Disclaimer: You know it, I know it... I wish I knew them, but I don't. This is complete fiction.
Notes: I made a mistake in the prologue -- I wrote Mississippi instead of Tennessee. Sorry:).
Chapter 1
"Justin? Wake up, honey, we're here." Tiredly, Justin opened his eyes when he felt his mother gently shaking his shoulders.
"Where... where are we?", he croaked and cleared his throat before he looked outside the window of the transporter, but it was dark outside and he couldn't see much.
"We're in Orlando, Justin. We're... home." Somehow the word "home" didn't seem right to Justin, but he didn't say anything, just nodded and climbed out of the car. Just then he noticed Jim who was standing beside the car, smiling warmly at him.
"Hey Jim", he greeted and tried to suppress his yawn.
"Hi Justin. Welcome to Orlando. How was the trip?" Justin shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I slept most of the time." Lynn laughed.
"Trust my son to be the entertainer when I need to stay awake."
"Sorry, mom." Justin looked at her sheepishly, and she grinned. "It's alright, hon, don't worry. Why don't we go in so that you can go to bed? Jim can show you the house tomorrow." Justin nodded again, then grabbed his backpack from inside the car and followed his mother and soon-to-be stepfather into the large house. He was too tired to look around, so he just followed them up a stairway to the next floor where Jim opened the door to a rather large room.
"This is your room, Justin. As you can see, there isn't any furniture in it yet, just the spare bed. We have to go shopping for you tomorrow, but for now the bed is enough I guess. The bathroom is there", he pointed to a door in Justin's new room, "you have to share it with Joshua, but he isn't here at the moment. He spends the night with his girlfriend. You'll meet him tomorrow." Justin yawned and Jim smiled.
"I know, you're tired. We'll leave you alone now. Sleep as long as you want tomorrow, we aren't in a hurry to do anything." Lynn leaned forward and gave Justin a kiss on the cheek
"Sleep well, sweetheart. You know, the dream you have the first night in a new house will come true." She winked at him and waited until Jim had said goodnight to Justin before she followed him out of the room. Justin closed the door behind her and went straight to the bed. For once not bothering with brushing his teeth, he just stripped out of his clothes, put his pyjama on and climbed into the bed. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.
When Justin woke up the next day, he didn't know where he was for the first few seconds. He looked around in the bare room and closed his eyes again for a second, and then he remembered. Orlando. He was in Orlando, with his mom. They were going to live here now, because his mom was going to marry Jim. And this was Jim's house. Jim was going to be his stepfather. And he would also have a stepbrother soon. What was his name? Oh yes, Joshua. Sounded nice to Justin. He wondered how Joshua was and how it would be to have a brother. To share his mother with other persons. Because he didn't have any friends back home ("wrong, this is your home now", the voice in his head said) in Tennessee, his mother was his best friend. He could talk to her about everything. He just hoped that wouldn't change. Sighing, he opened his eyes and sat up. Might as well get ready and go down, now that I'm awake, he thought. With a bolt of energy he jumped out of the bed and headed for the bathroom, his backpack with his toothbrush and extra clothes in his hand. Slowly he opened the door and looked inside.
Wow, was his first thought, and he stepped inside, impressed. This bathroom was huge. It was as big as his old room in Tennessee, and everything was either blue or white. There was a large bathtub that also could be used as a whirlpool, and a large shower as well. Two wash- basins with closets next to it, a large mirror nearly covering the rest of the wall. He looked up at the ceiling, and his mouth opened. A black net was hanging there, covering the whole ceiling. In some places it was pinned to the ceiling, so that it was hanging down in small waves. In it were fake fishes, starfishes, sea-urchins, all made of plastic, and a long chain of lights, with blue fishes. It looked beautiful. Justin wondered if Josh had made it himself.
Probably his girlfriend helped him, he thought as he stripped out of his pyjama. I hope he isn't mad because he has to share the bathroom with me now. He decided to take a quick shower and searched through the closets for a towel. When he found one, he stepped into the shower-stall and turned on the water, relaxing when it poured down on him.
Twenty minutes later he was dressed and ready for breakfast, so he decided to go down and search for the kitchen. He found it without problems, he just had to follow the voices if his mother and Jim, who sat at the kitchen table and talked.
"Good morning", he greeted them and sat down beside Jim.
"Good morning, Justin", both answered. "Did you sleep well?", his mother asked, and he nodded.
"Like a stone. I never thought I would, because I slept so much in the car yesterday."
"You hungry?", Jim asked. "Grab yourself something to eat."
They talked some more while Justin ate, and when he finished, Jim showed Justin the house and everything outside. Justin was enthusiastic to see that there was a small pool outside, as well as a place where he could play basketball. They also had a music room in the house, with a grand piano Justin immediately fell in love with.
"It's Joshua's", Jim said. "Sometimes he sits here for hours, writes songs or just plays. He already said you can use it, too. Go ahead if you want to try it."
Hesitating for a moment, Justin slowly stepped forward and sat down in front of the piano. He never had played one like this before, they didn't have one at his old school. Carefully he picked at some keys before sitting up straight and beginning to play, and soon the notes of "Ballade pour Adeline" could be heard in the house. Lynn and Jim just stood there and smiled at each other. None of them noticed that the front door was opened and closed, and a good- looking, dark-haired boy entered the house. When he heard somebody play the baby grand, he stood still and listened for a minute. Impressed by what he heard, he headed for the music room, just as Justin ended the song. Lynn and Jim applauded.
"That sounded great, Justin", Jim said. "I didn't know you play so well." Justin's face became red, and he didn't look up from the keys. He wasn't used for other people than his mother and his music teacher to compliment him. "Thank you."
"Well, he's right", a voice could be heard from behind Justin's mother, and Justin spun around. He couldn't see the boy who had talked, but he was sure that it was his soon-to-be stepbrother Joshua. Suddenly he was nervous.
"Joshua", Jim said. "I want you to meet Justin, Lynn's son. Justin, this is my son Joshua." With that, the boy stepped out behind Lynn and turned his head to smile at Justin. He opened his mouth to say hello to Justin, but the word got stuck in his throat. He just stood there and stared at Justin, and Justin stared back. And suddenly he felt as if his heart was going to stop.