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Here it is finally!
'You Are Ours'

I'm so excited to share this story because I've spent so much time writing & then going back to edit. There are so many chapters that have been edited &
rewritten so many times that I need extra hands to count. 🙈
I hope you love it & the characters I've created.

Please show the love by giving me a comment & a vote letting me know what you think.
CeeCee
xoxo
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R Y A N

SITTING in the back seat of Dad's car, looking back to make sure the moving van is still following us with all of our belongings, I wondered how far our new home would be.
What does our new house look like?
What will my room be like?
What are the neighbours like?
Will my new school be much different from the one I went to before? But most importantly...
Will I like it here?

I didn't want to move here. I didn't want to leave my friends or my school back in London, but quite frankly, I had no choice in the matter. I was told where we were going, when we were going, that my sister and my nephew were coming with us, but I was never asked if I wanted to leave everything I knew and loved behind. That's the thing about being a kid. It's never your choice.

At thirteen, I was too young to be making such decisions or even have a say in the matter. I was just told to pack, which I did. Get in the car, which I did. Get on the plane, which I did. No questions asked, I just... followed.
We were all so proud of Dad when he got his new promotion he had been working so hard to get. A promotion he had been hoping for for the longest time. It meant a lot more responsibility, a lot more creativity, and waaaaay more money than he got back in England. I was happy for him. We all were, but the downfall was... we had to move to California. Sure, you'd think I'd be excited, at least, everyone else in the car was. But I was scared.

Scared of the unknown.

My older sister Victoria - although, you could never call her that to her face, is asleep next to her son Jackson, who sits in the middle of us.
Tori is twelve years older than me, and even though we had a large age gap, we still had a close bond. She was very sisterly towards me and always took care of me, but then there were times my big sister would vanish and the mum voice came out. It annoyed me when she did that. Tori isn't my Mum and there were plenty of times she acted like it. But I still loved her no matter what, even when she was being a bossy cow sometimes.
I wasn't a planned pregnancy. A massive surprise for both my parents when I appeared and Tori always felt she needed to take on the role of big sister/motherly figure when Mum wasn't around.
She had light brown hair in a pixie hairstyle, soft girly features, full lips, a small button nose, and a few freckles dotted around her face. Her eyes - that matched mine and Dad's, were green, but other than that, she looked just like our Mother. Everyone always says she is the beauty of the family. The heartbreaker they use to call her back home.

But for me?

I was the boring Sister.

The plain Sister.

The unpretty Sister.

My hair, a lot darker than Tori's, was an unruly mess down to my elbows, and right now, it was so wavey from the humidity as soon as we stepped off the plane. I don't know why I bothered to straighten it. Where Tori was curvy in all the right places, I wasn't at all. At my age, I should have grown in the hips and bust area, but I was still flat-chested and uncurvy. Practically a boys body. Tori told me, 'Oh, you're just a late bloomer, you'll fill out eventually,' that was last summer, and I was still waiting. I wasn't even in training bra's yet at thirteen and most of my friends were wearing them before they left primary school.

"Are we there yet?" Jackson moans next to me, looking up from his book for the first time since the car started moving.

"Almost," my Dad says. Mum looks over at Dad and smiles at him, knowing that everyone has had a very long day. I mean, we started travelling at the early hours of this morning, England time, and have spent most of the day on a plane to get here. Jackson is only saying what everyone else is thinking, and to be honest, I can't wait to get out of this car either.

Jackson is only two years younger than me. At fourteen, Tori got pregnant by her then-boyfriend Jack. My parents flipped, almost chucked her out of the house because Jack wasn't exactly the type of boy you took home to meet the parents. I was too young to remember everything, but I remember Tori telling me the story when she told them she was pregnant.
Jack turned his life around, stepping up to be the perfect model Father, and my parents began to warm to him. Slowly. It took time, but they loved Jack and saw how hard he changed his life for not only Tori, but for his son too.
He isn't around anymore. It hasn't been for the last four years, but that's one of the reasons why Tori and Jackson moved with us. I love that they came with us too, because Jackson is like a brother to me. I mean, with our closeness in age only being two years, it feels likes he's more my brother than my nephew. I don't think I could live in a strange place without Tori not being close to us either.

"This is some long trek! It's taking bloody aggggggggges!" Jackson huffs next to me, and I giggle, knowing full well I feel the same. One thing you can say about Jackson is his patience is very thin. I think he got that from Tori, but she swears blinds it's not her and probably from Jack's side of the family.

