Chapter One

There I was, seventeen years old, standing in between my parents near the baggage claim, in the Cochrane airport. Cochrane, Ontario; it was not a huge city, but not incredibly small, either. It was where I was born, raised and had lived all my life. Next to my mother stood Tristan, my fourteen-year-old brother, with his skateboard tucked under this left arm. He was being impatient, as usual.

"God, shouldn't she be here by now?" he asked, but received only frustrated looks from our parents, who only glanced at him for a moment before turning their attention back to those swinging doors.

And so we waited. I could feel the nervousness surrounding my incomplete family, all of us knowing that the person who had been missing for the past year would soon be home. I think I may have been the most nervous. I had probably missed her the most. Of course our parents had missed her, but they were just proud that she was away at university, getting an education. Tristan, on the other hand, had hardly seemed to notice that she was gone. And now she would be home with us, even if it was just until the end of the summer again.

"I wonder why she stayed that extra week." Mom suddenly blurted out. It was as if she was no longer able to remain quiet and needed to say something, anything.

"Didn't she mention something about a surprise?" Dad questioned, and Mom nodded right away, without another world. There had been no mention of any surprise to me.

We had been expecting Haylie home by the end of March, since her last semester was finished by then, but she had called and told us that she had changed her flight; she was now going to be in on the first Wednesday in April. She had not given our mother a reason as to why she was staying that extra week, but then again it had not seemed significant at the time. All that was important was that her oldest child was going to be home after being away for nearly a year.

So the day had finally arrived, and I was almost as excited as I was scared about seeing my big sister. I was sure that she had changed a lot over the past ten months, heck; even I had changed quite a bit. Tristan had grown nearly six inches, just in the past six months. I laughed, wondering what Haylie's reaction to that was going to be. But it was a nervous laugh, and my mom looked over at me with a questioning look and then just smiled, looking back towards the double-doors again. We knew that was where Haylie would be coming from, at any moment now. I glanced around the small airport, with its dull white walls, and realized that there were not even very many people around. It hardly felt like an airport at all. I let out a sigh, as if to say that I had had enough of this waiting, where the heck was she?

And suddenly, there she was. The first thing I noticed was that smile on her face. She looked so happy. I smiled, just from seeing her smile, but it faded quickly when I noticed something. My sister wasn't alone. No, there was tall, blond guy standing next to her. And not only standing next to her, but holding her hand. Her surprise: the new boyfriend. I felt my stomach doing a flip-flop; suddenly I wasn't so excited anymore, now I was just plain nervous. Maybe even a little disappointed. Haylie had mentioned this new boyfriend briefly on the phone to me during the past few weeks, but hadn't said anything about bringing him home with her. And, frankly, I didn't want her to bring him home. I had been looking forward to spending quality "sister time" with Haylie, and as soon as I saw that guy, I knew it wasn't going to happen. I wanted to say something, but wasn't able to think of anything that would have sounded right. And I knew Haylie would have been able to hear the disappointment in my voice, so I remained quiet.

Haylie hugged our parents first, and then me, and messed up Tristan's hair as if he was still just a kid. Maybe he was to her, but he was nearly a foot taller than me already and was definitely not a kid in my eyes. But Haylie hadn't seen him much in almost a year. She'd been home at Christmas for a week and for one weekend in February, but other than that we had not seen her since the previous August. And I had missed her. She introduced the boyfriend to us; his name was Isaiah something-or-other, and I'm not going to say he wasn't good looking - he was. He smiled at me and shook my hand, treating me like a child although I was sure I was only two or three years younger than him. I found out later that he was twenty-two; three years older than my sister - five years older than me.

"Where is he going to stay, Haylie?" I overheard my mother whisper in my sister's ear just shortly after the introductions; we were still standing by the baggage claim and everything.

"Oh, he has a cousin in town; he's going to stay with him from now until August, you know, when we go back to school." Haylie's face lit up and I sighed, not able to believe that she actually thought the two of them would be together that whole time.

