we can eat," I say putting some things away in the cabinets.
"Great, because I'm starving," Kalinda says excitedly.
Finally, after we get everything put away I put the pizza in the oven, and Kalinda and I sit down at the kitchen table.
"So, does the town seem interesting? Did you meet anyone?" she questions.
"Well, they appear to have a nice school, which I registered you in. You start tomorrow," I say wondering what her reaction would be.
"Oh, fun, exciting," she says through a fake smile.
"It will be fine, and you will make lots of new friends," I say reassuringly.
"I liked my old friends," she says a bit angry.
"I know, but we both agreed we couldn't live there anymore, because of the memories the place held," I say reminding her why we moved.
"I didn't know you were moving me out of state!" she almost yells.
"Kalinda, calm down. You will be fine tomorrow," I say, grabbing her hand comfortingly.
"Yeah, yeah," she says, annoyed. Just then, the buzzer on the stove goes off, signaling the pizza is done.
Supper is eaten mostly in silence, and I can tell Kalinda is mad at me. After we finish eating, I clean the dishes and then pick up the luggage I left by the door, and start to walk up the stairs to my room to unpack.
"Don't stay up too late, Kalinda, you have school tomorrow," I say, as if I were a parent.
"I'm 18. You can't tell me what to do," she calls from the living room. I don't respond. I know she is angry and responding would only make it worse.
I go to my room and unpack my clothes. I get a quick shower and get ready for bed. It was only seven, but it had been a long day. I close my eyes once I lay down and think about everything that recently happened and start to drift into sleep. Wondering what tomorrow would be like and hoping Kalinda will have a good day.