"WHAT?!?" I screamed into the mouthpiece of my flip-phone. "You cannot be serious!" It was my mother I was talking to, and she was trying to ruin my life as usual. Except that this time, it was for real. "I'm not doing it!" I yelled again, and slammed the phone shut.

At this point I was only seeing red, and only when my friend Ashley asked me "Kylie, are you okay?" did I remember where I was. I was in the middle of a huge shopping trip with my friends Ashley, Jaime, and Heather, and we were sitting in the food court surrounded by a myriad of shopping bags.

"No, I'm not okay. My mother is ruining my life. She'll be here in five minutes to begin the process." I threw away the garbage from my lunch and began gathering my shopping bags.

As I was doing this, Heather asked me, "How is she ruining it this time?"

I shook my head and felt my shoulder-length blonde hair swish. "I-I don't want to talk about it and get you guys mixed up in another conflict with my mother."

"That's not like you, Kylie," Jaime said with raised eyebrows as she sat relaxed and slipping a slurpee. "You always want to share your problems with us."

"Yeah," Ashley joined in. "That's what we do."

"Not this time," I said. Even as I said it it felt weird of me. "I'll see you guys later," I said over my shoulder as I walked toward the eastern exit where my mother said she'd pick me up.

They must have thought I was far away enough not to hear them, but I distinctly heard Jaime say, "At-ti-tude," and both Heather and Ashley murmur words of agreement. Why didn't they understand my world was crumbling??

As soon as I walked out of the revolving doors of the upscale mall in Wellington, Florida, I heard the honk of a car horn. I spotted my mother's silver van on the driveway. I put on my best scowl and walked as quickly as I could while weighted down with Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle bags. I was determined to change her mind.

I flung open the side door of the van and angrily threw my bags in the back seat. Mother was staring at me from the rear view mirror as she pressed the button that automatically closed the side door. As soon as the door closed she drove away.

"I don't see why you are having such a problem dealing with this, Kylie," she said.

"Mom! There are only a few weeks until school's out! Of course I have a problem with this!"

"Please, Kylie-"

"Mom! What I don't understand is why you're making me do this!"

"It's your father and I. We've decided to get a divorce."

"Surprise, surprise," I muttered sarcastically. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why do you have to involve me in everything? It's not like I didn't know about Dad cheating on you. And it hasn't affected me at all! Just leave me alone!"

"Kylie, I don't want you to be around your father's influence. I'm just looking out for your well being."

"Well thanks, but I would be a little bit happier if solving this problem did not involve moving out to the middle of Hicksville!"

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad. You're a friendly girl, you'll make friends in no time."

"That's not the point, Mom! What about my friends here?"

"Well, if they're really your friends, they'll keep in touch."

I sucked my teeth and sunk down into the seat with my arms crossed over my stomach.

At this point, I considered my life to be at an all-time low. A few months ago, things were much different. I was only a sophomore in high school, but I knew that I had reached the prime of popularity. All the guys wanted to date me, and all the girls wanted to be me. I secretly knew that my success had a lot to do with the fact that my mother could not refuse her only child's wishes. So in result of that, I had a cell phone, the coolest clothes in the mall, and a car promised to me when I turned sixteen in a few months.

But then, my boyfriend broke up with me for another girl. In turn I lost some of my following because they thought I had treated him badly, when in fact it was the exact opposite. I was still popular; nonetheless, when my father had the brilliant idea that I shouldn't be awarded with a car, and instead I should learn how to earn my own money to buy things I want.

And that is only one of the reasons why I'm not exactly fond of my father. Moving away from him was not one of the things that bothered me.

My mother's plan was to leave for Maple Ridge, Tennessee in two weeks. We had a house there that my great-great-grandfather had built back in the 1900's or whatever. I had never been there, but my mom said she used to visit her grandparents there when she was a kid. The whole reason her father left when he turned eighteen was so that he could widen his opportunities. And now we were returning back to the place that stifled my grandfather's ambition. Great.

I begged and pleaded with my mom for the next week, trying to persuade her to change her mind. She was obviously going through a mid-life crisis. But why did she have to involve me?!?

At first my friends acted just how I had expected. "Can't you convince your mom?" "Maybe you could live with me until your mom realizes the mistake she's making." But when I only had a week left and chances of convincing my mom were looking slim, their tones of voices changed. "We'll keep in touch." "Maybe we could visit each other every once in a while." Although after I told them that it was about an fifteen-hour drive, even prospects of seeing them ever again seemed impossible.

I decided to give my mother the Silent Treatment. As we packed all of our many belongings, I only spoke when it was necessary. She told me she knew what I was doing, but it still wasn't going to change her mind.

Of course I cried a little on my last day at school. I mean, who wouldn't? I was totally being uprooted from a fantastic life, and being replanted in the middle of Tennessee! The only thing on my mind was planning an escape to my father's house. However, the very next day, I was sent to my father's house to acquire some "quality time" before I left from his life-probably forever, unless my getaway plan worked.

But when I got there, I kind of changed my mind. He really had some nerve to actually let the slut he had been living with sit right there next to him as we talked about mom and the move. The guy really is a jerk, and so is the skank of a girlfriend.

We actually managed to squeeze in about five minutes of "quality time" when the hoe left for a manicure appointment. It was weird being alone with my dad like that; it seemed like he wanted to bond. He brought me up to the attic and pulled out a dusty old trunk. He was rather excited as he opened it up and brought out an old-looking case that he handed to me with an enthusiastic face. Confused, I opened it and found an old camera.

My father used to be a photographer. And now, he was passing on his pursuit to his only child, who was rather nonplussed as to what she should do with it. I smiled for him, so that I wouldn't be remembered as an ungrateful brat, and I heard the car horn honk from the street below. Surprising both of us, I told my dad thanks and gave him a hug.

It was a Friday morning we left for Maple Ridge, Tennessee. My mother and I managed to fit all of our stuff into the van with great difficulty. We didn't have to worry about furniture; the house was already furnished. I spent the entire fifteen-hour drive in a very foul mood in the very back seat with my headphones blasting a bunch of Maroon 5 and The All-American Rejects. Though I hated to admit it, my freedom to listen to whatever music I wanted was one of the growing reasons that I was okay with leaving Wellington. Back home, all my friends listened to rap music, generally 50 Cent and Jay-Z, stuff like that. When they discovered that I actually spent money on a No Doubt CD, they flipped, and I made up that it was a gift for my cousin.

Before we left, I bought at least a dozen of some popular magazines including Cosmo, CosmoGirl!, Vogue, Teen Vogue, People, Teen People...and the like. With all that reading, I had no time to look at scenery. And fifteen exciting hours later of learning how to tweeze eyebrows and match that skirt for every occasion, we had reached Tennessee. My mother announced our arrival to me by turning up the back speakers so loud that I could hear them through my headphones.

"We're in Tennessee!" she said, assuming that I couldn't read the huge sign we had just passed.

I finally removed my headphones and felt a small burning sensation from where the earpieces were lodged. "Thanks for the news...How 'bout the weather?" I muttered. I guess I had finally gotten tired of the magazines and music, and decided to look out the small space of window that wasn't crowded with boxes of junk.

It was dark, about 7:30 at night, but the light from the moon illuminated the open hills of Tennessee. My first and only thought was "boring." Every once in a while we'd pass I guess what you'd call a town, complete with general store, hardware store, and a McDonald's if you were lucky. I couldn't imagine that any patch of land in America could be so...empty. We were probably just taking the back roads.

My mom actually found a pizza place, and so she bought us some dinner to go. Half an hour later I noticed that we kept going up and up around what appeared to be a very large hill, and when we got about three-quarters of the way up, mom pulled into the gravel driveway of a very plain Victorian house with a small stable and an oak tree. I couldn't see it very well, but from what I could decipher, I hated it. I despised it. I loathed it with all of my being. It was, after all, the house that brought the downfall of my popularity.

I made the personal decision to unload all of my belongings right then. I couldn't sleep after hours of doing nothing, and my legs needed stretching from their dormancy. And most importantly, I didn't want to have to do it in the daylight when there was a chance people could be passing by in their cars. I mean, there was absolutely no threat of people seeing me at night. The closest house was like two-thirds of a mile around the bend.

I didn't even bother looking at the first floor of the house. I took my stuff immediately upstairs and searched the bedrooms until I found one that suited me.

I moved the furniture around to my liking and then hung the Blink 182 poster I had been longing to see on my walls but was too chicken to do it back home. Finally, hunger got the best of me and I had to go downstairs to look for the kitchen. Mom asked me what I thought of the house, but I just shrugged and took some pizza upstairs. I started hooking up my computer with every intention of emailing my friends on how awful everything was, but I fell asleep before even trying to turn it on, half-emptied boxes littering my wooden floor.

Chapter 2 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

(Knock-knock-knock...)

"Kylie! Do you want to go to the grocery store with me?"

I grumbled. "Mom, go away!" I tried to yell, but it came out groggily.

"Alright. I'll be back in like an hour."

She waited for my reply, but I refused. "Okay. Bye," she said after taking the hint.

I struggled to open my eyes. My mother had obviously come into my room earlier and opened the window shade, because all I could see was the obscenely bright morning sun. Great, I thought, of course I pick the room with a window on the east side of the house. "Stupid sun!" I said sleepily. I kicked off my covers and went over to turn on my computer. It took a moment, but I could tell that everything had obviously been hooked up correctly when my favorite wallpaper of Johnny Depp showed up on the screen.

I looked at the clock in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It was 8:30 in the morning. Why couldn't she just let me sleep! I growled in frustration and went downstairs for some breakfast. Ten minutes later I returned, pop-tart in hand, up the stairs and to my room. I still had not seen anything downstairs besides the kitchen and the hallway that led to it.

I plopped down onto the wooden chair in front of the computer desk and then mentally noted to never do that again, for the chair was about to collapse under my one hundred and ten pound, five feet and six inches self. I started clicking away to connect to the internet. My buddy list showed that none of my friends were on, but then again, who would go online at 8:30 in the morning? Only me: a pathetic, poor soul in Hicksville! I wrote three ridiculously long emails to my friends describing how miserable I was.

But suddenly, I froze in my seat. I heard a noise behind me. Something was moving. Was it burglars? Before I could wait any longer, I whipped around in my chair and saw a guy climbing through my window!

"Excuse me!" I said in a haughty voice. He did not respond as he pulled himself over the ledge and straightened himself out. I noticed that he was probably a little bit older than me, and his blonde hair with light brown roots showed that he had spent a lot of time in the sun. "Excuse me!" I proclaimed even louder, with all of my morning grumpiness. "What are you doing in my room?!"

