(My take on the noughties 90210.) Primarily BD and BK, with appearances by the rest of the gang, some of the 90210 gang, and their respective relationships.

xx

Sun.

Another day of blasted sun.

Her aunt had said there was a forecast of rain on the horizon, but from what she could tell, the weatherman had been incorrect.

It was a pattern with American weathermen, she noticed.

It had certainly been a pattern that summer.

She wanted to return to London.

They had been happy in London.

Her parents hadn't fought in London.

"You're thinking about London again, aren't you?" asked her sister.

"We should have never moved to LA," she replied. "Mum and Dad would still be together if we hadn't left London."

"I like LA," said her sister. That wasn't a surprise, for Adrianna and Callie McKay rarely agreed on anything except about how much they disagreed on everything.

"I don't," said Adrianna. "Don't you miss our house? Our beds? Dad?"

"I like living with Aunt Val," said Callie. "She's cool and she said she would bring by McDonald's for lunch so I won't have to eat any of that cafeteria food Christy says is so yucky."

"We aren't going to stay living with her," said Adrianna, bunching her dark hair into a high ponytail with just a touch of spray for added effect. "You'll see. Mum and Dad will work it out."

"What's a horndog, Ade?" asked Callie.

"Sorry, what?" asked Adrianna.

"A horndog," Callie repeated, her braids bouncing in her hopscotch steps. "Sammy said he heard Uncle Brandon talking to Uncle Steve and Uncle Brandon called Daddy a horndog."

"I don't think you should be using language of such vulgarity, Cal," said Adrianna.

"Why not?" asked Callie. "Sammy does."

"And Aunt Kelly gets onto him, too," said Adrianna.

"Daddy does."

"When you're Dad's age, then you can be as vulgar as you'd like," said Adrianna.

"You sound like Mum, back before she hated Daddy."

"Mum does not hate Dad."

"She told Aunt Val she wishes she could hate Daddy."

"Wishing is not the same as doing, Callie. Mum doesn't hate Dad. And you shouldn't eavesdrop on people; it isn't nice. Now hurry up, or we'll be late to school."

Adrianna tentatively knocked on the door that led to the room her mother had been sharing with Valerie Malone since that fateful night in mid-July.

In sixteen years, she had never seen her parents fight once.

She had heard stories, largely from her grandfather prior to her mother's request that her grandfather no longer tell her such stories. She knew there had been a time before her when they had been separated for several years and that at one point, her cousin Sammy had undergone a paternity test to confirm his father was not Adrianna's father.

But all of that had been before her. Her parents weren't supposed to fight during her existence; certainly not to such a degree.

There may have been small arguments here and there, as in any marriage. If those arguments had existed, her parents had done well to keep them successfully underwraps from their children.

At least; they had, initially.

"Mum?" she asked. She kept her tone upbeat, hoping it would influence her mother's own. "I'm ready for school."

Dressed only in her periwinkle teddy robe and a pair of well-loved slippers, her mother opened the door a crack.

"I'm sorry, darling," she said. "I'm terribly under the weather today. Can you call your father to pick you up? I'd ask Val, but she has to go into the office."

She had been "terribly under the weather" for days on end.

"You should really see a doctor, Mum," said Adrianna.

"I'm fine, honest," said her mother. "Should I pick you up after school? We can go shopping for that new dress you have your eye on."

"Naomes and I are hanging out after school," said Adrianna. "I did tell you that."

"Oh yes, silly me." Her mother held a hand up to her forehead. Normally the same shade as Adrianna's, her matted hair appeared darker than usual. "Must have escaped my mind."

"Mum -"

"Everything's fine. Truly."

Nothing was fine at all, Adrianna thought. It hadn't been fine all summer.

"Hey, kiddo. Everything okay?"

"Mum wants to know if you can take Cal and I to school," said Adrianna.

"Of course I can. Should I meet you out front?"

"Aunt Val said you aren't allowed within one hundred feet of the house."

"Did she now? Let me talk to your aunt."

Adrianna attempted herself to not eavesdrop, but it was difficult when both her father and her aunt did little to watch their tempers.

She would simply have to accept her status as a hypocrite.

"I'm allowed to see my kids, Val. You can't put a fucking restriction around how close I can get."

"You can see them away from my house, Dylan."

"As long as my girls are living in yours and not with me at home where they belong, then I'll see them at yours whenever I damn well please. Why isn't Bren taking them to school?"

"I'd tell you to ask her yourself, but oh yeah, that's right, she isn't speaking to you. On account of you being a -"

Adrianna decided that was enough eavesdropping.