I knew Haylie better than anyone. She wasn't that good with relationships; let's just say she usually had a hard time keeping guys around. She was a heartbreaker. She liked to jump from guy to guy and just have fun, not be tied down with one person. That was my big sister. She was only nineteen, though, so I didn't blame her.

We all left the airport together, including Isaiah, and began the drive home. We had to detour to drop him off at his cousin's house, which was across town from where we lived. My family lived in a friendly neighborhood called Westlake, which was, obviously, the most west you could basically go in the city before hitting the lake. Appropriate, I know. Lame, also, I know that too. After dropping the boyfriend off, the car was filled with my parents' voices asking non-stop questions about Haylie and her school, her marks, her friends, and especially about Isaiah. All she told us was that he was sweet and he made her laugh, which basically meant that he wouldn't be around any longer than the other guys she dated. But she was able to quickly turn the attention off of her, before we even made it home.

"How have you been, Rory? What's been going on here?" she asked, turning to smile at me.

I didn't even have a chance to answer before Tristan spoke up, "She has a boyfriend."

"Tristan!" I raised my voice, smacking my little brother's shoulder.

"What? Aurora?" Haylie questioned me with a laugh, wanting to know the details.

"It's nothing, I'm just sort of 'seeing' Max Paddington, the quarterback of our football team." I answered quietly.

"When did this happen and why didn't you tell me?" my sister wanted to know, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Oh, he asked me out back in December, but we haven't even seen each other much. We're more like friends." I replied.

"That's, like, four months, Aurora! You've been dating him for four months?"

"Haylie," I smiled, trying to calm her down, "it's nothing, he's not even really my boyfriend."

"Does he think he is?" she asked with a laugh.

"I'm not sure."

"You should find out." She finished and then turned back to Tristan, "And what about you, squirt?"

"Don't call me that." He mumbled, looking out the window.

"Tristan, don't be rude to your sister, she just got home." Our mother ordered him and he cracked a smile and turned back to face Haylie again.

"I have, like, four girlfriends." He bragged, flashing Haylie and I his infamous smile that he'd had since he was kid.

"You do?" Haylie wondered with a laugh.

"Yeah, of course," he continued, "all the girls want me."

"So you're Mr. Popular Freshman, I suppose?" she was still laughing. Tristan had just entered high school that past year.

"I am!" Tristan insisted, and looked at me.

I just nodded, "All the girls want him." I agreed sarcastically, laughing.

Our father pulled into our driveway shortly after and we all piled out of the Toyota. We all had to help bring Haylie's things into the house and up to her bedroom; which had been kept exactly the way it was when she'd left.

I admit I had gone into her room a few times while she was gone, just to see if I could catch a whiff of her smell - usually baby powder and her perfume from The Gap - but it had disappeared only a month or two after she was gone. I also went in now and then to borrow a t-shirt or a pair of jeans that she'd left behind, even though most of her clothes were much too big on me. Haylie was tall, five foot eight inches at least, thin and blonde, like a model. I was thin, which was one of the only things I had in common with her appearance. I was short, only five foot two inches if I was lucky, and had dark blonde hair that usually looked light brown. Haylie and I did have the exact same eye color, though, which was a grayish blue. Some of our facial features were similar, but overall we didn't really look like sisters.

Anyway, after the five of us had brought all of Haylie's things up to her bedroom, my mom told us she was going to be making lunch shortly and she would love for us to eat as a family. Tristan groaned and said that he wanted to go to the skate park with Trix - his best friend, real name: Ronald - but our mom insisted that he stick around until after lunch. I followed Haylie up to her bedroom again and waited for her to invite me in, and then the two of us sat down on her bed.

"You look good, Rory." She told me, smiling her warm smile.

"So do you, I love the highlights." I told her, referring to her light blonde streaks she'd added to her already blonde hair.

