"This summer has been so boring that I am ashamed. I haven't had any parties or done anything I said I would since this is practically my last free summer! You know what I've done? I've read all my books and watched every movie I own. I'm bound to get butt sores from sitting around all day long! Ugh. What about you?"

My best friend, Kat, giggled and then said, "I've been hanging out with that guy we met at the mall last time. Remember? Well, his name is David. And he's been texting me and found me on Facebook. Eeek! I'm so excited! I—oh! Sorry, gotta go! I'll call you later though!" Then I heard a click.

I hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling from my bed. What a boring life I had! Kat's meeting boys while I was memorizing my entire DVD collection! I needed to get out more. Sigh.

I decided to go see if Aunt Sheryl made food yet. Halfway down the hall I bumped into my brother Albie's best friend, Mitch, who happened to also be Kat's brother. Both Kat and I were about to be seniors, while Albie and Mitch had graduated two years ago.

"Whoa! You get prettier every time I come over here," Mitch said, then winked at me. He said crap like that all the time to me so I just smiled and moved on down the hall to the kitchen. Aunt Sheryl was, in fact, making chili and mac 'n cheese. Since I was so kind and thoughtful, I made my awesome green beans to go with.

Albie and I lived with our Aunt. We didn't know what happened to our parents. We suspected Aunt Sheryl knew but, to protect us, wouldn't tell. Albie and I didn't push it though. We'd had a good life with her. Kat and Match were part of the family too. We're over at each other's houses all the time. I guess ignorance was bliss.

"Oh, thank you for helping out. Trying to make enough food for those boys is tiring! I hope they grow out of it soon!" She laughed. It was crazy how much they ate. I mean, I could eat a lot, but Albie and Mitch were like wild animals!

"Boys, time to eat!" My Aunt called out. Then it was like a stampede rushing out from the hallway. You'd think they were starved!

"So how's work?" She asked Albie.

"Same old, same old… You know, I-I was actually thinking about taking some classes…" Albie said, looking a tad nervous.

Aunt Sheryl looked surprised. "Oh! Well, that's great, Albie!"

"Yeah. Well, I just thought a few classes wouldn't hurt."

I was a little shocked. Albie never acted as if he had wanted to go to college. I mean, it had been clear he didn't want to work at the grocery store for the rest of his life. But I was very glad that he was going to take some classes. The community college wasn't too far from us, so that wouldn't be an issue. I just hoped he would have enough motivation.

"Now you and Mitch can be 'besties' in college," I told him with a wink.

"Har har."

"Yeah, bestie!" Mitch joined in and threw his arm around my brother.

We all laughed and after dinner the boys went back into the man cave and I helped out putting up the dishes.

"Thanks for helping, Jacie. Are you going out tonight with Kat or anything?" She asked.

"Nah. She's ditched poor old me for some guy she met at the mall." Sigh.

"Ah. So… why don't you go find a guy?" she teased.

"Psh! Have you seen the guys around here? Hardly my type." Actually, boy was my type. But I had grown up with the guys at school, so they had kind of lost their luster.

"What about Mitch? He's always seemed to like you."

She had to have been joking. Mitch? Mitch Castell? My brother's best friend and mybest friend's brother? GROSS!

"Ew," I stated simply. "That's so beyond weird. I mean, I guess he's cute and all, but that's so complicated."

"Well, I just threw it out there. How about waiting to see if any new guys show up when school starts?"

Actually, that was what I did every year. I would hope some fantastic new guy would show up and we'd lock eyes and the rest would be history. So far, it hadn't happened...

I told her, "This has been disturbing. I'm going to bed."

I stomped down the hall to my room. It was small and cramped, but it was mine. On my way to the bathroom, I heard something outside. The curious detective in me came out and I had decided to check it out. My Aunt seemed to have gone to bed, so I grabbed a flashlight and some boots and went out the back door. Carefully, I made my way around the side of the house, where I had heard something. I couldn't hear anything anymore, but just to make sure, I turned on the flashlight and checked out the trees behind the house. There was a forest that basically surrounded us, which was kind of scary but almost felt protective. Since I didn't see anything, I went back into the house and went to bed.

