Ch.2

"¡Mijo! ¡Ven a desayunar!" (Sweetheart! Come eat breakfast!) Mom says to me as I was washing my face in the bathroom.

"¡Próximo!" (Coming!) I say back to her while finishing up and heading downstairs for breakfast.

Once we finished eating breakfast, around lunchtime my Uncle Javier, Aunt Yolanda, and my two cousins Carlos and Sandra came over. My mom's side doesn't really care about boundaries or 'manners' when in front of family. Since you are family it means you can see the 'real' them without putting up a front in front of others. While my dad's side is more 'proper' and still acts as they would if they were in a public space.

"¡¿Alguien en casa?!" (Anyone home?!) Uncle Javier says after they all enter our house without knocking.

"¡Hermano! ¡Adelante!" (Brother! Come in!) Mom says hearing her brother enter our house. Then she gives him a hug along with his wife and two kids.

"Hijo, ven a saludar a tu tío, tía y primos," (Son, come say hello to your Uncle, Aunt, and cousins) Mom says to me as I walk into the living room. Then I give my family a hug after they come inside. My dad comes right behind me and hugs them after saying hello too.

"Entonces, ¿qué te parece LA? ¿Ya has hecho amigos?" (So, how are you liking LA? Make any friends yet?) Carlos says to me as we head to my room to play some Wii games.

"No, acabo de llegar, hermano," (No, I just got here, bro) I say to him with a weird look and he shrugs.

"Pensé que tal vez algunos vecinos habrían venido a saludar," (Thought maybe some neighbors would have come over to say hello) Carlos says to me as I power on the Wii, with Sandra running into my room to play Wii with us.

"¡Yo también quiero jugar!" (I also want to play!) Sandra says while giving us puppy eyes.

For the next hour, we all played Wii sports before my Mom calls us to come downstairs to say hello to my Dad's parents. As his sister was not coming due to her being to busy with her job, which I understand now since I was like that in my past life. Though I do feel bad for her as she is missing out on everything, that I now have and wanted in my past life.

"How's my little one doing?" Granny (Linda) says to me while giving me a warm hug.

"I'm fine," I say to her as my grandfather then gives me a bear hug.

"Good, we heard you are doing extremely well in school. Seems we have another lawyer or doctor in the family coming soon," Pop (Robert) says to me after breaking our hug.

"I want to be a doctor, like Dad," I say with a shrug as I want to finish my research in cancer, but at the same time, I am in no rush to reach it. Wanting to enjoy my everyday life as a kid again and having a loving family.

"Oh! I see," Pop says to me with a smirk while my Dad smiles and nods his head approving of my choice.

"What! Why not a lawyer like me?! Some people say law school is harder than medical school!" Mom says overhearing my talks with my grandparents.

"Lawyers are cool too!... Just doctors are cooler," I say the last part under my breath which my grandfather hears and chuckles at.

Then my cousins and I head outside to play on the swing set outside in my back, while the adults talk inside. Even though I have memories of another life inside me, being a child and since my two personalities mixed making a whole new one. Feeling like a kid and acting like one is natural to me, with only my adult feelings surfacing when it comes to studying or schoolwork.

The whole day was very enjoyable as I spent the day with my family, with my Aunt Susan coming to visit much later in the day around dinner time. Then once everyone ate dinner and said goodbye we went to bed. The next few days were spent with my parents finalizing the moving process, with a few neighbors who came to say hello and welcome to the neighborhood.

"Cariño, ¿puedes abrir la puerta?" (Honey, can you get the door?) Mom says to my Dad who was in the living room, as I was in the kitchen with my mom helping her cook lunch. I enjoyed cooking with either of my parents, but especially my mom who taught me authentic Spanish meals.

We then heard my dad greet some other neighbors who came to welcome us, he invited them inside. As they were speaking, my mom and I finished our lunch prep before greeting them. Though the two voices I heard for some reason sounded familiar to me like I heard them from somewhere before. Walking into our living room, I see an average-looking man and an attractive blonde-haired woman. Then it hit me, that these two are identical twins from a TV from my past life's memories.

'No way! It can't be… right?' I think to myself as I look at the two adults in my living room with confusion, while my Mom goes over and introduces herself.

"Mijo, come say hello," Mom says to me snapping me from my thoughts, as I walk over to the two adults.

"Hello, I'm Gabriel," I say to them shaking their hands.

"Nice to meet you G-man, I'm Phil and this is my wife Claire. You look around the same age as our one daughter, Alex," Phil says to me and it confirms that maybe, just maybe this world is identical to the TV 'Modern Family' from my past life's memories.

"Nice to meet you too," I say while still in surprise at this revelation.

"Gabe, this is the man who sold us our new home. He is a great salesman," Dad says to me and Phil smiles bashfully at the compliment.