She pulled herself up into her father's truck, which had become messier than usual.

"I've, uh, been spending a lot of time in the truck," said her father, looking about as kempt as his truck. It was unusual for Adrianna to see her father in that state, who, to her ongoing chagrin, had often been named the parental fancy of her classmates. "Is there a reason your Mum didn't take you girls today?"

"Mummy isn't feeling well," Callie piped up from the backseat, playing with the zipped cover of their father's surfboard.

At least he's still surfing, Adrianna thought. That's more than Mum's been doing.

"What do you mean, your Mummy isn't feeling well?"

"Just that she has been under the weather," said Adrianna.

"Daddy," said Callie, "are you and Mummy getting a divorce?"

Adrianna winced on her sister's behalf, particularly at the way her father's hands tensed on the steering wheel.

Callie had a habit of speaking before she gave her words a proper amount of thought.

"Christy said if you get divorced, I get two Christmases," said Callie. "I don't know if I want two Christmases. I like having just the one Christmas with everybody, but Christy said two Christmases aren't that bad. She gets more presents that way."

"We are not getting divorced," their father answered. "Your Mum and I are just going through some things right now; that's all."

"What kind of things?" asked Callie.

"Grown-up things."

"Is that why Uncle Brandon called you a horndog?"

"What?"

Adrianna turned around in her seat to glare at Callie.

"Horndog," said Callie. "Uncle Brandon called you a horndog."

"Oh did he now?" The hands on the steering wheel became whiter. "In front of my kid? Your uncle called me a horndog in front of my kid?"

"Callie was eavesdropping," said Adrianna, hoping it would help to slightly cool down her father.

"Adrianna!" said Callie. "Tattletale!" Her tongue stuck out at Adrianna, reflected in the overhead mirror.

"Dad, she's sticking out her tongue at me," said Adrianna.

"Callie," said their father.

"Double tattletale!" said Callie.

"I told her she shouldn't eavesdrop," said Adrianna.

"Yeah," said her father distractedly, "yeah, no eavesdropping."

The atmosphere lightened considerably when Callie jumped out to greet her best friend Christy Carmichael in front of the middle school, leaving just Adrianna in the truck with her father.

"School going well?" he asked.

"It's the first day," said Adrianna.

"Oh yeah, that's right. The days are just blurring together, I guess."

"Is it true what Sammy said?" Adrianna started, then stopped herself.

"What did Sammy say?"

"No, nothing. Just Sammy being Sammy. You know."

"Between you and me, Ade, should I be concerned about your Mum? How sick is she?"

I've heard her throwing up quite a lot, Adrianna thought. She doesn't think I've heard her, Daddy, but I have.

She didn't think she should be the one to tell her father that.

"Ade?" he tried again. "Is it the kind of sick where I should make an appointment for her and force her to go even if she refuses? You know how your mother is once her season schedule's laid out and last I checked, I'm still on her paperwork."

What was she going to say? That she had heard her mum tell her aunt of her mum's sore chest?

She had held Callie against her chest. The sore feeling had undoubtedly been because of Callie.

There had been nasal congestion and a runny nose, too, which could have been something as simple as a cold, or perhaps influenza.

How long had it been since her mother's illness started? She tried to count the days.

"She'd tell me, wouldn't she?" he asked, more in a murmur to himself than a genuine inquiry to Adrianna. "She'd have to tell me…if she's that sick, she'd have to…"

Adrianna neglected to formulate a response she could say before her door was thrown open with a clang.

"Ade! Oh my God, it's about time you got here. I've been standing here waiting for hours. Dad tried to drive me in the minivan. The minivan, can you believe it?! I got a ride in with Uncle David in his much cooler car – not as cool as this truck, but still pretty cool - but it meant I had to leave super early and God, I hope my hair still looks like it did when we left. It does, doesn't it? No flyaways? I mean, I have my hairspray with me if there's flyaways, but I can't be seen spraying outside of the school and I have to make sure any flyaways are gone before I get into the school or it's bye, bye, Best Hair, which I totally have a lock on this year, by the way, if I can get these damn – dang flyaways under control. Uncle Dylan, can I ask you something?"

"You know you can ask me anything, Naomi," said Dylan McKay to his niece's typical ramble.

"Did you really knock up Ms. Kincaid?" said Naomi. Her golden blonde curls were held back by a shark tooth headband that surely dug into her scalp.

Adrianna didn't understand Naomi's consistent accessory choice of that type of headband, which had killed Adrianna's head every time she had worn it.

It's fashion, darling, Naomi would tell her.

Naomi, Adrianna's mother had said numerous times, was certainly her mother's daughter.

