Chapter 1

Dust stirred up in the stale air as I plopped a duffel bag down on the mattress of the double bed in front of me. The room smelled heavily of sawdust and paint primer. I made my way to the bay window that looked out onto the backyard that was nothing but field. Kneeling on the wooden bench I yanked open the large window with great effort. Warm summer air and sunshine poured in. A slight breeze lifted my auburn hair off my shoulders. I sighed, content with breathing the fresh air. I'd never lived in such a small town before. But my mother had been so excited about moving into the new house with her new husband. My stepdad. I cringed. They had dated for years but I'd never connected with Walter. And he'd never taken much of an interest in me.

Though I had agreed to making the move with them because the few friends I'd had back home would be going away to college soon anyway. And lucky for me this small town of Otterbrook Township had a community college I could enroll in in the fall. I knew I should've planned ahead more for after high school but graduation had come so quickly only a few weeks ago. I'd never been the scholarly type anyway.

Of course there was the other reason I had agreed to move. I felt a chill run through my body. To get away from him.

"Knock knock!" My mother chimed, peeking through the oak door. I turned in her direction, still kneeling on the bench seat.

"Hey you," she said sympathetically, recognizing my expression. "What do you think of the new room?"

"I like it." I nodded, it wasn't a lie, it was nice; just very plain. I would have to make it more homey.

"Good!" She jumped a little,causing the messy knot her hair was in to fall slightly. "You can finish unpacking later, how bout you go out and check out the scenery! I think the neighbors are having a garage sale, maybe go check it out." She suggested.

The house closest to us was a short walk away. Not like the cookie cutter houses all in a row I was used to. The air smelled of fresh cut grass and gravel. And it was quiet. Very quiet. No cars in sight coming down the dirt road.

I walked up the neighbors drive way to find I was the only person visiting the yard sale. I poked around for a while, wondering where anyone was. There didn't appear to be anything of great value. Some toys, dirty lawn equipment, a few odd trinkets, and some old bicycles.

I paused by the bikes. It might be nice to have a bike to get around town, I thought. Since I unfortunately didn't have a car. I sighed. I ran my finger tips across the handle bars of the baby blue ten speed bike.

"That bike's in great shape."

I jumped and gasped at the sound of a voice. I didn't even hear anyone walk up behind me.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The boy said apologetically, staring at my wide eyed expression. I didn't do well being snuck up on. And for good reason.

"Its okay, I just um-," I mumbled. "Didn't hear you coming."

"Oh are you thinking about getting the bike?" He asked cheerfully, leaning in to pat the seat. "It's a great bike, my mom's had it for years and it's never even rusted or-..." He kept talking, but I wasn't listening fully. His blue eyes were so bright against his tanned skin, I couldn't stop looking at them. Very distracting. In fact I was so preoccupied by them that I didn't notice when his mouth stopped moving, and he was waiting for me to say something back.

"Um, yeah I'll definitely take the bike." I said awkwardly, looking down at my gray converse shoes that were now dirty from the gravel road.

"Okay cool, its twenty." He smiled a heart-breakingly beautiful smile. Again his sun-kissed skin made his white teeth stand out in contrast. A little dimple appeared on his left cheek. As I reached in the pocket of my jean cut off shorts for a twenty he squinted slightly at me, and ran his hand through is dirty blond hair.

"I don't think I've ever seen you before." He said it almost as a question. "I thought I'd seen everyone in Otterbrook"

"Oh, no you haven't seen me." I extended the twenty dollar bill. "I just moved here, right there." I pointed to my house. His bright blue eyes seemed to become even brighter. His lips twitched up into a smile, revealing the one dimple again.

"So we're neighbors." He said, slipping the twenty into the pocket of his tan cargo shorts and extending his arm out again. "I'm Spencer. It's a pleasure to meet you."

His politeness took me off guard. I couldn't remember the last time someone introduced themselves so formally. "I'm Amelia, it's nice to meet you too." I smiled, and shook his hand. His hand was strong and warm against mine.

"Pretty name." He commented, still holding my hand. This caused me to blush a deep red color and I looked down at my dirty shoes again.