Chapter Three

It had been four days since they arrived. School doesn't open until September and that was like two weeks away. She had been indoors since they arrived, their new house was her grandparent's which her mother inherited with alongside an asset of over 10 million dollars after her grandparents died. Her mother on the other hand already hunted for jobs before they arrived and finding one wasn't even difficult, because she was good at what she does. She currently works as an editor Gloss & Grace and started working two days after they arrived. When she asked her mom why, she told her " I hate having nothing to do. " which was a fair reason. She was on a video call with Aria when she suddenly heard the alarm on the front door buzz.

"Hold on, I think mom is back." She said to Aria before leaving the room to open the door.

"Hi mom." She said and hugged her.

"Hey baby." Claire said to her.

"Well, I was on a call with Aria. Do you need me for anything?" She asked her mom.

"No, I don't think so. Say hello to her for me." Claire said.

Vee then excused herself.

"That reminds me, remember Asher?" Aria asked as soon as Vee showed up. Vee paused to remember who it was, she knew the name but couldn't place a face to the name.

"I don't think I do." She said.

"Asher Preston! In 7th grade. The boy who every girl in class had a crush on and loved his British accent!" Aria said.

" Ohh, I remember now. What's up with him?" She asked Aria.

"Well I got news from Nora that he's coming to join us this year for school and I happened to stumble on his Instagram page." She squealed.

"You stumbled or stalked?" Vee scoffed. Aria had a knack for stalking on social media, especially boys. She always had a different crush everyday. Asher was the only one who lasted a whole year. But when he left for an unknown reason, Aria moved on pretty quickly.

"Yeah…whatever. Well he's so hot now." Aria said." He is the definition of 'Hot gets Hotter' he looks so much better." she added.

Vee shook her head and laughed.

" What's so funny? Well I followed him and texted him he replied and … he followed me back." She said and jumped.

"Look who's love story finally has a head start." Vee teased.

" We're going to have beautiful kids." Aria said and Vee almost choked on the water she was drinking.

"You're one crazy weirdo Ari." She replied.

There was a knock on her room's door.

"Can I come in honey?" Claire asked from the other side of the door.

" Come in." She answered and her mom stepped in.

" There's someone I'd love you to meet. If you don't mind can you come down for a while?" She said to her.

She nodded in affirmation. " I'll be down in a minute." She said and her mom nodded too.

"Hi Aria, how are you" Claire asked Aria when she noticed her on the screen.

"I'm fine Mrs Hayes." Aria answered.

" Alright, say hello to your mother for me." Claire said before she left the room. "Gotta go, we'll talk tomorrow." Vee said before she ended the call.

She changed into joggers because she was putting on shorts and went downstairs.

She found three strangers in the living room. A man, a woman and a girl who seemed like she was of the same age as Vee.

" Violet, meet my high school friends Sebastian and Margaret Hunter." Claire said as Vee stood by her side.

"And this is their daughter Emma, you'll both be juniors when school resumes." Claire added.

"Hi." She said shyly. Vee had never been open to meeting new people.

"You look just like your mom did in high school!" Margaret gasped.

" Hi, I'm Emily but everyone calls me Em." Emily said and stretched her hand forward and Vee shook her hand.

"Why don't you girls go get to know each other, I'll let you know when dinner is ready." Claire suggested. Vee wanted to decline but she changed her mind. She needed to meet someone new. Aria wasn't going to show her around or go with her to school.

"Do you read?" Vee asked Em.

Em looked at her with a strange look on her face.

"Not school books, novels,comics and stuff." Vee added quickly. She didn't want Em to see her as a weirdo.

"Hell yeah! I understood what you meant. I just wanted to be sure it was the same thing." Em whispered.

"I'll show Em my library." Vee said and left the living room with Em.

She took Em to her library.

The room used to be her grandfather's home office and study, so it was huge. Her mom had it converted to a library for her, she had a library back in California. Claire wanted her daughter to feel happy and feel like she was home. She made the library even better than the one she used to have.

Vee pushed open the binding doors that the library stood behind. As soon as she entered the room a warm smile spread across her face.

"Welcome to my world." she said to Em as they stepped in. The soft glow of table lamps and string lights enveloped them, illuminating the shelves bursting with books of all genres.

"Whoa.." Em gasped as soon as she saw the library. "This….is...incredible!" Em exclaimed. Vee chuckled. She was just as surprised when she saw the library too.

"OMG.. is that Alessia Russo's The crime family? The entire twelve of the series!" Em said with her voice filled with excitement.

"Yes." Vee responded.

"Am I allowed to cuss?" Em asked her.

"Why not?" Vee said and shrugged.

"You lucky Bitch." Em said and Vee laughed. She gave her a tour of the library and saved the best for the last.

"My special collection." She said and gestured to a closed cabinet towards the end of the library. She held Em's hand and led her to the cabinet."Please, be prepared to get swept off your feet." Vee said before she opened the cabinet.

"If I faint this time its going to be your fault Vee." she replied with a voice that seemed like she might cry.

"Don't worry I'll catch you before you hit the ground." Vee assured her before she pulled the cabinet's door open.

Em gasped. "I….s..th...at…" Em stammered.

"Yes, special editions of Love and loyalty, Forever frenemies, Sweet sweet serendipity, deadly deception and a few others." Vee explained. Em fell on her knees.

" This place should be a museum, Vee you've graced my sight with beautiful art, Now I can leave this world with my soul at peace." Em said and pretended to die. Vee laughed heartily. She liked Em already, the girl was funny.

"I've never being able to get physical books, so I settle for pdf's and epub's ." Em said feigning tears.

"I used my sister's card to pay for Love in bloom's special edition, I got scammed and lost more than half of her savings. She almost killed me. But my parents stopped her and banned me from buying books, I only get books on my birthdays and Christmas." Em told Vee. Vee suddenly laughed loudly.

"I was twelve. It's not my fault." Em defended. Vee nodded but kept laughing and Em joined her.

"You can borrow books from me, but I have to get them back safe and sound." Vee said to her when they finished laughing.

"Scouts honor, they'll be returned in good state. I promise" Em said and placed her hand on chest,then saluted.

"Girls, dinner's is ready." Claire called out to them.

"Let's go." Vee said and they both headed downstairs.

After dinner they all sat in the living room.

"Em,are you free tomorrow?" Claire asked.

"Yes, I am." Em responded.

"Why don't you show Vee around. I've been too busy to." Claire said.

"Of course, I would love to." Em said happily.

"Thank you so much."Claire thanked.

"I can drive them, I don't have to go to work tomorrow." Sebastian suggested.

"Oh, thank God. I was thinking we'd have to walk everywhere.I'm really lazy."Vee joked and every one laughed.

"We should probably get going. I and the girls have a long day tomorrow." Sebastian said.

Vee and Claire saw the Hunters to the door.

"See you tomorrow, Vee." Em said happily.

"Goodnight Em." she replied. She was quite excited for tomorrow.

After she and her mum were back in the house.

"Mom." Vee called after Claire as she was heading towards her room.

"Yes, honey." Claire responded.

"Thank you. For everything." she said.

Claire smiled and nodded. "You're welcome."

"Goodnight, I love you." Vee added.

"I love you too, honey." she answered and Vee left for her room.

Claire smiled to herself. She knew her daughter was loving her new life.