He looked at me with see-through green eyes and a lightly freckled, though at the moment, puzzled face. "When did you move here?" he asked with a touch of southern accent in his voice.

I heaved a sigh. "Get out!" I yelled, pointing at the window.

"Hold on," he said, holding up a hand in my direction. He was looking around my room. More specifically, he was looking around the floor that was covered with opened boxes that were full of things I didn't want just anyone to see.

"What are you doing?" I asked, though it seemed fruitless.

After a few moments of him looking at the floor in my room, and me balling my fists and getting up from my chair to attack him, he finally said, "Aha!" as if he had found something.

I was about five feet away when I noticed how very tall the strange guy was. His tall, skinny body bent over and I caught him just in time before he stuck his hand into my underwear box. When I say that I "caught" him, I really mean that I hit him over the head with an empty cardboard box.

"Whatcha do that for?" he said as he came back up and rubbed his head.

"Get out!" I said.

"What is your problem?" he asked me incredulously. "Where on earth did you come from? I was just gettin' my baseball!" And with that he bent back over and picked up a dirty old baseball that was lying between my underwear and my shoes boxes.

I was so annoyed and embarrassed at that point that I took a second to fume through my nostrils and then I attacked him repeatedly over the head with the box as he went running back to the window.

"Ow! Stop that!" he shouted as he swung over the ledge. "We got a crazy girl on our hands here, guys!" he yelled to his dozen or so friends that were standing atop the steep hill beside my house. I heard them laughing at me, and in all my rage I threw the box down at him as he made his way down the trellis. He jumped the rest of the way down and said, "Nice to meet you, too, Kylie!" he said.

"How did you know my name?" I asked him furiously.

He held up the box. "This helped a little," he said, and I saw on the side of it, written in my handwriting, "Kylie's Room" with a little star over the "i."

I grunted again in annoyance. "What are you people doing in my lawn anyway!? And why so early in the morning!?" I yelled at the whole group of them.

They all started talking and yelling at once. I rolled my eyes. What a bunch of hicks! "Will one of you tell me at a time?"

They calmed down a little and the intruder of my home stepped forward. "We come here every Saturday mornin' to play baseball for a few hours."

"Why here???"

"'Cause this is the best hillside for playin' ball!" one of the other guys shouted and everyone replied in agreement.

"There are two million other hills that you can play on! People live here now and I should think you'd have the respect not to trespass on other people's property!"

"Oh, come on!" another guy said. "We've always played here. Even when the other family was here before ya'll."

"Please help me," I muttered and ran my fingers through my hair. "Well not anymore!" I said.

"What is wrong with you?" one of the girls of the group asked.

"Just-just get out of my yard! It's too early to be dealing with this."

After what seemed like an eternity of arguing, they finally started walking away, their heads bowed. I immediately shut my window and closed my blinds, thankful of having rid my yard of stupid hick people.

I put my Foo Fighters CD in my computer and turned the volume up really loud, and then continued to write complaining letters to my friends back in Florida.

My mom arrived a little while later, knocking on my door again. "Hey Kylie dear!" she said, trying to be heard over the music.

I turned it down a bit but did not respond. I was still angry with her.

"Do you want to come downstairs and help me with groceries?" she asked overly polite.

"I'd rather not, thanks," I answered sarcastically.

"Please?"

"Fine." I pulled my door open to see my mother's evil smiling face. She led the way to the kitchen that was now loaded with bags of groceries.

"Mom," I said uncertainly, "Why did you get so many groceries?" I paused and the look on her face said that my suspicions were correct. "You aren't planning on feeding anyone besides the two of us, right?" She avoided my gaze. "Right?" I reiterated.

"Don't get upset, Kylie," she began, signaling that I was going to get very upset, "but I was thinking we should have a little house warming party-" I rolled my eyes. "You know, invite our new neighbors over and cook stuff for them..."

"Mother! I just told about a dozen of our new 'neighbors' that they were not allowed on our property!"

"Oh, you didn't tell them not to play baseball, did you?" my mother asked worriedly.

However, before I could answer, there was a loud noise that sounded uncannily like a baseball hitting the porch outside of the kitchen. I stormed out through the back door, my mom following me yelling, "It's been a tradition since before I was born! You can't stop Saturday morning baseball!"

I stood very strongly, pointing to the street. "I thought I told you to leave!" I shouted.

"Your mom's right, ya know," said the tall burglar. "You cannot stop Saturday mornin' baseball."

"That's right!" "You tell 'em!" they all shouted.

"Is it really necessary to play here?" I asked.

"What is it that you have against baseball, anyway?" asked a girl with too-tight overalls and auburn hair.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the tall guy, who was obviously some kind of leader for this group, interrupted me. "I know what it is. She doesn't know how to play." Surprising me and everyone else that could see his face, his expression softened. "Well, we can teach ya," he said, thrusting his arms out welcomingly, and I noticed an upset look on the auburn's face. She had her arms crossed over her front, and her stance showed that she did not like what was going on at all.

Well, neither did I! I shook my head in annoyance and stomped as hard as I could back into the house.

"Why did you make me come here?" I asked my mom as I sat down at the wooden kitchen table, my head in my hands.

She responded with a sigh and left the kitchen. I heard her call from where the living room must have been, "I'm still having that house warming party, and I'd appreciate it if you'd help me out."

"You'll be lucky if I even come to the stupid thing!" I said through my frustration.

She came back into the kitchen carrying a box of what must have been dishes. "Oh, well then tell me: where will you be if you're not here? It's not like you could have made any friends to bring you around the town."

I peered at her. My mother had never made me look at my options in such a way. I was about to tell her that I'd just stay in my room the whole time, but somehow she knew what I was going to say, and she reacted before I said it. "You know that those people out there are not afraid to just enter your room without permission, so if you decide to stay up there the whole time, you'd have company anyway. So whether you like it or not, you will attend the party, and you will be civil about it."

I was thoroughly shocked. I know that it was apparent on my face, because when mother had finished her little speech, she looked pleased that she had gotten through to me.

I had nothing to say. Blinking a few times in astonishment, I got up from the bare table and went upstairs. Without the music on, I could hear the lively chatter of what appeared to be a very close group of friends playing baseball. I heard the crack of the bat a good few times, and every once in a while there was someone yelling in a southern accent, "I got it! I got it!" They were really having a good time down there.

I spent a long while thinking about things...so what if I had never played baseball?

Chapter 3 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

The rest of that day I finished unpacking. I had so much free time that the end product was my room looking spectacular. I still had time with nothing to do, so I actually helped my mom make the house look good. We hung pictures and some artwork on the walls, and with my expertise in fashion everything seemed to fit together wonderfully. But before I went up to bed, I made it clear to my mother that the only reason I was doing that was so all of the 'country folk' could see what it's like to have some class.

The next morning my singular parental unit woke me at the freakin' crack of dawn. I don't think I've ever been up that early in my life. I was so not a morning person.

"What is wrong with people and not letting me get any sleep around here?!?"

"Kylie, calm down!" Mom called from downstairs. "I want you to see something and then we're going to church."

I angrily sat up in bed and threw on a cute knee-length striped skirt and a champagne-colored top to match. As I put on some white sandals to go with the outfit, I took pride in how fast I could put together a totally awesome outfit.

Still tired and grumpy, I went to my mirror to put on some makeup. I stood there for a second, looking at my tired face. My blonde hair fell just to my shoulders. It was naturally straight, and all I had to do to get it ready was run a brush through it. I appreciated the fact that Tennessee was not half as humid as Florida was, and so I didn't even need any styling products to control the frizz.

After brushing my hair, I proceeded to curl the light brown eyelashes that rimmed my blue-green eyes. I never thought my eyelashes were dark enough, so I always covered them with black mascara.

My makeup routine was complete once I dusted my cheeks with rouge and applied colored lip-gloss. I dug through some drawers and found my jewelry: ladybug earrings and a silver bracelet. Done!

I made my way down the stairs and to the kitchen where my mother awaited me.

"Now I would have made you a traditional Sunday breakfast like I always got when I was here, but we don't have enough time." She was bustling around in a decent skirt suit, making coffee. "Could you come out to the stable with me? I want to show you something."

"Stable?" I asked perplexed.

"Yeah."

"Whatever."

I ended up following her out the back door and around to the west side of the house.

"Well, whattya know," I said, hands in hips, "we do have a stable. Any animals in it?"

My mother was already inside the tiny little shack, and she said from within, "Just come in and you'll see."

I timidly stepped onto the wood shavings and immediately saw something that made me extremely unhappy.

"You!" I said, pointing my finger at same tall punk that came into my room. Though this morning he was wearing khaki dress pants and a tucked in collared shirt. With my luck he'd be at the same church my mom was taking me to today.

He rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Good mornin', Kylie."

My mother was not appreciating my attitude. "Kylie, you need to be a little more respectful to our neighbors." He let a smirk slide onto his face as he watched my mom reprimand me. "And he has a name, you know."

"Andrew," he said as he held out his right hand. "You can call me that, or Andy, or Drew if ya wanna."

Slowly, I accepted his handshake. But as soon as I felt the roughness of his large hands I withdrew.

"Andrew is going to help us take care of the chickens," my mother said, pleased that I was acting somewhat civil.

"Chickens?" I asked, and then noticed the small enclosure near my feet. There were about a dozen chickens there.

They both ignored my ignorance. Andrew, whom I still preferred to think of as 'Annoying Trespasser Boy,' carried on with the procedures of raising chickens. I was hardly listening as he explained it to my mother and I, and I grew thoroughly agitated when my mom kept asking stupid questions.

"Mother!" I scolded, "The chickens will be fine! Let's just go," I said and turned to walk away. But as I did so, I noticed that a tiny chick had escaped and was now pecking my ankle. I made a noise in frustration and kicked the thing away from me.

"Be careful! You could hurt it," I heard Andrew say.

I muttered "Whatever," under my breath, and thought about how these stupid hicks care way too much about those stupid chickens.

I waited in the car for my mom. She joined me what felt like ten minutes later. "You think we should give Andrew a ride to his house?" she asked politely.

"No!" I responded quickly. "Mother, you're being way too friendly with these people!"

"Oh, Kylie..."

It was a twenty-five minute ride to Calvary Protestant Church. The parking lot was simply a grass area, mainly full of rusty old pick-up trucks. I watched families wearing there Sunday best enter through the plain doors and into the tiny church. Suddenly I felt like the most educated person there.

I immediately sat in the very back row. During the entire sermon I found myself looking at all the people, and my temper rose when I saw the back of the Annoying Trespasser Boy's head. I also recognized many of the other kids that were playing baseball in my yard. Near the end of the service, a familiar girl with thick curls in her auburn hair stood next to the piano as the pastor sat down in his chair. She was wearing a floral dress, and it was obvious that she was trying to show as much skin as possible while still trying to look like she was praising the lord. It was then I remembered her being at the baseball game as well.

