ABIGAIL & AUSTIN

It is just past sunset at the Horton's household, Abigail their daughter has just arrived from her flight from Nirvera Springs to Country Falls, she is puzzled as to what was so important that her dad Mike didn't pick her up from the airport as she pays the cab driver.

She is elated about returning to her favourite place in the whole world. Her childhood home with four distinctions specifically in her favourite subjects Mathematics, Chemistry, English and Geography, yep, she's just your average straight A student, Teresa wasn't impressed with her results though... she knows she could have done better, but you know what, she can die in a ditch for all she cares...

Living with her aunt for the past year has been brutal, she's surprised and glad she made it out of senior year alive and well, not that her aunt is a bad person but Nirvera Springs wasn't particularly friendly to her either, besides all the secrets she found out from her parents before moving out of her childhood home in a space of a month, a lot of drama has transpired during her senior year in Nirvera that she was surprised to be able to graduate her senior year in one piece. When she got accepted to Nirvera High, because of her exceptional grades, she didn't think she would make it. She had hell to pay for enrolling for senior year in a school where she knew no one just to study for a year.

Being invisible also wasn't for long either, all the school knew her before the first term ended. The popular girls hated her guts, she befriended the two geeks Matt and Sam and made them popular too, though she has a boyfriend, the most popular and hottest guy in Nirvera High fell in love with her and kissed her... that she doesn't plan on telling anyone, not even her best friend Suzie. Yep, she has a lure for drama, maybe it's her hidden special talent besides her intelligence.

She sighs as she gets of the cab,

only to find the house with the lights off.

She sceptically walks up the stairs to the porch, placing her luggage down and tries to open the door, luckily she finds the door opened which is strange, she enters and places her luggage next to the door.

Abigail was puzzled as to why there was nobody in the first place and why the lights were off. "Hello is anybody home?"

She turns on the lights.

"Welcome Home and Congratulations!!" A bunch of different voices cheered.

Abigail is startled, but holds herself from cursing. "What the...!!"

Teresa immediately engulfs her in a big hug. "Welcome home honey, I missed you so much!"

Teresa could see that Abigail was clearly uncomfortable from the hug and all the unfamiliar stares. "Yeah, hey... uh... what's going on?" Abigail asks.

"Uh, you know just decided to plan a welcome home party and a congratulations for graduating senior year with flying colours!" (refering to the strangers) "These are our neighbours. Isn't this great?" Teresa answered sheepishly as she smiles at at Abigail.

She fake smiles and nods not wanting to embarrass her in public.

"This is a bit awkward, I wasn't expecting this...honestly."

Abigail says overwhelmed... not from Joy or anything... she was overwhelmed by frustration and annoyance.

She specifically told Teresa not to do this. She didn't want this.

She scans the crowd anxiously looking for her boyfriend and girlfriend. Her eyes land on a familiar looking pair of turquoise-blue eyes but she cannot make out where she knows them from...

"Erhm..." she cleared her throat awkwardly and expectantly. "The least you could do is say thank you to everyone for coming here." Teresa whispered.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time everyone, but I seriously didn't ask for this... thanks though." She said smirking at her little rude speech. She felt badass for saying that so boldly.

Everybody chuckled awkwardly thinking she was joking... but that was really her speech.

Teresa recognized the ungratefulness of her daughter as she walked off to the kitchen.

"My apologies everyone, my daughter can be very cranky after a flight. But anyways, enjoy yourselves, have snacks, eat, drink and be merry." She acted excited giving the dj a queue to play the soft matured music and play the music he did, people got busy doing their own thing eating the fancy food, chatting, laughing, drinking and others waltzing.

Meanwhile Abigail awkwardly brushes past the unfamiliar stares looking for someone familiar and spots them in the kitchen. She rushes to the kitchen.

"Dad! Gosh! I missed you so much!" She runs to hug her dad excitedly.

Mike picks up his daughter with equal joy, spinning her around, just like how they did usually.

"Honey poo! Wow, you've grown a little heavier than I remember." He jokes.

They both laugh. She thought it ironic how he never complained about picking her up when she was fat but now that she lost weight, he's complaining, but she knew he was joking. He puts her back down and immediately notes the deep frown on Abigail's face as she reaches for the snacks on the table and eats. He continues drinking the glass of whiskey next to the snacks. She leans on his shoulder balancing her body on him.

Mike sighs. "I told your mother not to go through with the surprise party. She was just too excited to have you back home and she didn't listen." He explains regretfully.

She replied angrily yet contained. "She's not my mom. I hate surprises. Seeing you would have been enough for me." Abigail explains curtly.

Mike rolls his eyes at his daughter's statement.

"She's trying Abby... please give her the benefit of the doubt, love." He says fondly brushing her daughters arm.

"She tries too much... she should have done nothing. I would've been more happy to be back here." She replied rolling her eyes.

Mike sighs, he really doesn't want another argument to brew between them.

Abigail lost her biological mom four years ago in a car accident and she was devastated for years, she still is. Her dad moving on so fast according to her and marrying Teresa in secret after two years of grieving, wasn't helping her either. Her and Teresa don't get along very well.