"Anything except that," said Dylan, once more gripping the steering wheel.

"Daddy said that's why Auntie Bren left you," said Naomi.

"Brenda did not leave me," said Dylan.

"That's what Ruby said when Aunt Donna left Uncle David," said Naomi. "And they've been divorced since Ruby was ten."

"That was completely different," said Dylan. "This isn't the first time Bren and I have had to go through a rough spot. We're gonna make it through this one; you'll see. It's not like David and Donna, not at all. I ain't taking this without a fight. Ade, you need anything? Lunch money or anything? Could bring something by for you? Take you for lunch off campus?"

"I'm good, Dad." Adrianna leant over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "She does miss you, you know."

"Seventeen years," said Dylan. "Seventeen years as her husband and it's come to this. What do you think, Ade? Do you think I hurt your Mum the way everyone else thinks?"

Adrianna didn't have to answer. She had heard the fight.

Every word of that fight.

Brenda, I swear to you I did not sleep with Gina, her father had said. Their bedroom door had been tightly shut, but Adrianna could hear everything in the secret passage between her parents' bedroom and their home library.

It had been one of the only things she liked within her new home; that secret passage.

She would have liked it more if the secret passage had become a portal that could transport her back to her beloved city.

Tell me you know I didn't sleep with her! he had said.

What am I supposed to think, Dylan? She shows up here sporting that bump, flaunting it, practically shoves it in my face, says it's yours…

She's a fucking liar!

Why didn't you tell me you relapsed?

It was a mistake. One drink. I – I didn't wanna tell you I'd fallen off the wagon. Didn't – didn't want to disappoint you like that. Not after – after all these years, all those meetings…

If you're lying about one drink, what else are you lying about?

I'm not lying! It was one fucking drink!

You blacked out. You don't black out from one drink. We saw the tapes. It's there, clear as day. You blacked out, when the girls and I were still across the pond, getting everything together for the move.

Clear as day? One second, I'm drinking without Gina, and the next second, I'm just wrapped in a sheet and Gina's leaving the room, fully clothed! How the fuck is that clear as day, Brenda?! She's messing with us. I don't know why she's messing with us, what she has to gain from it, but she is. Maybe it's money. Maybe she wants money.

I'd buy that excuse if she didn't have plenty of her own money.

Then it's some other reason! C'mon, Bren. Don't let her do this to us.

You did this to us. You should have told me, Dylan. You should have told me you relapsed.

I – I know I should have, but – but – Brenda, what the fuck are you doing with that suitcase?!

Val said I could stay with her.

Absolutely not.

Dylan, if I stay with Brandon, he's going to have words to say about you and I don't want the girls to hear those words. If I stay with my parents…

Jimbo will say worse. He'll tell them all about how I'm a degenerate, always have been. He's been waiting for me to fuck up. Probably thinks he hit the jackpot, thinking I did.

I'm not going to stay with my parents, Dylan. I won't let Dad trash you to the girls like that.

You still shouldn't stay with Val.

I thought we ruled out Brandon's and my parents'.

Yeah, but if you stay with Val, she'll make it impossible for me to see my kids!

And if I stay here, we're just going to keep fighting and end up hating each other. Is that what you want?

I want things to go back to how they were in London! We should have never moved back to this fucking city.

You agreed it would be good for the girls for us to move back.

That was before I was reminded why I hate this shithole. And the smog, Bren! How the fuck is the smog good for our girls' immune systems?

Don't blame LA. Somewhere along the way, you stopped believing in us. Again.

Don't you fucking dare accuse me of not believing in us.

Then why the fuck didn't you trust me to tell me you relapsed?!

Can't you just wait for the fucking results of the paternity test before you make any life-altering decisions like this?

You don't get it, Dylan. You just don't get it.

"Ade. Hey, Ade. Earth to Ade."

Adrianna saw the hand swarming about in front of her face.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You completely zoned out," said Naomi.

"I was just thinking about it again," said Adrianna. "The fight. It was so brutal, Naomes. I've never heard my parents fight like that. Ever. I've never even heard them fight."

"Do they know you heard it?"

"No, and I'm not going to tell them, so you aren't, either. Callie's convinced they're going to divorce."

"That's so weird to think of Uncle Dylan and Auntie Bren divorcing. I remember Mom and Dad used to get so annoyed at how many times I walked in on Uncle Dylan and Auntie Bren doing…well probably doing all the things I do now," said Naomi with a mischievous grin. "In fact, I'd venture to say half the things I know how to do is because of your parents."

