A Second Chance

By: Yuki Mizuno

Summary: After her parents' death, Alice was devastated when she was told she would have to live alone from now on, that is until something was revealed to her. The father she had known all her life was not her biological father. Her real dad was still alive and had volunteered to take her in so she would not have to live in an orphanage. Alice accepted his offer, even though she knew nothing about him or his family. That's when she learned she has two half-brothers, with one of them being very close to the age of 14, her age. During this story, she gets to learn more about her younger half-brother, as well as his two friends and other neighbors. Alice also meets two new neighbors named Jade Yoshida and Reese Maddox a few days later, becoming her best friends very quickly. What shenanigans will they get into with their new lives here? Read and find out!

Note: This story takes place a year after EEnE's Big Picture Show.

ASC: Chapter 1

It was a warm, early morning here in the little town of Peach Creek; the last day of May. It was here in this town that we came across a Cul-De-Sac with quite a few houses around. It was in the second house to the right of the entrance that we could see someone still asleep in their bed.

His name was Eddy McGee. He was a fourteen-year-old boy with very short, spiky dark blue hair that had three longer tuffs of spiked hair sticking out.

Eddy began to wake up, opening his dark blue eyes as he yawned and stretched his arms. He rubbed his eyes to clean the sand out of them, lazily blinking as he grabbed his cell phone before looking at the clock on the lock screen. It was now 7:45 am. He made a small, tired grumble to himself before getting out of his bed, preparing himself to spend another summer day with his two friends, 'I gotta meet up with them soon!'

After getting a shower, freshening up, and brushing his teeth, Eddy began putting on his usual daily attire. He wore a yellow shirt that had a purple collar and sleeves with a vertical red stripe going down the left side of his shirt, a pair of blue jeans with a chain for his wallet around his pocket, and red tennis shoes.

Afterward, Eddy walked out of his room to head towards his kitchen to make some breakfast. It was then he could see his parents were also in the kitchen; it looked like they were waiting for him to wake up.

"Oh, Eddy! You're finally up," Eddy's mother, Daisy, started to greet her son as he walked over to them, "We have some important news to share with you."

Eddy arched an eyebrow at them, "Uh, what's the news?" he asked.

His parents glanced at each other before looking back at Eddy, "Well, it might take a while to explain everything, but we'll be having someone coming here soon. They'll be living with us from now on in the guest room," Eddy's dad, Luis, stated to him, "She'll be arriving around lunchtime, so we're taking the day off from work to bring her home."

Eddy stared at his parents for a second before he started to form a look of confusion on his face, "Wait, huh? Who is it?"

Luis made a small sigh to himself, "The girl's name is Alice, and she's your older sister."

"… WHAT?!"

Eddy could not believe what he just heard, "What do you even mean?! I don't have any sort of sister!"

"Eddy, calm down!" Daisy shushed him with a bit of a stern tone, "We can explain it to you, be patient!"

That was when his parents began to explain the situation. Back when Eddy's older brother, Evan, was ten years old, his parents were planning on having Eddy as their second child. But a few months before then, a friend of his father was also trying to have a child with his wife, but kept failing because of a medical condition he had, leading them to conclude that they could never have kids with each other, despite wanting a child. When he learned this, Luis volunteered to be a sperm donor to help his friend's wife have a child. And it worked; Alice was born a month before Eddy.

"… And that leads us to what happened a few days ago," Luis continued to explain, "I was informed that my friend and his wife were… Well, they were killed, which would have left Alice no choice but to live in an orphanage. I didn't want that for her, so… I came forward to help her; being that I'm her biological father and all."

Eddy was stunned at what his parents revealed to him.

"It will take some time for most of her things to be shipped here, but we've already cleaned out the guest room for her," Daisy stated, "When she arrives here later today, we want you to be nice to her; maybe even introduce her to you friends! She's been through a lot in the past few days, so she needs a lot of moral support, understand?"

"Y-Yeah… I get it," was Eddy's reply.

