Soul Searching

"Stacie," Moira smiles, "you snuck out early this morning."

The young woman smiles as she runs her thumbs under the straps of her book bag. "I didn't wanna be late."

"Have you made any friends yet?" Moira smiles as she sets a plate of fruit down on the counter in front of the girl with a dirty blonde ponytail.

Sliding her bag off of her shoulders, Anastacia sits down on the bar stool in front of the plate. "Some of the girls on the team are nice and a lot of kids in my classes talk to me. I don't know if I'd say I've made any friends, though."

Moira nods. "You'll make plenty of friends."

"I'm glad that you think so," Anastacia smiles. "Did my mom say what time she was gonna be home tonight?"

Moira nods, "she's working a double tonight. Probably won't be home until you're leaving for school in the morning."

Anastacia nods slowly, putting a grape in her mouth.

"So," Moria sets a glass of ice water next to the plate, "what would you like for dinner?"

She shrugs, "I'm not sure."

"Well, you go ahead and think about it. I'm going to start unpacking the living room."

Anastacia nods, eating a slice of strawberry. She takes a long sip of water, setting her glass down when the door leading outside opens. "Hi?"

The young man turns around, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, "hi."

“Do you not go to school or something?”

“Not really… why do you ask?”

“I kept an eye out for you today, but I couldn’t find you. What are you, too old for school or something?”

"I'm seventeen. How old are you?"

She consumes another grape, "I'm sixteen. You didn’t already graduate, did you?”

"I'm homeschooled," Tate shrugs.

Anastacia frowns, "mind if I ask why?"

"Well, I used to go to Westfield. Got into a couple fights and I'm no longer welcome."

She nods, "that's a shame. Want some fruit?"

"No, thanks," he smiles.

She nods, "you said that you used to live in this house, right?”

“Yeah,” he leans back against the counter across the kitchen.

“Mind if I ask you something?”

He smirks, “that depends. What do you wanna know?”

Anastacia shrugs lightly, moving some of her fruit around the plate with her right index finger. She speaks without looking up from the plate, “some of the kids were telling me stuff about the house today.”

"What do they say about it?"

"They call it," Anastacia uses air quotes, "the Murder House."

Tate scoffs lightly, "do they say it's haunted?"

She nods, eating a piece of kiwi. "They say it's the most haunted place on this side of the county. I was really scared at first, actually, but I haven't seen anything yet."

"Kids are so fucking dumb," Tate shakes his head. "There's nothing in this house to be afraid of."

She smiles, "how do you know?"

Tate skips a beat, but smirks, "I grew up in this house. Remember?"

"Did you? You only told me you’d lived here."

He nods, "yep. I know this house better than any of those dumbasses you're stuck going to school with."

"Maybe you could show me around some time, I can hardly get around in this place."

Moira stops at the threshold of the kitchen.

Anastacia looks over her shoulder, "hey Moira, you know Tate."

The maid nods, "yes, I do. Does your mother know that you're here, Tate?"

"Yes, she does."

Moira sighs, "Stacie, dear, have you thought about what you'd like for dinner?"

"Maybe just more fruit," she shrugs, eating the last grape.

"You can't live off fruit, Stacie." Moira puts her hands on her hips.

Tate looks at Moira out of the corner of his eye, moving his gaze to Anastacia.

"Yeah, but if I wanna keep my spot on the team I can't gain any weight."

Moira sighs, "you look fine, Anastacia. You can eat one proper meal a day and not gain weight, I promise."

She shrugs, "I'm gonna go to my room."

Tate watches Anastacia leave the kitchen in a hurry.