Chapter 1

People at school call me a loner or loser, depending on who you talk to. Well they’ve never actually said it to my face, but I can see it in their eyes as I walk past them in the hallways at school. I can hear their thoughts whispering in their heads saying, "what happened to that girl? She’s such a loser. She has no friends."
I wish I could say something to them to make people believe what they think isn’t true. But there’s no use in trying. There’s no point in defending something that’s actually kind of true. I try to tell myself that it doesn’t matter what other people think of me and I think it’s worked pretty well so far. Although, I think it’s worked to well. I don’t care what other people think now so I don’t really care how I look. Which is probably why I have no friends. People don’t like to hang out with ugly people. That’s what my sister tells me anyway, but what does she know, she’s a scrawny freshmen with the looks, the brains, and the friends. I shouldn’t listen to her anymore, she’s poisoning my brain. I hate having her in the same school as me now. Before I could just kind of hide in the crowds, but now I have this constant reminder of who I am and how much I hate my life.

The highlight of my day at Chesterwood High School was when the bell rang at exactly 2:07, like it does every day. Today was the last time for two and a half months that I would have to deal with high school. I could just see the long and lazy summer days ahead. Well, almost. My mom was already starting to get on my case about getting a job this summer. I barely slid by last summer without getting one because there wasn’t a lot available for a 15 year old. But now I’m 16, and according to my mom I have no more excuses. I guess the money would be good.
As soon as I stepped off the bus I felt this huge relief that swept over my entire body, partially due to the warm, humid breeze that greeted me. The warmth of the sun and the singing of the birds should have cheered me up, but I was too absorbed in the latest Paramore album blasting through my headphones. I walked up the steps on to the porch and let the screen door slam behind me, in Kailey’s and her friends face no less, not having a care in the world anymore.
“Thanks a lot Sam,” my sister said as she opened the door for her and her friend a moment later.
Our house was already sweltering and it was only June. No matter how hard I tried I could not convince my parents to get air conditioning. To them it was an unnecessary waste of money. That meant I spent the majority of my time during the summer outside under our big willow tree or on the swing on our porch where it was shady and occasionally breezy.
I ran straight up to my room, bounding up the stairs, and nearly collided with Mr. Hadley, our Beagle, as he bolted in the opposite direction. I dumped my backpack on the floor and switched on the fan that was in the corner of my room. The greatest thing about being the older sister is that I get the better bedroom. Not only is it bigger than my sisters, but it has a window seat facing out over our backyard, and a private bathroom. I guess I can’t complain too much in that area. I only just got this room recently though. There are four bedrooms in our house, the master, two small ones, and then the one I’m currently in right now. Up until I was sixteen my sister and I each had one of the smaller bedrooms, she still does, but on my birthday my parents gave me the gift of switching to this room. I couldn’t have asked for a better present. Kailey’s and my bedroom before had been side by side and we shared a bathroom which was just next to her bedroom, never mind the fact that our bedrooms were tiny. Now though, I feel like a queen in my new bedroom.
I went in the bathroom and changed out of my jean shorts and t-shirt and threw on my bathing suit top and a pair of gym shorts. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror wondering why I was not good enough for her. It had now been two years, but it still felt as though it happened yesterday. I threw my nearly black hair into a messy bun at the base of my neck and pushed my black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of my nose. The ones my mom claims make me look more intellectual. I grabbed a beach towel, a tube of sunscreen, a book, and my mp3 player before I headed back down the stairs. I walked passed Kailey and her friend who were currently perched on the edge of the couch with the TV tuned to MTV and the latest Teen People magazine held between them. I don’t understand one bit how they considered that to be entertainment. What on earth could they get from listening to and reading about celebrities stupid lives? Absolutely nothing if you ask me.
The second I slid open the screen door Mr. Hadley came skidding across the kitchen tile and down the step into our sunken family room. I let him out ahead of me and then followed him across the slab, or what my parents insist on calling a deck, and out onto the cushiony grass. We have a decently sized backyard with just enough privacy so I could lay outside and not feel like I was being watched all the time. I spread my towel out on the grass and rubbed some sunscreen all over myself. I wouldn’t say I was pale or really tan, but unlike my sister, I wasn’t planning on getting skin cancer anytime soon. She refused to wear hardly any sunscreen, which bugged my mom to no end.
I laid face down on my towel, put some music on, and opened up to the first page in my book. Another thing I always did during the summer is read. Okay, so I’m a bookworm, but during the school year I don’t really have a lot of time for as much reading as I’d like to do, so I like to catch up during the summer. What else do I have to do anyway? It’s not like I have tons of friends I hang out with everyday.
I’ll read pretty much anything as long as it’s fiction. Stephen King books have been my latest obsession. I admit I do read some of those chick books where the girl always gets the guy in the end, but hey I am still a girl so I should have the right to some girly things. Reading is probably one of the only ways you’ll ever see my girly side come out though.
I must have dozed off while I was reading because the next thing I knew my mom was screaming my name from just inside the family room, “Sam, dinner!”