"Thank you, Eddy," Luis stated with a sigh of relief, "Please come back home around lunchtime, okay?"

Fast forward to lunchtime in Peach Creek, zooming back in on the Cul-De-Sac. We could see Eddy pacing a little back and forth on the sidewalk in front of his house, waiting for his parents to arrive back home. He had not even met up with his two friends yet, despite him planning to do so earlier.

Ever since he heard the news this morning from his parents, Eddy had become nervous about the idea of having someone he did not know start living with him. Not to mention the fact that the person was a sister he never knew existed AND was the same age as him; it honestly felt awkward.

Eddy also started to worry about something else. Even though they said Alice was the same age as him, she was still older than him by a month… The fear about his older brother started to flare up once more, 'I hope this Alice chick is nothing like Evan! I don't think I could take that kind of thing again!'

"… Eddy?"

"AH!" Eddy yelped a little as he turned to see who said his name. He could see his two best friends coming over to him.

One of his friends was a very tall fifteen-year-old boy. He had red-orange hair that was in a buzzcut and hazel brown eyes; not to mention his unibrow. He wore a long-sleeved green jacket that was over his red and white striped T-shirt, navy blue jeans that seemed a bit baggy, and black tennis shoes. His name was Ed Wendell.

His other friend was a fourteen-year-old boy. He wore a red-orange T-shirt, purple shorts that went to his knees, and a pair of light blue tennis shoes alongside some red socks. He wore a black beanie over his messy, light blond hair and had bright green eyes. This young man was named Eddward Johnson, but his close friends usually called him Double D as a nickname instead due to the two Ds in his name.

"EDDY!" Ed cheered with a big smile on his face to his friend as he and Double D ran over to him (well, Double D more so jogged over), "Where were you? We didn't see you this morning!"

"Uh… I-It's nothing, nothing at all!" Eddy replied to Ed with a small laugh, trying to hide the fact that something was about to happen.

It was Double D who noticed his friend's unusual mannerisms, "… Is there something bothering you?" he asked with a small bit of concern, "You're acting very odd…"

Suddenly, the three Eds heard and saw a car driving toward the Cul-De-Sac before slowing down to park in Eddy's driveway; Double D could see that the car belonged to Eddy's parents. Luis and Daisy got out of the car first, but that was when Double D noticed someone was sitting in the backseat. It was a girl that was about the same age as him and his friends. The girl exited the car and looked around a little, only for her bright blue eyes to land on the three Eds near her.

The girl had somewhat short, but slightly messy navy-blue hair that was almost black; some of her hair was pulled back from her face by a yellow crescent moon hairpin. She wore a big, long-sleeved light blue sweater top that had thick straps that exposed her shoulders, a pair of dark-colored blue jeans shorts, and dark blue, white, and gray tennis shoes with long, light blue and white striped thigh-high socks.

Ed made a gasp, "A new kid?!" he said with excitement as he ran over to the girl who exited the car.

Double D was about to walk over to the car but turned to Eddy beside him. He could see his friend was now standing behind him, like he was trying to hide from everyone's view, "Eddy, what's gotten into you?" Double D asked with more concern.

Eddy did not answer back. Double D made a small sigh to himself before he began to walk towards where the girl was, 'Why is he so stubborn today? I thought he was getting better about sharing things with us because of last year…'

"Hello, new kid!" Ed greeted the girl who came out of the car, coming to a screeching halt so he would not run into her, "My name is Ed! What's your name?" he asked with a smile.

The girl stared at the tall boy for a second before noticing that Ed was not alone when Double D and Eddy walked up with him, "I'm Alice. Alice Anderson," she started to say, looking at each of the three boys there, "Uh… Which one of you—"

"Oh, Eddy! There you are," greeted Luis as he and Daisy walked over to the group of teens, "Looks like you brought your friends over to meet Alice. That's so wonderful of you to do!"

Ed and Double D turned to their friend in confusion, much to Eddy's nervousness.

