PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA | Surviving summer

1

being born and raised in sunny Los Angeles California was always enjoyable for Melisandre Marie James. And being raised by rich parents in LA made life so much sweeter. Mel's mother is a real-estate agent (honestly the woman could sell a cardboard box is she put a big enough smile on her face) and her father is a trust fund baby who got his great-grandfathers construction company handed down to him.

Melisandre has two younger siblings- twins- Jezebel and Jaehaerys (it's like they wanted their children to be ridiculed). Jess was a beautiful girl and insanely smart, but she was menace to society. Jae was a heartthrob at his middle school and a star athlete, but he too was menace to society.

the 17 year old girl had friends, good friends, friends who she's known since they were in diapers and friends she's so close to they got matching tattoos and tongue piercings. So if Michelle and Trent James were well off, had three happy, smart kids, and a booming business; why the fuck would they move to the middle of butfuck no-where Australia?

"is this a joke? you guys were never funny." jess says with an eyeroll.

"no we aren't joking Jezebel, we think a change in scenery would be good for the family. we've lived in the city your whole lives; don't you want a taste of the quiet life?" Trent James, the kids father assured.

a change of scenery? a change of scenery would be Orange County. this is fucking Australia.

All three teenagers sat with their mouths agape. There's no way they were serious. uproot their entire lives in LA for some small little city in Australia.

taking their children silence as a cue to continue talking, Michelle continued where her husband left off. "It's not like this was a spontaneous thing, I mean, your father and I have been thinking about this move for years"

"right, and that's why we've started building a house in shore haven. this isn't just a spur of the moment decision." Trent explained.

this made Melisandre perk up a little bit. "Okay you started the house? when will it be done? a year, two?" she asked excitedly. this would give her time to convince her parents to sell the house, or by the very least allow her to go to college before the move.

"Yeah.....no" Mel's immediately deflated. "Your father worded that wrong, see, the house is finished." Michelle said cautiously, afraid of making one of her kids a little too angry.

"have you gone insane?!" jess wailed in an outrage.

"You have been building a house in another country for years and are just now telling us?!" Melisandre shouted backing up her sister anger.

"yes, and the movers will be here tomorrow."

"And we leave next Saturday." the two parents revealed simultaneously while cowering behind the throw pillows on their couch in fear of the wrath of their teen daughters.

"You two are actually evil incarnate!" Jezebel exaggerated before stomping off to her room and loudly slamming the door.

The oldest daughter was stunned into silence. Trent and Michelle were unsettled; why wasn't she yelling?

Melisandre, so intensely shocked with the news that would change the trajectory of her life, quietly made her way up to her room, mouth still opening like a fish out of water.

the parents looked to the last kid left in the room, jaehaerys, who had been quiet throughout the whole ordeal.

"You know, this is really inconvenient for me. I just started dating the soccer team captain, and now I have to break up with her." he sighs with a shake of his head, following his siblings up the stair and into his respective room.

desperate to bring up the sulking mood of his wife, Trent cheered, "Well that could have gone a little worse".

After the absolute longest flight of her life-- 20 hours to be exact-- Melisandre and her family finally arrived in Shore haven (the town whose name she swore she heard in teen beach movie).

the movers had finished hauling their stuff into the house earlier that morning, so all the James family had to do was unpack their belongings and decorate their space.

for Mel, the hardest part of unpacking was putting away her clothes. the girl had so many practically the entirety of Rodeo Drive's clothing stores were in there.

Just as the girl had finished putting her last pair of Steve maddens on one of her numerous shoe shelves, her little brother walked in (never mind the fact that he was now 5'9 and three inches taller than her). jaehaerys made himself comfortable on her alaskan king bed. "get ready" he started, "dad bought us a friend" the 15 year old boy chuckled to himself. 

teaken aback, Mel almost gets whiplash from how fast she turns her head. "dad bought us a friend?" she asked incredulously. 

"yep!' he popped the 'p'; "some ten year old of the guy dad met when he started building the house" 

"she's supposed to be giving us a tour" jezebel says coming out of nowhere scaring her two siblings. 

"she's downstairs so we have to whisper." jezebel says in a mocked hushed tone. Jae looked away from his two sisters at the sight of someone lurking at the door; "actually-" he was quickly cut off. "im right here" an actually 12 year old honey Gibson comes from behind the cracked door making the three teens side eye each other. 

"my names honey."