Chapter 1: First Meeting

Vikki POV

I'm sitting in the Palm Woods lobby with my agent. Today I get to meet Ms. Knight's kids. Though I've already met her daughter Katie, I'm a little freaked about meeting her son and his best friends who Ms. Knight considers as her sons. As you will come to find out I don't like boys or men. Not because of cooties or anything like that, but because my past.

"Vikki, quit fretting. It's going to be ok. Trust me." Miranda, my agent, says. She knows I'm freaked because this is the first time in 5 years that someone has picked me. I watch the people pass through.

"Here they come." Miranda looks me over to make sure I look presentable. She stands and gestures for me to.

"Vikki. How are you?" Ms. Knight asks with arms wide open. She walks right up to me, and gives me this warm motherly feeling hug. It's a new feeling.

"I'm good. And you?"

"Oh, I'm ecstatic."

"Hey, Vikki." Katie waves. I wave back.

"Are you all set for your week with the Knight's?" Miranda asks, and hands my bags to me.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Ok. Have a good time." She shakes my hand, and says goodbye, then leaves. I turn to Katie, and Ms. Knight.

"Let's go drop your stuff at our room, we'll introduce you to everyone, and show you around. Katie help her with her bags." Ms. Knight rambles. I only had two backpacks, but I let Katie take one. Katie and I got along all ready. When we met she was real nice, and she was really happy with the thought of getting a sister. We walked to apartment 2J.

"We are working on setting up a room for you with Katie. Unfortunately, the stuff hasn't arrived. So we'll get one of the boys to sleep on the couch."

"I can sleep on the couch. I even prefer it." I say. I was not about to stay in a boys room.

"Are you sure?" Katie asks.

"Yes." Katie sets my stuff my the couch.

"Well, mom is going grocery shopping so it's just us. What do you want to do?"

"What do you normally do?"

"Let's see there's the pool, terrorizing Mr. Bitters, basically anything you can think of. We can go swimming until lunch, then come back here to eat, the boys should be here by then, and you can meet them. What do you think about that?"

"Sounds cool."

"Ok. You can change in the bathroom, then I'll go after you." Katie points me to the bathroom. I grab my bag of clothes that Miranda go me just for here. She got me brand new clothes. I have a black and hot pink polka-dotted bikini with a completely black mini-skirted bottom. I brushed my hair, and braided it back. I walk out, and feel very self conscience.

"Wow. You look great." Katie goes into the bathroom. I remember that Miranda said that I could wear that white sundress over my bikini. So I dig through the bag, and slip it on. Katie comes out with a orange one piece, and matching flip flops. That reminds me to put mine back on.

"All set?" She asks.

"Yeah." We walk out the door.

"So, what do the boys do?" I ask.

"They are rock stars. Today they are recording a new song."

"Are you serious? Your brothers are rocks stars?" I ask again.

"Yeah. Why would I lie? Oh. There's the pool." Katie points excitedly. She takes off running, and jumps in the pool.

"Come on in, Vikki." Katie shouts. I set my stuff down, and get in the pool. We swim for a while, then we sit in the the lounge chairs to dry off.

"Oh. Look there goes the guy's girlfriends. Jo, Sam, and Stephanie." Katie points.

"They're really pretty." I say. She stands up.

"It's about 11:45. Let's go on up, and change." We get our stuff together. We walk into the lobby, and see a crowd of people. Then a boy screams, and a shopping cart flings past us. The cart crashes, and the boy laughs. Katie rolls her eyes.

"That's Carlos. He's using his shopping cart sling shot." I look around, and see three other guys.

"That's Logan, James, and Kendall. Kendall is my real brother."

"Boys! I go to get groceries, and you can't break something for ten minutes. Come on. I'm fixing lunch." Ms. Knight herds the boys.

"Come on." Katie tugs my sleeve, and we run up the stairs. We go ahead in, and see the boys on the couch.

"Where have you been, Katie? Who's your friend?" Kendall asks.