"Why don't you spend some time with them?" Daisy suggested to Alice with a big smile, "I'm sure Eddy and his friends can help you with a quick tour of the neighborhood. We can take care of getting your stuff inside for now."

Alice looked to the adults before nodding her head a little, "Okay, Mrs. McGee…"

The two adults then walked away toward the back of their car, preparing to get Alice's stuff out of the trunk, leaving behind the four teens where they stood.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, u-umm, Ms. Alice?" Double D began to greet the new girl with a small, slightly nervous smile, "My name is Eddward with two Ds, so everyone calls me Double D instead."

Eddy peeked his head out from behind Double D to look at Alice before finally walking over to her, realizing now there was no way to run or get out of this awkward situation. Alice was a little taller than him when they stood close to each other, but not by much.

"Oh, so you're Eddy!" Alice stated to him before glancing back to his parent's car where she could see them getting her stuff, "Geez, I didn't expect myself to feel this awkward…" she grumbled slightly.

Double D arched an eyebrow at the two teens, "Eddy, is this your cousin? You didn't tell us—"

"I-I GOTTA FINISH DOING SOMETHING INSIDE BE RIGHT BACK SORRY!" Eddy loudly yelped as he ran away back to his house, leaving behind his confused friends and Alice.

Ed scratched the back of his head, "Eddy seems kinda distracted."

Double D looked to Alice, who looked back to where Eddy had run off, "Sorry, but can you tell us why Eddy is acting like this? He's usually very vocal about a lot of things and has never been this passive before."

Alice nodded her head, "Yeah, I think I have a feeling about what the reason is," she turned back to Ed and Double D, "I didn't know this until a few days ago, but he is my half-brother. I'm older than him by one month."

Both Ed and Double D widened their eyes, "Oh my," Double D gasped a little, "That explains it then…" he glanced back to Eddy's house, 'He's probably worried that she might act like his older brother, but I don't sense that kind of attitude at all from her…'

"Anyway, I'll be living here from now on because of, umm…" Alice started to say before trailing off, not wanting to finish what she was saying, "A reason I don't feel like talking about. Sorry."

"That's quite alright," Double D replied, sensing that the reason was very personal to her, "You don't have to say why."

Alice looked up to Double D before making a small smile. Eddy, in the meantime, had his head peeking out of his front door, looking back at his friends talking to Alice to gauge how she acted with them.

Ed noticed Eddy was looking at them from his door, making a big smile at him as he then jogged over, "Come on now!" he stated as he grabbed Eddy by his right arm, dragging him back over to where they were, "Go on and say hey!"

"H-HEY!" Eddy yelped as Ed let him go when they were back over with Double D and Alice.

Double D made a sigh to him, "Eddy, I know you're acting like this because of your older brother," he started to say to him, "But you need to try and not think like that; try to get to know your sister!"

"I-I know that!" Eddy replied with slight reluctance in his voice before making a sigh, "I was just feeling nervous about this. It's so awkward!"

"Tell me about it!" Alice stated back before making a chuckle, "You guys seem pretty chill, so I'm thankful for that."

Ed stared at Alice, "But it's not cold right now," he stated.

"That's not what she means, Lumpy!" Eddy replied with an irritated tone.

"W-Well, now that the introductions are out of the way…" Double D started to say before looking at Alice, "Would you like a tour of the area? You will need to know your way around, correct?"

Alice made a smile, "Yeah, please lead the way!" she replied.

Double D smiled back and was about to respond, but was interrupted by Eddy, "Cool, let's get going!"

'Oh wow, he got over his nervousness very quickly,' Double D thought to himself before making a chuckle, 'I do hope we can get along with her. Alice seems very nice…'

Alice looked around from where she stood, making another smile as she did; despite how she got here, maybe things will not be so bad… A big 'maybe'.

Author's Note (February 22nd, 2024): Oh hey! Something else that's brand new! WHAT A SHOCK! Anyway, still playing through Persona 3 Reload while waiting for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to come out on the 29th, the Leap Year. XD