Paradise Lost

Oh, God, I thought. Twenty people? That want to meet me? Oh, God, this is going to be bad. Truth is, I don't like being around people very much, not now that my mom is gone. I used to be a total people person, one of the most popular in my freshman class. But, after the car crash, I was pulled out of that school, and placed in one closer to where my first foster parents were, along with the other four kids living there. Then, when I moved in with the Murrays, I was put in school with Seth. It pissed off the teachers that I didn't talk, but, my foster mom had explained the situation, and that had shut them up, with the superintendant saying something about trauma.

Hannah showed me to my room, talking the whole time about how much I was going to like the guys and their wives and someone named Brian's niece and twin nephews. I merely nodded in acknowledgement to Hannah's words, and she stopped outside of a door on the second floor.

"Here's your room! It's pretty empty right now, just the bed and the easel, because Jimmy and I are going to take you furniture shopping tomorrow. Jimmy was going to deck it out for you, but I convinced him that we'd take you shopping and get it all fixed up how you want it," Hannah told me, smiling. "Oh, and Jimmy got you a camera and laptop. They're both on the bed."

I smiled back and nodded, and she ushered me into the room. "Get changed, then come on downstairs, okay?" I nodded again, and Hannah quietly exited the room, closing the door behind her.

As soon as the door closed, I dropped my backpack on the floor, and swung my duffle bag up onto the bed, beside the laptop and camera, digging through it and pulling out my bikini, a dark gray tank top, black plaid shorts, and my gray TOMS. I quickly changed clothes, before slipping my feet into the shoes, and taking off the jewelery I'd previously been wearing, switching it out for a silver rose pendant my mom had given me.

Once changed, I headed downstairs, my whiteboard tucked under one arm, and my purple marker in the pocket of my shorts. I got down to the kitchen, and happened to glance out the window, at the pool area. There were so many people out there. Talking, laughing.

There was no fucking way I'd be able to write fast enough to keep up with this. No. Way. I'd have to talk. Damn it. I hurried back upstairs, throwing the white board and pen at the bed. They missed, clattering to the floor, but I was already closing the door behind me, racing back down the stairs.

About four stairs from the bottom, I tripped, tumbling down the last few stairs before hopping right back up to my feet. It hadn't hurt, falling. In fact, it was kind of fun. Not that I'm going to be going around throwing myself down stairs.

Now, I was starting to get nervous, so I slowed down, dragging my feet on the way through the kitchen, heading towards the sliding glass door that lead to the pool area. Someone must have seen me walk by the window, because the door was thrown open.

Make that two twin someones. They saw me immediately, and the slightly shorter one threw himself at me, screaming, "Nikkie!" at the top of his lungs. The other one was rolling his eyes as the one hugging me let go, but kept an arm around my shoulders. "I'm Shane," said the boy next to me, keeping his arm around my shoulders.

The other one, the one not next to me, grinned as well. "I'm Daniel," he introduced himself, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up. I squeaked in surprise at the sudden feet-leaving-the-ground sensation.

"Nikkie," I rasped out. Holy crap, I sound that bad after not talking for three and a half months?

Shane looked alarmed at the rasp in my voice. "Do you need some water?" he asked, and Daniel looked at me with an identical alarmed expression.

"No, thank you."

"You sure?" Daniel verified, eyeing me warily. "You sound like you've got a wicked sore throat-"

"Boys!" yelled an unfamiliar man's voice, and the twins jumped. They each grabbed one of my hands, pulling me outside at a run.

"Look who we found-" Shane started as the ydragged me out the door, and Daniel finished as we skidded to a stop in front of a tall, dark haired man. "-lurking in the kitchen!"

The man grinned, and pulled me into a hug. "I'm Brian, Jimmy's best friend. You must be Nikkie, yeah?" he said to me, and I smiled slightly, nodding.

"She doesn't talk much," Shane said.

"Yeah, she's real quiet," Daniel added.

Brian quirked an eyebrow up at them. "Did you two even give her the chance to speak? Probably not, hmm?" The twins somehow managed to look abashed, before darting off in another direction. A pretty, dark haired woman came up to us, smiling as well. "This is Michelle, my wife. You can call her Chelle," Brian said, as she came up to us.

"Hi," I said, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"Hey," Chelle replied, pulling me into a hug. "Watch out, everyone in this family are huggers," she joked. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone." Michelle gestured for me to follow her, and I did as she walked over to the grill. "This is Matt, and Val, my twin sister and his wife," she said, and Val immediately enveloped me in a tight hug, just like Michelle had.

Val was just as beautiful as her sister, and I couldn't help but admire how pretty they were. It was insane. "Nikkie! It's so great to finally meet you," Val said, smiling. "Jimmy and Hannah have been talking about you practically nonstop, they've been so happy to finally meet you as well!"

I grinned at her. I liked Val and Michelle immediately. "Nice to meet you, too," I said, still smiling.

