"I can't believe you're finally moving back home," my best friend Luke Taylor enthuses as we drive past the vaguely familiar sign.

"Welcome to Pearlacre"

The sign had faded in color since the last time I had seen it and looked worn and tired. In a strange way, I felt as though I related to the sign.

I hadn't seen that sign for 3 years, and although it didn't seem like a lot, it felt like it was a whole lifetime ago to me.

Of course I had been back here throughout my time abroad to visit my grandparents, cousins, and obviously Luke, but it had only been for a short time and I had always flown in, never having seen this particular sign since the last time I drove past it. Although we were heading in the opposite direction, I made sure I turned my body around to take one last look at the once bright sign. A memory that I've never forgotten.

Perhaps it was the fact that the last time I saw the sign it was after everything had happened and looking back at it allowed my younger self to reminisce. I never understood why my mom decided to up and run, I mean I understood that after everything that happened she needed a fresh start but it always felt to me like she was running away from everything.

Her family was around, maybe my innocent mind felt as though her family could heal everything and it would all be okay. I didn't want to leave my family, I was always extremely close to my cousins on my mother's side as well as her parents, and she was always extremely close to her family. It never really made sense to me.

That was until I grew older and understood exactly why my mother did what she did.

In fact, I still wasn't truly on board with moving back home. Of course I would never tell my mom that, she missed her family so much and anybody could tell. The distance didn't affect our relationship with my mother's family at all, we would call every day and see each other every holiday, but it eventually wasn't enough for my mom.

She was an amazing mom and my best friend. If she had known that I wasn't ready to return she never would have made the move, but she had sacrificed so much for me and I knew this was what she really needed, what both she and my younger brother Elijah needed. Elijah was young when everything happened and although he pretends to be cool, I know that it still affects him and that he needs to be back with our family.

My mother was lucky though, she met a man while we were away and recently got engaged to him. It may seem like a short time, but Robert and my mother were absolutely perfect for each other, and Robert was perfect for Elijah and I. Robert was an amazing man, he had invested his youth into his work and therefore didn't have a family of his own so he loved Elijah and I like his own children, and we loved him back.

Robert was a detective and a good one at that. He had started off as a cop but got promoted extremely quickly. He loved his job so much and it was always really nice to see. He was such a family man and it shocked me that he hadn't had his own. My mother's family also adored him, something that they never experienced when it came to my mother and her choice of men.

"Oh come on Emilia you're not even listening are you," Luke groans when he realizes I was lost in my thoughts and not listening to what he was saying.

I grin toothily at my best friend, "but I'm still your favorite person in the world aren't I Lukas."

"Not if you call me Lukas," he groans.

"But you'll always be Lukas to me," I smile innocently making him roll his eyes.

"Whatever Emilia," he replies smirking.

Luke had always called me Emilia instead of my actual name which was Emily, just like I had always called him Lukas instead of Luke. Although I didn't mind him calling me Emilia, he hated me calling him Lukas, something about me degrading his masculinity.

"Anyways," Luke dragged on pointedly. "As I was saying, I can't wait to take you on a tour and for you to finally go to school with me again," he enthuses.

Luke and I had been best friends forever, our mothers were best friends when they were our age so naturally, Luke and I became close. Luke's mum Melissa and my mother had 2 children each who were the same age so we all stayed extremely close just like my mother and Mel did.

"Lukas" I groan, "I was literally here last holiday to visit you guys and my family, I doubt THAT MUCH has changed."

"Hey let me be excited that my best friend is finally moving back home after all these years and staying here permanently," Luke argues throwing me a pointed look.

"Has anyone ever told you how incredibly annoying you are," I reply smirking.

"But I'm still your favorite person in the world aren't I EMILIA," Luke grins back, repeating what I had said earlier and causing me to chuckle at my best friend's antics.

***

"BABY BABY BABY OHHH LIKE BABY BABY BABY NOOO"

I jolt awake suddenly looking around in a panic when I face a hysterically laughing Luke holding his stomach.

"YOU ASSHOLE," I yell hitting his shoulder, only making him laugh more.

I glare at him while he sobers up trying very hard to keep a strict face and to stop myself from joining in with him.

"We're here!!" He yells excitedly when he finally stops laughing.

I look at the house we've pulled up to, it's a nice, large, two-story house. The house is a plain light brick but it makes the house look comfortable and homey, yet modern and classy.

My mother was a surgeon so we had enough money to live comfortably, but we had nowhere near as much money as Luke's family did. His mother was a successful lawyer and his father David, the CEO of a successful company so they lived an extremely luxurious lifestyle. Although they had a lot of money, they were the last thing to snobby, they donated lots of money to specific organizations as well used their money for the good of others.

My mom, stepfather, and brother hadn't yet gotten here so Luke and I ran to the door to open it with my key and explore the nicely sized house.

I was glad mom, Robert and Elijah weren't here because it meant that I got the first choice of room. Obviously I'd leave the master room to my parents but without Elijah here he couldn't convince mom to let him have the first choice.

