Summary

When an unexpected move from Ohio to LA causes Spencer to deal with her problems alone, how will she cope when she becomes friends with Ashley, a girl already hiding her own secret.

Disclaimer

I don't own any of the character used from South of Nowhere; they are simply being used as puppets to act out my own crazy ideas, so please don't sue me

Author's Note

Hey everyone, this is my first time writing fanfiction for ages and my first time ever writing SoN. I really hope you'll like my story especially as it gets going and I'd love to know what you all think, constructive criticism is always appreciated, so hopefully you'll enjoy. Also I'd like to say a massive thanks to my best friend and beta KickMyself for all the help you've given me with this story, and tell everyone to look out for her fics when they finally hit the board!

I'm uploading the first three chapters of this story at once, so please read+review to let me know what you think and if i should continue I will also be posting this on under the same name.

TheCon12 x

Chapter 1 – Not Quite Home – Anywhere But Here.

It wasn't quite home yet, the house still didn't have that distinct smell that could only be known to a certain family as 'home', the furniture didn't look natural in their new positions, it looked like they were trying to hard, every cushion lined perfectly on the sofa, every family photo laying at a perfect angle against the wallpaper that they didn't choose, even the dinning table looked as if it was trying to impress, fresh flowers in a new vase set as a centre piece, the nice china and cutlery laid out as if waiting for important guests.

It looked like the perfect family home, but it wasn't the home that they'd been brought up in, it wasn't the home they'd baked cookies in the kitchen, done finger painting at the table, curled up on the sofa when they were ill, but most of all it wasn't the home she felt comfortable in, it just didn't feel like the safe haven her other house did.

Spencer Carlin sat with her back against the wall staring at the stack of boxes that needed to be unpacked in her 'new room', it wasn't her room though, it didn't have the soft pink carpet that felt so soft against her bare feet, it didn't have her shelf with her stuffed teddies from her childhood, but most of all she missed that her room didn't contain the memories of her life, with friends and family, through happy times and sad.

It had been three days since the Carlin family had moved from their beautiful house in Ohio to their new home in LA, it was an opportunity for everyone, that's what her parents had said, although Spencer knew it was her mother's doing really, her dad would have happily stayed in Ohio working at the small youth centre, helping the troubled teens of Ohio sort themselves out to become upstanding members of the community. It was her mother who had wanted the challenge at work, Spencer understood that as a surgeon her mother must long to do some more complex surgeries which she insisted just didn't come up in Ohio, besides LA could do with another surgeon working on the horrific mishaps of the constantly buzzing city.

And then of course there were her two adorable brothers, well one adorable brother and one pain in the butt brother. Glen Carlin, basketball, that was all he cared about well that and the 'hotties' which he kept reminding Clay there would be hundreds of, he wasn't bothered about the move, he was sure that where ever they lived he'd still be the best player of the high school basketball team and irresistible to the girls, which Spencer was sure must have to have been brain dead to be corrupted by Glen and his sleazy sweet talk. Clay Carlin, the adopted brother, the sweet, understanding and hard working one, more worried about working hard and getting good grades than going along with Glen to try and get into the pants of as many girls as he possibly could. Except from being slightly worried about getting into and finding all his classes Clay also wasn't too bothered by the move his family had made.

Spencer sighed, it seemed like she was the only one who was home sick at the moment, maybe unpacking would help make her feel better, she lifted one of the boxes up onto her bed and began to unpack its contents, a few books, CD's, DVD's, her favorite teddy, and a couple of photo albums. It only took Spencer two hours to unpack her boxes, she couldn't believe that of her sixteen years of living in Ohio, that all her personal items had come down to about eight boxes. The room didn't look so bear now, books and CD's lined neatly on the shelf next to her CD player, a few posters up on the wall and her trusty laptop tucked away on the desk in the corner. It was starting to look more like her room now, but it still had the same dreary emptiness it contained before, Spencer was just hoping that her first day at King High tomorrow would help her settle in, she was good at working hard at school, and she knew that with a few assignments her mind would keep from wondering back to her previous life.

Luckily for Spencer, both Glen and Clay could drive which meant she didn't have to take the bus to another new place that she'd have to learn her way around. Glen was the usual jerk and molded into a crowd before she and Clay could say goodbye, Glen was always the first to mix with people, the one to have a bunch of friends within the first day of them living in LA. Clay gently put his hand at the base of Spencer's back and led her to the board with the school map.