...

The next day, I felt like a zombie. I was still weirded out by whatever had happened outside. I would've felt better to find out what had made the noise. Had it been a person? Or just some creature from the woods? We saw deer a lot, so that was a possibility. Hm.

It was raining outside, which was normal. But it had certainly put a damper on the day. In all honesty, I enjoyed the weather. Back when we had lived in Texas, it rained a bunch, but it was never as green as Forks.

I was still thinking about the rain when Aunt Sheryl knocked on my door. I got up and opened it to see her standing with a pack of root beer and a bag of sour patch watermelons. It could mean only one thing—MOVIE TIME! Woo!

"What movie?" I asked excitedly. She always found something for Albie and I to do while stuck inside.

She rolled her eyes, "Albie's turn. Yeah, I know. I told him we can't watch The Departed again. Good movie and all, but after the hundredth time it's just annoying."

Albie stuck his head out of his door and said, "Hey! I promise I'll pick something else, okay? I'm a guy. I like action, guns, and blood."

"I do too! It's just I would rather watch other movies with those things. Not the same one over and over and over again," I reasoned.

"Fine, fine, fine! I give up!" Not five seconds later, he stuck his head out again and said," Well, on second thought, I still want to pick something. Maybe… the Bourne movies?"

I perked up at that. I loved those Bourne movies! Matt Damon was hot and awesome and completely kick-ass!

"AWESOME!" I screamed.

Albie blinked, and then got dressed.

...

The Red Box wasn't far. It was on the "Res," which was only a few minutes away. Once both my brother and I were dressed and ready, we flipped to see who would drive. We had our own cars, but neither of us liked to drive in the rain. Especially on our lazy days. So far I'd had good luck and got to ride for free.

Aha! I won! Albie sighed and took the keys from Aunt Sheryl. It was only drizzling so we got to the car without getting too wet. He blasted the heater on our feet and off we went.

Albie and I were in La Push when I looked out the window and saw movement in the trees. We weren't moving very fast, so I knew it hadn't just been the blur of the trees. I rubbed my eyes and scanned the forest again. I didn't have my glasses on, which were for distance, so it was fuzzy. But I was sure I saw a flash of something. I wondered if it was the thing I had heard the night before. Maybe it hadn't been a deer. Oh, geez! What if it was a bear? Then I saw another flash of something. I was getting hysterical and soon I would be hyperventilating. I felt something brush my shoulder.

"Ack!" I screamed.

Albie looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Dude. What's up with you?"

I sighed. "Nothing. I've always been jumpy." No need to get him worried over what I was sure was nothing.

"Yeah, but—"I cut him off by raising my hand.

"I'm just tired." I rubbed my face of any sleep and then plastered a smile on. "Let's just hope they even have the Bourne movies. I'd hate for you to have to pick something girly."

Albie laughed, then tried to look horrified, but ended up laughing again. We were still chuckling when we got to the Red Box. We agreed on some action-y movies and he let me get one gushy movie. On the way to the car I saw from the corner of my eye a group of guys laughing and messing around. They were totally hot. Tall, dark and handsome—check, check, and check! I glanced back to Albie and he had a sad look on his face. I guess looking at all those guys pal-ing around made him feel lonely. We never hung out with loads of kids. Just us Dylans and the Castells. Albie and I just never got close to other people until we came here and met Kat and Mitch. I didn't regret it, but sometimes seeing other groups of friends made us feel like outsiders.

"Hey. We got movies to watch, candy to maul, and soda to chug," I told him with a laugh. I hated seeing him sad.

He nodded and smiled down at me.

We got in the car and I looked over to that group of guys when one of them glanced at us. I quickly turned away and stared at my hands. Well… that was interesting.

"Heeeere's Johnny!" Albie called out when we got home. Aunt Sheryl waved us into the living room where everything was set up.

"Ta-da! I'm pretty sure this is the best movie day set up I've done so far!" She chuckled.

"Awesome!" Albie and I said in unison.