This morning it was all normal until we left the house. "Come on, get in the car- -Family breakfast." Mom said as we were walking to the car.

"Mom, I have to practice my squat jumps for volleyball." Taylor said before giving a demonstration.

"Your what?" Mom asked before looking back. "Oh, good Lord. If I did that, Anna-Kat wouldn't be the only one peeing in the yard. Get in the car." Mom said to her.

"I was going to meet my friends at Stewart & Kingston's though." I said to Mom while walking to the car.

"You can reschedule." Mom said to me, I groaned. I was looking forwards to that.

"Oh, and we have to stop by Office Depot. I need to make some posters for the school's recycling drive - - chairman." Dad said to Mom, Taylor and I went to Anna-Kat.

"You can start by recycling that stupid blue bag from The New York Times that you leave next to the toilet every day." Mom said to him, I turned back to see Dad going to the door to lock it.

"Do I have to go?" Oliver asked Mom, I wish we didn't.

"Yes! I want a full family outing. Now get in the car." Mom said. I was just ready get this over with.

"Mom, we talked about the sweat pants - -Westporters get dressed to go out in public." Oliver said Mom. At the end of the day Mom was never going to do that.

"We're not Westporters. We are renters who live in Westport. It is a small distinction, but I cling to it. Now, get in the car." Mom said to him. When Mom walked over to us we all got in the car.

"Mama, I found this on the windshield." Anna-Kat said while handing the piece of paper over to Mom.

"A 'concerned' neighbor thinks we should get the dent in our minivan fixed. It's sullying the neighborhood. And look at that- -unsigned. There's something very wrong with this place. Coward!" Mom shouted, the end caught me by surprise. We ended up going to Stewart and Kingston's luckily my friends would be there soon. Anna-Kat kept sitting and standing and it was very annoying.

"Anna-Kat, the weird-versus-cute ratio is getting way out of whack." Oliver said to her, it really was.

"And it's getting really annoying as well." I said to her. I had to speak the truth.

"Don't talk to your sister like that." Dad said to the two of us, how else were we supposed to speak to her.

"She's always embarrassing us. You should see how she walks down the hall at school." Oliver said to us, I then remembered what happened on Thursday.

"Don't even start me on that." I said to him, it was so embarrassing.

Thursday

Oliver and I were getting our things from the lockers. While speaking with Cooper Bradford and one of his friends.

"Hey, isn't that your sister?" Cooper asked the two of us, I looked and saw her walking down the hall in a weird way.

"Yeah. She's feral. We found her in the woods." Oliver said to him.

"Our parents took pity on her and took her in." I said to them before Hattie walked over to us. We linked arms.

"We should get going." Hattie said to me with a smile. I nodded.

"Y/n, can we talk later?" Cooper asked as Hattie and I were talking later.

"I've got dance practice, sorry." I said before we walked off down the hall.

"You can't avoid him forever." Hattie said to me, I looked at her.

"I know." I said to her, it was hard for me to tell him how I really felt.

Current day

"I don't care if she's setting the teacher's lounge on fire. You're her brother and sister, and you need to have her back." Mom said to us, maybe when she stopped with all of this walking nonsense. "I actually do care if you set the teachers' lounge on fire." Mom said to Anna-Kat, but she wouldn't get punished because she's the favorite. "Mnh-mnh! No cellphones." Mom said before talking Taylor's phone.

"I have rights." Taylor said to her, we all did. But we just weren't allowed to use them.

"Isn't that cute?" Mom said while scoffing. She looked at Dad and they smiled at each other. "No, you don't. Whoever told you that is not helping you. I am in charge, and we are going to have a low-tech family breakfast like we used to do back home." Mom said to us, but we were home.

"Westport is our home. We're not visiting." Dad said to us, exactly and we weren't moving back home anytime soon.

"You know, I saw on Facebook that everyone from our old cul-de-sac got together for the annual kickball game. Carl made that punch in a trash can that he always brings. What's that stuff called?" Mom asked him, I thought the name was pretty obvious.

"Trash Can Punch." Dad said to her, it was named as it was.

"Yeah, that makes sense. They didn't even think to invite us." Mom said to us, yet again. Pretty self explanatory.

"Because we don't live there anymore." Dad said to us, it's probably a good thing when I broke up with Carl's daughter it wasn't exactly easy.

"We still kind of live there." Mom said to him, we really didn't. Besides I thought this was supposed to be a family outing.

