The Neighborhood

Introduction

"~So if we all come together, we know what to do! We all come together just to sing we love you! ~And if we all come together, we know what to do, we all come together just for yo~u!"

Duncan Angevin Dagon was dancing vehemently in his room to "Sailor Song" blasting on his iPod. It was last day at school, 7th grade to be exact. Personally, he was exited. Who wouldn't be?

"Sailing! Sailing! ~Jumping off the rail-RINGRINGRING"

"Aw crud....Linus..." He tore his headphones off and answered the call.

"LINUS I WAS LISTENING TO MUS-"

"It's Ollie..."

"Oh....Hiya....I WAS LISTENING TO MUS-"

"Ok.....I think I left my 30 G flash drive over at Linus's house...."

"Shouldn't you call him 'bout that?"

"He's still sleeping."

"WAKE HIM UP THEN!"

Duncan hung up the phone and laughed. That's just how he was. Anyone who didn't know Duncan would think he was a quiet, Texas farmboy by his appearance. The freckles and bristly brown hair didn't help....But Duncan was a maniac. He blasted the Sailor song again while pulling on his signature red turtleneck.

"TURN THE MUSIC DOWN DUNCAN! I'M TRYING TO EAT!"

"SHUT UP GRAHAM!" He shouted to his little brother. Graham and Duncan didn't get along so well, which was odd because they were so similar, even if Graham WAS going into 1st grade while he was going into 8th.

"YOU SHUT UP! I'M LISTENING TO JAMES BOND!"

"NOBODY CARES 'BOUT JAMES BOND!"

"DETECTIVE RAISTLEN ARCONAN NEEDS AN IDOL!"

Graham was quite like his older brother, with his hair and stature, but there was one thing that made him stick out....He spent more time in his own head then in real life. In Graham's mind, he was in a film noir crime show, solving crimes with a bad attitude and a bag of candy cigarettes and root beer.

Duncan groaned, turned the volume down a single notch, and continued to get ready for school.

XXXX

Homeplace was a small town in a small state....Utah. Barely anybody knew about Homeplace, but if they did, they had lived there their whole life. The Dagons were no exception. Duncan had known his neighbors Linus, Olliver, Olive, and their families since he was in diapers.

The Dagons, Keys, Laurels, and Theodorakis's were said to be the descendants of the founders of Homeplace, thus why they were so well known. However, aside from that, they had barely anything in common. Duncan was a psycho, Graham was a daydreamer, Linus Key was the ordinary, prosaic one, while Linus's little sister Christopher-Ann was a worrywart. Olive Laurel was raised in a family of gypsies and tree-loving fanatics, with her older brother Lionel and her rebellious little sister Heidi. Finally, Olliver was an only child, but the nerd-braniac who could hack into the FBI if he put his mind to it.

Together. These four families were connected closer than blood, and they liked it that way.

"IT'S STILL TOO LOUD DUNCAN!"

"AW SHUT UP!"

Duncan ran into the kitchen, grabbed the cheerio box, and ran out the door to catch up with the others. Lionel would walk the little ones to first grade, but the 7th graders walked themselves. Duncan stopped at their normal stop by a stop sign and saw Olive and Olliver there. Olive was, of course, wearing a gypsy skirt with her blond hair in long pigtails, and Olliver's too big glasses were falling off his face.