Author's Note: I'm back on my bullsh*t ya'll. Here's the first chapter of my new series. This is Letty-centric and follows her life leading up to and after she starts dating Dom. Please note it will be a few chapters before they actually get together. I'm giving Letty the backstory the movies never did.

In this chapter she moves in down the block - Mia's PoV. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Mia Toretto watched the big truck pull up in front of a house just down the block. It was a baking hot summer day. The summer after fourth grade and she was feeling sad because it was the first summer without her mother.

Luz Toretto had been sick for a long time, but it had been this past year when she'd finally lost her battle with cancer and passed away. The doctors and nurses had done as much as they could for her but there was still no cure for the deadly illness. It made Mia want to grow up and find one.

In her sadness she'd retreated into herself, focusing on her studies and trying her best to be strong for her Dad. Her brother, three years older than her, had gone the opposite way. His pain had been dealt with in different, some might say worse, ways. Instead of locking things away inside he just seemed to get angry. Getting in trouble at school, getting in fights, getting suspended. Now he had summer school to make up the multiple classes he'd failed in his rebellion and their Dad had needed to force him to buckle down and do it. In the mornings Mr Toretto drove Dom to summer classes - along with his best friend Vince who'd failed right along with him, then in the afternoon they'd walk from the school over to the shop and work there until they closed at five.

This meant Mia was home alone unless she wanted to go into the shop with her father in the mornings, which she did sometimes. But, hanging out at the shop and answering phones or filing paperwork was boring. She wanted to enjoy her summer. If her mother was alive she'd bring them to the beach sometimes, or at least downtown where they could walk in the air-conditioned shops and get ice cream.

Mia missed her mother more than ever, and she desperately wished for a friend.

It wasn't that she didn't have friends, because she did, at school. But they were school friends and school Mia was a lot different from home Mia. School Mia was responsible and smart and pretty and kind. School Mia would never get in trouble. School Mia didn't talk about her sick mom and the mounting hospital bills that made her dad work longer and longer hours. School Mia didn't talk about going to the track to watch her Dad race, or how she and her brother had already practiced how to drive stick shift (in an abandoned lot of course). School Mia didn't talk about engine specs or RPMs. Instead she talked about schoolwork and boys and regular sorts of things.

So school Mia's friends were only for school. She was beginning to think that this had been a flawed idea. Now she was alone.

Perhaps that's why the moving truck was so intriguing. It brought the potential for a new friend. Someone who lived in the neighborhood. Someone who might have something in common with everyday Mia.

Of course, it occurred to her- even at the age of ten, that the people moving in might not have kids at all. Or might have much older, or much younger kids. Still, there was no harm in taking a look, and Mia ventured out into the hot afternoon and meandered down the block where the truck was parked.

It was in front of the house that used to belong to old Mrs. Gonzalez. But she had died last year and her children had come, cleaned it out and painted it and put it on the market. Mia could see a car in the driveway, some sort of sedan. There was another vehicle in the garage beyond, but it was too dark to see much more than the shine of paint and Mia was more curious about the people.

There was a man who looked to be maybe a little younger than her dad who was helping unload boxes with some uniformed movers. He was chatting with them easily in Spanish and laughing. She understood most of it, as her mother and father both spoke the language fluently. She and Dom hadn't kept up on it as they should have, since they'd both been born here and spoke English at school, and also just to fit in better.

The man had close cut dark hair and an easy smile. Mia thought he would be nice. She craned her head to peer into the truck, and saw a bicycle amongst the boxes. It was about the same size as her's and red, but it didn't have streamers or a basket so she wasn't sure if it belonged to a girl or a boy.

The man carried one of the boxes into the house and Mia tried to find a reason to linger there a moment longer in the hopes that someone else might come out. He shouted something she couldn't make out and came back out a moment later.

But this time a young girl was on his heels, looking annoyed at having been roped into labor on a hot day. She was shorter than Mia and her long black hair was all wavy down her back in a way Mia envied. But she was dressed more like a boy than a girl, in worn jeans and ratty sneakers that reminded her of the ones that Vince wore until they were literally falling apart (because they were his favorite). Her black t-shirt had the name of some band on the front that Mia didn't even recognize.

The girl looked up and caught her staring. Mia's eyes widened as they stared at each other a moment, then the other girl gave her a mullish look and huffed.

"You just come to stand around and watch or are you gonna help?" she asked.

Mia stared, startled by her gall.

"Letty," the man admonished, then turned to Mia with a smile. "What she means is 'Hello, nice to meet you neighbor. Do you live on the block?"

Mia nodded, then blinked and found her voice. "Yeah in the yellow house four down from here…" she pointed. "I was just curious."

"Well we're glad to have met one of the neighbors," he said, offering his hand. "I'm Mr. Ortiz and this is my daughter Letty. You two look about the same age."

Letty didn't say anything, just crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look disinterested.

"I'm Mia. Mia Toretto…" she said. "I live down the street with my Dad and my…. My brother. But they're at the shop now."

"Oh yeah?" Mr. Ortiz said. "The auto shop right? I think we passed it on the way into town."

Mia nodded. "Yeah. My dad's the best mechanic around." She smiled, more at ease.

Letty was looking more interested. "Your dad is a mechanic? So is mine."

"Really?" Mia asked.

"In the army. I fix up the vehicles we drive on base," he explained. "Not as cool as fixing up some of the cars I've seen in the neighborhood."

"Oh yeah all the racers come to my dad," she said, puffing out her chest a bit in pride. "And he races too… weekends at the local track."

That had Letty taking a few steps closer to her. "Really? That's cool…" she sounded envious.

"Maybe you could come with us some time," Mia said, grinning at her.

Letty grinned back.