"Oh!" I say not sure what else to say.

"What school are you going to go to?" Phil asks me curious for some reason.

"Franklin Middle School, I will be going into the seventh grade in September," I say to him with my parents nodding their heads.

"So, I was right! You are our daughter's age. Your parents and you should come over for dinner today. You can meet our kids and that way when you get to school you atleast know someone there," Phil says with Claire giving him a surprised look, having not expected this invite it seems.

"Sure, we appreciate the invite. If that is not an inconvenience to you all," Mom says while giving Claire a knowing look.

"No, it's no problem at all," Claire says confirming we'd be coming over to their house for dinner tonight.

Later that day we all headed over to the Dunphy Household, which was a block down from ours. Arriving there, I saw that the house looked just like the one from my memories. After my Dad knocked on the door, a young boy around my younger cousin's age answered the door.

"Hey, can I help you?" the boy said while giving us all a confused look.

"Luke! What did I say about answering the door!" Claire says from their kitchen and rushes over while giving Luke an annoyed look, then smiles toward us.

"Sorry about that. Come in," Claire says to us all as we enter their house, which seems slightly chaotic just like it was in the show.

Claire tells her two daughters to come downstairs as they have guests, with Haley arguing back with her. As Alex walks down while her head was in a book and Phil comes out of their living room to greet us again.

"Alex! This is Mr. and Mrs.Hunter and their son Gabriel," Phil says to Alex who just nods her head before walking to the kitchen while reading her book.

"Sorry… she takes school very seriously," Phil says with an awkward chuckle while my parents dismiss it, taking no offense.

"No worries, Gabe is like that too sometimes. Whenever he is learning something new or reading something he likes, he completely zones everything else out," Dad says with a laugh making Phil relax and laugh with him, while I give my Dad an annoyed look.

My parents then go to the kitchen to talk with Claire and Phil, as I walk over to Dunphy kids. Alex is reading the book assigned to us from school. While Luke is watching TV and Haley is on her phone doing whatever it is she is doing. I just kinda look at them all awkwardly since they didn't even register my presence.

"Uh… Hey, you like the book they are making us read?" I ask Alex since she is the only one who I share a semblance of hobbies with.

"What?" Alex says snapping out of her reading, not expecting someone to talk to her.

'Seems she didn't even know other people were in her house,' I think to myself seeing the surprised look on her face.

"The book, for school… the one you're reading. Do you like it?" I ask her again and she looks down at is then back to me.

"It's ok, not really my type of book I like to read for fun. But I've read more boring books," Alex says to me with a shrug.

"All books are boring," Luke says indifferently.

"Not true. You are just too slow to understand most books," Alex snaps back at her brother who just ignores her and goes back to watching TV.

"I liked it, though I do think it was slightly boring," I say to her as I sit down next to her on the couch.

"You're going to Franklin Middle School? I've never seen you before?" Alex says with confusion and understanding now that I am in the same school as her.

"I just moved here a couple of days ago, from Chicago. I'm going to Franklin this coming year as a seventh grader," I say to her as she nods her head in understanding.

"Oh, ok…" Alex says not sure what else to say to me. As I can tell she is slightly socially awkward.

"Do you know my cousin? He is going there too, his name is Carlos Serrano," I say to Alex who thinks about it for a few seconds. Then Haley's attention snaps up to me hearing my Mom's side's last name.

"Wait! Serrano, as in the fashion line?" Haley says interrupting the conversation before Alex can respond.

"Yeah, my Uncle is the CEO of the company. Though my grandfather was the one who started it," I say to Haley who looks at me like she just won the lottery.

"Cool! I always wanted some of the outfits your family makes!" Haley says to me with excitement in her eyes, as I look between her and Alex. Alex is glaring at Haley for being interrupted.

"I do know your cousin, though I've never talked to him before. He is one of the popular kids in school and… well I'm more focused on studying," Alex says as Haley snorts hearing her.

"She means she is a nerd and not popular in the slightest," Haley says making Alex glare even harder at her.

"Kids! Come here, please! Dinner is ready!" Claire says right before a fight can break out between the two sisters.

The whole dinner was slightly quiet in the beginning until Haley brought up that we are related to the fashion design company Serrano. Then she started to bombard my mom with questions until Claire told her to stop. As Alex was asking me questions about the book for school. My Dad and Phil talking about dad stuff and Luke looked like he wanted to be anywhere else right now.

"Bye! Thanks for having us!" Mom says to the Dunphy family as we leave an hour after having dinner with them.

"No, problem. Come over anytime!" Phil says to us as we pack into my Dad's car and head home.

"That was fun. I liked hanging out with them," I say while we drive home with my parents agreeing with my statement.