"First of all, um, ew, that's revolting. And second of all, you don't have to think about it because my parents are not getting a divorce," said Adrianna. "I just have to help Dad prove that he didn't have -"

Sexual relations, said her head. Sexual intercourse. Intimacy.

None of those were words she wanted to associate with her father.

"That he didn't do anything with Ms. Kincaid," she finished.

"How are you going to help him prove that?"

"Aren't you supposed to be a mastermind with these things? You can help me think of something."

"The last master plan I tried failed, remember?"

"We couldn't force Ruby's parents back together if they did not want to be back together. My parents are different. They do want to be together. Circumstances are just making that difficult, at present."

"You know your new sibling is Ruby's cousin. Like, legit cousin. If Ruby is my cousin and the kid is her cousin, what does that make the kid to me?"

"Makes them the cousin of your cousin," said Adrianna, keeping it simplified rather than bogging them both down with the intricacies of their family trees and the on-again, off-again stepbrother-slash-unofficial-adoptive-brother that David was to Naomi's mother. "Dad told Mum he didn't knock up Ruby's aunt, and I believe him," Adrianna continued. "Mum does, too. Deep down. I know she does. She's just upset with him right now for not being completely honest with her."

"Not being completely honest about what? Knocking up another woman?"

Deciding she and Naomi were not going to come to an agreement on the matter of her parents and what her father had assuredly not done, Adrianna requested a change in topic.

Naomi delivered.

"Did you hear about the new girl?" she asked, helping Adrianna to gather up her books.

"I thought I was the new girl," said Adrianna.

"You're hardly the new girl. Everyone here knows you. Our parents practically owned this school."

"They know me as the girl from London."

And I'm certain word has spread by now of my parents' separation, Adrianna thought, for she had heard of West Beverly High's inability to mute a tangled gossip grapevine once it began.

"No one knows," said Naomi, reading Adrianna's mind as ever. "Sammy and I made sure of it. Besides, they're too busy chatting away about Auntie Bren's new role and Uncle Dylan's new book. Ruby isn't going to say anything, either."

"Do you truly think my Dad did it?" asked Adrianna.

"I don't want to believe that he did," said Naomi. "Your parents are the reason I believe love exists. Don't tell my parents that, though. Especially don't tell Daddy that. I can't even mention Uncle Dylan without Daddy going off. He'd be so mad I was even talking to Uncle Dylan. So don't tell him, 'kay?"

"I won't." Adrianna lay her head back against the locker. "Distract me. Tell me about this new girl."

"Straight-up new girl. Like, never been to California before new girl. From Nowheresville, Kansas."

"Is there actually a place called Nowheresville in Kansas?"

"You don't have to take it so literally."

"Girls, you better head on to class! The bell's going to ring any minute."

Naomi met the eyes of the guidance counsellor.

"Do I have to, Silver?" she asked.

"What happened to the 'aunt' part?" asked Erin Silver, her lilac-tinted hair cut into a short bob that Adrianna thought looked rather cute – as cute as a woman of Erin Silver's age could look.

"We're in school," said Naomi. "You're aunt at home. In school, you're Silver."

"Why do I get the feeling that would be different if Bren started teaching here?" asked Silver, narrowing her eyes.

"Because she's Auntie Bren," said Naomi. "She's cool."

"And I'm not cool?"

"You're a guidance counsellor."

"Temporarily. I'm temporarily a guidance counsellor. They just needed someone to step in while they search for your mom's replacement."

"Thank God Mom isn't the guidance counsellor anymore," said Naomi. "That was two years of sheer embarrassment."

"I could tell your mom you said that," warned Silver.

"I could tell Mom about the fake ID you drew up for Sammy and the liquor you helped him and his friends buy," said Naomi.

"Well-played, Naomi. Well-played."

"Once you're no longer a guidance counsellor, you can go back to being cool Aunt Silver."

"Alright, off to class now."

"It's just homeroom," said Naomi, but she took Adrianna by the arm to head in the appropriate direction.

They began comparing their schedules, checking to see which classes and teachers they shared amongst them.

"Ooh, you have Uncle David for music." Naomi snatched Adrianna's schedule. "I want Uncle David for music."

"You can't carry a tune," Adrianna laughed.

"Just because some of us don't have a voice like yours doesn't mean we can't carry a tune," said Naomi. "You've got a serious advantage, with all those West End singers you constantly hung around and all the vocal training they probably gave you for free."

"Advantage or no advantage, the entire family agrees you can't carry a tune. Or play an instrument."

"Well, that's just mean. Completely factual, but mean."

"Do you think if I get the lead in the play Mum and Dad will have to see each other?"

"I don't know how school plays work over in England, babe, but here, they are more than one day."

