Chapter One

"Here it is." Logan said, smiling down at me and throwing an arm around my shoulders. "The last day of school. Summers almost here! Eight more hours and then freedom!"

I laughed up at my younger brother, rolling my eyes playfully. Today was the last day of my Junior year of high school, my brother's last day of his Junior year. School was never really a fun thing for either of us. "Eight hours." I agreed, smiling as I pushed my shoulder length, sandy brown hair over my shoulders. "Then we can be home all summer."

Logan rolled his own dark brown eyes, eyes that matched mine perfectly. "Oh, great. More of Nick. Thats the one downside of vacation."

I instantly lost my smile. "Logan." I warned, shooting him an annoyed look.

He just smiled at me innocently, then took his arm off of my shoulders and started walking down the hall toward his first class. "You know its true. See you at lunch!"

He disappeared into his class and I continued down the hall, letting out a deep sigh. Nick was my twin brother, while Logan was ten months younger than us. They didn't really get along- mostly because they were so different.

Not in looks. No, my brothers looked so much alike that we were often mistaken for triplets. Both were tall, Logan was 60 while Nick was 61, with the same sandy brown hair as my own. Nicks hair was cut really close to his head, while Logans was a little longer, but not much. Both of them had the same dark brown eyes, the same lean body. The only way you could really tell the boys apart was the way they dressed, and who they talked to.

Nick was actually one of the most popular boys in our Junior class. His girlfriend was Grace Donway, the most popular girl in our class. He was best friends with Chad Montgomery, the guy every girl wanted to date. He even dressed like he was. You know, the whole dark wash jeans, button down shirts.

Logan was different. He was only a sophomore and he had already starred in four of our school plays. He dressed in darker clothes, dark or black jeans, t-shirts. He loved drama, it was the only reason he even went to school anymore.

He was also my best friend. I know, you probably think that my twin should be my best friend, right? But, no, I actually barely talked to Nick. Logan was the brother I was close to.

I walked into my Geometry class, sliding into my seat in the last row. It was the last day, I didnt even know why I was there. We never do anything on the last day anyway. Nick walked into the room a few moments later, meeting my eyes. He nodded to me quickly before turning his attention to his girlfriend who was wrapped around him.

Grace stared up at my twin with her big blue eyes, her long blonde hair curled perfectly. I heard her giggle, the kiss Logan on the cheek. He smiled down at her, eyes shining.

I rolled my eyes, turning away from the pair. I dont know why I didnt like Grace, I never have. She just got on my nerves.

I sat through my that class, and the next four hours in complete silence. That was how it always happened. I didnt talk to any of them, and they never talked to me. I think there was actually very few people who knew who I was, few in the Junior class anyway. Nick, of course, Grace, Graces best friend Theresa, and Chad. The only reason Theresa and Grace knew who I was was because they were constantly at our house. Chad actually worked with me, so he had to know me.

Though sometimes I think he forgot I went to his school.

"Nicole!" A voice yelled from down the hallway as I headed into the cafeteria. I stopped, turning around with a broad smile on my face. A short girl with long dark brown, highlighted hair ran toward me. Her blue eyes flashed as she smiled. "It's our last day, can you believe it?" She gushed, wrapping her arm through mine and walking with me.

Anna Franklin was actually a friend of Logan's- they had gone to school together since they were in Kindergarten. She had been in show choir with me for the last two years, and had quickly become a part of my and Logans little group- if you can even have a group of two.

"I can't wait for it to be over." I told her, letting out a sigh and walking toward our usual table. Logan was already there, tapping his foot impatiently.

"There you two are." He said, breaking into a smile. "I thought I was going to have to sit alone today."

"Would that really be so bad?" Anna teased him, sliding to her usual seat on his right while I sat across from them.

"Horrible." Logan said, his face serious though his eyes were shining brightly. I would have had to just sit here, talking to myself the entire time. "Could you imagine how much that would ruin my reputation?"

"What reputation?" Anna chuckled, hitting his arm playfully. "You don't have a reputation."

"Which is why it would be so very easy to ruin it." He replied earnestly, smiling at her.

I smirked, watching their interaction. I had always thought they would make a cute couple, but I could never get either of them to admit to liking each other as anything more than friends.

"What are you ruining?" A voice questioned from behind me. I turned, knowing that voice as well as I knew my own. Sure enough, my twin brother was standing there, Chad on his side. I turned my eyes away from Chad quickly, letting them land on my brother instead. Looking at Chad for to long was something that usually resulted in my face becoming a very unattractive red color. He was taller than Nick, but only by a couple of inches. His hair was such a dark brown it could easily be considered black. It had that whole messy thing going, you know the style where it was absolutely all over the place, but it still looked good. His eyes were a sparkling grey color, eyes that grew a darker shade when he was angry-something I had only seen happen once when he was mad at our manager. He had broader shoulders than my brothers, but still had the lean physic, though you could definitely see the muscles hidden under the black t-shirt he was wearing.

