There he went again. That fine specimen of a boy. Everyday he would walk his dog by my house. Even his dog was cool. But of course! Such a sexy boy such as himself only deserved a fine looking dog like that! I only wondered what kind of dog it was. It had a black body with a brown face and brown legs. Jeez, if I weren’t such an idiot I would know what kind of breed his dog was. But it didn’t matter; because it wasn’t the dog I was interested in. It was the boy walking the large dog. But I’m pretty sure you knew that by now.

The boy, tall and slender, walked by my house. He walked his dog every morning. The leash that was attached to his dog was in his right hand. The morning sun added an attractive shine to his already perfect light brown hair. His hair was neatly combed, and yet rebellious at the same time. It went ever so slightly past his ears, his bangs overlapped his eyes just a tad bit as well. Unfortunately, I had no idea what color eyes he had. This was because I had been watching this boy from afar. Okay, so every morning I would watch him walk his dog from my bedroom window. That’s not stalkerish right? Don’t answer that. But come on, anyone would have watched such a magnificent piece of art from their bedroom window! I really got to stop talking like that; it gives me an even stronger stalker attribute. But I can’t help it! This boy was just so…hot!

I probably thought this because he looked like my type. I was into skaters and musicians. And this mysterious boy looked like he was both. His baggy jean pants that barely clung to his hips gave him a skater sort of look. I think it was his hair and the way his body was built that made me think he was a musician. Also, he had nice hands. I guess he played guitar, since he had nice hands. Man, I could tell what his hands looked like from my bedroom window, but I couldn’t determine his eye color! Why am I such a loser? Once again, another rhetorical question I’d rather you not answer.

I continued drooling all over my window as the too-attractive-for-his-own-good boy tugged at his dog’s leash. His dog was sniffing curiously at my family’s mailbox. I always wondered why dogs sniffed everything they came into contact with: fire hydrants, cars, people, other dog’s butts, people’s crotches. But I suppose it was a question of mine that will never be answered. His dog continued sniffing the mailbox. The boy’s mouth formed angry words as he tugged even harder on the leash. The dog refused to budge though. The animal lifted its hind leg and aimed at the mailbox. I couldn’t believe it! He was going to let his dog pee all over my mailbox!

The boy looked annoyed and yanked the leash as hard as he could, pulling his dog away from the mailbox. He mouthed the word “no” as he did this. Ah, he was a boy with morals. Or he just didn’t want his dog to make a mess all over other people’s mailboxes. Still, I thought it was sweet. I sighed dreamily as I watched the boy make his way down the sidewalk. Damn, he had a nice butt! As my eyes were glued to the rear end of the boy, someone stomped into my room.

“Scarlet!” my older brother suddenly shouted in an angry tone. I jumped up out of fright. I turned to face him, my heart still racing.

“What the hell do you want Tobey?” I snarled. “How many times do I have to tell you to knock before coming into my room? Get out now!”

My older brother, Tobey, gave me his irritated face. I didn’t see why. It was only seven something in the morning. Wasn’t it too early for him to be prissy? “What are you doing?” Tobey demanded. “Why aren’t you ready for school?”

“Some of us can’t be perfect like you!” I stuck my tongue out at him. He pouted even more. Jeesh, what a girl!

“You’re such a child!” he sighed as he turned his back on me. “It’s hard to believe you’re fifteen.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

He sighed again. “Never mind. Now stop staring out your window like an idiot and get yourself ready. Now!” He finally headed out the door. Just before he left my room he shot a glare at me and muttered, “Freakin’ idiot!” With that said, he marched out the door.

“Hey!” I screeched at him. “You don’t act your age either! There’s no way you can be seventeen! Do you hear me! DO YOU HEAR ME!”

And that’s my lovely relationship with my brother. As if that weren’t bad enough, you should see me with my older sister, Lynette. Little Miss Beautiful loved to put me down. That is, when she wasn’t ignoring me. I hate being the baby of the family. Oh well, at least I had a good relationship with my parents. Ha ha! Oh man, that was hilarious. My parents annoy the crap out of me. But every teenager can’t stand their parents, so I guess I’m just normal.