"In no way, shape, or form do we live there." Dad said to her, at least someone agreed with me.

"That's why I said 'kind of.'" Mom said while holding Dad's hand.

"I'm bored." Anna-Kat said to us, I was as well.

"Okay, let's play a family game. I Spy. Who wants to go first?" Dad asked, I definitely didn't.

"I'd love to go first." Oliver said, this was a complete surprise.

"Oh!" Mom said in a shocked tone.

"I know what you're gonna say." I said while looking around and seeing Alice.

"I spy Alice coming in, and I spy you in sweat pants, so I spy me going over to her." Oliver said while standing up and leaving, I then saw my friends.

"I'll go next. I spy my friends about to come in, so I spy me going to grab us a table." I said before leaving after Oliver.

"It's 'I spy with my little eye'!" Anna-Kat shouted at us, I then walked over to the table and sat down.

"So, what are we discussing today?" Khad's asked after we ordered food and our drinks. We had our own second breakfast.

"...turkey bacon, and almond soy milk! I want real milk. Why can't any of you in this town be normal and regular? And why can't any of you drink cocktails out of a trash can like the rest of America?! Huh?!" Mom shouted, we all looked at her. It was all silent. We then moved on from that and talked about other things.

"Well, that about wraps us the popular phase of our childhood." Taylor said to us, I nodded.

"I'm surprised my friends still spoke to me after that." I said to her, it was so embarrassing.

"The cream was my last straw. Now I get why Fat Pam moved away. I wonder what her last straw was. Maybe she got her arms stuck in one of those tiny blouses that they sell on Main Street and couldn't get it out. Then they seam spilt, she had to roll it up in a ball, hide it in her pants, and then throw it out in the ladies' room." Mom said to us, that seemed like a very specific example.

"I'm worried about how specific that example was." Dad said to her, at least I wasn't the only one.

"No bright-siding it- -we just don't fit in, and I haven't liked it since the minute we got here." Mom said to us, I remembered the day we moved here.

2 years earlier

We officially moved to Westport, I didn't quite know what to expect especially since we drove past mansions and massive estates. To then the tiny house we would call home. "I love it! I have such a good feeling about this!" Mom shouted once we got out the car, maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.

"Hello!" The older woman said while exiting the house, it was a bit embarrassed to be seen with Oliver who was wearing his Hogwarts outfit.

"Hi! I'm Katie." Mom said while sticking her hand out.

"Ah, nice to meet you." She said while shaking Mom's hand.

"This is my husband, Greg." Mom said to her.

"Hello." Dad said to her while shaking her hand.

"Hello." She said to him with a smile.

"And this is Taylor, Y/n and Oliver." Mom said to us, I smiled at her.

"Hi." Taylor said while shaking her hand.

"You play volleyball?" She asked Taylor, it was obvious.

"Yes." She answered.

"Westport Unified has a great team." She said to Taylor with a smile, it looks like Taylor has somewhere to go for sports. What about me for dance?

"Oh, good to know." Mom said with a smile.

"I played when I went there- -State champions, 1956." She said to us with a smile, now that's impressive.

"Is there any places that have a dance team?" I asked her, I was praying that there was.

"There is, I feel like you'll be amazing and help win nationals every other year." She said to me with a smile, I felt like I could.

"I'll try my best." I said to her with a smile.

"Can I see what you can do?" She asked me with a smile, I nodded and showed a her a quick choreography I learnt. She clapped.

"She got her dance ability from me." Mom said to her with a smile.

"Well, she's really good. Keep at it, I can see you being the worlds greatest dancer." She said to me making me smile, now I wanted to make that a reality.

"Yeah, but do you have a Qudditch team?" Oliver asked her, judging by her face it was a no.

"Oliver's going through a very intense Harry Potter phase. We still like him, but it's been a struggle." Dad said to her, it was hard not to try that death spell on him some days.

"Come on in. I'll show you the place." She said to us with a smile, looks like we could finally see our new home.

"You three go wait in the car." Mom said to us, I wanted to claim my room.

"To Platform 9 3/4!" Oliver said while holding his wand out. Kill me now.

"That Lemony Snicket phase is looking pretty good right about now." Mom said from behind. That was an event worse time.

"They can come in." The woman said to Mom and Dad.

"Oh, no. Our youngest daughter Anna-Kat is in the car. She is afraid of strangers, lawns and germs." Mom said to her, I wish Anna-Kat would get over it already.

