Chapter Text
Thomas stepped out of the driver’s seat of his new (ish) car, his twelve-year-old brother, Chuck, leaping from the passenger seat. His parents had bought it for him as an apology gift for moving him across the country barely a month after his sixteenth birthday. It was a six-year-old blue Subaru Outback, which made slightly more sense in the mountains of Vermont but was now parked in the driveway of their new house in a suburb of San Diego. Quite possibly the furthest across the country that they could have gone (which Thomas had brought up, multiple times), but his parents wouldn’t stop insisting that the move would be “a new adventure” for all of them.
Thomas’ dad, Daniel, was a researcher and professor who had worked at the University of Vermont for Thomas’ entire life. When his dad received an offer to lead a new microbiology research program and teach a class at the University of San Diego, he had accepted it on the spot. Since his mom Mary was a talented and highly-rated pediatrician, it didn’t take long for her to secure a job in the area either.
Thomas was happy for his parents, he really was. He knew how important their jobs were to them, and how his dad had been waiting for an opportunity like this for years . If anyone deserved that position, it was Daniel Greene. Thomas just found himself selfishly wishing from time to time that the position had come after he finished high school. Literally only two years.
But now, Thomas had to start a new school at the beginning of his junior year, in a new city, in a new state, in a whole new climate. He’d barely even been to the beach in his life, how would he adjust to living just a few miles away from it?
And it was hot in June in San Diego. Of course, his parents had decided to up and move practically as soon as school was over. Thomas and Chuck had gotten one week of summer with their Vermont friends, one week jumping in the lake and camping in their backyards, and then they’d had to say goodbye. Burlington barely got over seventy-two degrees in the summer, which was just right for lake days and nighttime hikes, but in San Diego, it was already eighty-five. At eleven o’clock in the morning. Thomas groaned and pulled a box of his stuff from the trunk of his car.
“Help me out a little, would ya?” He asked Chuck, who had been staring at the house in awe.
“Oh! Yeah! Sorry, Thomas!” Chuck winced apologetically, and rushed to Thomas’ side, reaching for some of his own things from the car.
One of the nicer conditions of the move was that Thomas’s parents had let him and Chuck load their things into Thomas’s car, and make a road trip out of the drive across the country. Granted, they’d had to follow their parents' U-haul the whole way, but it was still fun. Chuck was extraordinarily chatty for a twelve-year-old boy, but it really was nice for Thomas to be able to spend time with his brother. Ordinarily, they probably wouldn’t have spent that much time together in a confined space, but Thomas found himself both relieved and sad that it was over.
Thomas loaded a second box into his arms, and turned to face the house.
That’s why Chuck had been staring.
Thomas had only seen pictures of the house online, and clearly the pictures didn’t do it justice. Though smaller than their house in Vermont, because apparently a decent house in California cost a shit ton, it was considerably prettier.
Spanish-style and creamy white, the house stretched up two stories. It was literally only three bedrooms, which was why Thomas didn’t understand how it fit into a two-story house, but it did. Colorfully painted tiles lined the stairs on the porch, which wrapped around to the front door in a gentle curve. There was a rust-orange balcony that curved out above the garage, in front of two doors that doubled as large windows. The master bedroom. His parents were lucky to be able to get that room.
Thomas’s parents had promised him the larger room, since he was older, and would be moving out for college (potentially) in two years. Chuck had pouted, but agreed without a fight, probably because he knew that he would get the room as soon as Thomas left.
Thomas lugged his boxes inside the house, finding that it was even prettier and airer on the inside. It definitely lived up to his expectations of a house in California.
“Thomas!” Chuck practically shrieked from the top of the staircase. “Have you seen your room? It’s huge ! And the next door neighbors have a pool! I wish we had a pool.” Chuck frowned, then turned and darted away, vanishing from Thomas’ sight. Thomas sighed and moved up the stairs.
“Your room is on the right, honey.” Thomas’ mom appeared in the doorway of the master bedroom, a lamp on her hip.
Thomas nodded from behind the boxes. “Thanks, mom.”
His bed had already been set up in the corner of his room (Thomas refused to sleep anywhere other than pushed up against the croner), and his desk and nightstand set up. Other than that, the room looked uncomfortably empty. Thomas set his two boxes down in the middle and looked around, studying the in-wall bookshelf, larger-than-necessary closet, and big window that faced the next-door neighbor’s house.
Thomas stepped up to the window and looked around. He saw that the neighbors did, in fact, have a pool. A nice one, at that. He also noticed that his window looked DIRECTLY into the window across the way from him. About to turn away, he noticed a flash of movement in the other window and narrowed his gaze across the way.
A flash of short blond hair, and the curtain snapped shut.
Huh.
***
“I don’t need your help to get the bloody post!” An angry-looking, British-sounding blond boy on crutches careened wildly down the gently sloped driveway of the house next door. Whoever he was speaking to was still inside the house.
Thomas froze. He hadn’t met anyone in San Diego yet unless the cashiers at Trader Joe’s counted (he didn’t think they did). The boy landed next to Thomas on the sidewalk, reaching for his mailbox. He’d propped himself up on his crutches, and Thomas stared at the massive cast that encased his left leg.
“Uhh, hi?”
The boy didn’t even look Thomas in the eye, aggressively opening the mailbox and snatching the few envelopes inside.