"Nothing." Logan said, answering Nick. "We were just joking around."

Nick shot Logan a disapproving look, getting an eye roll in response from his brother. Nick glared slightly, then turned to me. "Hey, Im supposed to take Grace out after school, an end of the school year thing, so I cant take you to work."

"And what about me?" Logan asked, his voice hard.

"I'm sure you can find a ride." Nick answered, not even bothering to look at his brother. I sighed, closing my eyes tightly. I didn't know why my brothers fought so much, but I knew it got annoying.

"I can give you a ride." Chad told me, breaking into the fight that was bound to come by the way Logan was glaring at Nick. "I have to be there at four anyway."

My eyes locked on his. "Thanks, that would be great."

Chad just nodded, looking over his shoulder impatiently. "What about me?" Logan asked yet again.

"I can take you." Anna said, also shooting Nick a glare. "I have the car today."

"That's settled." Nick said, turning and walking toward his girlfriend, Chad behind him.

"How are you twins with that?" Anna asked, her eyes narrowed at my retreating brother.

"I think there was a mix up." Logan told her, nodding solemnly. "I think I was supposed to be her twin and Nick was supposed to be born ten months later. God just missed."

Anna rolled her eyes. I shook my head. I had heard it all before. Lucky for me, Nick didn't hear him this time. That always caused an even bigger argument. It seemed it was the only time Nick wanted to be my twin was when he was arguing with Logan about it.

"Just don't say anything to Nick." I pleaded to Logan. "It's going to be a long summer if you two argue all of the time."

Logan shot me a smirk, "Nicole, we always argue. We can't help it."

"Great."

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That day in choir, all of us just sat around and did whatever we wanted. Our school show choir was actually pretty good. We went to a lot of competitions, got first place in many of them. You had to try-out every year to get in, and it was a mixed class of all years.

As I said earlier, Anna had made it in as a freshman, and also a sophomore, so she had one class with me. At the moment, we were both sitting in the corner of the top riser, talking and laughing. "So, you get to take my brother home." I said slyly, trying to get Anna to admit how she really felt.

She sent me a look that immediately told me she knew what I was doing. "Yeah, I am."

"Maybe you should stop somewhere, go to a movie or something." I said, smiling at her slightly.

Anna rolled her eyes, giving me a smirk. "Nicole, stop trying to set me up with your brother."

"But why?" I questioned. "You like him. Im pretty sure he likes you. What's the problem?"

She shifted uncomfortably, twirling a piece of blond hair around her finger. "You don't know that. Logan and I have been friends for a long time, I dont want to mess anything up."

"I don't think you will." I told her, trying not to smirk at how she had practically just admitted to liking Logan.

She still didnt look convinced. "I'll think about it." She said as the bell rang. We both gathered our things, then went our separate ways.

Chad was waiting for me at the front door. His grey eyes landed on me, and he pushed off the wall and started out the doors, not saying anything. We walked across the parking lot, not saying anything, and finally made it to his car. I slid into the passenger seat, not looking at the guy on my left. He still didnt say anything, starting the car and driving out of the parking lot quickly.

The silence was awkward, but at the same time, normal. This was how it was between us at work. Youd think Id be used to it by now, since wed been working together for almost a year. But I wasn't.

Music suddenly blasted through the car, making me jump in surprise. I saw Chad smile from the corner of my eye, shaking his head. "It's just my phone." He chuckled, taking a small phone out of his pocket. "Hello?" He asked, snapping the phone open.

He was silent for a moment, listening to whatever was being said on the other side. Then I saw him roll his eyes. "I can't. I'm working tonight."

Silence for another moment. "No, I can't call in."

He rolled his eyes yet again as he listened. "Because, it me, Nicole, and the new guy tonight and I'm not leaving Nicole alone."

I blushed, looking out my window. "Yeah, I'm sure."

There was silence for a moment, then I heard Chad let out an annoyed sigh. "Look, I'll go out with you guys after work, okay?" Silence again. "I don't know! We close at eleven, and it depends on how busy it is. We'll get out anywhere from eleven fifteen to midnight."

Silence again. "Okay, bye."

He snapped his phone shut, then sighed yet again as he pulled into the book stores parking lot. "Theresa drives me insane." He told me, obviously annoyed since he was actually talking to me. "I told her at least ten times I wasnt going out with them tonight."

"But you just gave in." I pointed out, a smile tugging at my lips.

