The Clan Tree

CHAPTER 1: Newbies



They were friends.Coming and going.Loving and hating.Swimming in the pool, climbing the tree.There were relationships and jealously.But there was also the occasional deaths. Of a person, of a plant, of an animal. Love died and hate came to life. But while they had the chance they were kids.Children.Best friends.So many names,so many friends, so many heartbreaks. They lived in Schooner Gates. An apartment building in Florida. It was lonely and forgotten barely thought of never on the news, never disgusted unless it was by the residents living there or near bye. There were two maintenance men. The children didn't know their names but thought of them as their friends. Riding in golf carts up and down the roads waving to the kids and occasionally stopping to say hello. Everything started in the middle of the summer in 2009. A girl named Elizabeth moved in. She was wild and crazy. But serious. Her skin was medium dark and had short wavy beautiful hair. She was coming to stay with her mother, Jen who looked the exact opposite of her blond and pale. The day she got there she smiled at the kids when she drove by and laughed and told her mom about how she was going to climb the tree and play with the them. She was 11 but looked like she was 16 and was often mistaken as a teenager. When her and her mother drove by a tree one day there was a kid under the tree with blond shoulder length hair in a tank and shorts. "I'm going to play with that little girl mom!" she said. " Of course sweetie." her mother replied lovingly.They got home and unpacked and as soon as Liz(her nickname) was done, out she went. She met a girl named Sasha who reminded her of a glamorous version of a proffesional wrestler and her brother Mitchy who was short and stubby in her eyes, a dark skinned toothpick shaped boy named Milo, a pale boy named Timmy(who turned out to be the "girl" she saw under the tree), a dark girl who seemed bossy and mean named Bree, a sort of chubby boy named Thomas (who's nickname was Duckie because he reminded them of a duck),Hannah who was young,blond and bossy and her little brother Jackson who was in the Thomas the choo choo train stage of life. For about a month it was just them. Some kids visited and stopped by. Others came out every day. A few weeks later 2 new girls moved in. Danni and Nikki. One was 12 and the other was 10.Danni, the oldest, had brown hair and was loud. She liked to read and never really had friends in her neighborhood,just school friends. Nikki was a fashionista. Always dressing up and putting on shows. They fought a lot though but the Clan brought them closer. The day they got their the other kids were intersted immeditly. Wanting more and more friends. Milo, who had lived there since he was born, knew everyone. And always looked for the opputunity to meet someone new. He was homeschooled and once school started wasn't allowed to go outside on weekdays. The day they got out of the car, they were attacked. A stampeed of kids surrounded them and asked them their names and all the basic information. The girls acted shy at first. But after a while they decided to crack out of their shell and they did. That was the beggining of an unbreakable friendship. Once those three girls joined they seemed to bring them together. Binding them together forever, linked by an unbreakable chain to eachothers young lifes. A hopelessy devoted friendship. Coming outside every chance they got no matter how late. Begging their parents to stay out longer. Then after a few days a girl named Tara decided to come out and play. She was a short 9 year old and spoke spanish.She was blond and pretty. And spunky. She immeditly fell in a childish kind of love with Timmy. But Timmy didn't live there and not to mention he was two years older then her. He lived in Holiday Bend a neighborhood down the road but chose to ride his worn down bike there everyday. And left at 8:30. 8:30 was a sacred time. Everyone went in at 8:30 p.m. Everyone.