When she began to sing, I automatically sat forward in the uncomfortable wooden pew. To put it nicely, she was very expressive and loud when she sang. It wasn't bad at any cost. Just a tad bit startling.

As soon as the service was done with and people started getting up from the pews, I grabbed my mother's wrist and attempted to pull her out of there quickly and without being seen. However, she did not budge, and said laughingly, "Kylie, what has gotten into you? I just want to talk with some of the ladies." I smacked my forehead with my palm and went to find the restroom. She was doing exactly what I feared. Now every single family in the town would be invited to our house warming party.

Angry thoughts batted around inside my head as I made my way to the girl's room. I was not going to let Andrew make a fool out of me. And I was not going to let my mother make a spectacle of us.

I opened the door that had a wooden sign saying "Women." As I rummaged through my purse to find my mascara, I heard a flush and saw the girl with auburn hair appear next to me in the mirror. She washed her hands and then pulled out some bright red lipstick.

"Hi," she said sweetly. "Yer the new girl, raht?" I gave her a look. "Kylie?"

"Yeah," I said flatly.

"I'm Isabelle. You kin just call me Belle if ya lahk," she giggled in a way that I thought was obnoxious.

I thought for a second. "Doesn't Belle mean-"

"Beautiful?" she interrupted and laughed. "Yup." She applied her lipstick and then turned to look at me. I put my mascara away and turned to face her. The sweet look on her face was replaced with a menacing scowl. This girl startled me.

"Listen here, new girl," she snarled. " I need you to stay far away from my boyfriend. Do we have an understandin'?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her with my mouth slightly open in surprise. "I don't even know who your boyfriend is," I said, my temper slightly rising.

"Oh, well that just figures," she rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Just keep away from Andrew, then!"

I stood up straight and said coolly, "Why would I want to get near any of you?" Then, as calmly as I could, I snapped my purse shut and walked out of the restroom and directly to the car. My mom waltzed over an eternity later with a smile on her face. She had probably just invited the whole church to our house on Monday night. But I wasn't going to find out unless it actually happened, because I was back to not talking to her.

Chapter 4 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

I woke up on Monday morning to the sound of my alarm clock. I've heard my alarm clock go off before, and most people get annoyed at that sound every morning. But this particular morning, I was so extremely pissed off at the thing. Not just because it was waking me from my peaceful slumber, but also because it was using country music to do so!

In my blind rage (an emotion I had been feeling a lot of recently), I ripped the cord to the alarm clock out of its socket and threw it out the window. I sat on my bed for a moment, feeling pleased that I solved a problem. But when that moment was over, I flopped down on my side, on top of my covers, and felt the threat of tears pushing at the corners of my eyes.

I was crying for a lot of reasons, but mainly because today was Monday, and my mother was forcing me to go to school. Even though they only had a week and a half left of school, I still had to go.

My mother mentioned that she was making me go to school when we were riding home from church. The only thing I said to her for the rest of the day was, "How come you treated me so much better back home?"

I sat up on my bed again, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. I knew mother was going to come into my room at any second to make sure I was awake, and I refused to let her see me crying. I was fine with letting her see me angry, but tears were a definite no.

As I went to my closet, I contemplated on not even bothering putting together a cute outfit. Who was I supposed to impress? Just as I went to close the closet door, I heard mother knocking, as expected.

"What?" I asked sternly.

"Just making sure you're up," she said, and I heard footsteps retreating back down the hallway.

My fashion-queen self stopped me before I closed the closet door. I ended up putting together an awesome outfit, and it made me feel a lot better to do so.

I didn't eat the eggs and English muffin that my mother had prepared for me. I just sat there, watching her bustle around the kitchen wearing an outdated pair of jeans and oversized t-shirt.

"Today there is going to be a woman's meeting at the Maple Ridge Social Center," I listened to her babble. "I talked to all the ladies at church. They say it's a popular thing for mothers to do around here. I was also thinking about fixing up the garden out on the side of the house there. Ya know, make it look nice for the party tonight." By then I had buried my face in my hands. "Well, you'll probably want to go out front and wait for the bus. It's already eight o'clock."

I quickly dropped my hands down onto the table, narrowly missing the plate still filled with my breakfast. "I'm catching the bus?" I asked incredulously. "Are you joking?"

"No..." she looked at me seriously.

"But in Wellington the only reason I rode the bus was because you and dad left for work before it was time to take me to school."

"Well I have a lot of plans today, Kylie. It would be so much easier if you could catch the bus."

"Fine!" I grabbed an empty notebook and my purse and waited on the front step on the porch.

Minutes passed and I sat there. Suddenly a bright orange bus came around the corner and...sped right by my house!

"Wait!" I called after it, running to the street. But then I stopped, and shrugged to myself. Oh well. I was going to have to stay home from school today!

I turned back around, smile on my face, and went back to inform my mom that I missed the bus. Just as my fingers grasped the handle to the front door, I heard an obnoxious horn honk. The smile I had mere seconds ago was replaced with a look of uneasiness. Sure enough, the bus was right there in front of my house.

As slow as my legs would possibly allow, I walked to the bus. It was being driven by an old man who introduced himself as Smithy. Feeling absolutely nauseous, I told him that my name was Kylie, and I immediately sat down in the closest available seat. There was only one seat in front of mine, and the girl sitting in it turned her head to get a closer look at me. She had a smile that clearly said, "The new girl is such a dork!"

I almost laughed out loud when I pictured her saying "dork" in a heavy country accent.

I imagined that everyone from the baseball game, including Andrew and Isabelle, was already seated on the bus. And when the large vehicle began moving again, and everyone started chatting, I heard the distinct voice of Andrew and the recognizable laugh of Isabella coming from somewhere in the middle of the bus.

I stayed quiet the whole thirty-minute ride, thinking about how brainless it was to make a town so spread apart. Along the way, Andrew and Isabella were making everybody laugh at regular intervals. But because I was so close to the front of the bus, I could hardly hear them from the noise of the engine.

We arrived at Maple Ridge High School at approximately eight thirty. I hurriedly made my way off of the bus so that I could make it to the main office before anyone tried to talk to me. Luckily the office wasn't too difficult to find and the courtyard wasn't crowded enough to make it difficult for me.

I sat in the main lobby area even after the first bell rang. Soon the announcements came on, and I watched a few seniors have fun while announcing the end of the school year activities. I felt foolish, sitting there all alone, as I tried to suppress my laughter at the stupid humor on the television. I reminisced of the morning announcements we had back home. Ours were plain and dry compared to these.

I was knocked out of my reverie when a woman with large hips came over and asked me to enter the assistant principle's office. I did, taking a seat across from a tall, balding man with scholarly glasses. He took off the glasses and placed them, folded, on his desk. His eyes looked strangely small without them.

He held up a file, and without reading it he said, "Kylie Greenberg," in a slow southern drawl.

I nodded, my eyes wide.

"You know it's very unusual to have a student enter this late into the school year, and I appreciate the care on your part to worry about absence days."

I almost rolled my eyes at that statement.

"We don't have much of a choice but to put you into all the classes you were taking back in Florida. I believe the curriculum was a little bit ahead of ours, so you may find yourself with older students. But you seem like a nice girl, and I'm sure you'll be makin' friends in no time."

Funny, that's exactly what my mother said.

He pulled out a few slips of paper from the very front of my file. "Here's your schedule, a map around campus, and a late pass." As I went to stand, he added, "Now remember, our school is very small. We only have about four hundred students in all, so the most we have in a class in fifteen or sixteen. Have a good day."

I stood fully and took the papers from him, offering what I had of a small smile. As soon as I left his office, I looked over my schedule. I had all the usual classes, plus physical education and home economics. Two electives that I hate above all else.

I looked over the map to find were my first class, Trigonometry, was. I was certain that this class would be full of older students. Even back home, this was a senior class, and I am only a sophomore.

It was easy to find the class through the empty hallways, so I decided to go take some time to refresh myself in the bathroom. I am glad to report that it was a very clean bathroom, and that I had no run-ins with 'friendly' girls like Isabelle.

I walked into the class, keeping my head high. I didn't look at the ten-or-so students sitting in the desks, but I could hear them, and they were talking very loudly about everything except trigonometry. I went to the teacher's desk at the other side of the room. She was reading a newspaper!

I cleared my throat to get her attention, and so she put down the newspaper and stood up with a smile. I handed her my pass and she asked, "Kylie Greenberg, correct? I'm Mrs. Walters."

I nodded, and she came around the front of her desk. In hushed tones, she said to me, "I know it doesn't look like we're doing anything, but today I allowed them a study period for the final exam." The final! I forgot all about it! She must have noticed the alarmed look on my face, so she assured me, "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Your old school was nice enough to send us all of your exams through mail. So today you can have a free period in here. Sit wherever you like."

Mrs. Walters went back to her newspaper, and I stood there, looking around at the class. My jaw dropped when I saw HIM sitting right in the center of the desks, making his group of friends laugh.

It was impossible that he hadn't seen me, but I tried as hard as I could to sneak my way to the back of the class. When I thought I was safe, I heard him say menacingly, "Don't think you got away this time, Kylie."

He turned his head around as I was sinking into my seat. I presented him with a grim smile. "Why do I run into you everywhere I go?" I said in a detesting voice. All of his friends were staring at me.

"Hey, I didn't plan this. Why are you in a senior class, anyway? I thought you were a sophomore."

"I am. This is just the class I was put in at home. Are you saying that you're a senior?" I said, trying not to get nervous with all these people listening to me talk. Wait - me, nervous?? What was going on?

"Nah," he answered with a wave of his hand. "I'm a junior. Don't know why they put me here. Good test scores or somethin'."

"Whatever..." I mumbled almost inaudibly. I went looking through my purse to make it look like I had something better to do. Aha! I had rolled up a YM Magazine. That would keep me busy, even if I had already read through it twice.

I couldn't really concentrate on the article about Ashton Kutcher with all the noise going on and all the thoughts going through my head. For instance: Why was Andrew still bothering me? Didn't he humiliate me enough at my own house on Saturday? What was his deal?

I needed to distract myself. I thought about my friends back home, and what we would be doing now in homeroom. But that thought saddened me, because it made me think of their lack of replying me emails. I wrote at least half a dozen long letters to my friends at home, and so far I only got one reply. And it was only a few sentences long.

Through the corner of my eye I could see some of Andrew and his buddies standing up. I swallowed heavily and tried to concentrate on the magazine again. There were four of them, and they were headed to my desk. Why me???

I kept my eyes down. Each of them scooted chairs around my desk. I was trapped.