"We're actually moving to Westport to help her so hopefully she'll be rolling around your lawn covered with germs with a stranger." Dad said to her, but of a weird thing to say but I agree.

"Okay! Well, come on in." She said before they both went in the house. Who knew that this place would be where we'd call home. After a while Anna-Kat started pressing on the car wheel so the horn would go off and it was annoying.

Current day

When we got home I saw a For sale sign on the lawn. "What the hell?" Dad asked while getting out the minivan.

"Oh, my god. They're selling our lawn." Taylor said to us.

"No, they're selling our house." I said to her but the thing is. I didn't want to move. When we got inside Dad made a phone call.

"You have no right to sell our house out from under us. Yes, I know it's not our house, and you have every right to do it, so I was wrong about that. But surely have some sense of moral obligation? Okay, so I was wrong about that, too. To be fair, you don't own the house, your mother does, so I would like to have her contact information. No, I am not going to do that to myself." Dad said before he hung up the phone to Don, I take it that didn't go well. "Wow. Don just went premium cable at the end there." Dad said to us, Oliver and I were looking at how much the house was.

"Why don't we just buy the house?" Taylor asked him.

"We could afford it but we might be even poorer after that." I said to him with a smile.

"I'll give you several million reasons why we can't do that." Dad said to us, so we could look at other options.

"We can rent. There's a place on Bayberry Lane for $17,000 a month." Oliver said to us while looking at the property. It was nice and we could definitely have a nice life there.

"I'll give you 15,000 reasons why we can't do that." Dad said to us, I didn't want to leave Westport, this place was my home. "What do we do?" Dad asked Mom, we kick up a fight for our home.

"Move- -to a normal town with normal people with restaurants that have normal coffee additives." Mom said to us, but what about all my friends.

"We can't leave Westport!" Taylor shouted at them.

"We're all happy here." Oliver said to her.

"We have so many friends here and we fit in really well." I said to Mom, I couldn't leave at all.

"Not all of us. This is a sign that we should move. And there is a literal sign in our front yard telling is that we have to move. So it's a sign and a sign." Mom said to us, we all seemed to like it here except for Mom.

"I won't accept that. You know what? We don't need Don to tell us where his mother is. We can look up Linda Smith online and convince her to change her mind." Dad said to us, Oliver then started to search her up.

"Linda Smith. I'll give you 14,753 reasons why that won't work." Oliver said to him, I didn't feel like spending my day trying to find which Linda Smith was the right one.

"Right." Dad said to us, back to the drawing board. I went upstairs and called Hattie.

"Hey, I have a question?" I asked her once she picked up, she looked at me concernedly.

"Is everything okay? This sounds serious." She said to me, I looked at her. It was serious.

"We might have to move out of Westport so I was wondering if I could live with you until we graduate." I said to her, she smiled at me. And then have me a nod.

"I'll talk to my parents but I know she'll say yes. We can finally be roommates." She said to me with a smile. We finished up the call and Dad told me to write why I wanted to stay in Westport. We then got chairs sorted out and put a chair in front of us for Mom and waited for her to return home.

"What's this?" She asked us while looking at the five of us.

"Sit." Dad said to her and she did. "This is an intervention." Dad said to her, we were making sure that we were going to stay here in Westport.

"So, I want to review the rules- -we can say anything we want to Mom without repercussions?" Oliver asked Dad, I had a lot more things to say then.

"Yes." Dad said to him, I nodded. Sounded good.

"Okay. I'll go first. Mom, your wanting to move makes me feel..." Oliver started before Mom walked away and went straight upstairs.

"She just walked away." Anna-Kat said to us.

"Typical Mom." I said to them.

"Huh. I did not account for that." Dad said to us, he then went upstairs to go and speak with Mom. I felt my phone go off. Hattie texted me.

"And I have a place to live if we're forced to leave Westport." I said to them with a smile.

"Where?" Taylor asked me confusedly.

"I can move in with Hattie." I said to them before getting something from the fridge and heading upstairs. I packed a small bag before going back down stairs. It wasn't long until Mom came down.

"Mom, your wanting to move makes me feel- -" Taylor started before the front door shut and we saw Mom trying to take the For sale sign out of the ground.

"What is she doing?" Oliver asked us.

"I don't know but does this mean she wants to stay?" I asked while looking back at Dad, he shrugged. I was hoping it was. We then went outside.

"Mom, what is going on?" Taylor asked her, was she on something.