"This house is awesome!!!" I enthuse running around the house to explore every part of it.

"I know!!! I'm so gonna be here ALL THE TIME" Luke agrees enthusiastically.

I laugh excitedly in reply and nod at my best friend encouragingly.

Downstairs had all the essential living areas including 2 living rooms, no doubt the more formal one for my parents and the other one for Elijah and me.

Upstairs held all the bedrooms, the house was large enough to have 5 decent sized rooms but there was one room which stood out to me particularly.

It was the second-largest room after the master and had its own walk-in wardrobe and bathroom. The thing that stood out though was the beautiful tree between our house and the neighbors. Unfortunately, the tree didn't cover the window directly opposite mine but the blinds from next door were closed and I hoped that whoever lived there kept them that way. Another thing that stood out to me in the room was the small area next to the wardrobe, on every wall there were shelves, no doubt for books. It would be perfect for my impressive book collection.

"What room are you gonna have?" Luke asks excitedly running over to me.

"This one!!!! I love it" I yell running over to Luke and jumping in his arms. Luke, being prepared for the common occurrence of me jumping on him caught me effortlessly and laughed along with me before putting me down.

"It's awesome!!!!!" Luke agrees enthusiastically looking in the bathroom and wardrobe.

"Let's get your stuff from your car so we can claim this room so Elijah doesn't steal it" Luke suggests excitedly running towards my car with me following closely behind.

Luke had flown in from his house a couple of nights ago so he could help us finish packing and drive up with me so I wasn't alone, or forced to do all the driving myself.

He had missed a couple of days of school but his parents weren't bothered as like me, Luke was an overachiever. Unlike me though, Luke has many other interests as well such as sport and a social life. Luke was the golden boy at Pearlacre high with his good looks, academic achievements and sporting ability, although he had a lot of attention from the girls he was never one to abuse it. I couldn't stand boys who used girls for one thing and then got rid of them, and I was extremely grateful that Luke was nothing like that. Don't get me wrong, Luke had been with girls, he had dated about 4 different girls in the last few years but was serious about every one of them. I knew he wasn't a virgin, but he knew neither was I.

I had dated one guy in my high school life back at my old school and had lost it to him after 7 months of dating. We stayed together for just over a year after. Recently we had broken up because I wasn't as serious about him as he was about me and I wasn't able to fully open up to him. We had stayed good friends though and still talk regularly. He was quite popular at my old school, but he didn't use his status and was a genuinely good guy. He had money though and because my family wasn't as wealthy as his, his parents didn't like me at all. Unlike Mel and David, his parents were more snobby and I was so free-spirited that no matter how much I had tried they never liked me. That was another reason I guess I was never able to fully devote myself to him.

***

Luke had just gone home with his parents, they had come over to help us unpack and by the time they had left everything was mostly done. Elijah had chosen his room, he had chosen one in between my parents and mine, mom and Robert were at the front of the house and I was right at the back. Elijah had chosen the middle because it was a large room with tv mounted on the wall that the previous owners had not bothered to take.

My room was mostly finished as well, I just had a few more clothes to unpack and books to add to the collection but other than that, Mel and I had finished it while the boys moved furniture and mom helped Elijah with his room.

Mel was like a second mother to me so I was thankful that she was able to help, she had only two sons and had always treated me like the daughter she never had but so desperately wanted.

My mystery neighbor had also kept their blind shut so I was hoping that it was a spare room across from me or maybe a room that wasn't someone's bedroom.

"Hey baby, how are you settling in?" My mother's soft voice interrupts me from my thoughts.

"Good!! This house is amazing!!" I smile in return as my mom sits in my bed while I continue sorting my books.

"I knew you'd choose this room, the bookshelf is actually one of the reasons I bought this house, I figured you'd be able to see past your view of another person window" my mom giggles.

I laugh with her.

"It's beautiful mama, thank you for choosing this house. I don't know I just have a really good feeling about this" I reply honestly.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" My mom asks in a motherly tone, "are you sure you don't need another day home to prepare?"

"I'm okay mom, everything's prepared, Luke set everything up for me making me promise I'd go tomorrow so I can 'end his suffering'" I smile quoting Luke.

My mom laughs in reply, "if you need another day I'm sure he won't care, he'll understand" she reassures.

"Nah, I'm gonna be the new girl anyway so why prolong the inevitable" I smile in reply.

She nods in understanding, "you are by far the most mature one of this family."

I smile at my mom and look at her familiar soft features. I had been lucky enough to inherit her thick brown hair and curvy body, in fact, a lot of people would call me the mirror image of my mother. The only feature that I hadn't inherited from my mother was my blue eyes. Unfortunately they were the exact same eyes as my father. While I had inherited my biological father's blue eyes, Elijah was lucky enough to have inherited my mother's beautiful deep brown ones. I never understood why people thought brown eyes were boring, I had always been jealous of my mother's and Elijah's warm ones.

"I know" I grin happily, causing her to laugh a little at her daughter.