Usually a person’s dad is overprotective and strict, and their mother is cool and lets you slide on stuff. Not my parents. They are switched around. My dad was the cool one, who knew how to relate to a hormonally stressed out teenager such as myself. Now mind you, he still knew how to lay down the rules, but he knew how to have fun more. My mother, on the other hand, was a scary woman. She was one of those really feminist people, but not the kind who go around shouting things at complete strangers. Of course my mom wouldn’t do that, considering the fact she was a lawyer. Wait a minute, her job required her to yell at complete strangers. What was I thinking? My mother was a strong, independent woman who wore the pants in the relationship with my dad. Poor man, he had no idea what he was getting himself into when he said, “I do.”

I glanced back out the window when I was sure my stupid brother wasn’t anywhere near my room. Unfortunately, Mr. Sexy was long gone. Damn it Tobey! I sighed depressingly to myself and headed over to my closet. Even though I had never said a single word to that boy I still had a crush on him. But of course I hadn’t talked to him yet! He just moved to my neighborhood, like, a week ago. I hadn’t seen him anywhere in my school either. But I just knew we were destined for each other! We just had to be! And one day, maybe sometime in the near future, I will talk to him! I will! It’s not like I’ll have a problem with that. I’m not very social, but I’m not shy either. But if I tried to talk to someone I liked my brain would suddenly explode and then…I wouldn’t stop giggling. Trust me, it’s happened before. And, ew! It would be this obnoxious, bubby, girly kind of giggle.

No way though! There was no way in hell I was girly! The preps hated me after all. At least I’m pretty sure they did. I’m sort of like the way Avril Lavigne was before she dyed her hair blonde. In fact, Avril Lavigne was my idol. She still is, and I don’t care what anyone says! It’s because of her that I chose this sort of style. You know, dark clothes, skater look, rock out loud attitude, the whole works! I even started trying to learn the guitar. But my fingers were too short! Damn my retardedness. But I was determined to learn the blasted guitar even if it killed me! It was too bad I sucked at it. Not entirely, but you know, I still sucked at it.

As I was saying, I pulled open my closet door and grabbed something randomly from inside. I slipped my outfit on as fast as I could. If you’re interested to know what I wore that day, it was just a gray t-shirt with the name of a band on it with an old black jacket I had with a pair of ripped jeans. Not very interesting, but that’s what I usually wore. I didn’t like to dress flashy like my older sister. I left my room with heavy steps. I wasn’t exactly a morning person. I made my way to the bathroom, but I never got in. I stopped at the door and stared. Steam was seeping out from underneath the bathroom door. On the other side of the door I heard the shower running and Lynette singing at the top of her lungs. The worst part about it was she was singing Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” song. Oh how I hated that song with a burning passion. The only songs I liked were songs that were in the rock genre.

“Not this again,” I muttered. I began banging my fists against the door. “Lynette! For crying out loud! I need the bathroom!”

“I’m bringing sexy back!” she replied. Clearly, she was ignoring me. I continued banging the door.

“Lynette!” I barked. “Get out of the shower this instant! You’re wasting all the hot water!”

I heard the water get turned off. Lynette was grumbling to herself as I heard her pull back the shower curtain. I crossed my arms and waited impatiently. It seemed like it took her forever to get out of the shower. Stupid beauty queen. Just as I was about to bang some more on the door, she flung it open. Standing in the doorway to the bathroom was my wet, naked older sister Lynette. Okay, so she wasn’t completely naked. She wore a tiny towel around her curvy body. Which was a good thing since I didn’t want to see her naked anyway. She was covered in droplets of water, her hair was completely drenched, she was dripping water on the floor, and she wore her usual “I Hate You Scarlet” expression.

“What in God’s name do you want?” she snapped. See how much we loved each other?

“I need the bathroom,” I replied. Standing in the presence of my almost completely naked sister put me to even more shame. She was a good foot taller than I was. She had a perfect tan even a celebrity couldn’t pull off. Even while wet, she was having a good hair day. And her hair was soaked and not even brushed yet! She was round and curvy, and she used her phenomenal body for the greater evil. I swear, Lynette had this ability to make any guy on the face of the planet do her every command. And the most noticeable difference between my sister and I: her boobs were bigger than mine. Much bigger. I wasn’t flat chested, but I was, like, a B32. And let me tell you, Lynette was most definitely NOT a B32. This is sad, I’m already fifteen and I was still a B32.

