"What the hell?"

Connie stumbled out of bed and walked over to her window. It was, like 10am on a Friday. There was one hell of a noise outside. Sounded like trucks or something. Looking out her window, she identified the cause of all the rumpus. Two trailer trucks were backing into the drive of the house next door. While some guy was pacing around the front yard with a cellphone. He'd been there yesterday too, but had gotten a call that left him cursing someone's existence. Today he looked happier. Connie figured he was from the Realtors.

"I gotta get dressed and check this out"

As she showered, got dressed and sorted out her room, her intrigue grew. The house next door had been sold recently. Then there'd been a lot of construction people at it, remodeling or something. That had finished last week and now the new owners had presumably arrived.

"Hope they're more interesting than those last people. God they were dull. No kids, no life. Stuffy self-important posers"

OK so the neighborhood was very up-scale, with most of the homes in the high $600s but that didn’t mean people had to be phony.

Returning to her window to observe the activity outside. The guy with the cellphone drove off. She read the writing on the side of the removal trucks.

"Bend, Oregon…good God, they're from Oregon? That’s one hell of a move"

There was a knock at her door.

"Come in"

Her brother put his head round the door.

"Breakfast's ready… what's going on?" He joined her by the window.

"It’s the new neighbors"

"Wow! They're from Oregon?" he said, catching sight of the sign on the side of the trucks. "Have they showed yet?"

"I don’t think so. Just the removal trucks"

Then they noticed a Mercedes and a BMW pulling up infront of the house.

"OOOh! These guys have money!" Adam drooled.

"Well duh! Of course they have money. They wouldn’t be able to afford a house in this neighborhood if they didn’t"

"Yeah but still, they have MONEY"

Connie rolled her eyes "So should we go say hi?"

"Give them a break Connie, they only just arrived."

"CONNIEEEEEEE?ADAAAAM? BREAKFAAAAAAST"

"COMING MOM" Adam turned and went for breakfast. Connie, with wakening hunger, peeled herself from the window and followed him. As she did so, she heard another two cars pull up outside.

Kim and Matt stood in the front yard of their new house, scanning it and the street.

Matt looked up at the house "Hmmm…imposing looking pile"

Kim looked at the Realtors brochure " '6 bed, 5.5 bath, 3500sq ft classic contemporary on 1 acre lot with view and detached two-car garage'….what the hell is a 'classic contemporary?'…and where exactly is the view?"

Matt pointed to the house "I guess that's a classic contemporary…and maybe the view is from the upper floors"

Their parents stood grinning, listening to their offsprings reaction to their new home. "So guys, what d'ya think?"

"Ignoring this crap from the Realtor, its actually pretty cool"

Kim and Matt had to be honest. It was a nice house. Much larger than their home in Bend. The street seemed nice too. Tall trees lining the road. Trees. Their house in Oregon was surrounded by trees. That’s all they could ever see from their house. Trees. Here they weren't as close to the house. Most of the houses in the street looked similar.

Being older than their last house, this new one, like the others in the street, had a large front yard, probably a large back yard, and a long driveway.

"See guys, we told you that you'd like it"

"Yeah dad, but like, why Tulsa? Why not Oklahoma City"

"Look Matt, Kim, I know this isn't ideal for you guys, but Amanda doesn’t seem to be worried. And like we've said, Tulsa is closer to Little Rock"

Kim and Matt mumbled to each other. Tulsa, what they'd seen of it so far, was attractive looking. It was, like, a proper city with skyscrapers and a really cool river. The view they'd got of the river from the turnpike on the way in was quite something, especially as it was sunny.

"This definitely is nice" their mom said, looking at the front yard "We'll change it all though. Pity we had to use the dumbest Realtor on the planet. Wonder what the neighbors are like."

Connie finished her breakfast, then decided there was no time like the present to go meet the new neighbors. Adam had, again, pointed out that they'd only just arrived. But she wasn’t going to let a miner detail like that stop her.