I rolled over onto my back and squinted up at the bright sun. “I’m coming!” I managed to call back to her. I stood up stretching my arms over my head and gathered up my stuff spread out on the grass beneath me.
After dumping my stuff in my room I came back down the stairs and sat down with the rest of my family to dinner with the addition of Kailey’s friend of course. I could tell right away that something wasn’t right. My mom had this perplexed look on her face while serving herself some spaghetti, my dad was pushing the food around on his plate, and Kailey and her friend were silent. The last part was the scariest because the two of them were chatterboxes. “So who died?” I asked breaking the silence and trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with everyone.
“Don’t be so dramatic Sam,” Dad took a break from pushing around his food and glanced up at me. “We have some news to share with you and your sister regarding this summer.”
My first thought was that she was going to give us the whole getting jobs speech. But then I realized that wouldn’t really be news, that would just be mom repeating herself yet again. So then I was thinking that we might actually get to go on a vacation this summer. We hadn’t been on one in a few years considering both mom and dad work full time now and they don’t want to take that much time off from work. I was starting to think that the news wouldn’t be so bad then. Let’s just say I was way off track with the news I thought they might be sharing with us.
“What do you mean we’re going to have someone staying with us?” I blurted out as mom just started to tell us the news. This would basically mean that my summer was ruined.
“Sam, let me finish explaining,” she retorted back to me. “A good friend of mine, Charlene, lives about four hours from here and lost her husband just a few months ago.”
“So what does that have to do with someone staying here?” I shot back again.
“Sam, just let your mother finish and then you can ask her questions,” my dad stepped in for my mom.
“Well, she has a job that involves a lot of traveling. Typically while she’s traveling their son is able to stay home with his dad. But, now that he’s gone she has no one to keep an eye on him while she’s away for the majority of the summer. She called me just today while I was at work, frantic about trying to find someone that would let her son stay with them for the entire summer. I talked it over with your dad earlier and we both agreed that it would be fine, and we do have the space,” she finished.
Kailey spoke up for the first time, beating me to it, “What about asking us if this is okay? Shouldn’t we have some input in this? We live here too.”
“This sucks,” I added in. I was just imagining what it would be like to have probably some ten-year-old boy living with us for the entire summer.
“Girl’s, I’m sorry we didn’t ask for your input, but ultimately it’s your father’s and my decision. You’ll both survive and it might even be fun. It will be like having a brother,” She said looking at both of us.
“Great,” both Kailey and I muttered at the same time.
Mom continued to tell us more about it, but at that point I was too busy glaring down at my food and pushing it around on my plate. I couldn’t believe both of them would do this to us. To make things even more wonderful mom informed me that Travis would be arriving the day after tomorrow and that I would have to move back into my old room for the summer because it would allow him to have more privacy. As soon as I found that out I shoved my chair back and stomped upstairs to the peace of my room, soon to be Travis’ room.
I may have been acting a little bit childish, but who really wants to share their home and family, never mind their bedroom, for the entire summer with some stranger? I was looking forward to some peace and quiet this summer, at least as much as I can get with Kailey and her friends around. Now I’m probably going to be stuck entertaining the little brat all summer.
I spent that evening locked in my room, refusing to start to move some of my things back into my old bedroom. My mom knocked on my door once, pleading with me, “Sam, I know your upset but it won’t be that bad, you could even make it fun if you tried.”
Needless to say I ignored her and continued to wallow in my own self pity. My parents have been trying hard to understand me better, so I will give them some credit, but I have done little to aid them in that. Most of the time I don’t even understand myself.
I let Mr. Hadley in my room at one point, when I heard him pawing at my door. He is getting pretty old considering he has been around since I was in kindergarten, when I was given the opportunity to name him. I did of course, and chose to name him Mr. Hadley after my kindergarten teacher who I loved. I love our dog nonetheless and he’s probably more my dog than anyone else’s in my family. He curled up on the foot of my bed as he usually does at night and I gave him a good scratch behind his ears. He’s the only one in the house that I could not be upset at.
Somewhere around 11 I went to go downstairs to grab a drink of water. Boy was I glad I did. I thought everyone had been sleeping at that point, but apparently not. As I was tiptoeing past my mom and dad’s room towards the stairs I saw a faint glow from underneath their door and heard hushed voices when I paused for a second. I’m not sure what made we what to know what they were saying so bad, but I did. I carefully pressed my ear against the door to try and hear as much as possible, but they were still barely audible. One thing I was able to hear though, that left me confused the rest of the night, was something my mom said. It sounded as if she had been asking my father, “Are you sure this is going to be safe?” What was going to be safe? That’s what I wanted to know. I tried to press my head closer to the door, but all that I accomplished in the process was a thump of my head against the door, which left me no choice but to return to room as quick as possible before my parents came to investigate the noise.
In the process of all this I had completely forgotten about getting the glass of water, so here I was laying on my bed, thirsty and trying my hardest to figure out what my mom had meant. Did it have anything to do with Travis coming the day after tomorrow? I don’t remember when, but eventually I managed to fall asleep, me laying on my left side facing my window and Mr. Hadley snuggled up against my back, facing my door.