“What the hell?” Lynette screamed, raising her hands in the air. Wow, someone’s PMSing. “Scarlet, you r-tard! We have, like, two bathrooms!” She had to quickly catch her towel or else she would have revealed her much-bigger-than-mine breasts.

“But my toothbrush is in this one!” I growled. I yanked her long hazelnut colored hair and made her yelp. “So since you’re done bathing Miss Prep let me in.”

She slapped my hand away and narrowed her blue eyes at me. “Why are you, like, such a loser?”

“Like, I don’t know,” I sassed with a perfect imitation of a prep.

“For the love of God Scarlet!” Lynette snarled as she stepped out of the way and let me into the bathroom. “For once can’t you, like, let me finish a shower?”

“You better not let mom hear you use God’s name in vain,” I snickered, putting a large glob of toothpaste on my toothbrush. Did I mention how church going my mother was? Lynette simply scoffed and strutted away from me towards her room, her hair swishing back and forth in rhythm with her steps.

I mentioned that I was the baby of the family. I was the black sheep of it as well. I was a disgrace compared to my two older siblings. Tobey and Lynette might as well have been perfect. I was anything but perfect.

Tobey was such a genius it wasn’t even funny. I’m not kidding, this guy was smart. Like, Einstein smart. And can you believe he was only in high school? And though Tobey was such a nerd he (as much as I hate to admit it) was good looking. Not kidding. Tobey inherited my mom’s jet-black hair and crystal blue eyes. His hair was like that of a punk rock star’s hair. It was the same length as the boy’s hair I was staring at that morning. Except Tobey’s hair slightly curled near the ends. Surrounding his blue eyes was a pair of wire-framed glasses that added more to his genius look. He also looked like he worked out. Tobey was at a good height too. I lost count, but I think eight girls already asked him out this month alone. Stupid Tobey though rejected them all. He said he’d rather concentrate on his schoolwork and get into college than worry about a relationship. He’ll have no trouble getting into college either. He has the potential to get accepted into both Harvard and Yale. I’ll be lucky if I even get into a community college.

Lynette was such a natural beauty. She was also a complete idiot. She could put America’s Top Model to shame. She had perfect skin, not a single pimple anywhere! She also had a light natural tan she got from being outside so much. She had bouncy hair, which went down to her waist, that was the color of my dad’s hair. His hair was like a hazelnut light brown color. Though she ended up with my dad’s hair she got my mother’s eyes. Lynette would make any girl ashamed of herself, and even the most mannerly of gentlemen turn into a horn dog. Seriously. That’s how much of a babe my sister was. I’m not sure, but I think she’s going out with three guys right now. Just because my sister looked perfect doesn’t mean her personality was. She’s, oh what’s the right word, a bitch. She’ll use anyone to get what she wants. She would take a sandwich from a homeless guy if she were hungry and had no money to buy food! That’s how rude she was. Nevertheless, this didn’t matter to people as long as they got to stare at her. Sadly, my sister was nineteen and still living with us. She was working as a photo model thing. I don’t know, but people took pictures of her. And that’s all I want to know!

Me? I was a fifteen-year-old girl in my sophomore year. Like I previously announced, I had a chest that was a measly B32. Even though my name was Scarlet my hair was in fact not scarlet at all. I wish it was though. That would be cool. It was a dull brown color, almost like a mix of my mom’s black hair and my dad’s brown hair. I had dyed my long bangs pink because I was bored with life. I got my dad’s eyes, plain brown. That’s it, nothing more. Brown hair, brown eyes. Whoopdy-doo. Unlike Lynette, I only allowed my hair to go several inches past my shoulders so that it wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short. My hair was gross okay! It was frizzy and hard to control. No matter how much I straightened it, it somehow stayed its uncontrollable poofy self. Despite this, I wore my hair down. It wasn’t so frizzy that I had to force myself to wear it up. I had this annoying habit of talking in fragments. I don’t know why. I just did. I think that was just a fragment right there! Also, I was short. I wasn’t extremely short, but I still had a hard time reaching places Tobey and Lynette could reach. If pissed off, I would be sarcastic. I don’t generally take crap from people. You would know this if you got on my bad side. If you want you could call me a tomboy. I hate make-up, but I love sports. Not really actually. I didn’t like sports, just skateboarding. You know, that kind of thing. Unlike Tobey, I was not smart. I was barely a C-average student. I was only smart when it came to music. I sure as hell wasn’t as beautiful as Lynette. Yes, yes, I was one of those people who didn’t think positively about themselves. Tobey was born with the brains; Lynette was born with the looks. And all I got was frizzy hair and self-esteem issues. Yay me.