I finally looked up. Two boys and two girls were surrounding me. Andrew wasn't included.

"Hi," said a girl with long, straight brown hair and big brown eyes. I simply stared back. "I'm Deana. You're name's Kylie?"

"Yeah," I said in the same tone I remembered speaking in with Isabelle. I hoped that this conversation would be better than the one with her.

Deana looked at her three companions. They introduced themselves. "I'm Jenna," said the other girl who had curly black hair tied in a low ponytail.

"David," said a boy with short dark blonde hair and a rather big nose.

"Kenny," a lanky boy with brown hair shaved close to his head. "Nice to meet ya, Kylie."

"Nice to meet you," I said, and went back to my magazine.

"Hey, we're not done, yet!" said Deana, and I put the magazine down, probably looking impatient.

"We were at the ball game on Saturday, and-"

I cut off Jenna before she could finish, "Oh great."

"I was just sayin' that you look like you could use somebody to show you around and stuff. Ya know, show you the hangout spots around town."

"I think I'll be fine, thanks," I said harshly.

They looked at each other. "Suit yourself," said David.

The bell rang for dismissal of class. The students practically ran through the doors. I could tell they were eager for summer to arrive.

The next three classes were rather boring. None of the teachers were really teaching, just reviewing for finals at the most. My guess was that no one wanted to befriend a student that they would only see for another week and a half. By the time lunch came around, I felt very alone. A feeling I don't remember having back home.

I felt like I was walking in slow motion on my way to the cafeteria. Not feeling hungry enough for a meal, I went to the soda machine and pressed the button to get a grape soda.

Nothing happened. I bit my lip and pushed the button harder. Still nothing. I started breathing heavier, trying to calm myself from making a huge scene over something so ridiculous as a broken soda machine.

I heard a few people walk up and stand in line behind me. I pushed a different button, though the effort was futile.

"Excuse me," said a country accent from behind me. I turned around and saw four of the biggest geeks I had ever seen. Each wearing a variation of a plaid collared shirt tucked into perfectly ironed Dockers.

"Th-this machine isn't working," I stuttered.

"You must be new," said the leader of the geeks, pushing his thick glasses further up his nose.

I didn't answer, but the look on my face must have given me away.

"See, ya just gotta give it a nice kick down on the side here," he said, and walked over to the right and side of the machine.

He gave it a nice kick with the side of his loafer, and a rumbling noise was made. My grape soda came out one second later.

"Thanks," I said, my voice monotone.

"No problem. Hey, what's yer name?"

"Uh, Kylie."

"Why don't you come sit with us, Kylie?" said another one of the boys. This one was extremely short with unkempt curly brown hair.

I imagined sitting with them for the next week and a half, and all the discussions about comic books and video games.

"No," I said a little too quickly. "I, um, promised someone I'd meet them...somewhere else," I finished lamely.

They all looked a little hurt, and I bolted to the courtyard as fast as my legs could walk.

Sitting at lunch by myself wasn't as bad as I thought. No one noticed me, anyway. It was over before I knew it.

No one tried to make friends with me in any of my other classes. Until I went to gym.

My teacher told me that it was unnecessary for me to dress out if I didn't want to. I almost asked her, "And why would I want to?" but I refrained. As I sat in the bleachers with the other kids that didn't dress out, a girl with blonde hair and light brown roots came and sat behind me.

"Your name's Kylie?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, knowing that this girl had been at my house on Saturday as well.

"I'm Daniella. I was at the baseb-"

"The baseball game on Saturday?"

She nodded with a smile. She appeared very young, like she didn't even belong in high school.

"What grade are you in?" I asked.

"Ninth. You're in tenth, raht?"

I nodded and examined my fingernails, trying to appear bored.

"So what do ya think of Maple Ridge so far?" she said, leaning forward so that her face was practically next to mine.

"Honestly, I've never been somewhere so boring in my whole life."

She was slightly taken aback. "It maht seem borin' at first glance, but there's a buncha stuff to do around here. Ya just need someone to show ya."

"That's alright."

She was quiet for a moment. "You miss your friends back home?"

I nodded forlornly.

"Where'd you live before?"

"Florida. A small town called Wellington."

"Florida? Really? What was it lahk?"

"Um, hot and humid?"

"Oh."

I looked down and tried to hold back a smile. Even if the conversation wasn't really exciting, I was grateful that someone like Daniella wanted to know about me. For the rest of the period, she asked me if I had a boyfriend and why I moved out to the middle of Tennessee, and a bunch of other stuff that kept the conversation going. When the bell rang, she walked me to the bus and then I realized that she rode my bus, too. We sat next to each other, but I was in a much worse mood, so we hardly talked.

I had to admit, it felt really good to have someone say goodbye to you when you get off the bus. And that's just what Daniella did as I was dropped off at my house. I stood on the front of the wrap-around porch for a minute, thinking that going to school wasn't fun, but it wasn't torture, either.

Before I entered the house, I remembered something dreadful that totally cancelled out any good feelings for the day.

...Mother was having a party tonight.

Chapter 5 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews!!! Keep 'em comin'!

I stepped into the house feeling depressed and in the mood to be overly dramatic. Letting go of any inhibitions that might have been present in me, I flung my purse and notebook down the hallway and waited for my mother to come and see what the noise was. As I had predicted, she came out of the kitchen and into the hallway where I was standing. I gave her a blank look and then fell forward onto the oriental-styled rug, pretending to have passed out.

But she knew me as well as I knew her. "Kylie, get off the floor," she said as she walked back to the kitchen.

I made a disgruntled noise in the back of my throat and got up. Leaving my stuff on the floor, I followed her to the kitchen.

"How was your day?" she asked me.

"I hate it," I said morbidly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Did you meet any new people?" Her tone was still light and cheery.

"Why bother? I'll get to meet the whole town tonight."

"Yeah, probably."

"When's this gig going to start, anyway?"

"I told everybody six."

"Great." I grabbed a Pepsi and some leftover pizza from the fridge.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," I said on my way out of the room.

She cleared her throat, and I halted to hear her message. "You will come to the party tonight," she said.

I didn't acknowledge her. For the next two-and-a-half hours, I stayed locked up in my room, mainly just surfing the web.

In that time, I somehow convinced myself that there was a small chance that someone worthwhile would come to the party tonight. Maybe a cute guy that had dating potential. Or maybe a girl that was interested in clothes and shopping like me. I mean, I hadn't met the whole town yet. There was some chance that not everybody in Maple Ridge was a complete hick.

With that thought in my head, I spent a good while putting together a marvelous outfit and making sure my makeup and hair was just right.

Right before six o'clock, I went downstairs and hung out in the kitchen for a little while. Passing the dining room on the way there, I saw that my mother had prepared an exquisite feast all on her own. It was pretty shocking, if you knew my mother.

I heard guests ring the doorbell and my mother graciously welcoming them in.

"And here is the kitchen," she said, giving me my cue to stand and look happy.

"I'd love for you to meet my daughter, Kylie." She entered the room accompanied with two older couples.

"Pleased to meet you," I said in the politest voice I could muster. If they had any kids with them I would have been out of there in an instant.

The cycle continued a few times until a family entered the kitchen with one of the nerdy boys that befriended me at school. I made a mad dash to my bedroom, and spent at least a half hour trying to become absorbed in one of my favorite movies, "10 Things I Hate About You."

It was getting rather loud downstairs. Part of me was curious about what was going on down there, but a greater part of me was still mad and embarrassed.

Normally I was able to detect footsteps coming towards my door. But tonight, I was thoroughly surprised when the door to my room opened without a warning.

In walked the two girls that tried to talk to me in first hour that morning, Deana and Jenna.

"Thanks for knocking," I mumbled.

"I love your room," Jenna said as they both looked around intriguingly. I sat on my bed with a very unfriendly look upon my face.

"Ooh, I love Blink 182!" Deana said when she spotted my poster.

I couldn't help but ask, "You actually listen to them?"

She gave me an incredulous look. "Yeah...Why wouldn't I?"

I would have been okay if it was just Jenna and Deana in my room. But in walked David and Kenny just seconds later.

"Heard of knocking?!" I asked loudly this time.

"Sorry," David said cheerfully. I was almost shaking with anger.

"Nice place ya got here," Kenny said while observing my room with his hands in his pockets.

Again I had the unfriendly, unwelcoming look. Why were they not leaving?

I stood and opened my mouth to tell them all to get out of my room, but before I could get one word out, more and more people came crowding into my room.

"What is going on here?" I asked, but no one was listening to me. They were all commenting in their annoying accents on how much they loved my room. Normally I would have been flattered, but I was not in the frame of mind to put up with people I hardly knew barging into my room.

When Andrew entered my room, I could feel my temper rising quickly. He caught my eye and gave me a smirk that totally sent me over the edge of my mood.

"Everyone out!" I yelled. The dozen-or-so teenagers in my room stopped talking and looked at me. I had their attention now, but they stayed where they were. "Leave please!" I said, not as loud as the first notice.

Someone muttered something about anger management, but other than that, they hardly made any noise when leaving my room.

Andrew was the last one left, standing just outside my door with a confused look replacing the self-satisfied smirk. He looked at me for a second or two, his clear green eyes asking a question that I could not answer: Why?

I sat down on my bed, hugging my knees to my chest. What was I doing?

I don't know how long it was I sat there on the verge of tears. But I knew the party wasn't over when the girl I met in gym, Daniella, came in by herself. I tried to straighten myself up as she came and sat beside me on the bed.

She didn't say anything for a minute or two, and I found myself thinking why I didn't yell at her to get out.

"Moving must be really tough," she said. We were both staring at the TV screen, but not really watching.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah..." I said quietly.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked. I paused. Did I want to talk about it?

"You don't have to if you don't want to," she said considerately.

I shook my head. "No, I do want to talk about it."

She looked at me. "Have you talked to any of your friends?"

I sharply drew in a breath. "No," I said icily. "It's like they forgot about me. I thought we would keep in touch...they promised..."

I wasn't crying, but I'm sure my eyes were red from the headache I had been developing.

"You were really close with your friends?" she asked.

I swallowed. "Yeah. We were always hanging out. We were with each other more than our own families..."

I don't know why I was talking about all of this with Daniella, but it was starting to feel good.

"It's awful that they would do somethin' like that," she said. She continued cautiously. "But...maybe if they aren't writing back, then they aren't worth remembering."

I looked at her, my eyes narrow. It was so much better hearing it from someone other than my mother, but the harsh reality of the truth was still a hard thing to handle. My friends were my life. Even if they were a little snobby at times, they always invited me to parties and introduced me to new things.

When Daniella noticed the time, she told me that she had to go soon. Before she opened the door to leave, I hurriedly told her, "Thanks for listening."

