Brycen and Pearl

"Brycen!" Pearl exclaimed.

The young man looked up with a look of disbelief on his face. His jaw twitched but he didn't say anything. "Is it... is it really you?"

"Of course it is." She whispered and ran to him, flinging her arms around him. He wrapped her up in his strong arms and kissed her sweet-smelling hair. "I'm never letting you go again."

--- Two Years Previously ---

A high school junior sighed as she watched the boxes being unloaded into her new house. She used to live in the area a while back before moving to Florida- and before moving to North Carolina.

"Honey, please watch the kids while I make sure all these boxes are unloaded correctly."

Pearl looked up at her harried mother and nodded before shepherding all her siblings into the back yard, which was quite sizable. She was short on patience and frequently snapped at her brothers for hitting each other with sticks. Her sister, as usual, was a complete angel and played with the baby nicely.

Picking up one of the sticks her brother had thrown into the yard, Pearl flung it into the trees, imagining all her bitterness being thrown away as easily. She was tired of moving, tired of leaving her friends behind. She had only lived in Florida for 10 months but she had made friends and adored her swim team. Her dad, a Marine, was still stationed in Florida but Pearl's mother hated Florida so much that she packed up with all her children and moved back to Virginia.

She had said it was best for everyone but Pearl was too resentful to believe her. She hadn't wanted to leave and now here she was, starting all over again. Great.

Once all the moving and unpacking took place, they could finally settle into their home and start getting to know the area.

"Pearl, I've found a swim team for you to join and look! Here's a cross country team that I found that's designed to give homeschoolers a chance to perform at a high-school level."

"Great, mom. A bunch of homeschooling weirdos." Pearl grumbled.

"You're a homeschooling weirdo. I'm sure they'll be nice, and you've always wanted to join a cross country team. Now's your chance to go do it and meet some new people."

Her mom sighed. "Look, just go to the first practice. If they're all lame and it's terrible you don't have to go again."

"I guess that's fair." Pearl conceded and that's how her story began.