A/N: Let me know what you think of this please! I'm going to see if I can handle writing two stories at one time... Let me know if you like this and whether or not I should continue it for sure! Actually, I have some more of it written...but yeah PLEASE leave me a review.

Chapter One

The rain splattered the window in a steady rhythm and the cigarette smoke twirled into the air. The girl with the ripped blue jeans and eyes that matched her copper colored hair trudged up the gravel road, unaware that she was being watched from the window above her. The boy with the sandy blonde hair and turned in feet fell into the room, interrupting his elder brother's cigarette break.
Mitchell snubbed his cigarette out on the window sill and turned to look at his little brother laying face down on the expensive Oriental rug.
"Mitch," he gasped. "Ruthie got her hand stuck in the VCR again."
"Mitchell sighed. Ruthie, his four year old sister, kept having weird dreams that something important was stuck in the VCR and whenever the parents were out she would get her hand caught when trying to reach it.
"Alright, Billy, I'll be down," Mitchell said woefully. He tossed his cigarette stub into the wastebasket and reluctantly stood up from the overstuffed chair he was sitting on.
Going down the ornate staircase, Mitchell could see Ruthie kneeling in front of the big-screen television, squirming, and Robbie, her twin, dancing in circles around her and laughing. Mitchell chuckled.
Billy was just reaching the bottom of the stairs when Mitchell was still at the top and the doorbell rang. Billy threw his hands into the air and ran for the front door. He swung it open and a girl stood outside of it, soaking wet from the rain continually pounding the top of her head.
Mitchell stopped on the stairs when he realized it was the same girl he'd seen walking up the street. She was even prettier in person than through the window.
"Who're you?" Billy blurted rudely and Mitchell winced at his little brother's blatentness. The girl only smiled though.
"I'm Leah, are your parents home?" she asked nicely.
Mitchell finally found movement in his feet and rushed down the stairs and up to the front door, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

"They're away," Billy said in a snooty sounding voice and he started to swing the door shut. Mitchell grabbed the side of the door and shoved Billy aside.
"They're actually at a show right now," Mitchell said, noticing how pretty her eyes were. "Can I help you with anything?" He inwardly cursed himself for sounding like an egotistical butler in a penguin suit.
"My name's Leah Shipley, I'm supposed to see." She glanced at a wrinkled piece of paper clutched in her hand. "Mrs. and Mr. McLayne and family at this address..." She paused. "Do they still live here?"
"Oh, yeah, those are my parents and this is the family." Pause. "Did they know you were coming?"
"No," she said slowly. She sounded like she wasn't quite sure.
"Well, that explains why I didn't know about it," Mitchell said with a grin. "It wouldn't have been very like my mother to go out when she was expecting company. Anyway, come in." He swung the door open wider and stepped back to let her through.
"Thanks," she said, she stepped right inside the door and didn't move.
"So why are you here?" Mitchell asked as he turned around and headed toward the kitchen with the intention of getting Leah something to drink and a towel or something. Leah didn't move, however, and stayed right next to the door.
Mitchell stopped when he realized she wasn't behind him. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she wasn't paying attention. She was looking around the entryway. Robbie came through the doorway from the living room and ran up to Leah, sticking his hand straight out and his nose in the air. Mr. McLayne had just taught Robbie how to shake hands to introduce himself to people he didn't know.
"I'm Robbie," he told her. "How do you do?"
Leah smiled warmly and shook his little hand. "Hi, Robbie. I'm Leah and I do fine. How do you do?"
"My sister got her hand stuck in the VCR," Robbie stated calmly. He didn't let go of her hand, but pulled her with him across the entryway and into the family room.
Then the front door swung open again and in stepped Jerry and Linda McLayne, home from the theater.
"Daddy!" Ruthie shouted from the family room and jerked toward him, not moving because of her hand.
"Ruthie!" Mr. McLayne shouted, full of enthusiasm. He was the type of man that would have rather been at home with his kids than stuck in a dark theater, but he would never let his wife know. His brows crinkled at Ruthie. "What did you do?"
"Ruthie got her hand stuck in the VCR again," Mitchell said. "And Leah Shipley is here to see you."
"Shipley?" Mrs. McLayne asked curiously, turning away from the closet where she was hanging her coat. She stared at Leah.
"Leah Shipley!" she said. Then she rushed to Leah and embraced her tightly. "Not the Leah Shipley that's the daughter of Margo Shipley that I went to high school with and that I was very best friends with?" Mitchell rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. His mother always talked like that.
"Yes, my mother is Margo," Leah stated, still sounding very nervous.
Once in the kitchen, Mitchell could no longer hear Leah's quiet voice; he could only hear his mother sometimes cry, "Oh my goodness!" and "Divorce, is that really necessary?"
Mitchell could guess that Leah's parents were splitting up, but why would they send their daughter to stay with Margo's "very best friend" from high school?
"Well, I must call Margo right away and see if she needs to spend some quality girl-talk time. I can't believe she didn't tell me about this in the first place." Mrs. McLayne hurried into the kitchen to use the phone just as Mitchell was pulling the carton of milk out of the refrigerator.
"Mitchell, go introduce yourself to Leah, she's in from out of town," Mrs. McLayne told her son on her way to the phone.
"We've already met, don't worry, Mother," Mitchell replied. He set the milk back in the fridge without drinking any and walked back to the entryway, which was no empty. Leah had followed Robbie into the living room and was now helping Mr. McLayne release Ruthie's hand captivity in the VCR.
Mitchell stood in the doorway of the room, gazing on Leah. Despite the ripped jeans and damp hair, she looked amazing. Mitchell had never seen anything quite the likes of her.