She smiled. "No problem."

Chapter 6 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

The week passed in a big, boring blur. At school, I spoke to no one besides Daniella, and we didn't exactly have epic conversations. The gang in first hour was now avoiding me like the plague. Nobody else seemed to notice that I was even there, so I spent all my free time in class studying for finals.

I don't know why Daniella bothered talking to me. I mean, I was somewhat grateful that I had at least one person to talk to at gym, but I usually found that I didn't feel like talking at all. She was very curious about me, always asking questions that I answered truthfully yet bluntly. After thinking about it for a little while, I concluded to myself that Daniella wasn't really the type of person I imagined being friends with. Ever. It's not like she was a total loser. I saw her at lunch with a huge group of her freshman buddies. But if she knew we had the same lunch she would have insisted that I hang out with them. And let's face it: I was not in the state of mind to be around large groups of people.

That Saturday marked the one-week anniversary of living in our house. But I knew it was for other reasons that I woke up with the sunrise that morning.

Yes, it was Saturday morning baseball again. For reasons even I can't explain, I sat at my window for about an hour until I saw some kids heading toward my famous hill with dirty gloves and wooden bats over their shoulders. But in that hour of idle staring, I saw some things for the first time. I saw how the sun looks when it's rising in the valley of two hills. I saw the smoky mountain range to the north. I saw how the green hills seemed to go on forever...

But the second I saw those kids coming closer to my house, I quickly shut the blinds on my window. It would have been so embarrassing if they saw me waiting for them to arrive.

While sitting in my room I could clearly hear the crack of the bat and the kids cheering. Feeling restless, I went downstairs and watched my mother do housework for the first time in my life. I didn't know she could even do the stuff she was doing, like cleaning the windows and dusting. We had a housecleaner back home that used to do all that stuff.

As she was pulling the vacuum out from the closet under the stairs, she asked me, "Why do you seem so depressed, Kylie?"

I didn't know how to answer in words. I cleared my throat. "How do you use that thing, mom?" I asked, gesturing to the vacuum.

"You want to vacuum for me?" she asked, unbelieving.

"Sure," I said nonchalantly. She instructed me how to use the contraption and when I had the hang of it, she told me that she was going to go out back and start up a vegetable garden.

I pondered about my mother as I vacuumed the carpets. She was getting really weird, doing housework and planting gardens and everything. She must have had a lot of talks with the other women of the town. I was sure they all had vegetable gardens in their back yard.

However it wasn't until I was practically done with the carpets when I thought about the destructive things my mother could be doing outside. And it had nothing to do with the vegetable garden.

I dropped the vacuum cleaner immediately and ran through the kitchen and dining room and out the back door. My mother was not in the patch of dirt. I cautiously turned my head to see her standing and watching the baseball game. Groaning, I walked up behind her.

"Mother!" I whispered angrily. "What are you doing?"

She turned around innocently and said, "Just watching the game. What's so bad about that?"

I gave her my look. "Oh, Kylie, I wasn't embarrassing you or anything. Quit worrying."

In attempt to drag her away, I grabbed her arm and started pulling. "Go and plant your garden!" I said in the same heated whisper.

"Actually," she said in a tone as if she was talking about the weather, "I was thinking about making everyone some lemonade." But this topic was way more important to me than the weather would ever be. She was only going to mortify me even more if she made them lemonade! I was already a freak to them as it was, and my mother was just going to verify that even further!

Nevertheless, my obvious anger towards her making lemonade only increased her desire to do it. I barricaded myself in my room as she made the drinks. I listened to my headphones to drown out the noise from outside.

All in all, that was the only excitement whatsoever that weekend. I basically slept the rest of the weekend away, only getting up for church on Sunday. I made sure not to run into Isabelle again, and she seemed okay with the distance I was putting between Andrew and myself.

The three last days of school were just as boring, if not more. Finals were a breeze, but it was tough for me to see yearbook signing and other end-of-the-year stuff. I watched friends hug each other in goodbye at lunch, and I found myself wiping away tears at the thought of not having this opportunity with my friends back home.

Though it was on the bus ride home from the last day of my sophomore year that I received a much bigger letdown.

"What are you planning on doing for summer?" I asked Daniella, whom I had slowly begun to open up to.

She had a guilty look on her young face. "Well, I um, have plans to stay with my uncle."

No biggie, right? Wrong. "How long?"

"The whole summer..."

"Oh," I said shortly, and the disappointment was obvious in my voice.

"I'm sorry, Kylie..."

"Oh, it's alright." I paused, and thought of something to make her feel less guilty. "Hey, where does your uncle live?" I said in a cheery voice, though I was realizing that now I had absolutely nothing to do over vacation.

"Hawaii."

My eyes lit up. "No way! Wow, that's pretty cool. You have to take pictures for me." It was then I chose to remember the camera my dad gave me. I realized that I hadn't thought of it since the day he had given it to me.

Bringing me back to our conversation, Daniella proceeded to tell me she was leaving tomorrow morning. As stepped off the bus, trying to not look forlorn but failing miserably, Daniella said, "Don't worry, you'll have fun this summer. You'll be in good hands." That left me confused, but the doors of the bus closed behind me before I could ask her what she meant.

Unlike some people that try to deny their feelings, I was perfectly aware of how depressed I was. It made things even worse to see that my mom was the happiest she had ever been. She was constantly going to book club meetings and planting in her garden. When I asked her if she was planning on getting a job, she told me that there was no need, for my dad was paying plenty in child support, and she would only get a job if she found something in Maple Ridge that really interested her. In other words, she was thoroughly enjoying this role of homemaker.

Quite frequently, I was home by myself. Don't get me wrong; I was usually home alone at the old house, except there I was able to call up friends to go out and do stuff. Now I had zero chance of that happening.

I felt a smile creep onto my face as I sat at my computer, reading a long-awaited reply from Jaime. Her letter was decent in length and had tons of juicy gossip. My grin faded rather quickly when I realized that I could never really be active in such gossip if I lived a million miles away from where it was taking place, and also that Jaime didn't ask at all about how I was doing. And quite frankly, I was not doing too well.

I never thought that I would hate summer so much, but after only two days out of school I was looking at the most dull summer of my life. But little did I know, things were going to change, little by little.

On Friday at around noon, I left my room for the kitchen. I was not exactly looking forward to an unexciting day indoors. I crankily retrieved the supplies for a peanut butter and banana sandwich and placed them on the table. Realizing I did not have a knife in which to spread the ingredients, I turned to the drawer to get one. But before I even opened the drawer all the way, I stopped in my tracks, my breathing halted. For I had just spotted Annoying Trespasser Boy outside my opened kitchen door, his head leaning against the screen.

"What do you want?" I asked, remembering that I was in the middle of looking for a knife.

He had on a funny half-smile, and that along with his windblown hair made him look like a small farm boy.

"Would you just leave me alone?" I asked again, sounding a lot more depressed than I had intended.

"Nah. I can't do that," he finally said, lifting his forehead from off of the screen door.

"Why not? It's not that hard to just walk away, go and milk cows with your friends or something." Again, my emphasis was not the way I planned it. I knew that I was sounding so incredibly distressed, but I couldn't seem to make the words come out the way I wanted.

"I can't stand milkin' cows."

"Then go pick the crops!"

"It's only June."

"So?!"

He gave a slight chuckle. "The 'crops' won't be ready 'til September."

In order to properly yell at Andrew, I had abandoned the sandwich. Now that I found no reply to his exasperating comments, I went back to slicing bananas. I heard him attempt to open the screen door but before he could set one foot inside I said without looking up from my work, "Stay out of my house."

He let go of the screen door, making it crash shut with a loud bang. "Why don't you come out here, then?" he asked.

"Tell me why on earth I should do that."

He sighed. "Because the weather is real nice, with the sun shinin' and the wind blowin' just enough to keep you cool."

The only exposure to sun that I ever really had was at the beach or amusement parks. I never went outside just because it was a nice day. "What makes you think I want to be outside?"

"I just told you!"

"What, about the sun and everything?"

"Yeah."

He was always so frustrating! "Just go away, would you?!"

As I picked up my sandwich to take a bite from it, I heard the screen door open fast. Before I could even turn around, Andrew had grabbed my upper arm, causing me to drop my sandwich on the table. He then pulled me through the door that he had kept open with his outstretched foot. I hadn't even had time to protest until we were running off the porch and onto the grass.

"Let go of me!" I yelled to no avail. "What are you doing? Cut it out!"

He stopped dead and I collided into his back. "Wait," he said, remembering something suddenly. His hand was now gripping my lower arm, and I noticed that he actually had some decent arm muscles to be able pull me all the way out here.

Though he still had a hold on my arm, we walked to the east side of my house, right below my window. He bent over and picked up a very familiar relic that used to live in my room.

"Did you lose this?" he asked, holding up my old alarm clock by the cord.

With my free hand, I covered my face.

"I guess not," he said, dropping the dirt-encrusted thing back onto the ground. "Let's go, then."

He started to tug me down the hill, but I did my best not to move. "Hold on," I said, ready to strike a deal.

He stopped. "Okay," I continued. "I will go with you to wherever it is you wanted to take me, as long as it doesn't involve humiliating me, and as long as I can walk there by myself."

Andrew looked at me with his sheer-green gaze. "Well I have to show you where it is," he said.

"No, that's not what I meant. Just let go of my arm," I said impatiently.

"You'll follow me, though, right?"

"Yes."

He shrugged and let go of me. Then looking at me with that mysterious grin, I followed him down the hill.

For the first time I saw the little stream up close. The water ran quickly over smooth rocks though it was only a few inches deep. I followed Andrew over an ancient white, wooden bridge to the other side of the creek and we came up to the beginning of a forest.

I silently followed him, slowly getting more and more annoyed. He led me though a small path in the trees, looking back every once in a while to make sure I was still there. Finally he stopped when we reached a small clearing that had one lone tree in the middle of it. The solitary tree was a rather ugly one at that. It looked as if it had been struck by lightning and turned inside out. It wasn't a very tall tree, and it's branches hung low to the ground.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" I asked skeptically.

"Well, it's not-"

"Thanks anyway," I interrupted. As I turned and walked away I muttered, "I've never seen an uglier tree in my life."

I didn't look back all the way to my house. When I arrived there it was apparent he wasn't going to follow me.

Chapter 7 ¿?¿?¿?¿?