“Hello.” He said curtly, tucking the envelopes between his crutch and his armpit, and heading back to his house.
A blonde girl who looked strikingly similar to the boy rushed from the front door, and down to where Thomas was practically frozen to the mailbox.
“I’m SO sorry about my brother.” She tittered, her big brown eyes glowing apologetically. “He’s been grumpy because of his broken leg.”
“Oh- uh, it’s fine.” Thomas muttered.
“Of course he had to go and ruin our first impression on the new neighbors! Mum is going to go mad when I tell her.”
Thomas, unsure of how to respond, simply watched her. Her accent was lighter than her brother’s, he noticed. But that might have just been because her voice was higher.She had big, hazelnut eyes, a stark contrast to her nearly translucent skin and incredibly soft-looking gold hair. With the way her long hair floated around her face and shoulders, and her generally small features, Thomas thought that she looked like a pixie, or maybe a fairy.
“Oh, I’ve gone and messed it up again haven’t I? I forgot to tell you MY name. I’m Sonya Isaacs” She thrust her hand out, and Thomas nearly dropped his stack of mail going to shake it.
“Thomas Greene.”
“Nice to meet you, Thomas! I really hope my brother didn’t scare you off of us. The rest of our family is nice, I swear.”
Thomas chuckled. “It’s really fine. I’d be pissed if I had a broken leg, too.”
Something dark crossed across Sonya’s face, so briefly that Thomas could’ve sworn he made it up.
She scrunched up her nose and rolled up onto her toes. “I better be off, but I’ll make sure that I stop by later with Mum, we’re all dying to meet you guys!”
And with a wave and a swish of her light hair, she was gone.
It didn’t take long before Thomas heard the familiar light accent ringing through the new house while he was unpacking his socks (had he always had that many socks?).
He abandoned the socks and made his way down the stairs, finding his mom, Sonya, and a petite blonde woman with similar features who could only be her mom. Chuck was hovering behind their mom. For someone so friendly and chatty, he tended to shy away from strangers. Thomas made it to the landing when Sonya caught his eye, brightening and waving.
“Hi, Thomas!”
Chuck and Mary turned, both of them smiling.
“Ah, I heard that you’ve already met Sonya and my son. I am sorry about that, by the way.” The woman greeted warmly. Her accent was thicker than Sonya's or the boy's. “I’m Christine.”
“Thomas, but you already knew that.” Thomas shook her hand, and she laughed.
“We were just getting to know each other a little bit,” Thomas’ mom explained. “Christine‘s a professor at USD too.”
“English, fittingly enough.” Christine chimed in.
“Thomas, how old are you? I wonder if we’re at the same school.” Sonya interrupted.
“Sixteen. I dunno which school I’m enrolled in, though.”
“Just the public school in the district.” Mary supplied. “Southglade high. Chuck’s twelve, he’ll be starting seventh at Cerro middle.”
Sonya clasped her hands together and bounced up and down.
“That’s where we go! And you’ll be a junior? Same as us?”
Thomas blinked. Us?
“Me and Newt? My delightful brother.” She sarcastically dragged out the word delightful.
Huh. Twins. That made more sense. At least he wouldn’t start school completely alone, he reasoned. Shame that Sonya’s brother— Newt— wasn’t as friendly as the rest of the family apparently was.
“Well, we’ll be off, leave you to your unpacking I suppose. But please do come over for dinner tomorrow night! We’d love to properly get to know you all.” Christine reached out and placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder, and Sonya nodded eagerly.
“Of course! What time?”
“Does seven sound good?”
“We’ll be there.”
Christine hugged Thomas’ mom, then Thomas, then Chuck. Sonya followed suit, and once again, the Isaacs left in a swish of blonde hair and warm smiles.
***
Thomas rolled out of bed earlier than he normally would in the summer, but he’d had a hard time sleeping in the heat. Everyone in the house was still asleep, and the sun was just up, as it was 7:30.
Thomas fetched Roscoe, their Australian Shepard mix, from her little area in the garage, and shook her leash in the air to wake her up.
“C’mon, girl! Wanna go out?”
Roscoe jumped up immediately, tail wagging. Thomas chuckled, and bent down to tie his running shoes.
“That’s what I thought.”
He clipped Roscoe’s leash to her collar, and led her out the front door.
He didn’t leave a note, because he’d probably be back before his parents got up, and even if he didn’t, they’d understand where he went. They knew that Thomas loved to run in the mornings, that he loved to run in general.
Running was the best way for him to clear his head, to feel better about anything, and work off any and all pent-up stress. How fast he was and his competitiveness within the sport was simply an added bonus.
Thomas jogged out onto the driveway, looking up and down the street, trying to decide which way to go.
He looked to his left, up the street, and noticed someone sitting on the Issacs’ porch.
Thomas stopped and turned fully.
It was Sonya’s brother. Newt.
He sat on the top of the three wide steps leading to their front door, his broken leg stretched out in front of him and crutches stacked behind him, on the flat part of the porch. A book or journal of some sort rested in his lap, and he looked up at Thomas like a deer caught in the headlights.
Not wanting to intrude on whatever the hell he was doing, or make the blond boy any angrier than he needed to be, Thomas settled for lifting his hand in a simple, amicable wave.
Newt waved back, almost shyly. Thomas felt the corners of his lips curve into a small smile and jogged off in the opposite direction with Roscoe.