Some Promises are Meant to be Broken

By: angelstarsine

Chapter One

Welcome to New York

“Good afternoon, passengers, this is your captain speaking. I am pleased to inform you that we are about to land in the New York Airport in a matter of minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts as we might be experience some turbulence as we descend.”

The PA system turned off, and I, Samantha Keller sighed as I fastened my seat belt. Plane rides weren’t really my favorite thing, ever since I was five and I had thought that the clouds were smoke and I yelled that the plane was on fire.

Not exactly an experience I’d want to recount again.

While waiting, I occupied myself by thinking. I was moving to New York, but I was traveling alone. You see, mom and my older brother, Scott, had moved there a year ago, so they were settled, but I had to stay in Chicago because of an exchange program. But not, it was almost the end of summer (goodbye relaxation, hello boring) and I was being dragged to New York against my will and was due to start my junior year at Riverston High, where Scott was about to start his senior year as well. I wonder, would anything out of the ordinary happen this year? Scott was always telling me that life at Riverston was always interesting.

Ha! Easy for him to say. He’s one of the most popular guys at school. Or so he says. I mean, for all I know, he could be fibbing and actually living life as a quiet, smart, math geek (wait, sorry, that’s me). But I highly doubt that; I’ve seen him in action at our old school. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every girl who threw themselves at his feet just because he flashed them a smile, I’d probably be swimming in cash by now.

Yep, that’s Scott Keller, alright. The popular playboy. And me? The quiet, sarcastic wallflower. I’m sure that it’s so obvious that we’re related.

Yeah right.

The plane suddenly gave some big lurches, and I clutched the armrests as I leaned back on my seat. Seriously, why do the staff and crew even bother saying, “Have a pleasant flight”, when they know that there’s going to be turbulence anyway?

It was gone after a few minutes, though, and I could see the airport already as we slowly landed. Within minutes, the pane came to a stop and I sighed in relief. Finally.

The captain blabbered from the PA system, but I really didn’t listen to him. Instead, I took off the seatbelt and started collecting my carry-on luggage.

After much pushing, line-waiting, and mild cursing, I found myself at the busy New York airport. There were so many people everywhere, I couldn’t really see where I was going, but then someone called my name.

“Samantha! Samantha!” The throng of people disappeared then, and I found myself face to face with my mother and brother.

“Mom!” I called out, waiting to her. She pulled me into a fierce and big hug.

“Honey, I’ve missed you so much!” My mother, Arianne Keller, said, her eyes misting over with tears.

Jeez, emotional much?

“Mom—cutting― off― circulation―” I gasped, and laughing, my mom let go og me. I walked a few steps and faced Scott. He was taller than I remembered, and his hair was still neatly cut as always. To my surprise, he gave me a one-armed hug.

“Hey kid,” he said. His voice had gotten a bit deeper too. “Long time no see.”

“I’ve missed you too, Scott. And for your information,” I extracted myself out of his embrace and stared him down. “I’m sixteen, I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Uh-huh, which would explain perfecty why you have one bag full of plush toys and Cabbage Patch dolls,” he replied wryly.

“They’re for collection purposes!” I huffed indignantly, turing a bit pink. Trust it to my brother to annoy me the second I got back.

“Right…….” He drawled in his most I-really-don’t-believe-you-but-I’ll-humor-you-anyway voice. I stuck out my tongue at him.

“Brother dear, why don’t you make yourself useful by taking my bags from the baggage conveyor belt?” I said tiredly.

For some reason, his smile turned smug. “Sure thing, little sis. After all, you need a man like me to help out damsels in distress such as yourself.” And with that, he stalked off, leaving me to gape.

Scott Keller just turned an insult or order from me into a praise to up his already over-large ego. Again. Damn, he’s good.

“Is it me, or has Scott’s ego become even more massive?” I asked mom as we waited. She just laughed.

“It’s just his way of showing that he’s glad to have you back, dear,” she responded. She turned front and added, “Oh look, there he is. Come on.”

We walked t o him and we pushed the trolley towards a black car. Scott placed my bags in the bag, and I went to the backseat, while mom rode shotgun, and Scott headed to the driver’s seat.

Have I mentioned how insanely jealous I am of my brother because he can drive already? It’s another thing he can do that I can’t yet; he gets the main course, I get the left-overs.

Sigh. Story of my life.

As Scott drove, I chatted about my year at Chicago. It had been great at Pristine Woods Academy, and it had been hard to leave my friends there. I barely noticed that we had reached the suburbs already until mom murmured, “Home sweet home.”

Home. This place, this village, was my home now. I wasn’t sure how to react. Chicago had been my home since I was 12, and I didn’t know if I could adjust. Scot parked the car on the garage near a modestly large cream house. Our house. I had gone there a few times, during break, but it still looked, and felt foreign to me.