Jackson is wise for his age, the biggest bookworm you'll ever meet. He has jet black hair and hazel eyes, freckles that he got from Tori across his nose and eyelashes any girl would kill for. Even me.  He is practically a carbon copy of Jack, almost his twin. I know it pains and pleases Tori to see Jack in her son, but at least she had a small part of him still.

The car stops to a halt. Right in front of a two-storey house that practically looks like a mini-mansion compared to our old house. With Dad's promotion and a massive pay rise, it meant a bigger house than what we are used to. I always remember people saying that everything is bigger in America, and by the looks of this house, they weren't lying.
The house - which has a large front garden, is red bricked with big windows and a large black double door. There are windows surrounding the outside of the door and some steps that lead to it. I notice the double garage and I gasp thinking how the building that will be for our car or cars now that dad is earning more, is practically the same size as the house we lived in back in London.
There is a mailbox at the foot of a path that is boarded with flowers on either side leading up to the house, and I tilt my head to the side, finding that really weird. Our mail always came through a slot in the door and laid on the matt till someone came home first. We've never had a box just for our mail, this is going to take some getting used to.

I have a feeling that there is a lot I'm going to need to get used to.

"Mum... Mummy..." Jackson whispers, shaking Tori's arm.

"Sweetie? We're here," my Mum says from the front seat softly. Tori opens her eyes and yawns, stretching her arms out in front. She looks around her, staring into the new street we now call home, looking dazed and confused.

"Finally... It feels like we've been travelling all damn day," she says with a yawn.

"You've been asleep the whole time!" I chuckle.

"Ryan... I've been on a plane for eleven hours, stuck in passport control for an hour and then another hour at baggage claim, plus in a car for..." she turns her wrist to look at her watch. Her just woken eyes try to focus on the small hands on the face of her watch and it takes a few seconds for her to read them as she tries to blink away the sleep, "...almost 45 minutes? Yeah? No?..." she says, looking confused and trying to figure out what time we got into the car. "Yeah! Forty-five minutes. My arse is numb, my hair is a mess, and I slept like two hours last night because I was packing," she says, huffing and getting out of the car.

Leaning over Jackson, I reach over to her side, making sure she'll hear me nice and clearly. "Well, dear sister, you shouldn't have waited till the last minute to pack then, should ya?! Serves you right for leaving it till too long," I tell her, sticking my tongue out.

We all climb out of the car, one by one - each, in turn, to stretch out our tired muscles from the long trip. Dad walks towards the front door while the movers park up and start unpacking the van. He jingles the keys in his pocket, finally revealing them and opening the front door to our new home.

The inside of the house is just as massive as the outside. If that's even possible. Tori, Jackson, and I gasp as we look around the hallway as soon as we step in, and the walls around us echo with our excited giggles.
There is a room on either side of us with a wooden staircase leading to the second floor, a hallway leading to the back, and everything is painted white looking brand new.
We stick our heads through the door to the left, and Dad says it's the living room, pointing out the new L shaped sofa and a matching love seat in a light grey colour. There's a new TV mounted to the wall, above a fireplace and a glass coffee table in the centre of the room.
They move us to the next room on the other side by the front door, and there is a large dining table with some pictures on the wall of a forest scenery. Everything in the house is freshly painted and makes it look new and clean. It's almost like an IKEA showroom.
The wooden floor beneath our shoes knocks with every step we take as we walk to the back of the house with a push from Mum. There's a big kitchen - white cupboards and a grey marble worktop with a dishwasher, something we have never had, but something Mum is clearly excited about as she pats it walking past. There's an island in the middle of the room with six hobs for cooking. No one we knew had a kitchen island or even a stove top with six burners.
The floor to ceiling windows that look out into the garden opens everything up and makes the room look bright and big. When I sneak a peek outside, it's then I spot it. A pool. We have a freakin' pool! This house just got even better.
The crystal blue water glistens in the summer sun, with a patio area fully decked out with lounge chairs. There's a big, round wooden table with 6 matching chairs, covered in cream cushions and a matching umbrella, blocking out the Californian sun. The lawn is green, a nice big open space for myself, and Jackson to kick a football around with Dad - not to mention a built-in barbecue just to the side.
Beyond the garden, just at the back, there's a building. It's way too big to be a shed, but everything is bigger in America so I can only guess, right? It could be a pool house, maybe? I've heard of them from TV shows I watch; I just have no idea what a pool house actually is.
Either way, I'm more excited about the hole in our garden, filled with water that's calling my name. I can't help but picture all the barbecues we will have over the next few weeks before school. Not to mention me, never leaving the pool for the rest of the summer.

