Note: the story isn't in third pov. It's just the prologue.

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Prologue

San Francisco, California
16th of August.

"We're here," Anne announces, turning her car off and getting out of it.

Annalyn and Anastasia excitedly get out of the car, grasping the straps of their backpacks. They have recently moved to California and they are excited to meet new people. Annalyn had decided that she would make new friends, beside Fiona and Noah. Anastasia, however, thought that her sister, Fiona and Noah King are enough for her.

"Okay," their mother starts, crouching down in front of them. "New school. New city. You'll be completely fine, but just stay out of trouble," she warns, looking pointedly at the freckled one of her daughters.

"Why are you looking at me?" Annalyn exclaims, holding her hands out in defense.

"Because you're one who will most likely get in trouble," her twin sister replies.

Annalyn has to admit: she did get in trouble a lot, but that wasn't her intention. It was never her intention to get in trouble. She is only nine and all does she want is to have fun.

"Whatever," Annalyn huffs, crossing her arms.

Her mother laughs and kisses the top of her head. "Now, whatever you do, stay away from Luke Carter."

"Who?" The twins ask in confusion.

Anne looks around, searching for the boy with the black hair, until she spots a little boy sitting on the edge of the curb, looking down at the floor and following his feet's movement. A lot of children thought the boy is weird; he reads in a different language than English which is Italian, he doesn't talk to anyone, except his two friends and he is really smart. Some people thought that he is actually a robot, but Lucas Carter is a ten-year-old who couldn't care less.

"Him," she points at the boy and the girls turn to look at him.

"Why not? He looks nice," Annalyn comments, turning back to her mother and smiling up at her. "Is he a bad boy?" Her expression instantly changes and she frowns.

"No, he's not a bad boy, but it's better to stay away from him. Okay?"

The mother knew that it's a bit harsh to prevent the girls from talking to a boy, but she couldn't risk it. She did not want any kind of relation to the Carters in any way.

"Okay, mummy," Anastasia says while Annalyn just nods, trying to fool her mother.

"Annalyn?" The mother gives her daughter a pointed look.

"What?" She exclaims once again.

Her mother raises an eyebrow and Annalyn sighs, "I won't talk to him."

She is going to talk to him. She didn't really refer to who she's not supposed to talk to, but Anastasia knew one thing: she is going to stay away from that boy as far as possible.

"Alright," the mother says. "Have fun." She hugs her two daughters and they hug her back.

Anne pulls away from them and stands back up, "Bye, girls," she waves at them as she walks back to her car.

"Bye, mummy!" The two girls wave back as they watch their mother get in the car, send them one last wave and drive off. Anne has a feeling that a certain one of her daughters is definitely going to ignore her and go along with her own mind.

"I'm going to talk to him," Annalyn decides.

"But you just told mommy that you won't."

"I told mommy I'm not going to talk to him. I never said who," she grins. "Are you going to come with me or no?"

Anastasia shakes her head, "I'm going to stay here and wait for Fio and Noah."

Although Anastasia loves her sister dearly and she would do anything for her, she still insists on staying out of trouble and the best way to do that is to wish Annalyn good luck and stay seven feet away. She had a feeling that one day Annalyn's trouble would lead to a second Chernobyl accident. Of course, her thoughts weren't about a radioactive incident. She just thought that at least World War III would start or Dora the Explorer would end.

"Okay then." Annalyn walks to the little boy sitting on the curb, just as Fiona and Noah arrive.

"Hey, Ana," Fiona greets her friend.

"Hey, Fio. Hey, Noah," she greets them back.

"Where's Lyn?" Noah asks her.

"Talking to a boy," she points at her sister.

"He looks cute," Fiona remarks, smiling.

"Gross," Noah grimaces and Anastasia laughs.

Annalyn stands in front of the boy, then she bends down and tilts her head to the side and down that her hair tips are reaching the ground.

Lucas notices the face of the girl and he looks up at her with confusion. She's weird, Lucas thinks. Pretty, but weird.

"Hi," the girl smiles at him with her head still down.

"Hi," he replies back slowly.

Annalyn stands up properly and stretches out her hand, "I'm Annalyn."

"Luke," he takes her stretched out hand and shakes it.

