“Bye, Cas. I’ll call you when I arrive there okay!” I muttered, suddenly holding back my tears as I was pulled into a hug.

“Uh-huh, we will always talk! And if we can’t, we will at least message when we can,” Casey assured me as she hugged me back.

Smiling slightly, I pulled out of the hug and with a final wave, climbed into our SUV, watching my best friend stand in my yard and my

neighborhood for the last time as my Dad drove off.

It felt like I was leaving a part of me here. But then again, I was going whole.

“Are you excited, darling?”

Mom suddenly asked me, cutting the silence that had been building up since we left seven hours ago. The ride from California to Piedmont was

fifteen hours and thirteen minutes, and already in these seven hours, we had stopped twice to fuel up the SUV and buy some snacks along the way.

“Yeah, Mom, are you?” I murmured back, knowing well that both my parents were extremely excited for this “new chapter” in their lives.

Dad would not stop talking about the abundance of brilliant literature his new university had, not to mention the significant rise in wages and position. He

was ecstatic. For Mom, her boutiques and salons around California were still running. Although she would have to fly back and forth occasionally, her excitement about opening a new boutique and salon in Piedmont was overwhelming.

“Oh, I am so excited!” She squealed, clapping her hands together before turning towards Dad and placing a loving kiss on his cheek. It was normal for me to witness their weird romance, so I just rolled

my eyes and looked at the passing views.

“The new house is bigger, Theia,” Dad chuckled and looked at me from the review mirror.

I knew he was trying to make me feel better about moving, leaving my old friends and life behind, so I just grinned at Dad and uttered the first thing I thought would make him worry less. “I get the room with the best view!”

Dad chuckled and nodded, making my grin widen. It was not hard to notice that I was a papa’s girl. And with me being the only child, he doted

on me. I was his little Fuzzybottom — not that my bottom was fuzzy, but… just because — and well, he was my hero.

“One of the best things about the house is that it has great views all around the rooms. But you’ll receive the one with the best view, we promise. We should be settled by tomorrow. Hopefully, the day after, you and I could go shopping!” Mom said as she turned to look at me. Not excited at all, I somehow managed to produce a fake smile and plaster it across my face.

Nobody messed with Mom when it came to shopping… nobody!

Once her attention was elsewhere, I turned around to see how far off our moving truck was behind us. I brought out a book from my backpack

and plugged my earphones into my iPod before playing “Davy Jones Music Box and the Rainy Mood.” Somehow, the rumbles of thunder together with the soft sound of the tune playing created a more reading mood for me. Shoving the iPod inside my pants pocket, I flipped through the pages of my newest read, Indiscretions, slumped back into a more comfortable position, and began journeying once again into a different time and a whole different world; this time, into the world of Lord Lockwood.

“Thi, we are here!”

I mumbled a few incoherent words before turning in my bed. Need sleep.

“Thi, Wake up!” Dad’s voice urged me before I was shaken on the shoulder and lightly tapped on my face. What the heck?

“Alright, alright!” I grumbled as I sat up on my bed and peeped my eye open.

I gasped. My face was becoming warmer by the second as I finally realized that I was in our SUV and a couple of people were staring at me, smiling like a bunch of weirdos. My folks included.

My cheeks burned as my eyes rested on a blond-haired guy smirking at me, an axe in his hand as he rested it on his shoulder.

What was he? A huntsman? I rolled my eyes in my mind as I pushed any budding crush away. I was more of a Beauty and the Beast girl, anyway.

Finally managing to look away, I smiled at the rest of the folks smiling at me, two slightly older couples.

“Oh, she’s so beautiful!” The red-headed one gushed as I shoved my iPod and book into my backpack and got out of the SUV.

“Thanks,” I mumbled back, knowing full well that the blond was still staring and smirking at me.

“Hello, dear, welcome to Piedmont! I’m Jane, and this here is my son, Alex, and my husband, Hugh. We live just beside your house.

That one there is Mary and her husband, Grant. They have a son too, Matthew. He is good friends with Alex here,” Jane told me excitedly, and I smiled back brightly, mirroring her excitement.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I am really excited to be here,” I replied happily as I extended my hand towards each one of them, shaking their hands softly but waving awkwardly at the smirking blond, Alex.

That boy seemed as beautiful as he seemed arrogant… beautiful, nonetheless. But then, arrogance trumped beauty any day.

My new home stood tall and proud — red bricks and a posh-looking French door.

It seemed to have at least three floors, including the small attic on the third floor. Even the front yard seemed beautifully cultivated.

I waited for Jane and Mary to start talking to Mom and Hugh and Grant to

start helping my Dad and the movers to place all our stuff into the house before picking up one of my smaller book boxes.

I made a run for it.

Dashing into the house as quickly as I could, I stopped only to grab Dad and drag him away, begging him to show me my room.

He grinned excitedly, and exchanging a knowing look with both Hugh and Grant, led me upstairs until we came to a stop on the very end of the hallway.

He unlocked the room and opened the doors, motioning me to walk in.

I walked in and froze.