She opted to changing the subject. "Nonetheless, I'm happy, it's so good to be back home." Abigail smiles hopefully at his dad.

Mike playfully messes up her hair and tickles her, making her guffaw in laughter.

Abigail shrieked as she tried to escape her dad's tickles, she was full of glee. "Dad, I'm an adult now, you gotta stop this!"

Teresa was left chatting with some of her neighbours in the lounge area, she internally regrets organizing the house party... maybe she should've listened to Mike.

She excuses herself picking up Abigail's bags and luggage that was laying next the door, she better put this away, she thinks, planning to go upstairs with the luggage.

On her way she is interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Do you need help with that?" He asks.

Teresa is puzzled as she thinks she might be hallucinating, but as she looks up at the familiar face, she is shocked.

"No way! Austin?!" She excitedly hugged him and they both laugh as he hugged her back. "W-what are you doing here?" Teresa asks in puzzled excitement as she wasn't expecting to see Austin at her packed up mansion of a house.

"Well, surprise?... I wanted to surprise you and that I did successfully. I sneaked in here when I saw the flyers for the house party down the street."

Teresa was beyond shocked and confused.

"What? Down the street? What do you mean?" She asks.

"I moved in here two nights ago. I was too busy to surprise you guys, but when I saw the flyers... hmm I thought this is the perfect time." Austin shrugged casually.

"Austin, weren't you in Providence Uni teaching Biochemistry?" She asks confused.

"Yep. My fiancée found a job offer as a bio-Chem here at the Givant Factory, it pays way more and she couldn't refuse the offer, we bought one of the mansions here in Country Falls and viola here we are. I asked for a transfer at Country Falls Science Uni." Austin explained.

Teresa was very surprised now if she wasn't before.

"What? Fiancée? You have a whole fiancée?" She chuckled in disbelief.

Austin nodded embarrassed, and that's when he stepped aside to introduce the figure standing behind him.

"Tessa, meet my fiancée Kaitlyn. Kate for short." He wrapped his arms around her waist kissing her cheek which made her blush.

Teresa widened her eyes at the beautiful figure.

"Wow, she's gorgeous. Hi. I'm Teressa but you can call me Tessa." She extended her hand formally.

"Come here silly." Kate hugged her chuckling, she smells lovely too. "A friend of Austin's is a friend of mine too." She smiled with her perfectly pearly whites, it must be veneers, they are way too perfect and white to be natural.

"Well, it is truly nice to meet you Kate. You are absolutely stunning darling." She compliments.

"Thank you so much." Kate humbly brags of her stunning beauty.

"You sure know how to pick 'em." Teresa side winked to Austin, he laughed at the secret joke.

"Why thank you, you're too kind." Austin says sarcastically.

"Wow. I didn't expect this..." Teresa laughs to herself surprised.

"Yeah, I grew up." Austin shrugs.

"You sure did. Come help me with these, I need them upstairs, Abigail's room, upstairs first door on your right." Teresa points to the luggage and bags which Austin picks up, strapping them on.

"Come with me Kate, I wanna introduce you to my husband and daughter. I think they must be in the kitchen." Teresa takes Kate by the hand and leaves before Austin could object.

He rolls his eyes. He picks up the heavy bags and luggage up the stairs. It's a good thing he's fit now. Otherwise he would die carrying these heavy things to Abigail's room.

He drags the heavy luggage to the instructed door.

"I'm sure my daughter would love to meet you, man you are a beautiful." Teresa gushed as she admires the beauty queen next to her, who blushes.

They both enter the kitchen to find Abigail and her dad sitting on the wide kitchen Island eating away some snacks, laughing and chatting.

"Mike." Teresa smiles widely ushering Kate towards them.

Abigail's smile immediately vanishes when she sees her stepmom, she rolls her eyes.

"Dad I think I'm kind of jet lagged, I'm gonna head to bed." Abigail grumbles looking for a quick escape.

"Hold on a second..." Mike stops her, smiling at the eagerness of his wife.

Abigail sighs, rolling her eyes.

"Mike guess who showed up? Austin!" Teresa squeaks excitedly.

Mike smiled widely, surprised.

"Austin, you mean thee Austin?" He asked excitedly getting up from the bar stool.

Teresa eagerly nodded. Abigail's ears perked up, Austin is here?... Where?

"Yep and he bought a whole fiancée with him. Meet Kate." Teresa waved to Kate as if she was a magic trick.

Kate chuckled, she didn't expect such a lovely welcome and introduction.

Fiancée?... that is so unlike Austin, he likes girls way too much to settle down.

"What? Really? Hello. I'm Mike." Mike introduced himself as Kate shook his hand.

"Are you sure you're his fiancée?" Mike joked sceptically.

"Yep, I am. Nice to meet you guys. Austin has said a lot about you guys. He absolutely adores you." Kate gushed.

Mike smiled.

"Well then, you are talking about our Austin alright. How are you?" Mike asks.