And I wondered why I couldn’t get a boyfriend. But it was okay, because I wasn’t the kind of person who though having a boyfriend was the most important thing in the world. Now just because I liked that boy with the large dog and nice hands and cute butt didn’t mean I was obsessing over having him become my boyfriend. Though that would be nice.

After I was finished making myself look pretty (ha ha!) in the bathroom, I raced down the stairs. I tripped down them in the process. I landed painfully at the bottom with a loud thud. I seemed to have forgotten to mention that I was the unluckiest person in the world. I’m not exaggerating either. I’ve never experienced good luck. I’ve never won anything, I’ve never had a random good even happen to me, and I’m always in the wrong place at the wrong time. I figured I was the unluckiest human being to walk the Earth because I was unfortunately born on a Friday the 13th. I’m serious, I was born on Friday the 13th. Whenever my birthday lands on a Friday the 13th, something terrible always happens to me. Yep, I am truly the unluckiest person. EVER.

I groaned as I stayed where I was at the bottom of the stairs. My dog, Archie, came hopping over to me. He stopped by my face and began licking my cheek, thinking I was in the mood to play. My little doggie Archie was a Jack Russell Terrier. I would have liked to have a bigger dog, but Archie was so incredibly adorable! But I’m positive he only liked me because I fed him. Other than that, I’m pretty sure Archie wanted nothing to do with me.

“Dammit…” I murmured as I propped myself up. Archie jumped into my lap and began licking his lips. Yeah, he was hungry. No wonder he was begging for my attention.

“All right, I’ll feed you…you stupid mutt,” I grumbled. I entered the kitchen and filled up his bowl. He began chomping on his doggie food.

The whole family was in the kitchen. Mom was zooming around multi-tasking. She was trying to carry a zillion things and talk on her cell phone while eating her breakfast at the same time. Dad was at the table debating over something with Tobey. Tobey was obviously beating him because my dad’s face was red from frustration. Lynette was on the house phone “Oh my goshing” to one of her three boyfriends. She kept giggling as she tried to pour milk into her bowl of cereal. She completely missed and poured the milk all over the tile floor. Archie ran over to the puddle of milk and began drinking it happily.

“Way to go dipstick,” I insulted.

“God damn it Scarlet!” Lynette hissed as she covered the phone. “Like, stop bugging me!”

“Lynette!” my mother scolded. “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain.”

Lynette went back to her conversation and attempted to pour milk into her bowl again. Archie watched her intently with hopeful eyes. I looked around once more. Mom was still busy and hadn’t noticed I entered the room. Dad was now banging his head on the table, Tobey clearly beating him in the debate. Lynette managed to actually get the milk into the bowl, but she laughed loudly and knocked the bowl off the counter with her elbow. The bowl hit my poor dog in the face, causing cereal and milk to go all over the floor and Archie. My dog freaked out and began yapping. He ran around the room, colliding into my mother’s feet. She slightly tripped and flung the zillion things out of her arms. They all flew into Tobey and my dad. My mother began yelling at Lynette for being a failure in life. My dad was shouting at my mom. Tobey began debating about random crap. Lynette was just screaming. That’s it. Just screaming. Archie was howling with a tone of pain. Well, obviously! He got hit in the face by a bowl full of cereal. I rolled my eyes and quickly left the kitchen without getting breakfast. I left out the front door and headed towards my high school.

Every morning was seriously like that. Lynette would do something to scare my dog, Archie would make mom trip, and that would end with my dad getting hit on the head by whatever she threw. It was actually quite comical. For the first three times. It got old after the twenty-fifth time.

