chapter 1

When my parents decided for us to move to a small town well more of an island off the coast of Maine I thought it would be a boring place with nothing and no gossip to enjoy. Boy was I wrong. 

We lived in Las Vegas a city known for casinos. My father owned some of the big casinos and clubs and some hotels. Then we moved to a small island or what I thought was going to be a small island. But it is like its own city except for everyone who lives here knows about the gangs that rule over them. 

I left the place I was raised in but little did I know that I would come to love this island of gangs, drugs, and violence. 

3 months before moving:

"Mom, Dad, I'm home from the mall. I think that I got some cool clothes for the party next week," I tell my parents after getting out of the elevator. I stop and drop my bags on the floor. My parents are sitting on the couch with serious expressions. "What happened," I ask concerned. 

"Ladybug me and your mother has decided to move," my father tells me. "We are not leaving for any serious reason but I am opening some more casinos, hotels, and clubs somewhere else." 

"Okay, but why are you telling me this now when after this summer it is my senior year?" I ask. 

"Because my little bug we need to get settled in our new house. I and your father are leaving in a month to go to this new house and we want you to stay here to finish your school year and of course go on that tour of Europe with your friends from school," my mother tells me. I walk over to the couch and plop down on a chair across from the couch. 

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"We will be leaving here and going to an island off of the eastern coast of main. The island is named Greges," my dad tells me. An island we are moving to an island I have never heard of and I basically am a geography nerd. 

"Is that Latin," I ask.

"Yes, do you know what it means?" My father asks worriedly. 

"No, I do not know Latin. I know German, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Chinese, and Russian but no Latin," I say annoyed. He was the one who wanted me to learn any language I wanted. He usually gives me a list of languages every two years and tells me to pick a language I want to learn and study for those two years. I find this very annoying but the one Language that was never on the list was Latin. 

"This school year you need to learn it," he tells me. 

"But it has not been two years yet I am supposed to continue working on Arabic," I protest. 

"You will do both but ladybug while we are in Maine we need you to stay with Andrew he will be your guardian while we are in Maine and he will be your bodyguard you will take him everywhere you go understand?" He demands. I look over at Andrew who is my dad's bodyguard. 

"Yes, I will," I tell my father. 

"Good we must be going we have a dinner party to attend," my father says before standing up and offering his hand to my mother. She takes and smiles at me before going to the elevator. I watch as it closes and leaving me with Andrew Aka the hulk. 

3 months later and current day:

I finish packing and head to the kitchen where Andrew my bodyguard is sitting with a cup of tea and a magazine that says 'Banden und Küken' aka Gangs and Chicks.  Found it in Germany at a bar and gave it to him as a gift. 

"Good morning Andy Bandy," I greet. Andy just rolls his eyes and grunts at me. He hates my nickname for him but I think it suits him. He is all muscles and he is basically a mute but sometimes he will talk. 

"You finally picked up my gift how sweet," I tell him. He immediately throws the magazine in the bin and blushes. 

"When are we leaving for the airport?" I ask. He looks at his watch and looks back up at me and stands. I guess now. I go into my room and get my bags. I have a total of 5 bags not including my everyday purse and my massive purse that I keep my laptop and I pad and other things that I can not put in my small purse. 

Andy comes in and takes all five bags and takes them out of the front door to my Mini Cooper. I look around my little beach house that I bought with money from my grandpa after he died and gave me about 10 million dollars. I head out the door and lock it. I get into my Mini C and speed down the coast toward Las Angeles airport. 

We arrive at the airport 30 minutes before the planes leave for Maine but I go to the section of the airport that my father has just for family and go past the private seating and head for our private plane entrance. 

Once in the plain I plop down on a white couch and get out of my laptop to watch Gilmore girls my all-time favorite tv show when traveling. Andy sits at a table with his laptop. I'm guessing he is doing work for my father or playing scrabble. 

" Miss would you like anything," a flight attendant asks me. 

"Yes, can I have some cheese and crackers with a glass no a bottle of champagne?" I ask. 

"Yes I will bring it out soon," he tells me. 

About 30 minutes pass and he brings the bottle of champagne and a glass with a tray of cheese and crackers. I snack on the food and drink about 2 glasses of champagne. 5 hours later when we touch down at a small airport I am on season two of Gilmore Girls and halfway through the champagne bottle and all of the cheese and crackers are gone. I stand up and do my usual post-plane stretch. I grab my two bags and go down the steps of the plain.

 The so-called airport Is not even an airport. It is just cement with some this plane and one other plane. I also notice a limo in front of the plane waiting for us. I slide into the Limo and wait for Andy to put my bags into the trunk and climb into the passenger seat of the limo. 

I watch as the world blurs around us as we drive to our destination. We stop at a dock and I look through the window of the limo. 

"Are you going to kill me, Andy Bandy?" I ask. He just smiles at me.

 Not creepy at all. I think to myself 

A ferry comes in front of us and we drive onto it.

 Oh that's how we are going to the little island

The ferry goes slow so I can see the view. 20 minutes pass when we finally make it to the island. I look out my window and notice how green this island looks. I see big green trees and make the connection that we are in a forest or a woodsy part of the island. 

We exist in the peaceful Forest and enter the town part of the island. I see cute houses and parks where kids are playing. We pass the downtown of the island and it looks like it has some clubs and stores that I am sure to go to. We pass a middle school and an elementary. Then we turn right and I see the high school. The high school looks massive with its iron gate. We pass the school but I can not stop staring at the school. 

Once we are too far for me to see the school I notice we have entered a wealthy part of the island. Every house we pass seems to get bigger and fancier. From a big house with no fence to a massive house with a large iron fence. 

