CHAPTER 1 - "Lauren?"

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"Lauuuureeennnn!" screamed Stacy, opening the front door to Lauren's house, causing her to jump.

"Yes, Stacy?" said Lauren calmly. Her friend was known for her random outbursts.

"Did you see? You have new neighbors across from you!" Stacy lived in the house behind Lauren and loved to find out who was moving in.

"Nope, haven't seen anyone." She said, flipping the pages of the magazine she was reading.

"Well you have to!" exclaimed Stacy, shocked at her best friend's lack of enthusiasm. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll just tell you about them!"

Lauren inwardly groaned, not in the mood for her incessant babbling.

"So from what I've seen there are at least seven of them and I've heard they're from Illinois. Anyways, the hottest one there is a 6 foot sex god! He has muscles made of bronze and his eyes! Oh! His blue eyes!"

Lauren soon zoned out after this and found herself gazing out into her backyard. After a minute or two, Lauren turned back to her friend, half expecting her to be still describing their features.

"And they are just so supermegafoxyawesomehot!" shouted Stacy, running around Laurens house.

Lauren froze. She hadn't heard anyone say that word in over a year when she had moved to California, away from Chicago and far away from Starkid.

"Hellooooooo? Anyone home? LAUREN!" yelled Stacy, waving her hand like a madwoman in front of Laurens face.

"Huh? Uhh, yeah. Hey, Stace? I'm feeling a bit tired, so I'll see you tomorrow yeah?" asked Lauren, not really waiting for a response, and kicking her rambunctious friend out of her house, shutting the door in her face.

Come to think of it, that guy Stacy had described was strangely familiar, but she shrugged it off, heading upstairs for a nap even though it was eleven in the morning. She plonked herself on her inviting bed, welcoming sleep as an old friend. It was all too soon when her phone began blaring an annoying ringtone, signaling it was her friend April.

"Hello?" She asked hesitantly.

"LAUREN? DID YOU FORGET ABOUT LUNCH?" screamed the angry girl. Shit, thought Lauren. "You know what? Forget it. I'm outside your door, open up." She muttered, hanging up.

Lauren heaved herself off her warm bed reluctantly and descended the stairs to open the door.

"I'm gonna go get changed quickly, but make yourself at home." Lauren said, heading back upstairs once again. Once in her unicorn filled room, Lauren grabbed the first thing in her drawer, going to the bathroom to finish up.

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Once she was done, Lauren walked back downstairs only to find not just April, but seven guys, one being blond and built.

New neighbors, crap. She thought, trying to sneak back upstairs unnoticed.

"Oh there she is!" April called. Fuck. "Hey Lauren, come meet your new neighbors."

Lauren turned around slowly, meeting seven eager stares. She nearly died of shock right there and then. She knew them.

"Lauren?" asked a tall, long black haired boy. Joey. She'd know that crooked jaw from anywhere. Lauren yelped and ran back upstairs, hearing footsteps, thundering behind her.

"LAUREN?" shouted April after the freaked out girl. Lauren ignored her and locked her bedroom door, but not before slamming it.

She didn't know what to do. They were the reason she ran away. Well not exactly all their faults; just one's in particular. The same one her friend Stacy had described to her earlier; Joe Walker. She left all her memories, her whole life behind because of him and the way he made her stomach turn in the most pleasant ways with every smile.

"Lauren, open this door dead-goddammit." Joe's voice and pounding fist startled her, causing her to burst into tears.

"Get out of my house, Joseph. All of you just go!" Her voice breaking at the end. She couldn't bear to face them, knowing she left them without as much as a goodbye.

On the other side of the door, was deafening silence. Lauren was obviously not thinking straight because next thing she knew, she was opening the door, only to be grabbed into a tight hug by none other than Joe.

She screamed profanities at her 'attacker', hitting him as hard as she could, crying her eyes out.

"I HATE YOU! GO AWAY!" She screamed repeatedly, not caring how much it hurt him to hear this from her. The boys listened and filed out of her room leaving Joe to deal with the tiny ball of fury. He flung her on to her bed and locked the door behind Brian Rosenthal, a squirrely looking boy.

"Lauren, look at me." When she refused, Joe got on her bed and engulfed her in his arms once again, letting her cry herself to sleep.

"Dammit, Lo! Why do you make everything so difficult?" asked Joe to no one in particular as she was already asleep.

He thanked wizard god that him and the guys decided to move here and find her accidentally. Joe kissed her forehead, and wrapped his arms more tightly around her, suddenly feeling tired himself.

"OMG! What the fuck was all that about?" Asked April, huffily.

"Amy, I think you should leave." Said Darren, a semi-afroed boy, looking at the irritated bleached blond girl.

"It's April. And no. She's my friend. You don't even know her, you weirdoes." She said coldly.

Joey snorted, "I think you'll find that we know her very well, thank you very much, April. Better than you ever will."

"As if."

"Oh my bad, I forgot. You were the one who went and graduated at the University of Michigan with her. Go on vacation with her, sleep over at her dorm, act in plays with her, and go on tour with her. Lived with her. Silly me." Said a brown haired boy who went by the nickname Brolden, sarcastically.

"Thanks, Brolden." Said Darren.

"No problem, man."

"Hey guys? What are we going to do about Lauren?" asked Rosenthal, tentatively.

"Nothing, Ros. This is her house." Explained Joey.

"No duh." Said Dylan Saunders. He and their other friend Nick Lang were only in California to help the guys move.

"Haha. What I meant was that we live right across from a girl we've known for years who ditched us for no apparent reason and just openly freaked on us. I meant as in the fact that she lives right across from us." Finished Rosenthal.

"Well, maybe she had a reason?" Asked Darren uncertainly, looking at Joey who just shrugged. Everyone had been affected by Lauren's absence, especially Joe, who was unconditionally in love with her. She was the one who brought the life to a party and a smile on everyone's face. When she left, Team Starkid fell apart much to their dismay. They just couldn't bring themselves to hat this small girl who brought down a business twice her size, unintentionally.

"How about we ask her for ourselves." Said Joe, appearing at the top of the stairs.

"How is she?" asked Dylan.

"Out cold."

"Oh, well we can wait right?" Asked Brolden to the group.