"Except Dad would attend every single one of my performances, the way he always did with Mum's, and Mum's going to have to see him on one of those nights."

If I can just get them alone with each other, then they'll have to speak to each other, thought Adrianna.

"Guess that's the reason for you to get the lead, then," said Naomi.

Adrianna asked Naomi if she knew which play the drama department had planned.

"Spring Awakening," said Naomi. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. Juniors never get the lead. There's been like, one exception in however many decades this school has been open, and that was years back."

"There will be two exceptions," said Adrianna, "for with the amount of times I have seen Spring Awakening on the West End, I will absolutely secure the lead in this play."

"Damn, I wish I'd lived in London," said Naomi.

"You did visit. Several times."

"Visiting is not even close to the same as living there."

"I thought you love LA."

"Of course I love LA, but I didn't mind all that much growing up in Boston."

"Didn't you move when you were eight?"

"Eight-year-olds can remember plenty of their life in another state, thank you very much."

"Didn't you always complain about the snow?"

"Again, I was eight."

Adrianna had loved both the rain and the snow of London, and the way her parents would dance through any type of weather.

Would they slow dance in a rainstorm again? she wondered.

"Hey, Ade." An arm slung around her shoulder. "What a slog this place must be for you, considering how much of a slog it is for me."

"Hiya, Kai," Adrianna gave a warm smile. "Didn't you say you like school more than your Dad ever did?"

"It isn't hard to like school more than Steve Sanders did," said Kai Sanders. "But that doesn't mean I like it. Maddie's the genius. I just get by."

"Will I see Maddie soon?"

"She's planning to fly in for Thanksgiving; after she visits Hannah, of course."

"I hope she does fly in. It's been ages."

"Yeah." Kai shuffled through his bookbag. "I heard about your parents."

Adrianna threw a look at Naomi.

"It's Kai," said Naomi as she nonchalantly touched up her lipstick.

"For what it's worth, I don't think your dad did anything," said Kai.

"You and I might be the only ones," said Adrianna.

"He loves Aunt Bren. He'd never hurt her like that. Ever."

"Daddy says he did, once," said Naomi.

"Naomes!"

"I mean, Ade; he did."

"With your mother," said Adrianna pointedly. "Are you going to accuse Aunt Kelly of having an affair next?"

"No, but Mom isn't involved in any of this," said Naomi. "Your dad's the one under fire; not Mom."

"New girl; ten o'clock," Kai whispered, cutting off any retort Adrianna had planned to make.

"She's cute," said Adrianna.

"She's in last season's castaways," said Naomi. "See her jeans? They're so two years ago."

"Not everyone likes to have their finger constantly scouring the websites for the latest fashions, Naomes," said Kai's best friend.

Adrianna recalled his role as Kai's longtime best mate, but could not for the life of her recall the boy's name.

"It's Navid," he said. "Seriously, Ade? Did you forget my name again?"

"Shirazi," said Kai. "She knows you as Shirazi."

"Of course," said Adrianna, "Navid Shirazi. You – you look different."

"It has been a few years," said Navid, shaking back his messy, dark –

I can't call it a shag, Adrianna thought, though that was indeed the type of haircut Navid sported.

"You look different, too," said Navid.

"Dude, you better not be checking out my cousin right now," said Kai.

"Dude, she isn't your cousin," said Navid.

"Yeah? Tell that to my dad," said Kai.

"We should invite her to sit with us," said Adrianna, once more looking at the dark-auburn haired girl. "I could be the one in her place."

"You would never wear last year's fashions," said Naomi.

"I thought you said two years ago?" asked Adrianna.

"The jeans are so two years ago. The blouse is last year. Keep up, Ade."

Adrianna had never been as into fashion as Naomi, but with aunts like hers, she couldn't disregard fashion completely.

"Maybe you could give her a few tips," she told Naomi.

"A few tips?" asked Naomi. "I'd have to do a complete revamp on her entire wardrobe."

"You've seen her in one outfit."

"And if she wears that to school on the first day, then that tells me her entire wardrobe needs a complete revamp."

"Hey, new girl! Over here!" Kai waved his hand.

"Kai Sanders!" said Naomi. "What are you doing?"

"Mom would have my head if she knew I didn't invite a new girl over to sit with us when she's looking as lost as that one is," said Kai.

"Your mother isn't here," said Naomi.

"No, but Uncle David's around, and there's no way our parents aren't having him report back of our every move," said Kai.

"Did you – did you call me?" asked the girl, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I did," said Kai. "I'm Kai Sanders. This is Navid Shirazi," Navid waved, "this is Naomi; warning you right now, she's a bitch."