"Left to guys, nothing in this world would get done"

Walking down her drive, and up to the neighbors drive, she noticed another two cars outside the house. Two 4x4s. one of which was sitting on the lawn, backed up to the front door. Connie giggled.

"Interesting place to park. Anyway here goes" she knocked the door.

It was flung open by a well dressed woman who looked in her mid forties.

"You're not from the Realtors are you?"

"Uh..no" Connie replied, slightly confused.

"Good. I don’t have to commit a Class A Felony. Come in"

Connie stepped inside the house. "I live next door, thought I'd come round and say hi. Sorry if it’s a bad time"

"Oh don’t be silly, it’s a perfect time..for anyone except that damn Realtor. My name's Barbara Wilson. Call me Babs"

Connie tried not to laugh. 'Babs'. There was nothing wrong with the name. It just would be weird calling a 40 something year-old such a name.

"I'm Connie. Connie Greenwood"

"Nice to meet you Connie. Umm…one of my beloved offspring should be round here somewhere… KIMERLEEEEEEEY?"

Kim came down the stairs, meeting the glance of Connie.

"Kim, this is Connie from next door. Connie, this is my daughter Kim"

Kim and Connie exchanged hello's.

"You wanna come up? I'm just unpacking clothes and stuff"

"Yeah sure" Connie replied, accepting Kims invitation.

A sudden crash came from the kitchen.

"BABS HUN?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE GEORGE?"

"WE….NEED NEW PLATES"

"OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE…WRITE 'PLATES' ON THE LIST OF STUFF WE NEED"

"WE HAVE A LIST? WHERE IS IT?"

Barbara rolled her eyes. "Kim, show Connie your room. I'm going to go kill your father.

The two girls made their way up the stairs. Connie looked around as she climbed. The house was much the same as hers. Large two-story entrance atrium. Wooden floors. Spacious. She noticed all the boxes and things sitting in the downstairs hall. There also seemed to be a lot of fishing rods.

"This is it" Kim said proudly as she led Connie into the box-filled space that would eventually resemble a bedroom.

"Whats in all these boxes and suitcases, there's like, loads of them?"

"Clothed mostly"

"Where are you gonna put them all?"

Kim walked to a door at the other side of the room, opened it and spread her arms. "Viola. My closet"

"Good God! It looks big enough to be another room"

"It was but we knocked a hole in the wall here, linking it with this room, and blocked the other door into the hall"

"That would explain all the construction over the past two months"

"You don’t know the half of it"

"So you guys are from Oregon?"

"Yup. Bend."

"Why'd you move?"

"Our parents' company took over a company here and they came to run it"

"Why Tulsa?"

"Cause this is where the company is based and they also need to be close to Little Rock where the suppliers are"

"What kind of company is it?"

"Software."

"Cool. My parents are, like, Realtors. Thankfully not the ones you guys used. Your mom seems a little upset with them"

"Yeah. We were actually supposed to arrive two days ago, but we got delayed in Oklahoma City 'cause a friend and my cousin got asked to play in some kinda violin thing. We phoned the Realtor last night to say we were definitely coming today. He wanted us to come yesterday, but we told him to go fuck himself. Then his office couldn't find the second set of house keys. He's supposed to stop by this morning with the second set of keys. He may not leave alive"

"So you guys drove here?"

"Sure did. We've been on the road since late last night from OK City. We took the scenic route from Bend. Or, as we called it, the Oregon Trail….OK cheesy joke, but anyway.."

Kim rummaged around. "I've got a map here somewhere of the route we took. WHERE THE HELL IS IT DAMNIT?!"

"Gee, she needs to lay off the caffeine"

"Damn. Matthew must have it"

"Matthew?"

"My brother"

"How old is he?"

"A year younger than me"

"Uh..?"

"Oh sorry. I'm 19, he's 18. What age are you?"