"I'm going to call dibs on my room!" Jackson says, snapping me from my thoughts and running off.

"Hold your horse's young man," my Mum calls, Jackson stopping in his tracks. She glares with her blue eyes at him, and her light brown hair falls to her shoulders as Jackson retreats, standing in front of her, "your grandad and I have already picked the rooms. We'll show you yours later," she smiles.

"Damn it!" He whispers yells, but not low enough for my mum not to hear him. Her head cocks to the side and looks at him wide-eyed.

"Excuse me?"

"Jackson," Tori groans with a eye roll, clearly too tired to discipline her son for swearing.

"Sorry Nan," he says sheepishly.

We tour the house and the sounds of ooh and ahh are all we can say. It's been a long day. A very long day and we are all so tired, but we marvel over our new home. Everything is brand new, even the furniture; Mum and Dad came here a few weeks ago and got everything we needed, from the sofa to the television, dining table, practically everything.
Dad shows Tori her room in the guest house - yes, guest house. I thought that building at the end of the garden was just a very, very large shed or pool house, but it's Tori's room. Clearly she's the favourite child, not only does she get her own room, but her own damn building too. While dad is busy with Tori, mum pulls Jackson upstairs to show him his room. I follow behind them waiting patiently for one of them to return and show me the best room out of them all. My room. Dad finally appears as I listen to Mum talking to an excited Jackson, and he pulls me down the hallway to a door, pushes it with a large smile, and says.

"This is yours, peanut."

When he opens the door, I giggle with delight. I've never had my own room before. I've always shared with Tori and Jackson, then when he got too big, he moved into Dad's office back home, which still meant I didn't get my own room.

"Yes! Finally!" I whisper. Dad chuckles behind me and pushes me in with him.

He spreads his arms wide, turning round, and says, "This is all yours, peanut." I hug him tightly with a huge smile. Dad hugs me into his side, his green eyes beaming. His brown hair flops down over his glasses, and his cheeks grow from his grin. Dad was tall, maybe five foot eleven at most, he always wore shirts, and he had a constant red mark where his glasses sat. Jackson and I always laughed at that mark, even if he was telling us off. We just found it funny that it never goes away. Ever.

"I love it, Dad. Thank you so much. Now, I can sleep without listening to someone snoring!"

I looked around and see the twin bed with an accent wall coloured teal. Blue is my favourite colour and always has been. No particular shade of blue either, just blue, but recently, I had a love of anything teal, and I was happy they decorated it, knowing I'll love it.
The bed is a twin. Definitely an upgrade from the single I'm used to and the sheets match the teal with black cushions.
There's a desk in the corner - black with a teal chair and probably where I'll spend most of my time doing homework - sad times, but at least it's better than the living room floor I'm used to. A tall lamp with a black shade and two windows that look out to the side of the house and one looking to the back.

"Come and look at this," Dad whispers into my ear.

He pushes me forward to the rear window at the back near the desk and nods his head for me to look. Taking steps forward I push back the teal fabric and gaze out. The back window looked out over the garden, a perfect view of the pool and Tori's bedroom - or should I say 'mini house'. Looking further back, beyond the fence I see a huge lake behind our house with a dock and loads of trees surrounding it. It looked like something out of a movie. Tall trees, inviting crystals clear water and the late afternoon sun glistens over it. Where we lived in London, we hardly had any greenery near us except for the park down the road. I can't help the giddy smile on my face, thinking about swimming in the lake and just watching the world pass by.

"Is that ours?" I whisper.

"Sort of... we share with the family next door, but I've met with her and she's really nice peanut," he says. The one thing I was really bad at, was meeting new people. One of the reasons I didn't want to move was because all my friends I had back home had known me since nursery. Now in California, I was going to be constantly meeting new people. "Don't worry peanut, she's really nice," he smiles noticing my discomfort.

"Okay," I say softly. "Can we swim in the lake?"

"Sure you can, that's what the platform is for in the middle. See?" He says pointing to a wooden platform, a few yards away from the dock.

"So cool."