"Excuse you," said Naomi, "I am not a bitch. Oh and this; this is my best friend in the world. Adrianna McKay."

"McKay?" asked the girl. "No way! Like, Dylan and Brenda McKay? Those McKays?"

"I see you know of my parents," said Adrianna.

"I've read your dad's entire collection. And oh my God, your mom's new movie is amazing!" The girl collected herself. "I mean; hi, I'm Annie. My brother and I just moved here from Kansas City."

"Is Kansas City podunk?" asked Kai.

"You're thinking of Kansas City, Kansas," said Annie. "We're from Kansas City, Missouri. A lot of people mix those two up."

"Missouri?" asked Navid. "My cousin lives in St. Louis. Maybe you know him."

"I probably don't," said Annie. "KC is on the other side of the state."

"Oh yeah," said Navid. "I get that. It's like when people over there ask him how many times he's been up to SF."

"Or when my cousins in Japan ask how many celebrities I know," said Kai.

"You actually do know some," said Navid.

"Okay, but if Dad didn't head up one of the top talent agencies in LA, I probably wouldn't know any," said Kai.

"You know more than I do," said Navid.

"You're missing the point," said Kai.

"So you're from KC and now you live in LA," said Naomi. "What brings you to our small corner of the world?" she asked with her tinkling laugh.

The Wilsons had moved to Los Angeles due to the new job of Annie's mother.

"She's actually been hired on as your mom's assistant," Annie told Adrianna. "I couldn't believe it when I found out. I'm not really supposed to tell anyone, but I figured it's okay for me to tell the daughter of Brenda McKay. I can't believe you're Brenda's daughter. She's the whole reason I want to be an actress. Can I call her Brenda? Should I call her Mrs. McKay?"

"Brenda is fine," said Adrianna, though saying her mother's name aloud always felt peculiar. "Then I suppose we'll be seeing quite a lot of your family," she added.

"Suppose you will," said Annie. "And oh my God, I love your accent!"

"Thank you," said Adrianna. She had believed her accent had already begun to fade the more time she spent around her relatives, though she was doing her best to cling onto it. "Yours is nice."

"I have an accent?" asked Annie.

"Yes," chorused Naomi and Kai.

"To me, everyone has an accent," said Navid.

"That's because you have one, bro," said Kai.

"I'm still mad I lost my Boston voice," said Naomi.

She hadn't lost it in its entirety. Adrianna still heard it when Naomi would become enraged about something or other.

Usually to do with a boy.

"Ugh, don't look now." Naomi turned her face away, towards Kai.

"Naomi?"

"Ethan, I do believe it is best for Naomi if you stay far away from her," said Adrianna, attempting to remain as polite as possible in the face of Naomi's ex-boyfriend.

"Naomes; c'mon, you know what Jen's like," said Ethan.

"And if it wasn't Jen, it'd be some other girl," said Naomi. "We're over, Ethan. Get that through your thick skull." She made a motion of shoving something into Ethan's curly head, his curls far more tamed than Naomi's had become with the help of her favored curling iron.

"I'm Ethan," said Ethan. "You must be the new girl," he told Annie.

"Annie," said Annie. "But, uh; well, this is awkward," she laughed.

"What's awkward?" asked Naomi.

"I've met you before," said Annie. "At my grandparents' place, in Colorado. You, uh; well, you kind of helped me from crashing into a tree once, out on the slopes."

"Shit!" said Ethan. "No way! Annie? Annie Wilson? Little Annie Wilson?"

"You know my ex?" asked Naomi.

"Boyfriend," said Ethan. "Your boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," said Naomi, emphasizing each syllable. "And not a moment too soon. It's out with the old and in with the new, baby."

"I'd rather it not be completely out with the old," said Adrianna.

"We'll make some exceptions," said Naomi. "Minimal exceptions."

"You said that last time, and our breakup only lasted two weeks before you got jealous over Sierra," said Ethan.

"That was sophomore year," said Naomi. "This is junior year and I've matured enough to know you never will."

Navid emitted a sizzling sound with his mouth, as Kai did the same.

"Think that's your cue to leave my cousin alone," said Kai.

"She isn't your cousin," said Ethan.

"Her dad's my uncle; therefore, that makes her my cousin," said Kai, as their parents had told them many times.

"I didn't realize Ethan's such a jerk," said Annie as she watched him walk away.

"He's a high school boy," said Naomi. "I'm into college boys now."

"Since when?" asked Adrianna.

"Since this morning," said Naomi, snapping her fingers. "Keep up, Ade."