Chad rolled his eyes. "It's easier than arguing. Hopefully, well get out late and I wont have to deal with her."

"Hey! I dont want to get out late!" I protested, smirking slightly. "And I'm not going to go slow just so you can avoid your ex-girlfriend."

"I never dated Theresa." Chad said instantly as we walked into the store. "She just likes to say we did."

I rose my eyebrows. "That's kind of pathetic."

He let out a startled laugh. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

We walked into the office, both silent once again. Amanda, our manager, looked surprised to see us together, but she didn't say anything. "I'm so glad I have both of you tonight. She confided. Last night I had Aaron, Chris, and Morgan. We didn't get out of here till almost twelve thirty."

I made a face, while Chad let out a low whistle. "Why did it take so long?" Chad asked, eyes wide.

"I don't know." Amanda said, shaking her own head. "It wasn't even a busy night."

"Is Aaron at register tonight?" I questioned, praying silently. I hated being register. I liked being on the floor, doing re-shelves and helping customers.

"Yes." Amanda answered instantly. "There is no way I'm putting him on the floor. I like it when you two are here. We get done quick."

Chad and I exchanged a look. It was true. When I didnt work with Chad, I never got out of here as fast as I did when I worked with him. But I never got out of here after midnight. Ever.

Aaron walked in only a moment later, leering at all of us. I cringed, taking a step back. The guy really freaked me out. He was twenty-two, with longish brown hair, brown eyes. He was short, only an inch taller than me, and he hit on every female he saw. The very first day he started he had asked me if I wanted to "take a ride".

Chad saw my reaction and let one of his eyebrows raise as he looked at me quizzically. "Chad." Aaron greeted before turning to me, leer in place. "Nicole."

I ignored him, instead turning to find my apron. I never understood why we wore aprons, but whatever.

Chad was beside me instantly, his eyebrow still up. "Was he hitting on you?" He asked me in a low voice.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed at his tone. "He does that. It does happen, you know."

He looked surprised at my reply. "I never said it didn't. I was just- surprised he-"

"You two ready?" Amanda asked, breaking into our conversation. We both nodded. "Okay, go take over for the day shift. Aaron, lets get you a drawer."

Chad and I walked onto the floor, not speaking as we went onto our separate tasks.

When eight-thirty came around, we stared what was called recovery. Both of us stopped what we were doing, and we went to the front of the store and walked down every aisle, making sure all the books were in place, straight, and looked good. This usually took till closing, if not longer, then we had to go and re-shelve all books that customers left behind. And, let me tell you, that could be a hell of a lot of books.

"Recovery time." Chad said, walking up behind me as I sorted through the new arrivals.

I let out a groan, staring at the pile of books I had yet to get to. Chad let out a chuckle. "Come on, you work tomorrow. Get them out then."

I sighed, following him. "Do you work tomorrow?" I asked, praying the answer was yes. I always had a chance of getting more done when he was there. He didnt bother asking me stupid questions and calling me to the registers every five seconds.

"Yeah." He nodded, starting on the first aisle. "Four to close."

"Me too." I said, letting out a sigh. "Who else is it?"

I saw him shrug. "I think Jason's the manager tomorrow." I groaned, fixing books that someone had apparently just set on a shelf. They didn't even go in the section. I let out a sigh and set the books on the floor. We would have to pick them up later when we put all the extra books away. "I hate it when Jason's closing manager." I muttered.

"Me too." Chad agreed, a small smile on his face.

Jason always gave us more to do, even though we each had our own little sections to work on. He would make up random things to get done, which was really hard. I mean, the day crew had all day to do their stuff, all eight hours of their shifts. Night crew only had from four to eight-thirty, then we had to do all the closing crap.

"Who's our third person?" I questioned, hoping it was Jess. Jess always worked register, it was her favorite part. Which worked for me. Plus, she actually helped after closing, putting books away and such. Aaron just kind of stared at us.

"I can't remember." Chad said ruefully. "Hopefully its Jess or Morgan. At least they help- most of the time."

I agreed, but I didn't want Morgan to work. I didn't really like the girl- though I admit she did do her job.

"Hey, is Nick going out with you guys tonight?" I questioned, thinking back to our conversation in the car.

I saw Chad nod. "Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering how I was getting home." I muttered, rolling my eyes. It was just like Nick to forget about me getting home.

Chad smiled, his eyes watching me. "I'll take you."

I frowned at him. "Why would that be better? If you can take me home, why can't Nick?"

"Because Nick is with Grace and Theresa right now." Chad pointed out, that smile still on his face. "And if I take you home, I can beg off and say we had a rough night. It would actually be benefiting me."

I rolled my eyes, but agreed anyway. "We didn't speak the rest of the night."