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3 years later I was standing in front of my old house, 2 suitcases in hand.

I was back.

I should've been happy that I finally was able to go back to my home in California, but I just wasn't that pumped. I had finally settled into my new life up in New York, and not to mention the severe weather adjustment. I had even made some friends, which was a lot for me because ever since I had moved you could say I've had major trust issues. All in all, I had finally accepted the fact that It was better in New York and my life was starting to take a smoother course.

Just kidding.

My mom got some promotion that involved her flying over to Paris for some yearlong project. She had never fully recovered from the divorce with dad and my brother's death. I was proud that she had received a promotion and I had been the one to urge her to go to Paris. She needed it. I was more than happy until she told me I would have to live with my dad for the year. I didn't understand why living with one of my friends or staying home alone was a problem- but apparently it was. She had insisted that I go live with my dad. She even told me it was about time I visited him. I hadn't seen him since the divorce. Don't think he wasn't interested...he was. He called every Sunday to say hello and ask me the boring af questions like 'how is school going?', but after the first couple months I couldn't deal with it anymore. It's like the realization finally hit that I wasn't going home. I had stopped talking to him, but every Sunday since he continued to call. And every Sunday my mom would pick up the phone and say the same thing 'Try again next weekend'. It's like she knew I still didn't want to talk to him- and was hoping one day I would want to. Although the divorce had a devastating effect on my mom, she still thought it was important for me to stay in touch with him. She said it wasn't fair for him to lose both children.

I never did call though, until I called him to tell him I was coming to live with him. My mom had previously conversed with him about it, but she thought it was best for me to tell him myself before I just showed up and demanded to have a place to sleep and food to eat. So I had called him, and needless to say, it couldn't have been more awkward. Almost a full 3 years later, and you're talking to your dad you had previously shut out because you were having major withdrawal issues and now you felt so bad about it you didn't even know what to say? Yeah that...

Still here I was, standing in front of the house i had lived in my whole life up until 3 years ago. The house that so many memories had been made. The house that reminded me of the perfect life I did have. The house that made me wonder 'what the heck happened?'.

I guess it would have been easier to just forget about this place, and I was doing a good job of it until the trip to Paris happened. And yeah, I wasn't that excited to be here, not how I thought I would feel after being away for so long, but I was determined to make the best of it. God knows I didn't want to have another 'feel sorry for myself' year like I did my first year in New York.

I scan the exterior of the house before my eyes rest on the door. I could still turn back. I could be a hobo and live on the rails or something. My body responded for me, and I walked forward towards the door, climbing the steps and setting down my luggage before ringing the doorbell.

What would I say?

'Hi Dad! Long time no see!'

'Hey Dad! House looks nice!'

'What's up Dad?'

The door swung open and a lady with curly brown hair answered the door.

"You must be Finnly! It's so nice to finally meet you! Your father has told me so much about you!" She said, gathering me into a hug.

Who the heck was this lady? And where was my dad?

She released me and I offered a small smile "Uh yeah, I'm Finnly" I said, mentally praying she would introduce herself so I wouldn't have to awkwardly ask who the hell she was.

Before she could respond, a tall figure arrived in the door frame. My father. He looked exactly like he did 3 years ago, except his hair was slightly gray in places.

He smiled at me and turned to the lady "This is Kim; we'll have to talk more about this later but first, come in! It's been so long!" He said.

I thanked the Lord he hadn't been upset or disappointed to see me. Maybe things wouldn't be as awkward as I had perceived them to be.

I nodded and rolled by luggage into the house.

"When we got the news you were coming to California again, we refurnished your old room! We thought the old princess bed spread was a little too young for you" Kim said.

Oh yeah. Haha, thank goodness that bedspread was gone. I had been trying to get rid of that all through middle school, but my mother had refused to remodel my room until freshman year, which had never happened.

"Thank you" I said, a small smile spreading across my lips.

"Of course! I suppose you have Anna to thank for that! She couldn't bare seeing your room decorated like that when she moved here!" Kim laughed, as she took a glance at my father.

Wait...who was Anna? Why'd she move here? I answered my own question when my father leaned down to kiss Kim's head. Ok. Yeah. Kim and my dad were a thing and Anna was most definitely Kim's daughter.

I knew my dad would eventually move on. I didn't expect for him to wait for me forever. But Kim and him together brought back memories of when my mom and him were together and he would kiss her on the top of her head...and when my brother would always whisper in my ear afterwards 'If a boy ever does anything more than that to you- he will be in a lot of trouble'. And I'd laugh and say 'yeah whatever'.

It hurt. All of it.

Seeing them happy when I wasn't. I know that's selfish...but even though he can forget about what happened 3 years ago, I can't.