Annie inquired about the community reputation of the drama department.

"I was thinking maybe I could help build sets or something," she said. "I did that back at my old school."

"Ade's going to audition for the play," said Naomi. "Maybe you can go with her to talk to the Butchers."

"The Butchers?" asked Annie.

The Butchers, said Naomi, had run the drama department since the nineteen-eighties.

"They're still frustrated your mom didn't showcase her talents here," she told Adrianna. "Their words."

"Mum said she was far too focused on other things whilst at West Bev," said Adrianna.

"Yeah, like your dad," said Kai.

Adrianna and Naomi shared a scowl at him.

"She more than made up for it with the roles she did take," said Annie. "Is it true she was offered the part of Andy in Devil Wears Prada but turned it down so that Anne got it?"

"Mum has been offered many roles," said Adrianna. "I can't keep track of them all."

She tried to tell herself that Annie was merely an excited transplant learning about her new surroundings, not a bothersome undercover reporter for a tabloid.

It had been driven into Adrianna from a young age; her father's abhorrence of the tabloids.

That news of her parents' separation hadn't yet snaked its way into the pages of the tabloids was a miracle unto itself, her aunt Donna had said, which Adrianna thought was largely due to the protective shield that had been cast around her family by a host of her other family members.

Her father stood outside of that shield, but he had been permitted close enough to it that he had also been protected from the invasive tabloids that had often stalked him in his youth.

"Hey, McKay!" shouted a voice behind Adrianna's back as she headed to her first class. "Is it true?"

"Ignore them," said Naomi.

"Is what true?" asked Adrianna, having been greeted with that question more times than she could count in her life.

"Is it true you have dined with the Queen?" said the girl, putting on a thick accent that didn't sound anything like any of the people Adrianna had known in London, on the southside or otherwise.

"Like I said," said Naomi, "ignore them."

"But I have dined with royalty," said Adrianna.

"They needn't know that," said Naomi, "else I would've told them already."

Ignoring ignorant people wasn't in Adrianna's nature.

"Which queen?" she threw back, leaving the girl baffled that there could be more than one in the twenty-first century.

Their schedules would diverge in the following period, but at least for her first class, Adrianna could sit by Naomi.

"Don't make me be friends with that girl," said Naomi.

"Which girl?" asked Adrianna. "The girl who is completely unaware that there are multiple queens in the world and, in fact, on the European continent?"

"No offense, Ade; I'm pretty sure you're the only person around here who would know that. And you know which girl I'm talking about. Annie. Did you see the way she looked at Ethan?"

"Ethan, your ex Ethan?"

"I'm not saying I want him back. I meant what I said. I just think she can do better than him, is all. But if you make us be friends with her, our popularity is going to skyrocket downward faster than you can say Big Ben."

"Elizabeth Tower," said Adrianna. "I didn't realize I possessed a popularity already."

"Oh please," said Naomi. "You're a Walsh-McKay, who spent her life abroad. That alone puts you at the top of the social ladder."

Adrianna didn't say that she would gladly be at the bottom of the ladder, if it meant she could become miserable enough that her parents would be forced to move them back to London.

"Graduation isn't that far away," said Naomi. "You can move back to London for college."

"Uni is ages away," said Adrianna. "They said I could visit next summer, but even that is ages away."

"If you're going to London next summer, you're taking me with you," said Naomi.

They were forced into silence as the teacher took command of the board.

Ryan Matthews, wrote the hand across the erase board, the hand belonging to the man with the hair Adrianna thought could desperately use a cut.

"Oh my God, serious hot teacher alert," said Naomi as she looked him over.

"Naomi Walsh!" said Adrianna.

"I'm just admiring the view, Ade," said Naomi. "We never have teachers as hot as him."

"If you hook up with your teacher, I'm telling your parents."

"Ew. No. I don't hook up with old men."

"I don't think Mr. Matthews is old."

"Honey, anything over twenty is old," said Naomi.

"Will that apply when we are twenty?"

"Can't be sure about you, but I personally am never getting old," said Naomi.

"Sure," said Adrianna.

"Girls?" Ryan turned around. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"Just that you're mega hot," said Naomi, "which I'm sure you're fully aware of."

"Ms…"

"Clark," said Naomi. "Naomi Clark."

"I don't have a Naomi Clark on the list," said Ryan, scanning over the rollcall.

"She's been calling herself Naomi Clark ever since we were kids and she decided she was going to marry Clark Gable," said Adrianna.

"Thanks, Ade," said Naomi.

"Anytime," said Adrianna.

"Ah," said Ryan. "Here you are. Naomi Walsh. Walsh?" He took a second look. "How common is Walsh around here?"