The car stopped and we all got out. While Scott unloaded my bags, mom turned the knob of the front door and let me in.

It wasn’t very different from when I had last gone there during Christmas break- the hallways were painted in light cream, and the family (a. k. a Scott, mom, and me. My parents divorced around three years ago) picture was on the wall above the living room fireplace.

Mom led me upstairs. At the very end of the hallway was my room. Mom opened the door and I went inside.

“How do you like your need room, sweetheart?” mom asked me cheerfully. I looked around.

It was…..neat. Too neat. The rose bedspreads were placed perfectly on my old bed (my furniture had been shipped here a week ago), the books (A freakishly large collection, as a friend would say) arranged in proper order on the bookcases, my study table devoid of anything, my old carpet missing. No pictures, no posters, it looked-and felt-like a guestroom.

In short, it had no personality.

“It’s uh….nice, mom, thanks,” I said, offering her a small smile. I couldn’t tell her the truth- I’ve been told that she’s been very emotional these days, for some reasons unknown. Scott arrived and hearing my statement, flashed me his best You-are-so-lying smirk.

He knows me to well.

“Well dear, I better get dinner ready. I’ll leave you two to talk and get settled,” mom said. Once the door shut, I flopped down on my bed. Scott took my computer chair and, sitting on it, turned to me.

“So sis,” he said. “How’s it going?” I told him about my year in Chicago, and there was a great deal of laughs.

“Really?” Scott said in surprise when I told him about the latest crazy antic of my best friend, Amanda. “Whoa. Anyway sis,” his tone suddenly turned business-like. “Any guy troubles back in Chicago? Is there’s anyone’s ass I should kick for making you cry or unhappy?”

I rolled my eyes. He was taking his over-protective brother role too seriously. “Scott, in order for me to have guy problems, I would first have to have interactions with the opposite gender, something, as mom has amply pointed out, that I am severely lacking in.”

“Mom’s right, you know. It’s unnatural for girls your age to shy away from guys, it’s considered abnormal, you know.”

I scoffed. “Hypocrite. Please, Scott, one of the reasons why hardly any guy ever talks to me is because I have the popular, over-protective big brother shadow hanging above my head. Don’t deny it; you take your role way to seriously.”

“Maybe,” he said, his expression never changing. I sighed.

Once my spiel was over, it was my turn to ask the questions. “Now Scott, tell me about Riverston. Girlfriends? Enemies?”

To my intense surprise, his laid-back expression hardened, and his eyes narrowed. “Sean Christopher Maebry,” was all he said.

I burst out laughing. “Who’s he? Your boyfriend? My, my, dear brother, I didn’t know you swung that way!” his expression never changed, however, and I immediately shut up. I’ve never seen Him look this serious.

Okay. Clearly, someone has issues.

“He’s my enemy, plain and simple. We detest each other, even if we’re both co-captains of the basketball team. He’s a rude, arrogant, playboyish, girl stealer. In short, a complete jerk.” His voice was hard like steel, and his tone was cold.

It’s strange, you know. I’ve never seen my brother this mad before. He’s never hated anyone this much, and frankly, seeing my usually cool happy-go lucky, arrogant brother act like this?

Scary.

Then and there, I should have just let the matter drop.I should have just kept it at that. But no…I just had to be curios. I mean, I wanted to know why my brother hated this Chris guy so much.

Remember the old warning, “Curisouty killed the cat,”? WEell, it was blaring in my head, telling me to control my mouth. I should have just shut up, since my curiosity could put me in a bad situation…..

But then again, I’m not a cat, am I?

“Did he do that to you?” I blurted out. “Steal one of your girlfriends, I mean.”

To my surprise, he stood up from his chair. “Listen, sis, I’ve got to go,” he said in a more normal tone of voice. “School is in a week, and I stil have some stuff to organize. I’ll see you at dinner.” He then very calmly walked out the door, but he closed it with a loud bang.

“Okay, what was that all about?” I asked myself, falling back into my bed once more, messing up the bedspreads a little. Clearly, he didn’t want to talk or tell me why he and Chris Maebry were at each other’s throats. I wonder why……

Unbelievable. One hour of arriving here and I’m already getting intrigued by my brother’s life, something I’d vow never to do.

I think I might have left my brain-and common sense- back in Chicago.

..------..

The morning sun shone glaringly as it entered the room. I opened my eyes, responding to the alarm clock, which was still going off in an annoyingly-cheery manner. I turned it off and groaned upon seeing that it was till 7 in the morning.

“What the heck possessed me to set an alarm during the summer……?

With a jolt, I bolted straight out of bed as I realized something. It wasn’t summer vacation anymore, it was the first day of school! There was no time to dillydally, unfortunately.