"While you check out the rest of your room, I'm going to check on your sister. She's still in shock she has her own room to herself too. I may have rendered her speechless and want to make sure she's okay," he laughs fixing his glasses then turns and leaves me.

"Room? It's practically her own house," I scoff.

I walk over to the boxes that arrived with some of our stuff yesterday and a few that came with us - everything my parents shipped here that we couldn't take on the plane and didn't want to leave behind. I start to unpack my clothes and stop by the wardrobe I hadn't noticed yet. It had two tall doors that are mirrored and they slid revealing a rack behind it. When I go to grab more clothes I stop, staring at my reflection. My hair is a mess and I start to pull it back, wrapping the band on my wrist round it. My jeans are super wrinkled and my t-shirt is half tucked in. I look like I was a child that had been left behind, abandoned by her family. I take a long look at my body. A body that I didn't really feel comfortable with. At my age I should of hit puberty by now, I should have breasts and hips but I didn't. I had a boys body and it was probably was due to the fact I liked to play sports, mostly with Jackson. I'm not saying I'm amazing or anything, but I know how to kick a football around. I have a feeling I'm going to be a massive target for the cool kids to pick on.

As amazing as this house is, I already wish we never moved here.

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AFTER AN hour of unpacking I hear my name being called from downstairs. I huff as I make my way to the sounds of chattering in the distance and I freeze near the top of the stairs. I never heard the door bell ring, but there are more voices than just Mum and Dad that I can hear as I reach closer to the end of the hallway and look down to see who they're talking to.

"Come down sweetie..." my Mum beckons.

"This is our youngest Ryan," Dad says. A women, roughly my parents age and a young man, no older than twenty five maybe twenty six stands at the bottom.

"Cougar," I think.

The women is wearing a matching pink jacket and skirt with a crisp white blouse. Her bright pink lipstick is screaming money at me and there's evidence of crows feet at the corners of her eyes. She has a soft smile as I approach and her bright grey eyes seem inviting.
As for the man, he is tall, much taller than dad, over six foot at least. He has piercing blue eyes and a wide inviting smile as he watches me come down the stairs, his brown hair is neatly brushed to the side with a parting, he's very handsome. He's not big in the body, medium build, but his height is intimidating to me against my small frame.

"Well she's practically a women, and how old are you darling?" The woman says with a smile, bending down to meet my eyes.

"Thirteen," I say softly, barely a whisper looking down. I stand by Dad who is holding Jackson's shoulders in front of him and Mum stands next to me.

"Peanut, this is Mrs Greyson and her son Noah..."

"Her son? Okay not a cougar, I totally take that back. Judgemental much?!" I think.

"...they live next door and share the dock with us."

"Hi," Noah says with a welcoming smile and he holds out his hand to shake mine.

"Hi," I say almost a mute. A soft smile creeps to my lips and I slowly take his hand.

"Sorry about Ryan, she's a little shy around new people."

"It's fine, I was the same when I was younger," Noah smiles.

"Out of the three of you, you weren't the worse around new people," Mrs Greyson chuckles and Noah smiles with a acknowledging nod.

"Unfortunately our eldest is sleeping, poor thing is shattered from the journey," Mum says.

"Well we just wanted to say a quick hello and invite all of you round for dinner Saturday? Get to know each other better," Mrs Greyson says.

"Oh! That will be lovely."

"You can meet my other two terrors as well. They've gone on a camping trip this week with some friends so we can all have proper introductions then," Mrs Greyson claps her hands together and smiles.

"Two terrors? Who are we living next door too? The Kray twins? The two ugly stepsisters?" I think, worried for my safety.

"Great," Dad says, chuckling.

"Well, we will leave you to it. I know your trip was long and we won't bother you any further. Noah will be cooking so let us know if there's any allergies or dietary needs he needs to know, and we shall see you on the weekend!" Mrs Greyson says. We say our goodbyes and they leave, Mrs Greyson leaving behind her expensive perfume, but not one of those that smells bad. They seemed nice, but I'm worried about the comment she made about her other two terrors, what was I about to come face to face with?

*word count - 3250*

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Hands covering my eyes & peeking through. I'm so nervous to know
what you think, I hope its okay... 🙈🙈🙈🙈

Please leave a like & a comment!
CeeCee xoxo
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-UPDATE-
I'm updating each chapter but not changing the story very much. I'll be slowly updating before I add new chapters as I reread everything. I don't have anyone to help me to edit & I do it all myself. So please bare with me.
Thank You.
CeeCee