"I may not belong here, but the rest of you do, and that's what counts." Mom said to us with a smile, and just like that we weren't leaving.

"Let's do this." Dad said before we all started taking the sign out of the ground. Once it was out of the ground we threw it to the ground.

"Yeah!" Dad shouted, this was a nice family fun day.

"You realize the house is still for sale, right?" Oliver asked and we all sighed. Now the moment was destroyed. "I ruined the moment." Oliver said to us.

"You did, you could've waited a little bit." I said to him. We went inside and waited a bit, we saw the realtor coming over and putting the sign up. He even put an open house sign on it. But no one was entering this house, not today.

"Okay- -shut the curtains and lock the doors. They can't buy what they can't see." Mom said before locking the front door. I went and locked the back door. Whilst everyone else shut the curtains. We then gathered around the table except for Mom.

"Hello? Anyone home? My key doesn't work." Todd said to us, he was not entering under any circumstances.

"We changed the locks. Go away. This house is not for sale." Mom shouted at him, it really wasn't.

'It is. That sign with my name on it says so. Just open up. This tray of cookies is getting heavy." Todd said to us, Mom opened the door and grabbed a few cookies. "Hey!" Todd shouted at her.

"We're not going anywhere." Mom said while eating one of the cookies.

"Yeah! Fuck you, Todd!" Taylor shouted, we all looked at her, I'd never heard her swear before. "Too much?" She asked while lifting her shoulder up.

"Just a little bit." I said to her. She nodded.

"You know, people don't really need to see inside. Whoever buys this house is just gonna tear it down." Todd said to us, they could only tear it down if we weren't in the house.

"Then we're going down with it, like Benjamin Guggenheim in the Titanic." Anna-Kat shouted, good reference.

"Good reference, baby." Dad said to her with a smile, it truly was.

'This is a very bad situation, but a very good cookie." Mom said to us while eating the cookie. If only I had one.

"The real-estate agent is right. Whoever buys this house is just gonna tear it down." Dad said to us, we just had to get Don over here.

"I wonder if the landlord thought of that." Mom said to us. They had a plan to get Don over. If we could leave I'd probably go and talk to Cooper seeming as if Mom and Dad don't allow me to live with Hattie, I'll never get the chance to tell him how I feel. When it got to later on, Don came over and they spoke in Dad's office. We just waited for the to come out and when they did. It didn't look good. "We are not going to give up. We're going to call every Linda Smith in the tri-state area until we find your mom." Mom said to him, that just proved that it didn't go well.

"She went back to her maiden name when my dad died. You'll never find her." Don said to us, now that just sounded like a challenge. "Aww...that's where my cat Helen had her last diabetic seizure." Don said before walking out, I'm guessing there's a lot of bad memories. Dad shut the door behind Don.

"He's already getting offers. We're out of time. I'm afraid it's over." Mom said to us, I wasn't giving up.

"We can't give up now, we're too far into this." I said to her, I then looked at Taylor.

"No, it's not. We just have to find the woman who owns the house." Taylor said to us, that would be impossible unless we knew her maiden name.

"Who's gonna get her up to speed? Not it." Oliver said to us, I was still looking at Taylor, I could tell she knew something.

"Group photos of all the championship teams are on the trophy case with the players' names written underneath. Mrs. Smith was on the 1956 championship team." Taylor said I smiled, for once Taylor actually said something smart.

"The photo would have her maiden name." Dad said while pointing at Taylor.

"You are a genius." Mom said to her with a smile.

"You're actually smarter than you seem." I said to Taylor with a smile, I saw Taylor start to smile.

"Right?" Taylor said making Mom and I laugh.

"Okay. Spell 'genius.'" Oliver said to her, she didn't have to.

"Um..." Taylor uttered before Dad cut her off.

"Honey, walk away. Leave a winner." Dad said to her and she nodded.

"Problem- -The school's locked any Don's gonna sell this place as fast as he can. Monday's gonna be too late." Oliver said while standing up, especially since it was Saturday. We didn't have a chance.

"Unless a member of the family were an elected committee official entrusted with...a key to the school." Dad said to us, for once this family did something right.

"Oh, my God, something good has finally come from volunteering." Mom said, we then made our way to the school. Once we got in we all looked at our finish line. The trophy case.

"The trophy case is at the end of the hall." Taylor said to us, she started to walk forwards but Dad stopped her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa- -motion sensors to the alarm. This isn't gonna work." Dad said to us, we had to Mission Impossible this. This was going to be fun.