Author's Note: Yesss! We just got our power back after three days without it. Yeah living in Florida gives you a high chance of getting battered and reeled by hurricanes. I now hate the name Frances with the heat of one thousand suns...Sorry. Anyways, it's been quite some time since I've updated, and luckily all those hours without electricity gave me inspiration to write. And write. And write. So I have a few things to say. First of all, I would like to thank everyone that reviewed! I really appreciate it. Second of all, I would like to apologize to everyone that has been patiently awaiting my update. Please don't hate me for taking so long! I could go into a long story about how I originally wrote this chapter from Andrew's point of view, and then realized it was pure garbage so I erased it, but I will spare you the boring details. So this chapter is from Kylie's POV, but the next chapter will be from Andrew's. Lastly, please review! I will be your best friend if you just take a second to tell me whether or not you enjoyed the ride. Well, this is entirely too long for an Author's Note, so on with the story already!

I don't know what Andrew expected of me. Did he think I was some country girl that enjoyed looking at ugly trees? I was starting to think that if standing around and looking at weird trees was a hobby of people in Maple Ridge, then I was going to have to get out of there ASAP.

But unless I devised a plan to escape, I was stuck there. For my mom was very content in our new environment, always attending book club meetings and such. When I maturely approached her on the subject of letting me move back to Florida, she laughed. She actually laughed at me! I was highly offended, but there was nothing I could do. I pretended that I never even asked her.

Once again, on Saturday morning I rose with the sun. This time I didn't even bother looking out of my window, but the torture of sitting alone in my room was starting to get to me. I couldn't find one thing to occupy me, so after an hour or so of listening to laughter and cheers, I went downstairs to wallow. My poor, pathetic self was starting to feel so lonesome. Nothing could cure my sadness.

After a long time of sitting numbly in front of the window, I found myself reaching out to look through the curtains. It seemed like I was fighting some sort of internal battle: my arm wanted desperately to pull back the curtain, but my brain was screaming not to. Well, my arm ended up winning, and so I was staring blatantly at the exciting game.

I take that back. The game was not exciting at all. I mean, baseball. Really. It had to be the most boring sport ever invented.

I don't know why I was thinking those specific thoughts at that time. I should have been thinking, "I better close the curtain before someone catches me staring..."

But that didn't happen. At least not until it was too late to save myself from certain doom. Yes, the unimaginable happened. Andrew caught my eye.

And he smiled.

Not a good sign at all.

Again, I was sort of numb. Though this time it was out of shock rather than pure boredom like before. I felt like a deer in headlights. I was going to become apart of one of his little schemes, and the second he smiled at me, I knew there was no escape.

Finally, I closed the drape and sank down into the chair I was seated on in the kitchen. Just moments later, I heard the screen door screech open. I would have seen this, too, but my eyes were glued to the floor.

"Hi, Kylie," said Andrew's voice.

"Hello." At least I was civil, even if I was icy cold.

"I was just seein' if you wanted to come play some ball with us."

I thought for a moment, my eyes not leaving the floor. "Um, no."

"Well," he sighed. "Are you sure?" he asked in one final effort.

Something inside of me exploded. "You know what?!?" I yelled, "Fine! I'll go out there and make a fool of myself in front of you and all your weird friends!"

I was standing without even realizing I had done so. He was a little shocked by my outburst, but he didn't seem to process the fact that I had just called him and his companions "weird."

A nervous half-smile came across the right side of his face. "Okay..." he said.

Pause.

"Well let's go, then!" I said. He gave me another startled look and I followed him out of the house like a crazy person, stepping on his heels a few times.

When we got outside, there seemed to be an argument taking place over what I assumed was the pitcher's mound. Seeing all the kids out there, I realized what a foolish decision I had just made, and so I hid behind Andrew as best I could. It wasn't that difficult; he's a lot taller than me and certainly a little bit bulkier. However it was hard to keep up with his long downhill strides as we came closer and closer to the field.

Someone in the argument must have seen Andrew, because he abruptly stopped, and I stopped just in time to not collide with his back.

"Hey Andy!" said an unfamiliar male voice. "Where did you go off to?"

"Uh..." He looked back to see where I was, and I guessed that he thought I left him. But when he saw me cowering in his shadow, he gave a smile that made me seethe with anger. Before I could follow, he took a quick step to his left, revealing my presence.

Everyone on the field stopped arguing. I could feel several pairs of eyeballs on me, and I suddenly became very afraid of being in front of a crowd. What on earth had possessed me to come out here?

"Come on," Andrew whispered, as he gently grabbed my wrist and took me down to home plate. Some people that had been gathered around the pitcher's mound were scattering, but everyone stayed silent. Andrew picked up one of the several bats lying on the ground, and I stood there lamely. I still wasn't quite aware of what was going on. But it felt like I was getting the cold shoulder from everyone. Why were they so uninviting?

"What is she doing here?" I heard somebody ask Andrew. I don't think they were even trying to keep me from overhearing.

Andrew sighed, but he was behind me, and I couldn't see his facial expression. "What can I say?" I could hardly hear him. "I have a promise to keep."

What did that mean?

I had no time to ponder his statement, because right then he came up next to me and handed me a small wooden bat. I slowly grasped the thing as Andrew asked me, "Have you ever played ball before?"

I mockingly looked around before I answered, "No."

Before he could continue, the girl at the pitcher's mound, whom I recognized as Deana, asked him, "Hey, Andy! You're up, raht?"

"Nah, I'm gonna go ahead and let Kylie take my turn."

I sharply turned my head to face him. "Are you crazy?!?" I quietly yelled at him.

He casually shook his head and carried on with this hasty lesson in baseball. "First, you gotta make sure you're holding the bat right, so go on and hold it up."

I brought the bat up over my left shoulder. He gave me a funny look. "Are you being serious?" he asked.

I nodded slowly.

"Come on!" somebody yelled from the outfield.

"We're coming!" Andrew yelled back. "Okay," he said to me, "you're gonna hafta spread your legs a little bit, and bend your knees a lot."

It was my turn to give him a funny look. Biting his lip at my stance, he hurriedly guided me to the left of home base. He slid around behind me, placing his hands on my elbows. The position was very awkward, and that combined with the complaints of everyone else on the field was making it difficult to concentrate on what Andrew was saying.

"Don't be afraid to spin on the ball of your right foot as long as you keep your left foot steady."

"We ain't gettin' any younger here!"

"Jenna's a good pitcher, so she'll make sure the ball is in your strike range."

"Hey, batter batter!"

"Just keep your eyes on the ball."

"Swing! batter batter!"

I quickly turned my head to tell Andrew to make them stop bugging me, but as soon as I turned I looked directly into his translucent eyes, so full of fun and adventure. I took a moment to wonder why he was doing this for me. Wondering why he didn't give up at my first attempt to keep him away.

"You ready?" he asked, seemingly unaware of me staring at him.

"Uh," I couldn't find my voice. Of course I wasn't ready! I felt myself heat up again in frustration. "Yeah," I said firmly.

He stepped away from me, and I could hear everyone on the field breathe an impatient sigh of relief. I felt sweat breaking across my forehead, making me grimace. I hate to sweat.

Gripping my hands even tighter to the wooden bat, I looked up to see the pitcher. I was alarmed to see Jenna's usually pleasant face covered in a tough scowl. As soon as I thought she was going to throw the ball, she suddenly turned her head left and then right. This simple act totally threw of my concentration, and so when she finally did pitch it, the ball seemed to come at me far too quickly. I couldn't move my arms in time.

"Strike one!" someone yelled from behind me. I grunted in frustration, and I tried to return to the position that Andrew had set me in.

"Bend your knees some more!" Andrew hinted a little louder than necessary. I almost rolled my eyes, but focused on Jenna again. I was ready for anything.

I guess I was a little overly prepared, because when she pitched it, I swung way too early. Again I questioned myself why I was doing this. I felt so stupid.

"Strike two!" I swear I could hear mirth in his voice, and I thought I heard Andrew holding his breath.

I took a deep breath and furrowed my brow, getting back into position. I don't know if she did it to pressure me even more, but Jenna drew out that pitch for an eternity. She pulled her arm back as I grit my teeth. I was ready. Her arm flew forward, and I somehow managed to connect the bat to the ball. For what seemed like the only ounce of luck I had had in months, the ball went sailing to my front yard. However, the force of the hit was a little more than I was anticipating, and as soon as I made contact, the bat went flying backwards. I heard someone say "Ow!" behind me, but at the same time I heard Andrew yelling, "Run to first!" Without further hesitation, I ran to first base faster than I had run in a long time.

When I got there, I saw that no one had retrieved the ball. It appeared as if everyone was surrounding one of the trees in my front yard, and I assumed that the ball was lost within it. I looked back at Andrew, who was fervently pointing to second base. I kept on running, and by the time I was running past third base, I looked back a little to see Kenny chasing me as fast as he could with the ball in his hand. Quickly, I looked at Andrew, who was pulling his blonde hair in anxiety.

I knew that I could make it to home plate in time. The stretch seemed impossibly long, but I made it. As soon as I had hopped onto home plate, I felt myself tripping over an outstretched foot. I was falling face first into the grass, my hands not fast enough to break the fall.

"And she's out!" I heard the umpire yell, much to my astonishment. Feeling winded, I slowly turned over and opened my eyes to see Isabella standing over me with a wicked smile.

I stayed where I was, holding angry tears back. This was not happening! I heard Andrew shouting exactly what was going through my mind.

"She can't be out! She already touched home base when Isabella tagged her!" Thinking back on this, I should have been thankful that someone was sticking up for me, but at the time, it just made me livid.

"Andy!" Isabella exclaimed, sounding scandalized. "You don't believe me that I tagged her out?"

"I was standing right here!" he countered her, sounding as furious as I felt. No one seemed to be taking his side at all.

"Aw, why are you yelling at me, Andy?" she pretended to sound hurt. "You believe your own girlfriend, don't you?"

Andrew sighed in exasperation. I heard footsteps coming closer to me and Andrew's concerned face appeared over mine.

"You okay, Kylie?" he asked.

"Sure I'm okay!" I said, still on the ground and feeling enraged. I rambled on in my infuriated state. His hand reached out to help me up, but I stubbornly refused. "Thanks, but no thanks!" I said sarcastically as I hoisted myself off the ground. "Every time you try to help me out, it ends in disaster!"

I took a second or two to try and clear my pounding head, but Andrew's confused face and Isabella's angry glare were making me even more upset. I could feel my throat swell with emotion as everyone watched me.

My head was spinning, but I tried to get away anyhow. "I don't know what is wrong with everyone here, but I don't have to take any more of it!" I cried as I walked backward towards my house. I finally turned around once my emotions got the best of me, and I felt hot tears leaking down my cheeks.

Someone was yelling back at me. "What are you talkin' about?" The voice was unfamiliar to me. "You shouldn't be askin' what's wrong with us, but what the hell is wrong with you!"

I was too stunned to really soak in what that kid was saying. But now that I think back on it, I really should have.

