"Family means believing, loving and respecting each other." -- Anonymous.

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The house was in chaos. Everyone was running right and left, upstairs and downstairs, inside and outside. All except one person -- Samantha.

Anne was leaving for two weeks because of her business and was running late. Ian had forgotten to pack her bags into the car and was rushing to do so now. Anne's sister and her husband, Anna and Jim, were panicking and helping out as much as they could. They had to drive Anne to the airport and hadn't realised that time flew by faster than they had expected.

Anne sighed and sat down in a chair opposite of Sam. Her delicate features looked stressed and her big brown eyes were worried. Her petite figure was hunched over the table and her head was in her small hands. Her short brown hair was a tangled mess and her clothes were disheveled.

She looked up at Sam. "You sure you okay with this?"

She nodded. "Ian will be here. I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

Anne let out another sigh and nodded, murmuring, "Okay."

Anna came up behind her and placed her small hand on her sister's shoulder. "We need to leave now, Anne. Let's go."

Sam followed Anne and Anna outside and waved at them as they got into the car. Jim was all ready in the driver's seat.

For some odd reason, Sam had always found it funny that her two Aunty's names were Anna and Anne.

Ian waved at them with one hand and slung his other arm around her wider-than-an-average-girl's shoulders.

They walked inside once the car was out of sight and sat at the kitchen table.

Ian let out a long sigh and yawned. "I need to go to the shop today. Is that okay? You'll be fine alone?" he asked her.

"Um, okay," she replied.

Then Ian sat up straight as if he had just thought of something. His eyes shone.

"Sam, would you like to work in the shop? You know, since you love photography and all that stuff," he asked her.

Sam perked up on hearing this. A smile spread across her face. "Really?"

"Well, yeah. You know how to work the things so it won't be a problem at all. Plus, you'll just get bored here alone at home."

"Okay, I'll work," she agreed, happiness flooding throughout her body. She felt excitement build up in the pit of her stomach and she felt as if she could bounce up and down.

"You don't have any plans, right?" Ian asked her.

Then it struck her that she did have plans with her friends.

"Actually, I do," she said, her smile slipping off.

"That's okay, Sam, don't worry. You can still go and hang out with your friends, you don't have to be at the shop all the time," Ian said, laughing as her smile returned to her face.

"Okay."

"You wanna go check it out now?" he asked her.

"Is it fine if I come a bit later today? I'm meeting up with all of them now," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. See you later today, I need to go now," he said, getting up from his chair and kissing her forehead.

"Okay."

Samantha got up from her chair and went up to her room. She took a hairband and pulled her glossy black curls into a high ponytail, raking her fingers through her soft, thick hair to get rid of any knots. Her hair had grown longer since last time, it now reached the lower part of her back even though it was in a ponytail. When her hair was loose, it reached her waist. She preferred her hair long, it gave her a sense of comfort and she liked it that way.

She grabbed her phone and sent went through all of her messages.

Stephanie: Hey, your Aunt gone yet? Tell me when you're ready to leave. We're going to The Trail.

She read the message and replied. The Trail was a pathway that lead into the wide grassy hills and if you went further up it took you into the rocky mountains. She and her friends often went up The Trail. They had found a nice spot that overlooked their small town and had a clear view of the sky.

Samantha: Hey, Steph. She left a while ago. I'll meet you at your house.

Sam put her phone in her pocket and took her glasses from the table and put them on. She went out of the house, locking the door behind her.

She walked down the road towards Steph's house. Not long after, it came into view.

Steph lived with only her father since her mother had died from cancer four years ago. Steph's father, Blake, took extra care of her and tried his best to make her happy, but he had to work most of the time, leaving Steph alone at home.

Steph loved gardening and their garden always looked spectacular. They had a gravelled pathway leading to the door and perfectly manicured lollipop trees and lush green grass. Neatly trimmed bushes and shrubs with tiny flowers sprouting out were placed in a bed to one side. They had a small fountain-like thing with cement hippos and frogs and multicoloured fish were swimming inside a pond that was at the end of it.

Their house was a one-story. The walls were painted a dark grey and thick and thin red strips took up a small portion where the palm trees were placed. There were red pots placed on each side of the door with flowers inside. The colours contrasted well and made the house look lively.

She walked up the gravelled pathway and rang the doorbell. Steph opened it almost immediately.

She flashed her a smile. "Ready to go?"

"Hey. Let's go," she replied and they started walking down the road to meet up with the rest.

They walked in a comfortable silence until they reached their friends.

"Hey, Sam, Steph," Jay-Jay greeted.

Sam nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey."

"Hi," Steph replied.

"Yo, Sam," Brandon greeted with a nod, gesturing her over.

"Hey, Brand," she walked over to them and sat down.

"You up for next week, right?"

"Definitely."

"Can we call the whole group or just us?" he asked.

"Are you kidding me? Call the whole group," she replied. "What kind of a question is that?"

"Okay, okay. I'm just making sure," he put his hands up.

"Gents," Jaydon greeted the guys.

"Jay-Jay, have you seen Nat and George?" Sally asked.

"Nope."

"Oh, okay."

"There they are," Max said, pointing at them. "They brought the rest of the group, too."