CHAPTER 2: Good Riddance
Sasha did NOT like Danni and Nikki. She was jealous. They stole her friends. Well, at least thats what she thought. Mitchy had no problem with them. But the two siblings didn;t live there, they did but moved and decided to come back and play, so they didn't know them that well. Sasha was only friends with Liz because she followed her around like a puppy. Worshipping her, Sasha was a bad rolemodel. Teaching little kids in the neighborhood bad things. Liz's mom didn't like her either, and insisted that Liz stay away from her, no promises. Sasha made fun of Danni and got Bree and her older sisters in on it to. They threatened to beat her up and she was scared to death. They called her phone a million times thanks to Timmy who was mad at Liz for breaking up with him and gave Sasha her number. Liz stayed Sasha's friend. Which irritated Danni, she didn't tell her mother, but she told Liz's mother. And after a few days Liz couldn't take it. So one day while Danni, Nikki, and Tara were at Liz's ,Liz went outside and set Sasha and her gang strait. Danni watched from the window. So did Liz's mom, in shock waiting for something to happen. And not 5 minutes later did Tara come running up saying they were going to appoligize. Danni did NOT believe it, so Liz's mother come with her. And as soon as they saw Jen(her mom) they ran. "HEY! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO APPOLIGIZE?'' Jen screamed to them. " WERE NOT APPOLIGIZING TO HER!" they shouted back. And then a whole fight began. Jen screaming nasty words to them and them yelling the same back. While this went on Danni sat back watching, wide eyed at Jen's motherly bravery. Meanwhile, Liz climbed the tree to say sorry to Timmy for breaking up with him. He screamed at her and Liz cryed. Then it was Jen's turn to yell at him. Liz climbed down the tree and Danni comforted her. Then they all went inside and Jen called the cops. They came and banned Sasha. It was a big ordeal. But in the end the Clan triumped. YES! Timmy apoligized to Liz and everthing went back to normal. For now.
CHAPTER 3: Rules, priveledges and fun

Schooner Gates had plenty of rules. About the pool, the houses, the residents and so on. If you were under 16 and wanted to go to the pool, forget it. If you wanted to play in front of another person apartment, go home. So many rules. They were hard to follow. But the kids ignored them and no matter how many times they were told to get out of the pool, they kept going and ran when a maintnence man came by. Climbing the one banyan tree was about the only priveledge they had. Any other tree was off limits,not that these rules were followed, but either way the tree was special. Like a friend. Swaying beautifully in the breeze, shaking leaves into there hair, it was sharely the greatest priveledge of all. Everyday out they went. Climbing the tree. Or should i say "climbing the priveledge". Sneaking to the pool and getting chased down the road by a nasty old lady who had nothing better to do in life but to ruin theirs. There was a time when Timmy yelled a, may In say, "naughty" word to the nasty old lady. She glared at them shaking her fist and yelling equally naught old lady words back to them. They ran happily down the street laughing and kicking Timmy in the shin. He yelped in pain a few times but laughed his head off with every kick. They ran farther into Schooner Gates turning a corner and diving head first into the field across from Danni and her little sis's house. The field was also a priveldge. They had races in it, parties and it had a forest in the back were they could hide from the nasty old lady. The field was also the main source of the famous lemon grass. A weed growing wilidly in the field that surprisingly tasted like lemons. It was founded and named by Liz. And it was like a refreshing snack after a full day of running and climbing. They hid in the forest and splashed eachother with water from the pond and fell down a few times. Innocent moments like this are what they lived for. A perfect time to tell eachother how much they love eachother. Then 8:30 came.

CHAPTER 4: Apples and Bananas

How were thay going to wake eachother up every morning? Thats easy, apples and bananas. No, not actual apples and bananas but it was a codeword. Meaning "WAKE YOUR BUTT UP!". They would call eachothers phone and when they answered yell " APPLES AND BANANAS!" and hang up. It was very clever if you thought about it. Normal people would casually knock on the door, waking up the whole house,but the Apples and Bananas method only wake up the person who was supposed to be woken up. The first time Danni and Nikki were woking up by Liz and Timmy things went as planned. Perfectly fine. Phones were called Apples and bananas was yelled and so on but Liz and Timmy were back together, which was trouble. Big trouble, because if they broke up the samething that happened before might happen again. Who knew apples and bananas could end up so bad...

CHAPTER 5: I BEG OF YOU!