"Um. Guys, this is Vikki. We might be adopting her." Ms. Knight comes over to us. She puts her hands on my shoulders. They stare at me like I had AIDS.

"Oh. Haha. Good one, Momma." Kendall laughs.

"I'm not joking. She's spending the week with us. Isn't it exciting?" Ms. Knight smiles brightly. She goes back over to make lunch. I stand there like an idiot, clueless what to do. I sit beside the couch, and watch whatever they're watching. The boys talk to each other, but not to me. Kendall stands up, and walks over to his mother. They have a little talk, and I feel bad. He gives a sigh, and walks over to me.

"Hi, I'm Kendall. Nice to meet you, Vikki, is it?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you." I stand up, and shake his hand.

"My friends can introduce themselves." He sits back down, and I continue to stand.

"I'm James." James stands up, kisses my hand, and smiles. I give little smile in return.

"I'm Carlos." He shakes my hand eagerly.

"I'm Logan." Logan shakes my hand. They all sit back down, and I feel a light blush cover my face. I look over at Ms. Knight. She smiles at my blush, and ushers me to sit back down. The show they were watching went off, they cut the TV off, and started chatting.

"So, Vikki, what's your favorite TV show?" Katie asks to bring me into the conversation.

"I'm not allowed to watch TV at the orphanage." I blush this time in embrassment.

"No. TV. Allowed." Carlos looks like he could faint.

"That's horrible." James says.

"Lunch." Ms. Knight calls out. It's was like a title wave of boys. They all ran to the table. I take a seat between Katie and Carlos. Dinosaur shaped chicken and french fries.

"So boys, I want you to show Vikki around. Introduce her to everyone." Ms. Knight says. They look at each other, and smile deviously. We finish lunch, and the guys go back to their rooms. When they come back out Kendall and Carlos run out the door, and Logan and James escort me around Palm Woods.

"I bet you want to see where we record, don't you?" James asks.

"Sounds cool." We walk and they show me the sights, but when we walk in they usher me in first. I step in, and I get white paint poured all over me. I see Kendall, Carlos, Logan, and James all slap high fives and laugh. I knew from the beginning that I wasn't welcome, but this pushed it. People walk by laughing, and pointing. I take off running back to the Palm Woods. I run up to apartment 2J. Ms. Knight is doing Katie's hair. I go jump in the shower, and get clean clothes. Jeans and a tee shirt.

"What happened?" Katie exclaims. I don't talk about it. I just sit there, but when the boys walk in I barge past them, and run down the stairs. I go to the pool, and sit on one of the fancy chairs. I pick up a magazine and flip through it. I move to the little fire pit to keep warm. I pull my knees close to me, wrap my arms around them, and stare at the fire. I'm down here past sunset. Hardly anyone is at the pool. I look up when I see four figures on the other side of the fire, but quickly hide my face.

"Vikki, we were jerks. No we were big jerks." Kendall sits down next to me.

"We didn't mean to embarrass you. We didn't think about what it would do to you." Logan sits on my other side. James sits on the other side of Kendall, and Carlos on the other side of Logan. The look at me, but I stare at the fire.

"Can you forgive us? We feel really bad." Carlos says.

"We understand if you don't." James moves to sit in front if the fire, but faces me. He reaches his hands up, and holds my hands so I have to look at him. I close my eyes. Immature, I know, but I've been hurt before.

"We didn't know about... your past." Logan says, and puts one hand on my back. Which I don't like. And being surrounded by guys doesn't help.

"I forgive you." I say. They all reach around me, and give me a hug. This is what normal people do.

"Thanks." They all say.

"How about a late night swim?" Kendall asks.

"Sure." They jump in the pool fully dressed so I follow their lead. We play until 1:30 in the morning. Then we dry off, and drag up to the apartment.

"Goodnight, Vikki." The boys say, and go to their rooms. I get into my PJs on, and go to sleep on the couch. The first day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.