"This place is huge, I'm never going to remember how to find all my classes" he trailed his finger along the map until he found the classroom he was looking for. "What about you Spence, will you be ok?"

Spencer turned to see her brother with the sincere concerned look he always had when he knew she was uncomfortable and quiet. "Yeah I'll be fine Clay, I'll figure it out, It's just this place just isn't..." Spencer let her sentence trail off as she shifted her eyes down to her feet.

Clay placed his hand on her shoulder "Look Spence, I know you're having a hard time adjusting to the move, trust me this isn't easy for any of us, but I think mom and dad really need this, I mean you've seen how happy they've been since we moved here."

"Yeah I know Clay and I'm glad they're happy they deserve it, It's just we moved away from home just when I was starting to figure out who I was, and where I belonged in Ohio, and now we're out here, and it's like I've got to start all over again, I mean I have no friends out here..."

"Spence you'll make friends, just give it time, and I know you had some stuff going on before we came out here, Rachel was good for you, she made you happy Spence, and you deserve that, but don't let it get to you, I know mom and dad have both been swamped since we got here, and Glen's well Glen, but I'm here ok? If you want to talk or just go for a walk or anything, don't be afraid to talk to me Spence, or to be who you really are."

"Thanks Clay, I can always count on you, I'm just afraid to be me Clay, mom won't understand"

"Mom will understand Spence, she'll just need time. Look you need to figure you out first before you even think of telling mom and dad anything, and not to mention Glen."

"I know you're right, it just would have been so much easier if I could figure myself out some place where I was already comfortable, the added stress and loneliness of moving out here just adds to the mess I have to go through before I figure it all out." Spencer met her brother's eyes and gave him a warm smile. "But who knows, maybe with my adorable sensitive brother and a new home maybe figuring myself out will be easier than in Ohio."

Clay let a laugh escape his lips "That's all good Spence, but if you start telling people I'm some sweet sensitive guy, I may have to kill you before you get the chance to figure yourself out, I mean this is LA, I need to look all tough and macho."

"But Clay you are a sweet sensitive guy, so deal with it." Spencer replied sticking her tongue out.

Clay gave Spencer a quick hug before he headed off to find his class, he was sweet, but he could be such a loser, he always had to be at class before it even started, and if that was his idea of creating a tough and macho impression he didn't stand a chance.

Spencer decided to try and get a feeling for her new school by just wandering around, and as she trailed through the school grounds she noticed that King High was just another typical high school. The people, her fellow students, were typically grouped off in their little social divides.

There was of course the popular group, the school cheerleaders, who were prancing around in their little cheer outfits flicking their hair back while pouting and giggling at anything the guys from the basketball team (the group that her brother Glen would quickly join) said, and obviously they stopped long enough to snigger at the tall lanky girl with glasses as thick as bottle rims who walked past them carrying a mountain load of books.

Of course this was high school so the other largest popularity of people were the geeks, who were all gathered around tables peering over books (the group that her adopted brother Clay would join), and laughing at each other's lame attempt at jokes, which normally centered around something so intellectual it was more like in depth knowledge that regular kids didn't understand than a joke.

Then there was, what Spencer could only define as outcasts, well they were outcasts but outcasts that had divided into their own groups, so any outcast from one group certainly didn't mix with another group of outcasts, if that made any sense. There was the group that liked art, they liked it so much in fact that it had traveled from their paper to their skin in the forms of tattoos and unnatural looking piercings, the group that had eyes that were so red and bloodshot that there was no way people couldn't know they were on drugs, the group that was clearly involved with drama, as they were carrying around Shakespeare books and doing dramatic hand movements with every word and action they made, the music lovers who all walked around with Ipods and guitars, humming or singing quietly to themselves and the group that contained computer wizards, they all carried laptops and you could here them talking in terms that didn't make sense unless you too knew how to control and command a computer.

There was so many different groups that Spencer was having a hard time keeping track of them, the only group that seemed to be missing were the 'normal' kids, the ones that didn't have any weird and crazed obsession, or studied so hard that studying became their life, and as Spencer looked around she had a strange feeling that she wasn't going to fit in at all, and as she headed off down a hall that led to the cafeteria she mumbled to herself,

"Yup I was right; this place is definitely not quite home."