Danni and Nikki became best friends with Liz. They were like sisters. In seperable. Going to eachothers houses all the time. But everyone knows that every good friendship needs to have a sleepover. Liz's mom was fine with the idea but Danni and Nikki's mom was not very trusting of other parents so said it would have to wait.While Danni and Nikki's mother was at work Timmy and Liz would come inside and watch tv, listen to music or eat a snack. Danni was concerned for Liz she would kiss Timmy and Timmy would kiss her... a little to passionatly. They were harmless kisses though and Liz was responsible.But it made Danni uncomfartable. Finally, Danni anf Nikki's mom gave in. They were aloud to sleepover. It was a fun night and was worth it and from then on there was tons of sleepovers. Until the fighting began.

CHAPTER 6: Andrew

Danni, Liz and Nikki had seen an odd kid walking around Schooner Gates. There was something wrong with him. Something... different. They decided to ask Milo. They knocked on his door and he answered. "Hey guys!' he exclaimed. "Hola,Milo" Danni said playfully, but her tone turned serious. " We were wondering if you knew anything about the wierd kid down there." she said pointing to the boy who was now poking the tree with a stick. Milo gave the boy a sort of sympathetic look. Oh, thats Andrew." he said softly, "He's the maintence mans son. He's autistic.We call him Andy, be nice to him." Nikki looked surprised but Danni and Liz looked sad and guilty for some reason, ''Poor Andy," Liz said. "Yea, Sasha used to make fun of him. So did Bree." Milo explained to the girls. And then he closed the door.

CHAPTER 7:Jason, Zac and a few others.

Like I said before, there were others that come and go. Jason and Zac were some of those kids, who came sometimes, but left a lot. Zac came first. He was 13 and could do amazing gymnastics. And the first day the Clan met him Liz asked him out. He said yes. It made everyone else mad.She always did this, it was terrible. But they just ignored it. Atleast tryed to. Zac's amazing tricks were first introduced to them by Timmy in the field and they couldn't believe their eyes he was talented. He could do amazing flips in the air, looping, turning and grabbing his legs into a ball in midair. Like magic. Zac was normal size for a 13 year old and wore glasses. His hair was dirty blond and short. What more to love? He was also mean in a way, very braggady if thats a word and well the rest didn't like it but being the kids they were they just ignored it Then there was Jason. He was 15, tall and lean. Never wearing a shirt. Cute, blond and cool. Riding his beat up torn up remains of a bike everywhere. But he was troubled and seemed sad but kept it all bottled up. Danni and Liz immedietly fell in love. But Liz was 11, Danni was now 13. He came over with Timmy and the girls treated him like a freak. They made fun of him for stupid childish things. Jason ignored them and went on with life without a clue theat they liked him. But he didn't care. There was a time, were no one came out for a week exept for Danni and Jason. They would talk hang out and have fun. He fell in love with her to. Liz was completely and utterly jealous. But like him kept her troubles bottled up inside then take the anger out on everyone else. Timmy eventually got sick of it. She was mean and rude and unfriendly. Timmy left he didn't come back for awhile. The only ones who were sad were Danni, Milo and Ducky.
Above Danni and Nikki's apartment lived a girl, her brother and her sister. They never came out or paid any attention to the other children for that matter. But when school started Liz met the girl. Her name was Marie. She was going to the same school as Liz. Her older brother was William and her younger sister was Katie. William was almost 17 but did not look it. His hair was long and black and he was peculiarly pale. Katie had long brown hair and she was short looking 4 instead of 7. Still they did not come out as much but like I said they came sometimes but left more often.

CHAPTER 8: Suspicius Relatives

Danni was excited over Jasons sudden interest in her. She figured they would just be friends though, for he was 15 and she only 13. But Marie encouraged her telling her to go for it. She did. But it was strange he liked her but the feeling was mutual for everyone there. They all loved eachother and the relationships made them love eachother even more. One day Jason was there with Marie, Danni and LIz hanging out laughing having a ball.