"Thanks, I got them done a few weeks ago." She smiled again. "How's Miranda?"

Miranda Oaks was my best friend since the seventh grade; even though the two of us had other close friends, her and I were the closest and knew each other the best. Miranda knew everything about me, nearly. And I knew everything about her. Like that she'd been an only child all her life until her parents decided, sixteen years later, that they wanted another baby. Marcy was born just after Miranda turned seventeen. I also knew that she had had the hugest crush on Max Paddington - my "boyfriend" - since our freshman year and didn't say anything to him for three years. And then she pretended not to be upset when he asked me out that past December. I knew it bothered her that we were "together" even though we weren't, really. Maybe we were.

"She's good. She got a job at the Pizza Hut downtown, so she's working lots." I explained to my big sister, not really wanting to talk about Miranda, but rather about Toronto, where she'd been going to school, or university itself, or even Isaiah.

"That's good. You haven't gotten a job yet?" Haylie wondered, already knowing the answer.

"I will," I answered quickly, "I will."

"You will, when? You're starting college in the fall, you're going to need a job." She informed me.

I cleared my throat and looked away.

"What?" she wanted to know.

"I'm actually taking a year off after I graduate." I told her, my voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" she asked again, this time her voice was louder and she looked surprised.

"I'm just not ready for college yet." I continued.

"You have another, like, five months." My sister argued.

"I've already decided I'm taking a year off and I'll go to college next September." I told her sternly.

"Have you spoken to mom and dad about this?"

"Haylie, it's my decision." I answered.

"You have to go to school, Rory, mom and dad won't approve of you just sitting on your ass all day."

"Haylie, I'm going to work for a year, and then go back next year." I repeated myself.

"Okay, Aurora." She finished, and I could tell she just wanted to change the subject, not wanting to fight with me on her first day home.

"So, what's Isaiah like?" I asked her with a smile.

Her face lit up again, "He's so sweet, Rory, we've only been together for a few months and I think he's definitely the one."

"The one?" I asked her, pretending to be confused.

"You know, Rory, the one. The one I'm going to be with forever." She explained.

"Whoa," I began, a little taken back by her words, "slow down, Hay."

"I'm serious, though, I really, really like him." She told me again.

"Well, that's good." I smiled at her as a new thought popped into my head, "How are the stars in Toronto?" I asked her.

My sister smiled widely, obviously remembering what I had hoped she would. Haylie and I had always been obsessed with the stars when we were younger. I remember being no more than three or four years old and laying out in the front yard on beach towels - in the summertime - with my big sister lying next to me. We always had to beg our parents to let us go outside after it got dark, but that was the best time to look at the stars. Mom or Dad would sit on the porch swing - sometimes both of them, along with baby Tristan - just to make sure we were okay. And they always told us after only ten or so minutes that it was getting late and the bugs were bad, and we had to go back inside. So we'd go up to our bedroom and stare out the window at the stars some more. They never understood our love for the stars; yet I don't know if Haylie or I did, either. It was just something special that we liked to do together. I think the last we actually lied in the grass in our front yard together - after dark, just looking at the stars - was the summer before I began junior high and Haylie began high school. After which we were both too "cool" for stuff like that.

"They aren't anything like the stars here." Haylie told me and I nodded, knowing that she was going to say that.

"Of course they aren't. The stars here are the best." I agreed.

"Do you still look at the stars at night, Rory?" my sister wanted to know, suddenly serious.

I just stared at her, wondering if she was joking. "Of course I do, Hay. And I miss looking at the stars with you."

"I miss looking at the stars with you, too." She nodded, content.

Before either of us could say another world, we both heard our mom's voice from downstairs,

"Girls, come on down for lunch!"

I followed my sister out of her bedroom, a minute later, and down the stairs. We went into the kitchen where our parents and Tristan were already waiting for us. Mom had made sandwiches and salad, and poured us each a glass of milk. Tristan was staring at us.