Matt was an extremely tall, extremely muscled, extremely tattooed guy, and I was a little scared of him, until he smiled and it lit up his whole face. He pulled me into a one armed hug, since his other hand was occupied with a spatula on the grill. "Hey, Nikkie," he said, still grinning, and I noticed he had dimples. Cool.

"Hi, Matt," I replied, and he let go, returning to the grill. Michelle and Val immediately took off again once the introductions at the grill were complete, leading me over to the poolside, where several lounge chairs were, only one occupied.

"Well, you've already met the twins, I think, Daniel and Shane. They're Val and my nephews, our older sister's kids. But, they practically live with Val and Matt, and their younger sister, Emily, lives with Brian and I. Our sister's travelling right now, but, the kids live with us pretty much all the time. This," she said, stopping by a lounge chair, where a pretty girl with brown hair streaked with red sat, her eyes covered by sunglasses and focused on a novel. "is Emily."

Emily barely even looked up from her book, giving me a glance. "Hey," she said, before returning her attention to the book.

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Emily, you could at least be polite," Michelle grumbled, but, Emily didn't respond, merely going back to her book.

Another blonde bounced up to them, almost tackling me into a hug. "Hi, Nikkie!" she cried when she let me go. "I'm Gena," she added, still smiling.

"Hi," I said, smiling at her. I liked Gena, too. In a way, she kind of reminded me of my mom, so full of energy and so bubbly. "Nice to meet you."

Just then, Quinn bounded over, in a cute one piece bathing suit, with two boys and another girl in tow. "Hi, Nikkie!" Quinn yelled, hugging me around the waist. Quinn pushed the girl forward first. "This is Alissa," she said, and I hugged Alissa when she came up to me. As soon as Alissa had stepped back, Quinn was pushing the older of the two boys forward. "And, this is Jace," she said, and the boy just stared at me with wide chocolate brown eyes, half covered by a mop of straight, dirty blonde hair. The last boy just looked at me as well, not budging when Quinn tried to push him towards me. He had a sippy cup in hand, and was just staring at me. Quinn gave up on trying to get home to go closer to me, and said, "This is Justin."

Gena stepped around me, picking Justin up. He held onto her neck with one arm, and kept a tight hold on his sippy cup with the other. "Justin, say hi," Gena encouraged the little boy, and I saw the similarities between them now. Justin must be her son. Wonder where he got the green eyes from? Justing unwrapped his arm from Gena's neck and waved at me, before turning away and burying his face in her shoulder. "Sorry, he's shy," Gena said with a laugh.

Alissa had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and I immediately thought of Matt. He had the same eyes. "Nikkie!" Alissa said my name, her child voice catching my attention immediately. I had always liked kids, and they tended to like me.

I crouched down beside her. "What's up?" I asked her, and her hazel eyes lit up.

"You wanna go swimming?" she asked, bouncing up and down. Quinn immediately caught onto the idea, and came beside her, bouncing as well. The idea of swimming seemed to catch Val's attention, and she walked over.

"Not right now, sweetie. Nikkie still hasn't met everyone," Val told Alissa, who pouted slightly. "Nikkie will go swimming later, okay? You and Quinn can go in now." Alissa immediately perked up, and I watched as she grabbed Quinn's hand, taking off towards the shallow end of the pool with Jace trailing behind them.

"Be careful, Jace!" Michelle called after her son, looking slightly worried as he sat down on the edge of the pool, legs dangling in the water.

Val and I walked back over to her and Gena, who was still holding Justin. Val patted her sister's arm. "He'll be fine, Chelle. The girls will look out for him, and Matt's watching them," Val pointed out, noddind in her husband's direction. He was definitely keeping an eye on the three kids from his spot behind the grill.

Michelle sighed. Gena was looking slightly worried, but she immediately brightened when she saw another guy with black hair and green eyes walking towards them. That must be Justin's dad, I thought. Wait a second. Those eyes. They're familiar. Do I know this guy? I found myself thinking.

And then it hit me. Who my adoptive dad was.

The Reverand Tholomew Plague. I was hanging out with the members of Avenged Sevenfold's wives.

"Wait a second," I said, looking at the faces of the three women standing around me, and the man who had now joined our little group. "You're Zacky Vengeance," I said, staring at him, shock and awe probably written all over my face. "My adoptive dad is The Rev. Holy crap, my new family is Avenged Sevenfold."

Michelle and Val broke out in laughter, while Zacky and Gena just smiled. "I was wondering when you'd notice," Jimmy said, who had walked over when he heard 'my adoptive dad'.

I'm pretty sure I'm about to pass out. No fucking way.

My new family is my favorite band.

I think most fans would be killing to be me right now. But, at the same time, I don't think they would. Who would want to lose their mom and then get bounced around in foster care for three fucking months?

If it was a choice in my life right now, I would be saying "sure as hell not me. Nope, no way in hell."