Around fifteen minutes later, after much mishaps and frazzled nerves, I was finally ready. Sort of. Well, I knew that the unwritten yet still followed High School Laws stated that you had to wear your best clothes for the first day, and I wasn’t exactly decked out in Abercrombie and Fitch from head to toe, but I wasn’t that bothered. What I had picked out—a.k.a. the first things I had grabbed out of her closet which were a pair of denim pants and a sea green shirt that complimented my emerald eyes—in my opinion, had to, and would, do.

I grabbed my book bag, which I’d thankfully had enough sense to prepare last night, and ran down the stairs. I walked to the kitchen and found mom and Scott already there, a heaping pile of breakfast on the table.

“Morning, honey,” mom said as she sat down after placing some orange juice on the table. “Excited about your first day?”

“Ah, the first day at a new school. Again. Yay.” I replied, deadpanned as I sat down and placed some bacon on my plate. Scott stared at me with that look in his eyes that I knew only too well.

“You know sis,” he took a bite out of his sandwich before continuing. “It wouldn’t kill you not to be so sarcastic in the morning, you know.”

“It also wouldn’t kill you not to pry into other people’s business, brother dear,” I replied,. Just as sweetly at him. Mom just rolled her eyes as Scott and I glared at each other.

Have I mentioned that we have an odd sibling relationship?

“Okay, guys, you have thirty minutes to get to school, so I suggest you head up to brush your teeth and head out now,” mom suddenly said, making me stop in mid-chew. We glanced at the clock, and found that she was right. We both stood up and went upstairs.

Awhile later, we were seated in Scott’s car (Have I ever mentioned that his car is freakishly neat? It’s devoid of any trash whatsoever, and trust me, it looks so neat it’s creepy) and mom was waving at us as Scott started the engine.

He pulled out of the driveway, and started driving to school. It was so quiet, so I decided to turn on the radio. I changed a couple of channels until I heard a great song playing. I was humming quietly to myself, when suddenly, the stereo turned off. Irked, I turned to my brother.

“Scott,” I asked him, irritably. “Is it your sole purpose in life to never let me have any fun, ever?”

“Fun?” His eyebrow quirked, and even if he was looking straight ahead I could see his smirk. “I didn’t know you knew how to have fun.”

I glared at him. “That’s not the point, Scott. Just answer my previous question. Why’d you turn off the radio?”
“That wasn’t your previous question,” he pointed out. Noticing my glare, he quickly became serious and sighed. “Okay, fine. We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Well, you’re starting at Riverston. And frankly, I want you to have a great time there; hell knows I have. But I need you to make me one promise.”

My gaze was doubtful. The last time he was this serious and swore me into a promisse, I’d ended up wearing up a pumpkin costume for my 5th grade Halloween party. “Depends. What is it?”

“Stay away from Chris Maebry,” he ground out, his voice tightening at the utterance of his name.

I found myself laughing. “That’s it? God, Scott, what kind of promise it that?” I saw his hard look, however, and I knew that he was serious. Rolling my eyes, I said, “Fine, fine. I will, but I highly doubt that we’ll ever come in contact anyway.” A question suddenly popped into my mind. “Hey, why are you and this Chris guy so against each other, anyway?”

“Oh look, we’re at school already, welcome to Riverston, Sam,” he said in a fake happy voice, avoiding the question. I rolled my eyes again, but I focused my attention on the school. It was nice; big, cream buildings and big grounds. And normal-looking people.

So far so good.

He parked the car, and after he turned off the engine, we both got out of the car. He walked me towards the grounds, talking a bit about some of the people who passed by.

“Take my advice, don’t associate with that guy,” he pointed to a tall boy who was showing off. “He’s a complete sleazebag. And don’t let that sweet-looking face fool you,” he gestured to a blonde girl who was in an excessively preppy outfit, pearls and all. “She can be a total bitch when she wants to. Which is most of the time.”

Suddenly, a group of tall guys wearing identical red jackets came to us, all loud and smile-flashing. Scott saw them and once they met up, they al high-fived each other and grinned.

“Yo, Scott,” a guy with sandy blonde hair said, punching him lightly on the arm. “Long time no see, man.” The other three guys with him nodded in assent. I rolled my eyes once again; this were probably Scott’s friends. Suddenly, one of them with black hair gestured to me.

“Hey man,” he said, making everyone turn to me at last. “Who’s she? New girl? Damn, I knew you went through girlfriends fast, but don’t you think it’s a bit harsh to be with someone new three days after you broke up with Leanne?”

Scott laughed and placed his arm around me protectively. “Nope, guys, meet my sister, Samantha. She’s starting her junior year here. Sam, this is Jeff, Larry, Paul, and Gavin.” I smiled at them carefully.