"I'm doing great. Thank you for asking." Kate nodded in acknowledgement.

"They even bought a mansion nearby. They just moved here two nights ago. Austin wanted to surprise us. He got a job at the college and she will work as a biochemist at Givant Factory. Can you imagine?" She asked excitedly.

"Wow, what a small world. I am a head biochemist there also." Mike said excitedly.

"What really? Wow. I didn't expect this. Small world hey?" Kate wondered surprised.

Abigail cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Oh, Abby. Come here. This is my daughter Abigail. She's gonna be studying Biochemistry at the college." Teresa said as Abigail ushered closer awkwardly.

They shook hands.

"Wow. I guess the brains run in the family." Kate smiled.

"I was forced to study it so I can be just like daddy." Abigail chirped fake smiling.

Kate and Mike chuckled awkwardly. Teresa side-eyed Abigail unamused.

"It was a joke." Abigail said to Teresa.

"Right." Teresa gave her a wry smile.

"Well, it's great that you're doing something you love though." Kate tried to lighten the mood.

"I don't like chemistry really." Abigail shrugged.

"Oh." Kate said awkwardly.

Mike scratched his head at his daughter's dry sense of humor that people didn't get.

"Abby." Teresa reprimanded.

She couldn't understand why her daughter was being such a pain in the arse. First the party and now this...

"It was a joke. Nobody gets my sense of humour." Abigail rolled her eyes, shrugging.

Kate awkwardly chuckled.

"Anyways. It's nice to meet you. I'm gonna head to bed. I'm really tired." Abigail said to Kate leaving. "Goodnight guys." She pecked her dad's cheek.

"Goodnight honey." Mike said smiling proudly at his daughter.

"Goodnight Abby." Kate said.

"Night... Wow, your daughter's really beautiful." Kate marvelled after her.

The conversations Kate had with Austin about Abigail, he remembers her being this chubby cute girl but now that she has grown up, she lost weight and she looks really hot. It kind of made Kate feel insecure because Abigail's beauty demanded attention when she walked in the room and she was all natural.

"Yep, she's quite the... character." Mike cleared his throat awkwardly.

Teresa rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about that. She's not usually this quite cranky." Teresa said awkwardly.

"I get it. I was a teen myself at some point so I get it, really." Kate said.

"Drinks?" Mike asked.

"I would love a glass of white wine, it would really suffice." Kate replied tenderly.

"Do you want to have a tour to my wine cellar?" Mike nodded leaving to go to the wine cellar.

"Sure thing. I love wine." Kate replied smiling.

"I don't even like wine... but I'll come with too." Teresa said following suite.

Mike lovingly held her hand and kissed her cheek, making Kate blush at the sweet gesture of love Mike has for his wife.

Abigail saw her door slightly opened. Is it one of the party guests? Why didn't her mom even lock this room? Everyone is supposed to be downstairs.

She peeked inside nervously.

"Hello?... Is anybody here?" She asked preparing to kick somebody's balls, the self-defence classes she once had will come in handy tonight.

She entered. There was no one in sight as she looked around her unnecessarily large bedroom.

She can't relate to her family's lavish lifestyle anymore, since she's been living in her aunt's house, which was relatively minimal in comparison to her mansion of a home.

Just then a figure came out of her bathroom.

Abigail's heart thumped loudly as she felt her whole body going cold.

"Oh hey, Abby." Austin greeted smiling.

Wow, Abigail felt her heart stop for a second at the sight of such a gorgeous specimen. She felt her breath hitch as she locked eyes with the figure heading towards her.

Those eyes looked familiar... It's the pair of turquoise-blue eyes she saw earlier at the party, they do stand out indeed... very vibrant coloured eyes.

"Uh... who are you? And what are you doing in my room?" Abigail asked internally freaking out.

"Oh, I just bought your luggage upstairs, I used your bathroom, sorry. I could hold it in." Austin answered nonchalant.

"Yeah, but, who the fuck are you?" Abigail asked weirded out.

"A little thank you would be nice, you know Abigail." Austin replied rolling his eyes. "You used to be a lot nicer when you were still a chubby little infant." He joked.

This hot guy knows her? What the actual fuck? She thought raising her eyebrows.

She's never known anyone this good looking in her life.

"Well, I don't do kindly to stranger's hanging out in my room and using my bathroom without my permission." She answers walking to her walk in closet.

Austin's eyes trailed after her, she could feel his intentional gaze on her, she scrunched up her face and pinched her nose, feeling nervous.

"Why is my closet locked?" She asked sceptically looking back at the guy, sure enough, his eyes were indeed gawking at her.

"Why don't you ask Tessa? I don't know..." Austin shrugged averting his gaze. "Anyways I'm gonna head back to your welcome home party."

Abigail rolled her eyes.

"What's your name?" She asked walking towards him.

"Nobody. I'm just a stranger." Austin shrugged as he left and shut the door behind him.

Abigail groaned. "Are you being serious?" She mumbled.

"Wait..." She called out opening the door and going after the stranger.