Behind the Innocent Smile

Chapter 1: House, Not Home

•Emma's POV•

The sound of engines revving had consumed me, making me deaf to the world. The low purr of the car beneath me caused adrenaline to course through my veins at a quickening pace. To my left there was another car clad in detailed designs all along its side. The guy driving it had similar designs running up his arm to form a full sleeve.

In between his fingers, he had the bud of a cigarette, his arm hanging loosely out the window as the ashes fell to the asphalt. Hearing the clicking of heels approach, he drops what's left and rolls his window up. Both of us now focused on the road ahead of us.

Mimicking the sway of her hips, she waves the makeshift flag around before bringing it straight down. With that swift motion, we both take off with an alarming speed, smoke splaying out behind us as our tires ripped at the ground.

One minute we're racing side by side and the next, he spins out of control. Taking the turn to fast, he almost crashes into me, but I was able to evade his car. Unfortunately for him, his car continues to veer dangerously, the last thing I hear is the sickening sound of metal crashing.

.

Jolted awake, I glance around anxiously and realize that it was all just a dream. A horrible dream that wanted to remind me of one of the many disasters that happened in my life. Once I get my heart to settle, I glance out the window to find many houses lining the streets as trees brought a pop of green to make things interesting.

Feeling the car come to a slow stop, I look past my two brothers and gaze up at our new house. It was a simple two story house, similar to the ones around it. Layering the entire house was a soft grey siding that was lined with white moldings and details. To enter the actual house you had to take the two steps to reach the patio before coming to the door that lead you inside.

Following after my brothers, I exit the car to stand beside them as we kept our eyes locked on the house still. Compared to our house back in LA this was a major upgrade. Our old house was way smaller than this one. It was suitable for us five to live in comfortably, but it just didn't compare in the slightest.

Looking towards the youngest of us three, I catch his brown eyes shinning with awe as he gazed at our surroundings. Now at the age of fourteen you would think, nothing would amaze him, but you haven't met him. Everything that isn't familiar in the slightest always brings a spark to Sebastian's eyes. Daniel however being the 'adult' and 'mature' one out of us, looks at it boringly with dull eyes.

Now that we all stood side by side, I took notice to the differences we displayed between the three of us. Both my brothers had received Dad's black hair, however, Daniel's hair was straight like our Dad's, while Bash had wavy hair. Bash and I both got a mix of our parents hair texture as Mother's was curly and Dad's was straight. All four of them had a similar shade of brown eyes, my Mother's being a bit lighter than the rest.

But out of all of us, I was the most different. I didn't resemble my Mother nor Dad. I had a few things that showed I was indeed related to them, but other than that I was completely different than my family. My green eyes and light brown hair contrasted with their's as did my personality. I was more of a trouble maker while they all were calm and collected.

However, my eyes did match one other person in my family. My Uncle Alex. Our eyes were practically identical, but mine were more of a forest green while his were an emerald. I had more in common with my Dad's brother than my own family. We may not get along well with what he had put me through, but we both had a sharp temper and were trouble. That's why we mainly didn't get along, our personalities were too alike.