The one named Jeff looked at me with interest. “So does that mean I can date her? She’s pretty.” I stared at him in surprise. Never, in my sixteen years of existence in this word, have I been told that I was pretty. I mean, I’ve never bothered with make-up other than the essentials (less is more- I’ll never understand that statement. Why bother putting on any make-up at all if looking like you haven’t placed any is better?) And Scott inherited mom and dad’s good genes (no surprise there), and even if mom kept telling me that I was beautiful, I know that I’m just plain, and dull-looking. And here this guy comes telling me that I’m pretty?

Does this guy need prescription glasses or something?

I reviewed his sentence, and before I could stop myself, spoke up. “Excuse me?” I said in a strangled, disbelieving tone of voice.

Before any of the guys could say anything, Scott said, “Sorry guys. My sister is off-limits to you guys. And preferably to other guys as well.” Hearing this, I turned and glared at him.

“Off-limits? I’m sixteen, Scott, not five, I can take care of myself you know. And more importantly, I actually have enough sense not to date anyone who doesn’t even have even the slightest bit of maturity.”

“No wonder you don’t date at all,” Scott muttered under his breath. Hearing him, I glared.

“Why is she off-limits to us, anyway?” the guy named Paul asked, running his hand across his hair.

“Because you guys are jerks, and aren’t good enough for my sister.” He said it so simply that it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. Right then and there, I decided that I’d had enough. I did not come to this school to be hit on guys, thank you very much.

“Sorry guys. You heard my brother.” They pulled disappointed faces.

“Aww come on, Sam, we’re not bad. We’d be perfect dating material,” Jeff said.

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe, guys, but, unfortunately for you, I’m not looking. And I have only ten more minutes to get to the Principal’s office, so I’ll see you later.”

“Ok, sis. You know where it is, right?” Scott said. I rolled my eyes (geez, I seem to be doing that quite a lot these days); he had told me already a long time ago.

“Yes, brother dear, I know where it is, I’m not retarded. I’ll see you this afternoon then. Bye,” And with one last smile, I turned on my heel and left. As I did so, I could hear someone whisper to Scott, “Feisty, that one. Nice.”

Unbelievable. My first ten minutes of school, and I’ve already been hit on. Yeah right, why me? I look like the night of the living dead. I, Samantha Anne Keller, just got hit on. Gross. If that’s how jocks act, I can only imagine what the rest of the Riverston population was going to be like……

“Ow! Hey!” a female voice suddenly said. I looked up and found myself face to face with a brunette girl with brown eyes. I must have bumped into her while I was walking.

“Sorry, I was sidetracked,” I hurriedly explain. Her expression turned into an easy smile.

“No prob. Hey, are you new?”

“Yep. Just about to head to the Principal’s office.”

She visibly brightened. “Great, we can go together! I have to drop something off there, anyway. I’m Natalie Sanders, by the way, but you can call me Allie.” Her smile was so huge, I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing. Seriously, who’s ever this cheerful on the first day of school?

Nevertheless, I nodded, and we walked together. We were silent until Allie said slyly, “I saw you with Scott Keller earlier.” I nodded and she continued, “You’re probably his new girlfriend, right?

WHAT?!?

Gosh, that stopped me dead in my tracks. I know that Scott and I don’t look that much alike, except for the eyes, and we don’t really like the same things, that’s why sometimes people find it hard to believe that we’re related. But to be mistaken as your brother’s girlfriend?!?

Sick beyond belief.
“Eww, gross, no way! I’d never start a relationship with Scott, since that would be incest.” My face held a disgusted expression. Allie raised an eyebrow and I continued, “Besides, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to start a relationship with my brother.”

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

I mean it. Fire suddenly shot out from the ground, the sky darkened, and Satan himself rose up from the underworld and then proceeded to eat all of us one by one.

Okay, as you can probably guess, that didn’t really happen, by seriously, the scream the escaped from Allie’s well-glossed lips could compare to that. Really, Natalie Sanders might seem like an overly- happy camper, but geez, this girl could scream.

“You’re Scott Keller’s sister?” she asked, eyes wide. We were, I guess, nearing the principal’s office. I rolled my eyes yet again.

“Yeah, my name’s Samantha.” I tried my best to keep the pleasantry in my voice. I had been hoping, this yea, that people who weren’t my friends and teachers would refer to me by my first name, instead of merely calling me, “Scott Keller’s sister…….”

“That’s great!” she said. “How does it feel being his sister? Awesome?”

“Yeah, it’s wonderful, just being related to him already brightens up my non-existent social life,” I said sarcastically. She laughed.

Finally, we arrived at the principal’s office. We parted ways, and promised to meet up for lunch. As I was led to Principal Kane, I thought about the day so far. Another year at another school, with new horrors…..

Oh well. At least I wasn’t alone anymore.

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A.N/ So, how was that for the first chapter? Please let me know! Read and review, please!