Chapter 8

Author's Note: Thanks again for all the reviews! This chapter is from Andrew's point of view. Don't forget to tell me what you think. Good or bad, I don't care! Just tell me!

Kids don't have much to think about during the summertime, and so when something of even the smallest excitement comes along, it's hard to keep yourself from dwelling on it.

In my case, I was trying as hard as I could to get Kylie to come out of her shell. After weeks of failed attempts, I asked myself why I kept going at it. But I couldn't come up with a worthwhile answer.

Still, I had to keep my promise...

No! It was too much of a hassle. I had never met such a stuck-up brat as Kylie. She lacked all common courtesy. I guess they don't teach manners in the city she came from.

I tried to just stop worrying about it. Some people are just that way.

Over the next few days, the only time I saw Kylie was at church, and she kept herself hidden well enough behind the pews so that I didn't have to really see her.

I hung out with my friends as usual. Nobody really talked about Kylie, especially when Isabella was around. I don't have any idea why, but Isabella just hated the girl.

I think it was the following Thursday afternoon by the time I started thinking about Kylie again. I remember cutting the grass for my mom that morning, and when I had finished I went over to the tree house to hang out with everybody. I had to take the long way to get there so that I could avoid Kylie's house. As a matter of fact, I don't think Kylie was even aware that we were next-door neighbors. Actually, my house was kind of hidden behind this protruding rocky cliff that was right in front of her house, so you have to go all the way around the bend to see it.

Anyways, once I had made my way through the forest around her property, I came upon the famous tree house. As I approached the giant oak tree, I saw Isabella coming down the wooden steps wearing a pair of Daisy Dukes that would make anybody stop and stare. She must have heard me walking up, because when she was about halfway down, she turned her head to see me. She gave a little squeal and skipped the last few steps to come running to me.

"Ooh, Andy, it's so good to see ya," she cooed, wrapping her arms around my neck and forcing a kiss upon my lips. I was tempted to remind her that we see each other every single day of the week, but I thought better of it. I was already on thin ice with how much I was talking about Kylie and whatnot. Even though I had been good for a few days, it's best not to push it with Isabella.

"Where you off to?" I asked, skipping all pleasantries.

"Choir practice. Our director says he has three new solos for me!"

I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Well, have fun," I said, trying to remove her arms from around me.

"Okay, sweetie," she said with a slight frown and skipped off in the direction I had just come from. There was no doubt in my mind that she was expecting me to walk her home.

I took a moment to watch her leave and then I bounded up the steps that were nailed to the almighty tree trunk. Pulling myself through the floor of the fort, I saw half a dozen of my friends playing an intense game of truth or dare.

I stayed stationary for a moment to get a good view of our tree house. It was perfect for relaxing in the summery heat. It was built a long time ago by the same man that built Kylie's house, so we all knew that it was very strong. And just like that hillside was traditional for Saturday morning baseball games, this tree house was traditional for kids to hang out together. The four walls were lined with benches, giving it enough room for at least ten people. And of course we had to experiment to see if the whole place could be filled, and of course we came to the conclusion that at least a dozen could fit in there.

Kenny, David, Jenna, Deana, Deana's cousin Mark, and Jaime all sat there, looking as if their game was rather exciting. Jenna was midway through her confession of her undying love for Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as I popped in. I think everyone except Jaime already knew of her 'secret' obsession. This was because he was fourteen, and the majority of the people in the room were sixteen. It's not as if we don't allow younger people to hang out with us, in fact, everyone in Maple Ridge between ages eight and eighteen hangs out together. But Jaime was an exception. The kid was so annoying and rude that we made him an outcast so that he could maybe realize what a jerk he was. I remember how bad the isolation was, and he finally wised up enough to take care of his attitude. He still says brainless things every once in a while.

As Jenna carried on with her zany description, I thought some more. How come Kylie couldn't do the same thing as Jaime? I know that she had friends where she used to live, because I remember hearing somewhere that she was really upset that they weren't keeping in touch with her as much as she had hoped. Why wasn't she trying to fit in like Jaime did? The whole thing was so confusing. I just didn't get her at all! With the rate she was going at, I was starting to think that Kylie was never going to be able to make friends here. It was all so frustrating. And I had a very important promise to keep...

"Earth to Andrew!" I heard Mark yell. I blinked a few times, realizing that six pairs of eyes were staring right at me.

"Oh, hey guys," I said, rubbing my forehead.

"What has gotten into you?" Deana said with a smile.

"Ah, don't tell me you were thinkin' about Kylie again..." David suggested.

I raised an eyebrow. We had been friends for entirely too long. "Come on, now," I said, but everyone wore matching looks of disbelief.

All was silent for a moment until Jenna finally said, "Oh, by the way, you just missed Isabella."

Everyone's disbelieving faces turned to grimacing looks. They all knew how I was feeling towards her as of late. "No, I didn't miss her," I said and chuckled with the irony of the statement. "I ran into her outside. She's off to choir practice."

Pause. "We know," Deana said.

I ran a hand through my tangled hair and let out a sigh.

"Why are you still going out with her?" Deana asked. She has no problem getting to the point. Jenna seemed to back up Deana's question, but the four other guys in the room looked as if she had grown another head. I laughed a little bit at the reaction. Of course all the guys would think I was crazy if I even thought of breaking up with Isabella. She was easily the prettiest girl in Maple Ridge, and for the first week that we were going out, I thought that that was the only thing that mattered. But after another three months of her whiney and jealous and vain personality, I was about ready to quit it. Problem was, the girl was stuck on me like a bear is to honey.

Now I could've said all of that aloud to answer Deana's question, but I had never told anyone that I was afraid of hurting her feelings. To be completely honest, I was pretty sure that no one was aware how damaged she would be if I dumped her.

I simply shrugged my shoulders and Jenna clucked in disapproval. "Come on, now, Andy. I think it's about time to spill the beans."

I covered my face with my hands. That's exactly what I get for having girls as best friends.

"Alright then. If you won't spill voluntarily, then I've got a different way. Andy," she looked at me mischievously, "truth or dare."

"Dare!" Jaime yelled immediately. She looked at him reprovingly and then her gaze came right back to me.

"Dare?" I said unsurely, knowing full well that it was useless.

Jenna laughed. "Hah. Dare. Fine. I dare you to tell me why you won't break up with Isabella."

Everyone laughed at her ploy. She knew that I wouldn't refuse a dare, no matter how awful it was. One time David had dared me to lick a telephone pole in the snow. Luckily, it was early November, and the pole wasn't frozen enough for my tongue to stick to it.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself to answer the question.

"Okay. I will not break up with Isabella because..." I held for a dramatic pause, causing Jenna and Deana to lean forward in anticipation, "...she's really, really hot."

Both girls rolled their eyes and stood up. I swear I could hear Jenna mutter "Men..." over the laughter of the guys. They both exited the tree house as David, Kenny, Mark, Jaime and I exchanged curious looks. After our laughter died down, we followed the two girls.

"Hey," Jenna said as she drew her curly black hair into a low ponytail, "let's go to the pool hall. I could use a good game of stripes and solids."

"That sounds like fun," I said, and everyone gave me a look.

"Yeah, we know that the reigning pool champion just wants to prove his title," Mark said, teasingly punching my arm.

I gave a humble smile. "Aw, I'm sure I've just been really lucky."

"Sure, you're just 'lucky' every time we play," Deana said as she waved her hand at me.

"Enough talk," Kenny said. "Does anyone have a car?" He pointedly looked at me. As it happens, I was the only one with my own car and an official license. However, the car was a mess at the time. I think it was a problem with the radiator. But due to the fact that I was jobless, I had to figure out a way to fix it myself.

I shook my head. "The trucks busted," I said dejectedly. "It'll take me a while to fix it up."

"I guess we're takin' bikes, then," David said.

"Alright, everybody meet at the corner of Pine and River Run in half an hour," Jenna said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and took off in different directions.

Of course I didn't mention that it would probably take me a little longer than thirty minutes to meet at the chosen spot, but I didn't want to have to explain why.

I walked through the forests I knew so well around Kylie's house in a thoughtful silence. I didn't want Jenna and Deana to get the wrong idea of me. I wanted them to know that Isabella was losing her appeal to me. But I couldn't let the guys find that out. They would think that I had gone soft. Now I couldn't have that...

I was sure it was well over half an hour by the time I had ridden my bike to the meeting spot. Of course everyone was already there, and they all achieved to glare at me with the exact same look.

"Ten minutes late, Andy," Jenna said, making a "tutt" sound in disapproval. "Always making an entrance."

We laughed and joked like usual on the way to the Recreational Center. And because of that, I failed to notice that we were about to pass in front of the front doors of Calvary Protestant Church, where Isabella was just leaving her choir practice. As we approached the front of the building, I did my best to hide behind Kenny and David, while at the same time trying to act normal for them.

I knew that I was slightly taller than my two friends, and so I hunched over the handlebars of my bike in order to be kept from the searching eyes of Isabella. I snuck at peek over Kenny's shoulder to see her curly ginger hair bouncing as she talked animatedly to the pastor.

"What are you doin', Andy?" Jaime asked loudly, his mouth once again getting him in trouble.

"Shhh!" I hissed, ducking my head back down quickly. But it was too late. Isabella had spotted me and she began calling out my name.

"Andy!" I winced at her voice. She was upset with me. And like every other time she was upset with me, I hadn't the slightest idea as to why that was.

"Andy!" she said, even more sternly. I lifted my head up and offered her a smile. I wanted to hit myself. Always succumbing to her! What was wrong with me?

I waved, but the motion seemed painful for my arm. "Hey, Belle," I said, making her beam. She always wanted people to call her Belle, but no one ever did because she had such a bad attitude. Now what possessed me to make me call her that???

However, when we failed to stop in front of the church and talk with her, I could see Isabella's temper rising again. Surely she thought we would invite her to wherever it was we were going. She would want to ride on my handlebars and whatnot, and I would have to walk on tiptoe for the whole event.

"Keep going, guys," I whispered to my friends. We managed to get to the Rec Center before Isabelle could unleash her wrath upon us.

There are four pool tables in the Rec Center, and so we decided to split into two groups as to not occupy all the tables. I worked it out so that Jenna, Deana, and I would play at one table, and Kenny, David, Mark, and Jaime would play at another.

The game was rolling along, and I'm not even sure if I was winning this one. I was too busy screwing up my courage to tell Jenna and Deana the truth.

Finally, once the other table seemed to be making enough noise, I leaned over to take a shot at the twelve ball and said to the two girls, "I have something to tell you."

I could hear them both gasp as I lined up the pool stick. "Oh my," Deana said. "He's sharin' secrets with us!"