I walked downstairs the next morning in my pajamas, shorts and a ribbed tank top, to grab my usual cup of coffee, and found something that was just about to make my day even better. As it was I already felt very unmotivated to do anything, and then I find a sticky note on the coffee pot (my mom obviously didn’t want me to miss this) with a list of chores my mom wants me to do to prepare for Travis to come tomorrow. At the bottom of the note my mom signed it not with a “love you, Mom” but rather a “I’ll be home by five.” Suddenly, a bell went off in my head that I couldn’t quite place right away. I was just pouring myself a steaming cup of coffee when it clicked. Tonight at five I had soccer practice! Then, I had to babysit Amy just two houses over. I was officially looking forward to every Tuesday night this summer.
I’ve been on recreation league soccer teams for about as long as I can remember. With a decent height at 5’6” and a fairly athletic build soccer has always felt natural to me. Because of such a strong interest in soccer continuing over the summer in our town and others nearby, the recreation league started up summer soccer teams continuing from the spring and prepping for the fall. For just about that same amount of time I’ve been playing soccer I was always on the same team as my best friend. Since our freshman year that changed because she purposely requested to be on a team other than the one I was on. Everything changed that year. In the meantime, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from doing something I love.
I spent the morning outside kicking a soccer ball around to warm up for tonight’s practice, which gave me a nice excuse to avoid my list of chores. When I came in to grab a sandwich for lunch I found Kailey vacuuming the kitchen floor. Seems as though she got stuck with a list too.
“Don’t you have chores to do too?” She asked me after turning the vacuum off with this accusing look on her face.
“Yeah,” was all I responded with as I went back to fixing my sandwich. If she was the one being booted out of her room maybe she would understand a little better as to why I was in such a foul mood.
She gave me this disgusted look and turned the vacuum back on.
I did eventually do most of the chores on my list with the exception of moving my stuff into my old bedroom, which I was planning on doing in the morning before Travis arrived. The last thing I wanted was to be grounded for the summer, so I knew I had to get them done. Some people may not think grounded would be too bad for me because I hardly have a life, but my mom knows that too. Grounded for me is like sucking the air out of a balloon that has already started to deflate. Grounding consists of no soccer, no television, no going anywhere, and basically no having fun. It makes my life miserable, and yes I do know from experience.

After practice that night, Amy’s mom came and picked me up to come over and watch Amy. Amy is in 6th grade so I’m not really babysitting her, it’s more like just hanging out with her. She’s allowed to stay home alone during the day, but if her parents are going out at night and are going to be home late, then they like to have someone at the house with her. I don’t mind because it’s easy money and Amy can be fun to hang out with even though she’s 11. Plus, it’s the closest thing I have to a job that occasionally gets my mom off my back, but not very often.
Tonight, Amy was in a board game mood so from about 7:30 when her parents left to go to their late dinner/business meeting until about 10:00 we played game after game, anywhere from Sorry to multiple rounds of Clue. Playing games gave us ample talking time, or venting in my case. Amy is great to talk to, we give each other advice regardless of the 5 year age gap. Her problems, boy crushes and middle school drama, are fun to hear, and she tries her best to give me useful advice as well. She’s probably the closest thing I’ve got to a friend right now.
We spent the rest of the evening indulging in ice cream sundaes and watching some goofy movie on the Disney channel. It made my day just a little bit better since I had first seen that note from my mom this morning. Technically, Amy should have been in bed already, but it is summer so I figured we could stretch it a little bit. Okay, so maybe a lot, but I’m sure she would agree with me that it was well worth it.
Being only two houses away from Amy’s I just walked home when her parents got back around midnight. Walking towards my house I could see that just about all of the lights were off, except for one. The light in my bedroom appeared to be on. I couldn’t remember leaving it on, but then again maybe my mom had been in my room trying to pick things up as she would probably explain to me. She probably just forgot to turn it off, or even left it on because she knew I would be coming home later. Either way I didn’t really dwell on it for more than a few seconds.
I let myself in as quietly as possible and tiptoed up to my room so I wouldn’t wake anyone up. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs I noticed that my door was closed shut. I rarely ever leave my door completely closed when I’m not home because Mr. Hadley is always in and out of my room. I found it unusual but figured it had probably been my mom again. With my soccer bag over my shoulder I gently opened my door and stopped dead in my tracks. Someone had arrived early.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.04.2010

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