And everything here is going to remind me of what my life could've been like if the accident hadn't happened.

My father and Kim must've noticed that something was wrong because they ushered me up the steps near my room.

"Not a lot has changed here- you won't have any problems settling in" Kim said, smiling towards me "It's a very quaint town and everyone is very accepting".

I nodded and gave her a small smile back. Yeah, seeing this lady hurt, but I could tell she was putting in an effort to make me feel at home so I decided to show a little gratitude.

To be honest, the town had looked exactly the same on my taxi ride from the airport. Even the small beach diner looked the same, and my old middle school hadn't changed one bit. The neighborhood had some houses for sale and one had been knocked down because of who knows what, but other than that, everything was the just how it had been. It was kind of reassuring to know that some things never change.

As we walked down the hall, Kim knocked on my brother's old bedroom door

"Anna! Finnly is here! Come say hello!"

"I'll be there in a minute mom"

Kim laughed and rolled her eyes before opening the door across from it , "Tada! You're new room! Do you like it?" she asked.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. It looked so different from the old princess theme it was hard to imagine that this had once been my room. There was a huge bed with purple sheets and duvet cover, a white serpa rug, a white desk in the corner, framed photos on top of my dresser , a new walk in closet, and a window seat near the window.

"This is amazing!" I said "thank you!"

Kim smiled in excitement "I'm so glad you like it!" she said

"Ofcourse!" My dad added , "We want to do anything and everything to make you feel comfortable here. This is your home and just because some things have happened doesn't make it any less so" he said , "You unpack and come down stairs later for dinner ok?" he continued.

I nodded "yeah sounds good" I said, finally allowing a genuine smile to spread across my face.

Kim nodded and left the room , calling for Anna again.

"Finnly, I know all of this is new for both of us. And I know it must hurt to see Kim here- but I love her, and things are finally starting to look up for me. I know you haven't wanted to talk to me, but I hope that can change. I want to be family again. The things that happened 3 years ago are in the past, and we must try to move past that. I really do believe you can fit in here and make friends, and I hope one day you can call this place your home again" My dad said.

I nodded "Thanks Dad" I said, trying to search for something...anything to say.

He nodded in response and started heading out my door.

"And Dad-" I said

He turned around to look back at me.

"I'm glad you're happy" I said.

He smiled "You'll be happy here too" he said, before he walked out of my room.

I hoped he was right.

I opened my suitcase on my floor and started taking some clothes out, putting them in the closet. My mom had already sent most of my stuff here, which had already been hung up and organized by Kim.

To be honest, how welcoming my dad and Kim were took me by surprise. I suppose that's the difference between people like me and people like them, they can move past things and I just...can't.

"Hey!"

I swung around to look at the door

"Oh hey! You're Anna right?" I asked, setting the clothes I had been holding down on my bed.

The girl smiled "yeah! That's me! My mom wanted me to say hi and tell you that I'm really excited to have you here." She said

Anna was short, with red curly hair up in a ponytail. I was guessing she was a sophomore in highschool but I wasn't positive. She had freckles and wore glasses. She was pretty in a quirky kind of way.

"Which I am very happy you are here! I designed your room for you, is the purple ok? I wasn't sure. How about the bed? Is it too small or too big? And does the closet give enough space? I didn't really know how many clothes you had so I didn't know how big we should make it." She rambled.

I laughed "Don't worry, you did an amazing job on the room" I said , "You have no clue how much it means to me to finally be rid of that stupid princess bed spread" I laughed.

She laughed "Oh god that was horrid" She said.

I laughed again and nodded in agreement "Yeah, it really was".

She moved away from the door and sat down on my bed

"You know, this room is really the best room in the entire house" she said.

I raised an eyebrow at her

"How so?" I asked.

She laughed, "It's got the best view" she continued, nodding towards the window.

I looked at her questionably as I moved over to the window. No one had lived next door when I lived here with my parents, it was just a barren house and my window had looked straight into one of the rooms. Which, to be honest, had been creepy as heck.

I tentatively moved the curtains slightly, enough so I could see.

The 'creepy as heck' room had been re done and was now, obviously, a guy's room.

I quickly moved the curtain back to its original position.

"Do you have any idea how creepy that is?!" I asked, spinning to look at her.

She laughed "Calm down, it's not like I come in here and watch the room every day. It just happened once" she shrugged, getting a kick out of how much I was freaking out.

When no one had lived next door, I hadn't really minded that the two windows were pretty much a foot away from one another (seriously, who the crap decided the proximity of the houses? stupid), but now, I had a neighbor. A guy neighbor.

"It's fine. I'll just keep the curtains closed" I said shrugging.

