Prologue
The van was driving down the road. There was a handsomely built man in the driver seat, his wife adjacent to him in the passenger seat. There was two twin sons in the seats behind them. They were at the young age of 4 years old.
"We're almost there, boys," the mother said, "are you guys ready to see your new home?" The twins did not respond. They simply stared out the windows not caring about what their mother said. One of the twins had red hair that was combed in downward spikes and he saw the world with his vivid red eyes. His name was Rikki. His twin brother, Daniel, who preferred the name Dan, had white hair that was relatively unkempt but mostly combed upward and his view of the surroundings were absorbed perfectly with his silver eyes. So they were twins but they did not look anything like each other at all. Their mother spoke again. "You guys should be happy. You're moving to a new home."
"Yeah, but why did we leave all my friends behind?" Dan asked, with his arm crossed.
"Danny, I-"
"Mommy, I told you, my name is 'Dan'!" he said annoyed. She sighed.
"Dan... like I said before... all of your friends can't fit in the house that Daddy and I chose. It's just not big enough."
"Humph, it probably will be though," Dan muttered under his breath.
"Alright, we're almost there," the father said. They had turned onto a road that had houses spread out along it on both sides. The man slowed the van down. "Honey, do you remember the address?" She said the address to him. They drove slowly by the houses as they were reading the address on the mailboxes. Rikki was still staring out the window when they drove by a house that had a wraparound deck. There was someone on the front porch. It was a woman and sitting next to her was a girl who looked like she was was about 4 years old. Rikki couldn't get a clear view of them, but for some reason, when he saw the girl, he looked up and looked toward her it somehow felt as if she and Rikki had made eye contact but Rikki couldn't really tell.
"That's it," the father said as they pulled up to a house farther down the road and on the other side of the street. They all looked around as the van turned down the drive way. There was a lot of rusty, broken down cars in the yard as the previous owner obviously had some sort of hobby.
"What are we going to do about all of these old cars?" their mother asked.
"Simple, I'm gonna fix them up and sell them," their father said. His wife gave him a dirty look. "Okay, fine. At least let me fix them up to a decent sellable state. Besides, it's a good source of income."
"Oh... alright," she reluctantly agreed.
"Yes!" He stopped the car.
"Just don't get too ahead of yourself," she said as they climbed out of the minivan.
Their father directed the moving van that was following them down the drive way. Rikki, Dan, and their mother walked up to the front porch.
"Wait here, boys," she said as she walked inside to tell the movers where she wanted some of the furniture to be. Rikki and Dan looked at each other and then around at their new surroundings. Rikki's attention was caught by movement at the end of their driveway. It was the mother and girl from down the road.
"Oh, look, some guests," Dan said as he tried to make his hair look presentable. Rikki was overcome with shyness.
"Mommy!" he yelled as he ran inside. His mother looked at him as he grabbed her legs and hid behind them.
"What is it, little Rikki?" she asked him. Rikki whimpered and he pointed out the front door. She looked out the door and she saw the woman walking up to the house carrying something. "Oh, Jared, some neighbors are here to welcome us," she said to her husband.
"I'll be there in a minute," he called back. Rikki's mother walked out the door with him hiding behind her.
"Oh, hi," his mother said.
"Hello," the woman said. "I see you're new to the neighborhood."
"Thanks."
"I've wanted to meet you and your nice family ever since I saw that sign read 'Sold'."
"Thanks."
"So, my daughter and I made you and your family a little something special."
"Thank you so much," Rikki's mom said taking the package that contained a chocolate cake. Rikki's father came outside and Dan followed him.
"Hello there," he said with a friendly smile.
"Hello," the woman said. "My name is Florence Garrison, and this is my daughter, Suzy." There was a little girl behind her. "Come on," she said to her daughter, "meet the new neighbors." The little girl stepped out from behind her mother. She was the spitting image of her mother with sea-blue eyes and black hair, only hers was short and her mothers was long. She looked at Rikki's parents and they smiled at her.
"H-hi," she said with a smile if a little nervous.
"Hey there, little Suzy," Jared said. She waved at him.
"Aw, you are so cute," Rikki's mom said.
"Thank you," Suzy said.
"This is our son, Dan," Jared said gesturing to Dan
"Hi."
"Hey," Dan said with a wave. Rikki's mother looked down behind her at Rikki.
"Come on," she said, "talk to her." Rikki shoved his face into his mothers legs.
"No!" he said shaking his head.
"Little Rikki, you aren't going to make any friends if you're shy."
"Maybe I don't want any friends!" he cried.
"Don't say that, man," Dan said to his brother. "Just say 'hi' to her." Upon remembering that this friend was a girl Rikki blushed. "Come on," his brother went on, "Just say hello. Besides she's real nice." Rikki slowly peeked around his mothers leg. He was met with a mirrored action of a girl who was looking directly at him. It was Suzy. She suddenly blushed and she looked to the side and she had a small smile on her face. Rikki walked from behind his mother and over to Suzy. She looked back up at him and the redness in her face disappeared as the two stared at each other. Rikki reached his arms out and he held her hands. His parents were shocked. Their very shy son was holding another kid's hands, a girl's hands. What was going on?
"You're real pretty," Rikki said. Suzy blushed and avoided his eyes, hiding her small smile.
"You're really cute too," she said. She looked back at him and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"Aww!" Florence and Rikki's mother exclaimed. Rikki's mother then figured out what had come over Rikki. It was love at first sight.
