The Serpent Queen

Ace Degenerate | Part One

Frowning at the very dirty cream walls of the rundown apartment building that her mum parked in front of, Phoebe glanced out of the back window to find the large moving truck pull up behind them and also another car.

The late August California sun shone high in the bright baby blue coloured sky with not a cloud to be seen. The heat coming from it and the humidity of the air in the Valley would rival the fires of Hell.

The teen turned to the one parent in the driver seat next to her, "Mum, we're moving here? Seriously? Look at it! It's bad enough that we're moving to the other side of the world, but this dingy place? I want to go back home!" She complained. The teenager had grew up in London. She didn't attend a private school, she attended just a normal public school in an average part of the famed city.

"Sweetie, your father lived in the Valley when he was your age. This will be better than London." Her Dad's American accent had changed to an English one after living there so long, while his wife was a pure bred Englishwoman, who had dark wavy black hair with sky blue eyes. She had a slim build, but that was thanks to her job.

"Why did we have to move?" The blonde crossed her arms in annoyance over her pink sweater that the shoulders cut out of it. She wore black ripped jeans and pink sneakers. A few bracelets circled her wrists along with a simple silver ring with a green gemstone on her right middle finger.

"Your Dad and I, we got job offers here. Remember? I hope much of the Valley is the same from what he's told me, though I'm sure it's changed in thirty years."

"I sure hope it has." A male voice came up to the teenager's rolled down window. It was her dad, George. He had dark eyes and shaggy dirty blond hair. Though he was quite tall with a medium build."I agree with Pheebs on this one. It's not exactly the nicest place to live especially on this side."

Her family were pretty well off in terms of money, but with moving their entire lives from England to the San Fernando Valley did cost quite a lot. Her mum, Sophia sighed, "I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks. Besides don't forget we have that dinner tonight."

"Oh yes, the stupid family dinner where I meet the other side of the family for the first time." Phoebe scowled, opening her car door and slamming the door shut.

George leaned into the car to speak to his wife. His daughter had his eyes and hair, while everything else was credited to his wife, "She'll come around. She's just being an angsty teenager." He pushed himself away before calling over to his daughter, "Phoebe, come help your old man bring some boxes into the apartment!"

————————————————————————

Carrying a pretty heavy cardboard box, Phoebe stumbled near the apartment she was going to live in for the rest of her natural life. She had a peak inside it before even beginning to slave away with bringing in their stuff. She hated it. Everything inside was painted white; the walls and the ceiling.

The fifteen year old girl was inching closer and closer to the open apartment door when the box nearly slipped from her grasp, but it was secured by another set of hands preventing it from falling to the ground. She looked up and saw a Hispanic boy with braces, deep brown eyes and short but slightly wavy black hair around her age holding the box from the bottom.

"Even I can tell this is a pretty heavy box." He said. "Hi, I'm Miguel. Me and my family just moved into 109."

Phoebe looked at the metallic numbers that were nailed into her door, "We're 108."

"Oh, good." The boy said with a happy tone to his voice, "We're neighbours it seems."

"Yes, it does. I'm Phoebe." She noticed her parents walking out of the apartment to get more cardboard boxes. "That is my mum and dad, Sophie and George. This is Miguel. He's next door."