CHAPTER 1: CLARISSE'S NEIGHBOR

1 YEAR LATER . . .

Clarisse Johnson had settled down a little after a year living in the small town of Shady Oaks. Moving from Britain had been hard for her, but she seemed to get along fine with the culture at Shady Oaks. She had even made a best friend, Selena Trent, who lived three houses away from her.

The only problems Clarisse had were her family and her past.

Whenever someone asked her, "Hey, where were you from?" Clarisse only replied by saying, "Um, I don't like talking about it."

And her family. Her family seemed normal at first glance - her father was an army colonel and her mother was a baker.

Nothing weird about that, right?

Wrong.

Her older cousin had been in jail for six months. And did anybody know this? No, not even her best friend.

And that was not it.

"Clarisse!" called a voice from downstairs. "Clarisse! Can you come downstairs, darling?"

"Coming, Mum!" called Clarisse as she tumbled down the stairs. "What's up, Mum?" Clarisse leaned from the railing to see her mother.

"Clarisse, Claire's coming today," said Mrs.Johnson, her face red with joy. "Your sister's finally coming home from Finland!"

Clarisse's older sister, Claire, worked as a doctor in Finland, and, even though she hated her older sister at times, Clarisse was excited to see Claire.

"Really, Mum? When?" Clarisse asked, excitedly as she jumped up and down a little.

"Tomorrow," squealed Mrs.Johnson as she took out the cake from the oven.

"Can I go to Selena's?" asked Clarisse, as she went towards her mother. "I can't wait to — oh, never mind."

"You can go to Selena's," said Mrs.Johnson. "Did you tell her you do have a sister, yet?"

"Kind of," muttered Clarisse.

"Well," said Mrs.Johnson, sighing. "I guess you can tell her Claire's coming over. Just don't tell her from where."

"Alright," said Clarisse, as she rushed to get her sweater and her phone, the two most important things to her in Shady Oaks.

The weather outside was dismal, clouds conquering the sky. Rarely anyone was outside.

Clarisse knocked on the door of house 450 of Timberwolf Lane, Selena Trent's house.

The door flung open almost at once, and Clarisse was attacked by someone. "Clarisse!" the person squealed.

"Selena," said Clarisse thickly as Selena let go of her best friend. "How are you?"

"Come in, come in," Selena said as she opened the door to her house wider. "Mom! Clarisse is here!" Selena called over her shoulder as she and Clarisse sat on the stairs.

"Clarisse, you say, m'dear?" called Mrs.Trent. "Hello there, Clarisse!" Mrs.Trent was a tall woman, with sparkly blonde hair and a round face.

"Hello, Mrs.Trent," said Clarisse, smiling. "How are you?"

"Good, good, how are you, dear?" Mrs.Trent replied as she smiled at Clarisse and Selena.

"I'm doing okay," said Clarisse, truthfully. She wasn't doing too well, or too bad.

"Good. Do you and Sel want to go upstairs?" Mrs.Trent asked. "Sel, can you please clean up your room with Clarisse? If that's okay with you, Clarisse."

"Yes, of course," said Clarisse as Selena groaned.

"But Mom!" Selena whined. "Clarisse is here! We want to talk not clean my room!"

"Well, you both can talk and clean your room," said Mrs.Trent as she gave Selena a stern stare. "Come on, Sel, you need to keep your room neat. Did you look at Clarisse's room? It's so clean. How do you do it, Clarisse?"

Clarisse was a bit alarmed that she was being asked an opinion, but she said, "I don't really know. I just listen to some music and clean? It gets easier after a while."

"Fine," pouted Selena. "I guess we can finish cleaning my room." She crossed her arms angrily.

"Thank you, Sel dear. Now you both go," said Mrs.Trent.

Selena and Clarisse hurried up the narrow staircase to reach Selena's room. Her room had tons of posters with quotes like, "You can do it!" and "Reach for the stars!" Her bed was messed up and the carpet was filled with clothes and dog toys.

"This is gonna take a while," said Selena as she sighed.

"Where's Mocha?" asked Clarisse as she picked up a toy bone. "Did she go walking with Nick?"

Selena laughed and said, "Nope. I wouldn't let him." She turned and called over her shoulder, "Mocha!"

A cute little beagle hurried up the stairs and sandwiched in between Clarisse and Selena's legs.

"Mocha!" Clarisse said as she bent down to hug Selena's dog. "How is she?" Clarisse asked Selena, looking up at her best friend.

"She's doing fine," said Selena as she laughed. "Mocha, help us clean up, okay?"

Mocha barked as if she seemed to understand. She grabbed a toy bone with her teeth and ran to put it in a basket.

"Good girl," Selena said as she and Clarisse bent down to pick up the clothes.

"What is this?" Clarisse asked, laughing as she picked up a flowy dress. "Is this for homecoming?"

Selena turned red and snatched the dress out of Clarisse's hand. "It's - it's not, okay?" she said, still red as a tomato. "It's just what my mother got me for my birthday."

"Well, it is pretty," said Clarisse as she grinned at Selena's facial expression. Clarisse picked up Selena's jacket and socks and threw them into the laundry basket.

"Stop laughing!" Selena said as Clarisse giggled. "It's all because of Nick and Leo, they both listen to rock music every time Leo comes to our house. It's always Queen and Guns and Roses. They don't give me peace of mind! That's why my room's so messed up!"

"Who?" Clarisse asked as she looked up at Selena.

"Who who?" Selena asked, confused. "Nick? He's my brother, silly! Do you have short-term memory loss too?"

"No, not Nick," said Clarisse impatiently. "The other guy. Leo, you said."

"Oh, Leo," said Selena, slapping her forehead. "You know Leo." She gave Clarisse a quizzical stare.

"No, I don't."

"He's your neighbor."

"He's my what?" Clarisse almost yelled. "He's my neighbor? But - his last name is Robertson?!"

"Yes, Detective Clarisse," said Selena, rolling her eyes. "Can we clean up now?"

"Not until you tell me how he's my neighbor and you never told me before," said Clarisse, crossing her hands.

"I did tell you!" Selena said. "Remember? He was the one who gave a speech when we were freshmen!"

"Oh my god," Clarisse said, exhaustedly. "How does he look at least?"

"Oooooh," Selena said, realizing what Clarisse was talking about. "You like him!"

"No I don't," said Clarisse offendedly.

Selena nodded, but her grin was still on her face as she strode up to the window to water her plant. "Hey look!" she said to Clarisse as she pointed out the window. "That's Leo and Nick!"

Clarisse strode towards the window and looked out too. There she saw Nick and someone else, walking down the street in hoodies, talking about something.

Nick and the other person - Leo, Clarisse guessed - looked up just as Selena nudged Clarisse's ribs.

Nick rolled his eyes, but Leo seemed to smile at Clarisse for a moment. Selena screamed with glee and ran around the room and eventually plopped on the bed and Clarisse turned red as Leo turned back to Nick and she closed the blinds. It was him. It was her neighbor.