"Hurry up, sit down, I want to get to the skate park." He whined and our dad gave him a look, telling him to keep quiet about the skate park.

We had a nice, family lunch, chatting mostly about Haylie and her year away from us. Our dad told her about how his business had really taken off over the past few months - she already knew that from phone conversations with Mom - but she smiled and told him how happy she was for him.

Our dad was a bit odd. He'd always had an obsession with time; clocks, watches, everything like that. Ever since he was a little child, we were told. So it just seemed obvious that he'd start a business regarding that as an adult...right? It all started when I was fourteen, when he began collecting old watches and clocks from the basement and the attic, as well as from neighbors' houses and garage sales. He fixed the ones he could and kept them in a spare room - more like a closet - in the back of the house. Then when someone he knew needed a watch or a clock, he'd sell them to the person for dirt cheap. Two years later he began renting out a small building just around the corner from our house, and 'Just in Time, Watch and Clock Repair' was born. That was a year ago and it was finally actually becoming a real business. He actually had customers. And he was proud of himself, and so were we.

After lunch Haylie, our mom, dad and I watched as Tristan left the kitchen, ran upstairs to grab his skateboard, elbow pads, knee pads and helmet, and then passed through the kitchen again, said he'd see us later and ran out the back door. The skate park was a good few blocks away from the house, but he loved his skateboard - he actually had three - and rode as often as he could. He would get on one of his skateboards and ride to our grandparents' house when the rest of us were going in the car; he didn't care that he always arrived half an hour later. He would skateboard to his friends houses', he never, ever asked for a ride from our parents because he figured that was wasting "skateboarding time". Can you say obsessed? I can.

I was expecting a call from Miranda that afternoon; she was going to come over and hang out with Haylie and I and the three of us were going to do lie around and do nothing for the rest of the evening. I had been looking forward to it. It was four that afternoon when the telephone finally rang and I bolted across the kitchen to answer it.

"Hey, Rory," my best friend's voice entered my ear after I said hello.

"Hey Randa, you still coming over?" I asked her, smiling.

"Actually, there was a change of plans," she began.

"And... what's that?"? I laughed.

"Max and Landon are coming to pick me up and then we're picking you up and going for a drive, probably to the theatre or something." Miranda informed me and my smile faded.

Landon Black was basically Max's sidekick. The two of them rarely did anything apart from each other, which kind of weirded me out. I mean, Landon was a nice guy but I didn't understand why they always had to be together.

"Miranda, Haylie just got home this afternoon. I wasn't planning on going out tonight." I replied and was a little ticked off.

"I know, but you never see Max out of school and he called me this morning and asked if you and I wanted to go out with him and Landon tonight." She explained.

"You shouldn't have made plans for me, though." I was still a bit annoyed.

"It's Saturday night, Rory. You can spend all day tomorrow with Haylie, I'll come over and we'll hang out." Miranda continued, and then added, "Please?"

"You can go without me. I'm going to stay home with my sister." I decided.

"I can't go out to a movie with your boyfriend his best friend, without you. That would be weird." She argued. "Come on, Rory, Haylie won't be mad."

"No," I agreed, "she'll probably want to go see her boyfriend, anyway."

"Haylie has a boyfriend?"

"From Toronto, he's staying here for the summer with her, at his cousin's house or something." I explained.

"Did you meet him?" Miranda wanted to know.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"What's he like?"

"I don't know, Randa, I saw him for, like, five minutes. He's good looking, though." I told her.

"How old?"

"Not sure, a couple years older than us, at least," I answered and added a laugh.

"So, are you going to come, then?" Miranda changed the subject again.

I just let out a sigh, "I'll ask Haylie if she minds, then I'll call you back."

"Okay, cool, talk to you in a bit." She finished and hung up before I could reply.