So to speed up a long and uneventful day I went to school. I endured all my classes until my favorite time of the day came. Lunchtime. I sat at a table at the back of the cafeteria. Tobey went to the same school as I did. So every day at lunch I got to watch Tobey sit at a table while a horde of girls surrounding him and begging him to go out with them. It was pretty nauseating. But that didn’t stop me from eating! In front of me sat my best friend, Esperanza.

“You seem more irritated than usual girl,” Esperanza mentioned in her Columbian accent.

Yep, my good friend Esperanza was from Columbia. Actually her parents were. She was born here, in America. Dude, I loved Esperanza’s Columbian accent! It sounded so cool! Even though she was raised in America she still picked up the accent from her parents.

Esperanza was my best friend, but we didn’t look similar at all. First of all, Esperanza was much prettier than me. In fact she was beautiful. Almost as good looking as Lynette. It’s funny how much Esperanza looked like Shakira. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that Esperanza’s parents were from Columbia just like Shakira. Esperanza’s mother claims to have been Shakira’s neighbor when she was little. Anyway, Esperanza had the same dirty blonde wavy hair like Shakira. Esperanza’s hair went an inch or two past her shoulders; it was actually shorter than mine. She was even just as curvy as the Columbian singer! Esperanza could even dance like Shakira. Remember how I said Avril Lavigne was my idol? Well, Shakira was Esperanza’s idol. Perhaps that was why Esperanza was so similar to Shakira. Yeah, Esperanza could even sing. Now that I think about it, Esperanza was like a mini Shakira. I’m not kidding.

Wow, I mentioned Shakira a lot in Esperanza’s description.

Esperanza had pretty brown eyes to go with her hair. Her brown eyes were different from my brown eyes. Hers were actually seductive. Mine were blah. Lynette wasn’t the only one who had boobs bigger than mine. Esperanza’s breasts were also more impressive than mine. Come to think of it, everyone’s were more impressive than mine. I even knew some freshman with bigger boobs than me! How sad is that? Esperanza had a nice even tan that was darker than Lynette’s. It was the Columbian in her. Esperanza had a tiny waist and big hips. Her hips don’t lie. Ha ha, see what I did…I did a joke…never mind.

Esperanza liked to dress almost like my sister. Not as girly or revealing, but Esperanza did like long skirts, white blouses, and denim. In fact, today she was wearing a long dark brown cotton skirt with a white frilly blouse and a denim jacket. Esperanza was the kind of girl who had the power to catch all the attention in a room. Mostly from guys. She could walk by them and make them turn around in their seat. All the way around. Like a full 360. All in all, Esperanza was breath taking. It was strange that we ended up being best friends, considering we were different from each other. But we still had so much fun with each other. We always ended up in trouble, but that’s why it was fun to be with her.

I smiled, her awesome accent cheering me up. “Oh it’s nothing,” I replied airily. “I just fell down the stairs, stubbed my toe on a chair, got a paper cut, banged my head on my locker door, and if I continue watching the scene with my brother I might just throw up my lunch.”

Esperanza let a grin appear on her face as she raised her eye brows. “Girl, I DO NOT want to see your pizza again!” She placed her head in her hand. “Suffering from your so called bad luck?”

I nodded.

Esperanza shook her head, sighing while doing this. “How many times must I tell you Scarlet? There’s no such thing as bad luck.”

“Does that mean there’s no such thing as good luck?” I retorted.

“Girl! Do not sass me!” Esperanza snapped. She was crazy when she was angry. She calmed herself down and smiled back at me once more. “What I meant to say was that today, you seem different. Any particular reason?”

The cafeteria was loud, chattering high school students sharing the latest gossip with each other. Esperanza continued studying me with a mischievous grin. Despite all the noise, despite my best friend staring me down, despite the scene where my brother was trying to get all the fan girls to leave him alone, my mind went back to this morning when I was watching the boy walking his dog. I felt my face get hot as an image of Mr. Sexy popped into my head.

“Ah!” Esperanza squealed. “You’re blushing girl! Spill the beans!”

“About what?” I covered up. “There’s nothing to–“

That’s when I saw him. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me. But after blinking several times I determined that it was not just my imagination. Standing in line to get his food was none other than my Mr. Sexy.