A/N: Well, here it is. This is just a little story about Kathy's arrival in Tauranga. It's not particularly long or informative, but it's a bit. Maybe one day I'll write a prequel to YE about kathy's childhood, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Enjoy!

"NO! I won't go, I won't!!! You can't make me go!"

"But Kathy, darling, we need to go. We don't have room in this house for another child, and besides, your father has a new job. We'll get you a piano, how about that? I know you want one."

"No, no, no!!! I don't want a piano any more! I just want to stay here, with my friends! I'm not going to go to Tauranga!!!" With that, the ten- year-old turned and stormed over to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Watching this, her mother sighed to herself. What on earth are we going to do?

In her bedroom, Kathy lay on her bed, hugging her favourite soft toy close to her, and crying. "Why do we have to go, Lucy?" she said to the unicorn in her arms. "Why can't I just stay here? Here I have my friends, my school, my singing teacher. there I have no one! Will they even like me there? Tauranga's such a big town; I would never fit in. They'd laugh at me." Then and there, as she cried herself to sleep, Kathy made up her mind that she would do anything to prevent moving away.

So over the following weeks Kathy embarked on a quest to change her parents' minds and prove to them the cruelty of their actions. Some days she had tantrums and refused to obey their commands, while on others she was well behaved and subservient, trying to butter them up. For a couple of nights she acted like an adult and engaged them in a serious discussion about her thoughts. but when that failed she reverted to threats of suicide, or running away from home. But it was to no avail. Her parents stood firm against her, and every day the dreaded day grew nearer.

And while her departure approached at an increasingly drastic rate, she saw her friends drifting away from her. At lunch and recess they often forgot to wait for her, while at other times they went off and played their own games without even asking what she thought. Chloe even forgot to invite her to her birthday party, and they were best friends!!! She tried all she could to make them stay with her, but it didn't seem to work. When she invited them over to play with her toy horses, something that had never before failed to get a joyful reaction, they were always too busy. It seemed like they just didn't want to be her friends anymore, and Kathy was devastated.

"Do you think I'll find some new friends there, Lucy?" she asked the familiar soft toy. "Maybe there they wouldn't forget me, ignore me. they'll see. I don't need them!" But no matter what she said, she did need them. She was ten years old, yet a little child. And the realisation of the untrustworthiness of people in the world devastated her. No child should have to learn that so young. She started to eat less, becoming a quiet and withdrawn child. And her parents began to worry about her, but this only made them more certain of the importance of the move. By this time, Kathy had stopped arguing - she knew that nothing she could do would stop it happening.

Finally the day came when they were going to move to their new home. The van had already gone, so by the time they left their house it was completely empty and lifeless. As Kathy got into the car with her parents she looked back at the empty shell so full of memories. She had spent all her life within those four walls. There she had had her first birthday and lost her first tooth. There she had grown up, playing with her four friends. Would she ever see it again? But as they drove away, leaving it behind her forever, she realised that the house was just that. A house. The memories would remain wherever she went, because they were not based in objects. They were in the people who loved her, the family who would always be by her side. There would always be new friends to meet and new places to go, but the love of family in constant and unchanging. And she knew it was more important than anything she had left behind.

So she deliberately wiped away the tears that stained her cheeks and smiled as they drove towards her new city, her new home, her new life. As they pulled into the driveway next to the moving van, she looked at the new neighbourhood in worry. Could she really fit in? She was a country girl, and this was a city. but taking a big breath she looked inside the door.

Inside, the house looked almost the same as her old house. Her paintings from kindergarten continued to adorn the door of the refrigerator. her baby photos sat on the table like they always did. and in the middle of the lounge sat her very own Lucy on the old red beanbag. She smiled as she saw how similar everything was, knowing that this place could be her home.

After her curiosity about the house was fully satisfied, she finally convinced herself to go outside and meet the neighbours. "After all," she told Lucy, "whether I like it or not, these are the people I'll be living with for a while. I may as well find myself some friends." She put Lucy down and cautiously made her way outside, where she stood shyly next to her parents. Looking down the street, she saw a few girls her own age playing with a skipping rope. Cautiously, she walked over to them, and as she approached the girls stopped skipping and smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Kathy."

"I'm Liz. Do you want to play with us?"

Kathy looked back at her parents for a second, at the departing moving van that was the last link to her old home, and to the friends who were even now fading into a dim memory. Then she turned back and smiled at the girls.

"Okay."