"It's like girl time!" Jenna giggled. I rolled my eyes as I sank number twelve into the corner pocket.

"Ooh, I wonder what it's about!" Deana said excitedly as I lined up another shot.

"So tell us Andy, what is it you'd like to share?" Jenna asked just as number fifteen dropped into the side pocket.

"Well," I said, moving to the other side of the pool table, "I wasn't tellin' the exact truth when you asked me why I wouldn't break up with Isabelle."

Both girls shared looks of pure enjoyment as they rested their elbows on the edge of the table in order to hear me better. "Go on," Deana said as I lined up with ball number thirteen.

"Well, to be honest, I'm afraid to hurt her feelin's." Number thirteen plopped into the hole.

They looked at each other with wide eyes. I ran a hand through my hair and walked around them in order to get near ball fourteen.

All was quiet for a moment as I struggled to find the words. "I, uh... I don't think any other guy would go out with her...I mean, she's real pretty an' everythin', but...Aw I dunno." I sank numbers fourteen and six into the corner pocket as my two friends looked contemplatively at each other.

"Well, Andy," Jenna said, "that is very noble of you."

"Yeah. It's amazin' that you could realize somethin' like that," Deana added. I wasn't sure how to take that. "I mean, we know that if you break up with her, there isn't one guy that would go out with her."

I couldn't tell if she was complimenting or teasing me. I went on sinking balls into pockets as I searched for a way to say what I needed to say. "But I do wanna break up with her. She's real mean and all. I'm just not sure if I should."

Jenna stood up properly, and Deana followed. "Well, I'll give it to you from a girl's point of view," Jenna said. "Girls don't like it when they're going out with a guy that's not interested in them the same way. Just think about it, okay Andy?"

I scratched my head. "Alright," I said as I dropped numbers three and ten into the side pocket.

"You should probably make up your mind before the church barbeque," Deana said.

"Okay," I said as I hit the cue ball, making it bounce off the opposite wall and knocking numbers seven and eight into the pocket next to me.

"Geez, Andy," Jenna said. "You've already won the game, why do you keep sinking our balls?"

Chapter 9

Author's Note: I'm real sorry for the delay, everybody. I know it's been way too long, and there is nothing I can do to make it up to all of you besides offering a quality and entertaining chapter ahead. I hope. Hah. Anyways, this chapter we will be going back to Kylie's point of view. Please review with your thoughts and suggestions!

Somehow my life became focused around Saturdays. I could always feel myself get tense as the week went by. Sundays I was always a little unstable, and then Mondays I spent recuperating by my lonesome. Tuesdays were the days I could almost say that I had a stable mind. But by Wednesday afternoon I would start to get moody. Thursday was worse, and by Friday no one could talk to me without risk of getting his or her head chewed off.

But it's not like I spoke to anyone besides my mother, anyway.

That was about to change.

That next Thursday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, someone rang the doorbell. And I heard a small dog bark. From my bedroom I heard a small commotion downstairs, including the sound of salutations and some more dog barks.

I was slightly afraid to see what was going on. My mother seemed to be acting very friendly to this stranger and her dog, but it confused me as to why someone from the book club or maybe the woman's circle would bring her dog to our house. I was soon about to find out.

"Kylie! Could you come down here, please!"

Here we go again. I tentatively peeked around the staircase to view this intruder, only to find that it was one intruder, plus what looked like her daughter. Two things about the scene shocked me. First was the daughter. She looked about my age, maybe younger, and she was dressed as if she just came from some heavy metal concert. Her hair had obviously been died black, with a few neon green streaks, and it was all twisted up into a messy ponytail with pieces sticking out everywhere. She wore all black: the tank top, the torn-up gloves, the miniskirt over the knee-length pants, and even the combat boots. Her eyes were dramatically lined with smoky black eye liner, and the neon green eye shadow provided a nice match to her hair. Frankly, I was appalled. However, what disturbed me even more than the gothic child was the mounds of luggage surrounding her and her mother.

I slowly stepped down the stairs. I'm sure my mouth was slightly open in shock.

"Kylie, I would like you to meet my cousin, Maureen, and her daughter, Kimberly." My mother tried as best she could to gracefully usher these distant relatives to me. Luckily I was doing my best to get out of any friendly contact. I gawked at the girl a little longer, and I noticed that she seemed to be just as unhappy as I was to be there. Especially when my mom said her full name, Kimberly. She seemed to shudder and mouth "Kimmi."

Again, Mother to the Rescue tried to fix the awkward silent moment, but only causing more awkwardness. "Kylie, why don't you show Kimberly up to the guest room?"

"Kimmi," she said a little bit louder this time. My mom pretended not to hear.

"Whatever," I said and went up the stairs, not even looking to see if "Kimmi" was following. Apparently she was, because when I reached the end of the hall, I could hear her dragging a heavy suitcase up the stairs, clunking at every step. I impatiently waited against the wall, running a hand through my hair. I hoped that these people would not be staying for too long. I was doing just fine wallowing in my own despair, thank you very much. Besides, Kimmi didn't seem like the kind of girl to go and make friends with someone like me, anyway.

She finally managed to struggle herself down to the bedroom door that I was standing in front of, and, to my horror, she had a friendly smile on her face. What did she think she was doing, smiling at me?? I opened the door for her, rolling my eyes.

Kimmi dragged her stuff into a room that what was decorated with floral wallpaper.

"So you're Kylie?" she asked once she had dropped her bags.

"Yeah," I said, somewhat confused.

"It's nice to meet you, Kylie. I'm Kimmi. Ignore my mother, adults can be so stupid."

I didn't get it. Here was this punk girl that was supposed to have a major attitude problem, and she was befriending me like some crazy person. I don't know why I didn't just leave right then and there to retreat back to my room.

"So, Maple Ridge is sure a happenin' place, isn't it?" Kimmi giggled (giggled!) as she opened up her suitcase.

"Um, I have to go..." I don't even know why I was trying to explain myself to her. I took off downstairs just in time to see my mom showing her cousin Maureen to the other extra bedroom.

"Mom," I whispered urgently, "can we talk?"

"Well, sure honey. Maureen, can you excuse me for a moment? You can go ahead and get settled."

"Alright, Janice. And thanks a lot," Maureen replied.

"Don't thank me," my mother said with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Now what is it, dear?" she asked me and began walking toward the kitchen.

I followed in hot pursuit. "What on earth are these people doing here?!"

"Kylie! You could be a little more hospitable, you know."

"I'm serious, Mom! Why are they here?"

She sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. "Sit down and let's talk."

I sat, but with horror I realized something awful. "Are you speaking in a southern accent?!?"

She considered it for a moment. "Oh, don't worry about that, Kylie."

"Ugh. Why are they here?"

"Alright, calm down. Didn't I tell you about this house?"

"I just know that it was your great-great-great-grandfather's or something."

"Yes. And after my grandfather and grandmother died, their children, which includes my father, decided that this home would be open to any family members that needed it. There has been a multitude of people living in this house for the past few decades. Now it is our turn. It just so happens that Maureen and Kimberly need it at the same time."

I stared blankly at her for a moment. "Touching." I got up from the table and went back upstairs.

However, it was only a moment of silence before...

(Knock-knock-knock)

Before I even said anything, Kimmi peeked her head in the door. "Hey, I'm already bored with unpacking. Is there anything we can do for fun around here?" By the end of her question she was all the way inside my room.

I was at my computer desk, and somehow I didn't have the heart to tell her to get out of my room. But I was shocked at myself for the words that came out instead.

"The only excitement is on Saturday mornings when all the kids play baseball out there in the yard."

"Baseball? Really? That's awesome! I used to be on a team when I was little."

Oh, crap, I thought to myself. Now she is going to want me to go out there on Saturday. I had to say something. "Well, I never play. All the kids here are real jerks, anyway."

"Oh." She had taken a seat on my bed. At first, I was about to tell her that I wanted to be alone or something as equally pathetic, but once I thought about it, it was nice to actually talk to someone.

I cleared my throat. "So, where do you guys come from?"

"New Jersey. Are house was being foreclosed on us."

I was taken by surprise at the honesty in her answer. I guess my mom was right about this house being a place for those in need. "I'm sorry," I managed to stutter.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm just glad to be here."

Somehow, Kimmi's statement hit me harder than you would expect. She was really grateful to be out of New Jersey.

"So tell me more about this place. There's gotta be more than baseball on Saturdays."

"No, actually. As far as I know, that's it. Well, I guess I don't really..." I stopped myself before I finished the sentence. I was about to say, "I guess I don't really talk to anyone, so I wouldn't know if there's any other entertainment," but that sounded so lame, even in my head.

"You don't really what?" she asked innocently.

Ah, what the hell. "I don't really talk to anyone, 'cause they're all rude. I don't think they like people that come from civilized places."

Kimmi laughed good-naturedly at my statement. "I'm sure there is someone here that would be willing to be friends with some big-city girls."

I rolled my eyes. "How old are you, anyway?" I said.

"Fifteen. You?"

"Oh, I'll be sixteen in August."

"Oh, that's cool! We're like the same age. My birthday is in December."

"Mmm." I was actually glad to have someone to talk to, though it was incredible how little I had to say. I cleared my throat. "What's your dog's name?"

"Peco. Isn't he just the cutest thing in the world?" Kimmi got up and poked her head out of my bedroom door. "Peco!" she called down the hall. "Come here, boy!"

There was a small scampering noise as the dog ran up the stairs and straight to Kimmi. She picked up his tiny black and brown body and his huge black eyes were bulging out of his head. "Do you mind if he comes in here?"

"Not at all." It kind of startled me that she would be considerate enough to ask such a question. But at the same time, I felt guilty for feeling that way.

Kimmi sat back on my bed with Peco in her arms. "So you went to the school here? What's it like?"

"Uh, I only went for a little while. And it was miserable. The only friend I made is in Hawaii for the rest of the summer."

"Ouch. What about your friends back home?"

I laughed sardonically. "Yeah, right. I had so many friends. But they never call. They never write. When I call, they're conversations are dry, like they don't even remember me..."

"Aw, I'm really sorry." She continued to pet Peco's huge head. "Well...I should probably finish unpacking."

"Okay," I said, and Kimmi went back to her room with Peco in tow.

I sat back in my computer chair, thinking. Did I really judge Kimmi so harshly when she first walked in the house, only to find what a nice person she is? There was something wrong with that picture.

I got up from my computer desk and went out of my room. Peco the Dog followed me down the stairs and out the back door. The sky was perfectly cloudless. I felt compelled to lay down on the grass, not even caring that I would probably get grass stains on my light pink shirt.

I started thinking about things happening around Maple Ridge, Tennessee, but the brightness on the sun made me fall asleep, with tiny Peco curled up beside me.