"How are we gonna get past them?" Mom asked her, someone had to know something.

"We're not." Dad said to us while looking down the hall.

"We should just go for it." Oliver said to us, sounded good.

"Or we could Mission Impossible it." I said with a smile.

"We can't just go for it. I'm chairman of the Recycling Committee. If we get caught, that could all go away." Dad said to us, arms we couldn't have that happening.

"Are the motion sensors those little red lights that flash when people walk by?" Anna-Kat asked while pointing at them.

"Yeah." Oliver and I said to her.

"I can get past those without them blinking. I do it every day." Anna-Kat said before looking at us, so that explained her weird way of walking down the hall.

"Ohh," Oliver and I said at the same time.

"So that's why you walk down the hall like that." Oliver said to her while nodding.

"That makes a lot of sense now." I said to her with a nod.

"Uh-huh. It's bad luck to make them blink. Follow me." Anna-Kat said we all followed her lead. I went after Taylor. I didn't care that I looked like an idiot. Once we made it to the case we started looking for a Linda.

"I just realized we didn't all have to do this." Dad said to us, it was a waste of time us doing all of this but it was still fun.

"I don't care. We're having a fun family outing. Now, let's find Don's mom." Mom said while standing up with a smile and walking over to us.

"Okay." Dad said with a smile. Mom hummed as we were looking.

"I think that's her- -Linda Tepper." Taylor said to us while pointing her out.

"Linda Tepper. Good." Dad said to her with a smile, now we just had to locate a Linda Tepper.

"I'm gonna throw you all for a loop here- -good job, Taylor. Good job, Anna-Kat." Oliver said to them both earning a smile from the two.

"I'm so proud of you both." I said to them making them smile.

"All right. Let's go." Dad said, he was about to start doing the whole thing again.

"There's no way I'm doing that again." Mom said as she walked down the hall setting the alarms off.

"Babe, I'll be stripped of my position!" Dad shouted while still being on the ground.

"You're the only idiot who wants that job." Mom said while walking away, the four of us just ran down the hallway leaving Dad on the ground until he finally ran with us. The next day Mom and Dad went to see Linda whilst I went to see Cooper and finally talk. Once I made it to Juniper Hill someone told me where I could find him.

"Y/n, what are you doing here?" He asked me, he was in his indoor bowling area.

"Well, we might have to move out of Westport if something does happen so I thought that we could talk. But only if you want to." I said to him while sitting down on one of the chairs.

"I've been wanting to talk with you all week but you've always been busy." He said while sitting next to me. "But I hope that you don't have to move." He said to me, the Cooper Bradford didn't want me to move. Was something happening. Was there a connection here.

"Well, if I'm not allowed to move in with Hattie I'll be off to another town and I would've regretted not doing something." I said to him, he looked at me confusedly.

"What would that be?" He asked me, I let out a heavy breath.

"Here we go, once I say this you don't have to speak to me ever again if you don't want." I said to him, I think he was getting a bit concerned now.

"Is everything okay?" He asked me, I could see some worry on his face.

"I like you Cooper Bradford, and not just as a friend. Now if you don't feel the same way, I'm fine with that but I just wanted to say it just in case you do feel the same. But yeah, I like you." I said to him, I saw him smile. I looked away, I felt my cheeks burning a little bit.

"Well. I like you too. And that's what I've wanted to tell you these past 2 weeks but you've always walked away before I had the chance." He said to me, I smiled a little bit.

"Do you maybe wanna go and get dinner sometime? If I'm still here that is." I said to him laughing a little at the end.

"I will reserve a table somewhere and if you don't live in Westport I'll send for my driver to pick you up." He said to me with a smile, I felt my phone go off. It was a message from Mom.

"We're not leaving Westport. We're staying." I said with a smile, I hugged him without thinking and he hugged back.

"I'm happy you're staying." He said to me once we pulled away. I stayed for a bit longer before leaving. Was Cooper Bradford going to be my boyfriend or was that whole thing a dream but either way I was staying in Westport and I might finally be dating the guy I like.

2 years earlier

We managed to move in and we painted 'Otto' on the mailbox along with drawing a tortoise. Dad put paint on Taylor's nose and we all started laughing. I think we were going to like living here. Maybe this was the new start we needed. And hopefully we were going to have an amazing time living here, no matter what this place throws at us at least we'd all have each other's backs.