I told Haylie about the conversation with Miranda and she seemed quite willing to let me go, and even suggested that she meet Max when they came to pick me up. Even though I didn't really even feel like going out, I knew that Haylie wanted to go see Isaiah, or even just call and talk to him. So I agreed to go and told her she could meet him as well. She seemed happy while the two of us sat in the living room and waited for them to come, after I called Miranda to tell her it was a go.

My parents had met Max back in January when I'd told them that we were "dating". I didn't usually keep things from my parents because they always seemed to find out anyway, and it was better if I just told them straight out. They were pretty cool about most things with me, and were even more lenient with Tristan. My mom liked Max; she knew of his mother from the PTA meetings at the high school and thought that she was a very nice woman. My dad didn't know what to think of him since he'd come over wearing a dress shirt and black dress pants and talking like he was more intelligent than Einstein. That was how Max was; he always felt the need to impress the people around him, he was afraid to be himself most of the time. That was not a turn on.

My dad had gone to the shop - what we called 'Just in Time, Watch and Clock Repair' - after lunch and my mom was upstairs in her bedroom "working". She was a website specialist; she designed and maintained websites for local businesses and things like that - including 'Just in Time'. It was nice that she got to work at home but sometimes I wish she had a "normal", nine to five sort of job. She got paid well, though, so it was worth it.

It was shortly after six when I heard the music of some crazy rock band blaring outside and knew that they had arrived. Haylie jumped up and began walking towards the front door and I followed close behind her. I told her to wait there and I put on my shoes and went outside, leaving the door open, then walked down the steps and over to the car - a nearly-brand- new Mitsubishi Eclipse. I opened the back door on the left side and smiled at Miranda, and then said to Max,

"My sister wants to meet you."

"Your sister?" he asked, smiling, and then looked over at where Haylie was waiting in the doorway.

"She got home this morning, she wants to meet you." I repeated.

"Oh, okay," Max smiled again, a bit uncomfortably, and got out of the passenger seat.

He followed me up the path to the steps and then up the steps and soon we were both standing in front of my sister, who was smiling from ear to ear. She spoke first.

"Hi, I'm Haylie, Rory's sister."

I elbowed her and whispered, "Aurora."

She gave me a weird look; she didn't understand. Max refused to call me Rory because he thought it sounded like a guy's name, which I guess it was, in a way. But it was only my nickname. He hated to hear people call me that, though, and always mentioned how feminine and pretty 'Aurora' was. I just went along with it, but there was no way I could get Miranda to call me 'Aurora'; she'd been calling me Rory or Rore since the day we'd met.

"Hey, I'm Maxwell." Max introduced himself, using his full name, which I despised. It made him sound like some snobby rich kid, which, although his parents had a lot of money, he wasn't snobby. He was a genuinely nice guy.

"Nice to meet you," Haylie continued, as she looked from him to me and back to him again.

"You too, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other." Max replied, and then said to me, "We should get going, we were going to get something to eat before the movie."

I nodded and watched him as he turned and went back to the car, getting into the passenger seat once again.

"He seems nice." Haylie said plainly, still smiling.

"He is nice. But he's just nice, sort of boring." I whispered, making her laugh.

"Go, have fun tonight, we'll hang out tomorrow." she changed the subject.

"Yes, we will," I agreed, "Go see Isaiah."

My sister giggled - she actually giggled - and told me, "I probably will, I miss him already."

"Awe, Hay," I smiled and hugged her, "I'll see you tonight."

"Have fun." She repeated and went back into the house a second later.

I spun around and went back down the steps and over to the car again. After opening the back door on the right side this time, I got in next to Miranda, who was still smiling at me. I said hi to Landon as he backed out of our driveway and sped off down the street. Miranda and I chatted about this and that for most of the drive downtown, but there was still a part of me that felt bad for leaving my sister who'd just gotten home after nine months of being away. I swallowed that feeling and laughed along with Miranda at something stupid that Max had said. She thought that everything Max said was funny, and I pretended to. I knew it was going to be a long night.