"18 in a couple of months. I gotta brother too, Adam, he's same age as me. We're kinda twins"

"Do you guys go to school?"

"No, we get home schooled. That’s the way it is with most people round here. We all get home-schooled. Its cool cause it takes up less time than school cause the tutor only has like one or two people to teach"

"Yeah I know. We started getting home schooled about a year ago. I've graduated now though"

"Hey cool. So has a friend of mine, Isaac. I can bring him over to meet you later."

"Cool. We'll be going into Tulsa but we'll be back mid-afternoon"

Connie walked over to the back window and took in the view of the back yard. It was big. Like her own. She frowned.

"Uh…Kim..why is there a large hole in your back yard?"

"Oh that. That’s our pool…or at least it will be when its finished"

"Is it gonna be outdoor or are you getting a pool house too?"

"Its gonna be sort of outdoors…indoors.."

"Huh?"

"We're getting a big glass thingy to cover it, then there'll be plants n' stuff around the pool. Kinda tropical. Like they do in Florida."

"Connie nodded "Florida's cool. You ever been?"

"Yeah. We actually went just before Christmas, to do a few shows with our band."

"Really, three of my friends went then too….you got a band?"

"Yup. EmaNation. We've had it for about a year now. That’s why we quit school. Where'd your friends stay?"

"Miami. That's so cool that you have a band. I'll have to introduce you to those three friends I told you about. They'll be real interested"

"We stayed in Miami too"

A knock came on the door. Kim's dad poked his head in the room.

"Hey Kim, we're going to leave in about 15 minutes OK?"

"Sure. Connie, this is my dad. Dad, this is Connie from next door"

"Nice to meet you Connie. Call me George"

"Likewise…about the nice to meet you part I mean."

George smiled "Uh, Kim where's Matt?"

"He went out to find a store. He should be back soon…if he hasn't got lost"

"Assuming he finds his way back, we'll go then. Oh, and could you tell him to get his car off of the front lawn?"

"GEORRRRRRGE?!"

"YES BARBARA?" he called back, responding to the yell from downstairs.

"THE REALTOR'S ON THE PHONE"

"COMING PUMKIN"

He left the room, leaving Connie laughing and Kim cringing.

"God I hate it when they do that"

"I know the feeling. Where are you guys going?"

"We have an audience with His Holiness the decorator. We gotta see if we're worthy of his divine talents. Then we gotta find somewhere to eat"

"That shouldn't be hard. If there's one thing this place has loads of, its eateries."

"What's it like living in this burg anyway?"

"Its quite cool. I like it. Its big, there's enough to do and it doesn’t get too cold."

"Sounds like my kinda city"

"Anyways, I gotta go now. Home schooling and lunch. I can come round later, like I said, if you're not to busy"

"Sure thing.. Most of this stuff will just be left in the boxes. No point in unpacking everything until the place is decorated. Then you can meet Matty"

"I'll drag Adam round, and that guy I told you about, and his brothers"

Kim walked with Connie down the stairs to the front door. As they passed the living room, they could hear Kim's mom and dad yelling obscenities down the phone.

Connie laughed. "See ya later Kim"

"You too"

Connie walked down the Wilson's drive, smiling to herself. She was glad she hadn't told Kim the names of all three of her friends. That would've spoiled the surprise.

As she walked up the street to her own house, she spotted a familiar looking figure walking toward her on the other side of the road.

"HI TA….wait a minute…that isn't Taylor…unless he's started wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts and acquired a nicotine addiction since yesterday….and damnit his hair isn't that length anymore. Still can't get used to him cutting it"

She watched as the guy, who was also wearing florescent yellow pants, walked up the road, then crossed over and walked up the drive of the new neighbors house.

"Oooooh….that must be Kim's brother God he looks just like Taylor did before he cut his hair. Interesting fashion taste" She giggled mischievously to herself " I HAVE to get Tay to meet him. This could be fun!"