Annalyn takes a seat beside him. "Why are you sitting alone?" She frowns.

"I'm waiting for my friends," he responds.

"Oh...it's my first day here. I came from Aust-relia," the little girl struggles to get the word out, then she points to the right, unaware of the fact that the Pacific Ocean is the one in the east.

"Australia," the boy corrects her, pushing her hand to the left and down a bit.

"Sorry," she smiles sheepishly. "I'm not very good with places."

"It's fine," Luke assures her. "I'm not very good with events and History."

"But History is amazing," the girl points out, her eyes widening slightly.

Luke takes notice of the girl's change of facial expressions. It's like every situation had a certain facial expression and she would react differently every time. He thought that it's cute, maybe even adorable.

"Not to me," he says.

Annalyn smiles; she likes that Luke is opening up to her a bit more. "Are you from here?"

"No. I'm from Italy," the boy points to the Northern East, mocking her actions.

"That's so cool!" she comments enthusiastically, her eyes widening again. "I wish I could go there," she pouts.

"You wanna go to Italy?" Lucas asks her.

"Yeah, I heard that it has good food," Annalyn says.

"Just food?"

She nods her head. "Food is important," the girl thinks about it for awhile before she speaks up again, "and unicorns," she pauses again, "and cherry smoothies."

"Cherry smoothies?" Luke asks, raising both of his eyebrows. "You like them too?"

She smiles widely. "They're totally amazing."

"They are," the little boy grins and she grins back.

The two children continue chatting for awhile until they had to head to class. Annalyn tells her sister, Fiona and Noah all about the boy and how he enjoys the nights more than the mornings, while she's the complete opposite of that.

Fiona King found the boy quite amusing and...different. She starts having a liking towards him. She is too young to like a boy, she knows, but she couldn't help it. However, she notices how her best friend enjoys his company and she tries her hardest to forget all about him; in fear of losing her best friend.

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Annalyn walks out of the class–the only class she has alone–but she accidentally gets her hair stuck in one of the nails in the doorway and a little beautiful girl with curly black hair that's pulled back in a frizzy ponytail and melanin-rich skin, bumps into Annalyn on her way out.

"I'm so sorry," the girl apologizes frantically, then she notices Anna's brown curl around the nail. "Wait, let me help you."

"Thank you," Annalyn beams.

Then she starts to unknot her honey-colored lock. "Hey! You have freckles too!" She points out with a wide smile on her face.

"You do too?" Annalyn asks.

The two girls thought that it's odd how the two of them have freckles. Sophie, the dark skinned girl, thought that her freckles are some kind of rare trait in a person and that she would be the only one in the planet to have them. She was right about the rare trait part only.

"Yeah! I thought it was weird because I always thought that I was the only person on Earth who had it. I'm glad I'm not alone," she giggles as she continues trying to unknot Anna's hair.

"Me too," Anna giggles along with the little girl.

"Hi!" A girl with black hair and bright blue eyes and her friend, a ginger with porcelain-like skin approach the two girls. "Do you need help?"

"Yes, please," Sophie answers. "Her hair got stuck."

"This always happens to me," Colette, the girl with the beautiful ginger hair laughs. "Here." Then she manages to uncoil Anna's hair.

"Thank you!" Anna smiles widely, then she notices the brown spots on the other two new girls.

"Hey, you have freckles too!" She points at her nose excitedly.

"No way," The girl with the blue eyes leans in and squints her eyes, noticing the light brown dots that glitter her nose.

Riley, the girl with the blue eyes, thought that they got painted on her when she was born, so she could be different than the others. Colette, however, just thought it was a disease and she didn't tell her mother because she didn't want to worry her.

The three little nine-year-olds (and Colette who recently became ten) had no idea that their recessive gene was nothing but a rare trait. They are still children after all.

The four girls introduce themselves and Annalyn asks them to join her, her sister and her friends in lunch.

After they all get seated in the lunch room and introduce themselves to each other, Annalyn feels as if she has just gained the best. She couldn't wait and tell her mother all about her new friends–minus Luke Carter, of course.

Annalyn Falls didn't know that her life was just about to turn upside down. She didn't know that all the best she has gained would soon be lost.

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Until next time!

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Bye, beautiful peeps!

-W.A ❀