Sally stood up and walked over to Drake, her boyfriend. Drake was a 'bad boy' type of person, so no one was really sure about their relationship, but no one said anything.

Christian and Carter were behind Drake and were laughing at something. They were brothers and were basically the most mischievous from their group; they were always in trouble. Their jet black hair and dark eyes often attracted many girls, and they always welcomed the attention.

Typical boys with their ego's.

Gabriella, Olivia and Marissa were squealing at something on one of their phones and were each trying to grab it from Olivia's hands.

Natt and George sat down by the group and were bickering loudly over something. George pushed Natt and they started fighting, but nobody took notice. They were used to their sibling fights by now.

Sam smiled as she looked at all her friends and how lively they all were, each different in their own ways and some of them of different age.

She noticed that a few were missing and turned to Max and Paige. "Where's Jake and Haze? And Mari?" she asked them.

Jake and Hazel were twins -- two years younger than Max -- and there was never once where they were not arguing over something. Marianna was a year older Paige. She hung out with them quite a lot, though.

Paige rolled her eyes. "They got into trouble again. Started a water balloon fight in the house and broke some stuff before that. Mum said they had to clean up their mess before they came."

Max let out a sigh. "And before all that stuff, they sneaked out and went to a friends house in the middle of the night," he pressed on the last few words.

Their mum had a strict rule about being out at night and things -- Sam didn't really know why --, she couldn't imagine what happened after all that

"Oh, okay," was all she said.

"Gabs, stop it! Give it back right now!" everyone turned their heads to look at Olivia who was trying to get her phone back from Gabriella, who was typing at a rapid speed on her phone.

"Gabriella Stanley, you better give that phone back right now," Olivia said threateningly.

"And if I don't?" Gabriella challenged.

Liv let out a sigh and slouched onto the ground.
Gabs let out a triumphant laugh and carried on typing on the stolen phone.

"Where's Cam?" Jay--Jay asked.

Everyone looked around, realising that Camryn was not here.

"She had to stay home, remember? She's grounded," Liv replied.

She was the complete opposite of Camryn, her first cousin, although they did have some similarities. Cam was a brunette and her eyes are hazel although she dyed herself blonde and wears green contact lenses. Liv was also a brunette and her eyes are hazel. Cam was basically your typical bad girl whereas Liv was sort of a nerd.

Steph looked around and said, "What about Mishka, Raj and Sameer? They're not here either."

"They're gone with their families for the holiday," Sam reminded her.

"Oh, yeah."

"Can we please go to The Trail now? Everyone's here," Den said.

Everyone agreed and got up, dusted themselves off and started to walk.

They all walked up the uneven trail, talking and cracking jokes and making everyone laugh. They passed the grassy hills and walked on further until they came to the mountain where they each went one at a time, being careful not to hurt themselves. Once they reached the top, they all sat down at their spot and looked at their town, Transville, that was spread out below them.

The Sun was high up in the sky and beated down on them, so they got up and went to a more shady place.

"So just to clarify, everyone's free next week?" Jay-Jay asked, looking around.

Everyone confirmed and they started making plans
for their camp. Once that was done, most had to leave, so they came back down the way they went up and went their separate ways once they reached the bottom.

"What're you doing now, Sam?" Steph asked her. "Wanna hang out?"

"I'm going to the shop now, maybe later," Sam replied. "See you, Steph."

"Okay. Bye, Sam," she waved and walked with the rest home.

Sam took a different route and made it to her Uncle's shop, The Photo Story, in no time. The shop was a studio for photography.

Like her Uncle, she had developed a passion for photography at a young age. She dreamed to have her own studio once she was older.

The shop was situated where most of the shops were. Since Transville was a small, quiet town, there weren't many places around. She walked on the pavement, looking around. She came to a stop in front of the studio and then gripped the handle and pushed the door open. She noticed that no one was around so she went to the back where she knew her Uncle was.

She opened a second door and found her Uncle busy with some pictures that were spread out on a table in the middle of the room. He looked up as she entered and gave her a smile.

They greeted and she stepped forward to look at what he was doing.

"Where's all the staff?" she asked.

"Let them leave early. Nothing much to do," he replied.

"Oh."

"You wanna start tomorrow?"

"Yip, too late now anyway," she replied.

He nodded and went to a tap to wash his hands.

"I'm finished here now. Let's go, Sam. We'll do this stuff tomorrow and you can meet the staff and everything," he walked towards the door and she followed.

"Okay."

He walked around the shop, locking up and placing things in its place.

She looked at the walls that were covered in canvases of pictures, abstracts, ones that tell stories, people, nature, you name it -- the walls were covered in them.

Ian came and nodded at the door. "Let's go."

Sam imitated his action and walked towards the door. She stood outside as she waited for him to lock up and once he was done, they walked home in silence.

She went upstairs to her room, took her glasses off and put her phone on the table. She went downstairs and prepared a snack for both of them since she was hungry and they all ready had lunch earlier. She smiled as she thought of the studio and smiled even wider when she remembered that she'd be working there from tomorrow. She got out a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

She took her snack and glass and sat in front of the TV, finding something to watch to pass her time.

- - - - -

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