"Not very common," said Naomi.

"Because I believe the guidance counsellor, Erin Silver, is related to a Walsh, is she not?" asked Ryan.

"Is she?" asked Naomi.

"In fact, I believe Erin Silver has a niece in this school," said Ryan. "Doesn't she? I believe her name might be…Naomi?"

Naomi sunk in her seat as the immature teenagers around her took great joy in her humiliation.

"Alright," said Ryan, "now that we've made some of the introductions, let's get down to Cervantes. Shall we?"

Adrianna raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms…?"

"Adrianna," said Adrianna. "It's de."

"Sorry?" asked Ryan.

"It's de Cervantes," said Adrianna. "You can't leave off the de. That is a crucial part of Miguel de Cervantes' name."

"I see," said Ryan. "Miss Walsh, Adrianna, I'd like you to come up here."

Naomi and Adrianna looked at each other before heading up to the front of the class.

Ryan ripped off two pink notes from a pad.

"What is this?" asked Adrianna, holding the paper up in her hand to better read the print.

"Detention," said Naomi. She rolled her eyes. "Welcome to West Bev, Ade."

"Detention?" asked Adrianna. "There must be some mistake. I do not get detention. I do not get anything remotely close to detention."

"Then you might not want to correct a teacher next time," said Ryan. "I'll see you both in detention, three o'clock."

Returning to her seat, Adrianna lost all interest she might have had in Ryan Matthews' lecture on Miguel de Cervantes, whose works she had already read on her own.

She couldn't tell her mother or her father about her detention, not with everything they were already dealing with.

Yet, she had been told a parent was required to sign her note.

A parent or a guardian, Adrianna read.

A guardian? Could the woman with whom she was staying qualify as a guardian?

The note didn't say it had to be a legal guardian.

Aunt Val might understand.

Aunt Val may have been given one or two detentions herself, with the mouth she had on her and the stories she had to share.

"I am going to be in so much trouble," said Naomi. "Daddy's still pissed about the last detention I got. 'Course, he was more pissed about how proud Uncle Steve was over it."

"What about me?" asked Adrianna. "I can't tell my parents I got a detention on my first day! In my first class!"

"So don't tell them," said Naomi. "I'll get Uncle Steve to sign mine. He'll keep it on the downlow."

"I'll try for Aunt Val," said Adrianna, "but she does have a tendency to tell Mum everything."

"Hint at it," said Naomi. "If it feels like she might tell your mom, then we'll get Uncle Steve to sign both of ours. He's gotten really good at forging Daddy's signature."

"I do not think that is a good thing."

"In this case, Ade, it is a fanfriggintastic thing," said Naomi. "Maybe he could forge your dad's, too."

Forging her father's signature might not be so terrible, thought Adrianna, if it meant he could avoid the stress of learning of her detention.

Adrianna went into her second class of the day.

AP World History. She normally enjoyed history.

Her usual enjoyment of history was weighed down by the notice of detention in her pocket, despite the questions being posed by the history teacher about the history of the United Kingdom that Adrianna could have easily answered any other day.

The other students neglected to attempt a response and had to be volun-told, as the teacher had worded it.

Adrianna could tell David Silver recognized something was off with her in music class, but David was thankfully too distracted with his other, less musically inclined students to prod Adrianna for details as he normally would have done.

David, she was sure, would have relayed those details to both of her parents.

In each class, Adrianna watched the clock with dread, the ticks of the second hand bringing her closer and closer to three.

She considered halfway through her third period that staying late for detention might be slightly better than returning to her aunt's, where she would find her mum in the same depressed state Brenda had been in all summer.

Not that being with her dad would have been any better, if his truck was any indication of the current condition of his house.

Not if one drink had turned into two, or more, until Dylan's recovery had been completely trampled and the stack of sobriety coins proudly acquired over the years had been rendered pointless.

Kai's. She could go to Kai's.

Kai's would be better than being around her constantly distraught parents.

Anything was better than that.


-x

I had hoped to avoid yet another work-in-progress, but this pesky idea would not leave me alone until I had a plot, dialogue, scenes, a title...

You can blame my extremely partial 90210 re-watch for this, as I am fully convinced Ade looks exactly like BD's daughter and Naomi like BK's. Those two characters are the only reasons I don't disregard the naughties 90210 entirely. It it were up to me, the series would have focused on them and they would have been Walsh cousins.

Cannot promise how often this will be updated as I am hoping it will not backburner my other stories.

I do think we may get some POV's of the others, but likely just sticking to a small bit.

Thanks a million! x