Anna laughed "Have you seen this guy? He is hot."

I crossed my arms "I haven't even been here for a day, how would I-"

"SHHH!" Anna interrupted.

I looked at her confused ,"what?" I asked.

Anna put a finger to her lips and moved towards the window

"looks like Colton is home" she said, nodding towards the window.

Wait. Holy crap.

No seriously.

Holy crap.

Crap.

Crap.

"WAIT! Colton?" I said in a harsh whisper.

Anna nodded , "Yeah! Cute name right? Here, you can meet him!" She said, as she drew back the curtains and opened the window.

"Anna- you close that window right now or-" I cut off mid-sentence when Anna started talking.

"Hi Colton!"

I quietly slid towards my closet and closed the door behind me. God this was humiliating. I didn't want to meet him. I already had. Three years ago, in fact. The last time I saw him was at the 8th grade dance, when he had 'claimed' to like me...'a lot'. Bullshit,because if you had, you would have made an effort to contact me after I moved away instead of telling Becca you didn't want to talk to me again.

And now, he was living next door. I assumed he had moved shortly after we had left. His mom had been talking about moving into our neighborhood because their house had been having a million and one problems.

To be honest, I wasn't too mad at Colton any more. Like ok, fine, you broke my heart. Yeah, you lied about liking me. Yeah yeah. Whatever. It was three years ago and I'd like to leave my petty past 'love life' in the dust.

But now I'd have to see him every day.

"Oh hey Anna!"

My attention immediately snapped to their conversation.

I wondered if he looked much different. If maybe, possibly, he had become even more attractive and if he had finally listened to the orthodontist and gotten to the point where he no longer needed braces.

What about his green eyes?

And the scatter of freckles across his cheeks?

And had his dark hair?

Was he taller?

I tried to push the thoughts out of my head.

Calm down, he's probably changed ok? You've changed so he has too. It's been three years.

"What's up?"

My attention turned to their conversation...again.

"Nothing much. My sister just came from New York. I was going to introduce you two but I don't know where she is right now" Anna said.

I could picture her scanning the room before shrugging.

"Your sister?"

"Oh step sister really. Well, not yet. You know, the wedding isn't till the spring"

"What's her name?"

"Finnly"

There was a slight pause before he said anything , "Oh well tell her I said 'hi'"

"Colton! Are you coming? Everyone's already at the party!"

My eyes widened in surprise when I heard the new, familar voice enter the conversation.

You're joking.

It was her.

"Yeah! Coming! I'll be right down!" Colton called.

"Hey, I have to go but see you tomorrow ok?" Colton said to Anna.

"Yeah! See ya later!" Anna responded, sounding kind of hurt.

From the way Anna talked about him and spoke to him, I knew she looked up to Colton. Even admired him. I suppose hearing him blow her off for someone else hit her hard. It was like how I felt when my brother blew me off for one of his friends.

I waited until I heard her shut the window and draw the curtains before I opened the closet door.

"Why were you hiding? I swear he's hot!" Anna said exasperated, throwing her hands up in the air.

I smile a little at her , "I bet he is" I laughed , "But hey, who needs him now, right?" I said, trying to shift the conversation away from Colton.

I could tell she was hurting a little by his abrupt exit, and to be frank, I was hurting too.

I sat down on my bed and Anna followed, doing the same.

She shrugged , "I don't know. He was just the first friend I made when I moved here, but he only ever seems to hang out with me or talk to me when there is no one else around. Like that party his girlfriend was talking about? Only the cool crowd got invited, and Colton could've invited me if he had wanted too. I just want to have real friends who aren't going to blow me off" She said softly.

I nodded ,"Hey, don't worry about it. You don't need to fit in with that crowd" I said , "And we're sisters right? We have each other" I comforted.

I know how lame that sounded, but she felt comfort in it because she smiled

"Yeah, it's good having you here" she said , "it was starting to get really lonely."

I smiled , "On the bright side, if we don't make any friends, It's not like we'll be completely alone."

I was trying to comfort her, but I was also trying to comfort myself.

The voice that had called up to Colton had sounded so familiar, and it had only taken me a second to realize who it belonged to.

I knew Colton would eventually move on. I mean, when you're gone for 3 years, things are going to happen. And of course, people are going to change.

But I really never thought that in a million years Colton would get together with someone like her.

Someone so unlike him in every way possible.

Becca.

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Here's the Friday update! I'll be updating every Friday from now on so make sure to check in Friday nights for the newest chapter :)

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has read my story so far! 200 reads in one week is absolutely amazing and it really motivates me to keep going- so i love you all :)

kisses- A

Song of the chap: La Da Dee - Cody Simpson