We turn onto a long road that goes up into a mountain. We drive up a long hill until we stop at a large iron gate. The opens once Andy puts in a code we drive through the gate and go down the road until I see a large massive house in front of us. It is one of the biggest houses I have seen on this island. 

We pull up in the circle driveway and I climb out of the car and run up the stairs to the door and open it. The first thing I notice is the balloons that say welcome home. Then I see the large staircases on either side of the foyer. With my mother standing underneath the stairs with a bright smile and a cake. I walk over and notice the cake says happy 18th.

"Mom my birthday isn't until Friday," I say. 

"I know but we can I have this cake now and get a big birthday cake for your party," she tells me before slipping an arm through mine and taking me into the large kitchen. The kitchen is massive. The counters are marble with black cabinets on either side of the large island that takes up half of the room.  

On the other side of this large room is a large couch the is the shape of a U. I look at the large windows across from the entry and I see a massive backyard with a massive pool. The house has a Forest all around it so I know we are very secluded. 

"Have a seat dear and I will give you some dinner," my mother tells me. I sit down on a barstool.  Mom hands me a slice of cake and I dig into my cake like I have been deprived of food for at least a year. Dad comes strolling in from the foyer and smiles when he sees me. 

"Brooke, how was your flight?" My dad asks. He goes to the fridge and opens it before shutting it closed after he grabbed a plastic water bottle. 

"Long and boring," I respond. 

"Well, tomorrow is your first day at Lilium high. You drove by it today on your way here. You do not have to worry I signed you up for all of your classes," My father tells me before grabbing a bite of my mom's cake. 

"Yeah we did drive by it today and what about signing me up for classes I thought I could choose tomorrow," I say. 

"Ladybug school started two weeks ago," my father tells me. 

"Two weeks ago," I exclaim. 

"Brooke you were in Paris with your friends we did not want to have you leave early. We wanted you to stick with the plain we had set," My mother tells me before grabbing my dad's hand from stealing her last bite of cake. 

"Oh. What classes did you sign me up for then?" I ask. 

"I signed you up for Debate, Trigonometry, Physics, Geography, Arabic, Photography, P.E, and AP Latin," he tells me. 

"AP Latin but I have not even studied the basics," I tell him. 

"You already know some but I am sure you will be good at it. If you need a tutor we can always get it for you," my father says before he leaves. 

"Bug, you will be good at it and get a good grade at the end of the year. You always do," my mother tells me. She is trying to comfort me but I just don't think that AP Latin is what I need this year. 

"Honey stop worrying about AP Latin. Now I will show you your room. I had a professional designer work on it to make it your own room with what you like," My mother tells me. I follow her to the foyer and up to one of the stairs. When we get to the landing at the top of the stairs we turn left and walk down the hall. She tells me that the very large gym is to the right of the stairs. She shows me where their room is so if anything happens I can know where they are. We continue down the twist and turns of the hall and stop at two doors. My mom smiles at me before pushing both the doors open. 

I gasp at my new room. It is massive like 2 times bigger than the kitchen. I have a dark gray couch with a light pink chair and a fuzzy ottoman. In the middle of the seating is a glass coffee table with a vase of violets and white roses. Behind my seating area is a wall of windows that overlooks the front yard. I can see the mountains that are in the distance and the forest that is surrounding this house. 

My bed is a king-size bed. It has an upholstered bench that is at the end of the bed. It is a very light pink with wooden legs. My bed is close to the floor but still has space underneath the bed to put things or put myself. The comforter is white with a fluffy rose gold blanket that is across the bed. The pillows are white and rose gold. Both of the nightstands are made of the same wood as the bench's legs. One nightstand has a vase with lilacs and both of the nightstands have lamps that.  

One side of the room has a bookshelf that goes with the theme of my bedroom. Across from my bed is a T.V with a wooden built-in t.v stand. By the bookshelf is a glass desk where I can do homework. On the desk are some nicknacks that represent me. 

I go to a door on the other side of my room and find that it is my closet. The closet is filled with clothes. I look through my clothes and find sections for each thing. Sweat pants and Sweatshirts. Long skirts and short skirts. Pants and shorts. T-shirts and tank tops. Blouses and bouton ups. Fancy dresses like ballgowns or clubbing dresses. Casual dresses that I can wear for school. 

I find a set of buttons by the door and click one. 5 draws open and I see an assortment of sunglasses and hats. I press another button and 5 more draws open with an assortment of scarves and some more hats. I press another button and 5 tall draws open with all different kinds of shoes. I press the last button and 4 draws open and it is an assortment of jewelry. 

I laugh at everything and think to myself I am still 100% going to continue shopping even though It looks like I have everything I could ever need.  I just love shopping. 

I go to the next door in my room that leads to my massive elegant bathroom. There is a 2 person shower that has windows so I can see the outside world while I shower but they can not see me. Next to the shower is a two-person bathtub that I am so excited to use. The toilet has its own little room that is pretty big for just a toilet. On one side of the room across from the shower and bathtub is a long bathroom counter with two sinks on either side. With a mirror that goes from one side of the wall to the other side of the room above the sinks. I notice that in the middle is a vanity table with all of my makeup organized in the draws and on the table. The comfy chair is a light pink that will be comfortable to do my make-up. 

All the draws of the bathroom cabinets are stalked with everything I look to have in my bathroom. The room with the toilet has a linen closet stalked with backup things that I may need and towels from dark gray to white. 

I leave the bathroom and collapsed on the bed. I get underneath the comforters and turn on the T.V to watch Gilmore Girls. About twenty minutes into episode five of season 2 I decided to turn off the t.v and go to sleep.  

I start drifting off into sleep but my last thought before I go into a dreamless sleep is that I hope that I get through this year fast without anything getting into my way for me to follow my dreams that I had since I was a little girl. 

But little do I know that the universe has different plans in store for me.