Boxes

"Somebody call 911!"

The strumming on my guitar stopped as I looked up at my brother with an extremely confused look on my face.

"Shawty found a band aid on the dance floor! Oh whoa!" '…Seriously?'

"First off Zachary, it's 'fire burning' not 'found a band aid' and second, why the hell are you singing that song anyway?" I was about three seconds away from taking my guitar and whacking the back of my oldest brother's head with it.

"It was so quiet I had to do something, plus your guitar was starting to put me to sleep and you don't want to die just yet right?" I really didn't want to so I pouted and just sat back in my seat, defeated.

We had been in Zach's car for the past four hours now and I could have sworn that my back would never recover from this. "Are we almost there?" It was the infamous question that I'd been itching to say for the past hour, my guitar helped sooth my restlessness, but now that I couldn't play it thanks to my brother I'd have to settle with annoying him.

"How should I know? I'm just following Jenny and dad."

"Ugh, this is stupid, why'd we have to drive to Washington? It would have been much faster if we just flew." I needed to be out of this damned car as soon as possible. Glaring at my second oldest brother, Peter, I just couldn't understand how he could fall asleep so easily.

"Dad didn't want to pay extra for someone to take the cars, so we got stuck driving."

Confidence is a must, Cockiness is a plus, Edginess is a rush. Edges I like 'em rough.

"Hello?"

"Hey Annelle baby?"

"Of course it's me Jenny, it is my phone that you called."

"Well anyway, tell your brother to take the next exit and then we'll finally be in Forks!"

"Mkay, bye."

I hung up my phone and gave Zach the directions and picked up my guitar again, trying to think of a song. A smile came onto my face when I finally thought of one that I knew my brother would enjoy as much as I would.

"Just in case they're wondering, they've got us pinned terribly. They don't believe our love is real, cause they don't know how real love feels."

Zach laughed a bit as I started strumming on my guitar and went ahead and sang the next verse. "You should know, it's true, just now the part about my love for you and how my heart's about to bust into a thousand pieces so it must be true and they'll believe us too soon."

I'm guessing our singing and laughing woke up Peter because he took the liberty of singing next. "Baby, its fact our love is true. They way black is black and blue is just blue. My love is true, it's a matter of fact and you love me too, it's as simple as that. Baby our love is true."

We pulled up to a stop light next to a silver Volvo and since our windows were rolled down the people inside of it looked over to see what we were doing. Honestly my brothers and I didn't care if someone was listening to us sing, it just made things more entertaining.

Peter started drumming on the dashboard and I got more into playing my guitar making my black hair somewhat fall over my face. It was my turn to sing so I looked out my window and made eye contact with a very muscular looking man with golden eyes that was sitting in the silver Volvo.

"They may say some awful things, but there's no point in listening. Your words are the only words that I'll believe in afterwards." I smiled brightly at the weird look he had on his beautiful face but I continued singing either way. "You should know, it's true, just now the part about my love for you and how my heart's about to bust into a thousand pieces so it must be true and they'll believe us too soon."

Zach laughed at my foolishness and took over the song, singing at the top of his lungs, making us look even more ridiculous. The light turned green though so we could no longer serenade the people in the Volvo but it didn't really matter. "Baby, its fact our love is true. The way black is black and blue is just blue. My love is true, it's a matter of fact and you love me too, it's as simple as that. Baby our love is true."

We finished off the song with a fit of laughter coming from each of us. I had always gotten along with my older brothers, it was something my parents found odd but were grateful for.

"Hey I think we're here."

I looked up at the sound of Peter's voice and saw that we were in deed here. My parent's car was pulled up in the driveway of our new home. With my dad being the penny pincher that he is I was surprised to see that our house was actually pretty big.

Finally crawling out of my brother's car I was more than happy to grab my guitar and rush into the house. "Wow…" I breathed out. My dad sure had great taste in houses this one was gorgeous.

It looked sort of like a cabin from the outside considering the house was surrounded by trees and somewhat deep in a forest but the inside looked modern and elegant. They entryway simply took my breath away when I first stepped through the door.

There was a staircase that hugged the wall on my left and a little balcony area that it led up to. Above me was a fairly large chandelier and in front of me was a wooden and fogged glass door that I was guessing led outside.

I ran up stairs to claim my room before my brothers could take the best ones. Panting I ran though the hall and threw open a couple doors but didn't really like what I saw in either of them. It was then that I noticed a door at the end of the hall and my curiosity got the best of me.

Opening I saw a somewhat small staircase so I climbed up them. They led to a room that looked like it was designed just for me. "Do you like it honey?"

I turned around and saw my stepmother, Jenny, standing in the doorway. "Of course I do Jenny! It's amazing!" I engulfed her in a quick hug and then excitedly checked out the rest of my room.

One of the walls was a giant window with heavy red and silver drapes to cover it. My bed had grey and white comforters on it and it was fairly large. It had a few accent red pillows on it to match with the rest of my room. There was a canopy above it in sheer white fabric; Jenny new that I had always wanted one.

"Your father and I both know how much you love your music so we placed your room a little ways from everyone else so you can play as much as you want," Jenny said standing behind me and watching me check out my room. "You know, without us telling you to be quiet."

I laughed at her small attempt to be funny and hugged her once more. "Thank you Jenny, I love it." She smiled and left my room most likely to see what my brothers were up to.

Jenny married my dad after my mom died, but I felt no resent against her. She made my dad happy and that's all that really mattered to me.

"Annie come help your brothers with these boxes!" My dad called from downstairs.

I set my guitar on my bed and ran down stairs and saw my brothers already carrying our belongings. Grabbing one of the many boxes that were piled up outside our new house I carried it inside and set it down, not knowing exactly where it belonged or who it belonged to. I headed back outside ready to grab another box but instead I found a group of complete strangers standing outside. "Uhm, hello?" I said with a nervous laugh.

"Hey there, you must be Annelle. I'm Billy Black one of your dad's friends, it's nice to finally meet you." The guy in the wheel chair stuck out his hand for me to shake and I gladly took it with a smile.

"You look so much like your mother." Billy said still smiling a bright and cheery smile.

However, my smile slowly faded as I took my hand back and let it dangle at my side. I felt my dad's large hand on my shoulder but I just continued to stare at the man in the wheel chair. "That's our Annie for you." My dad said, with what I knew to be an extremely fake smile on his face.

I turned around and grabbed a small box that I knew to be mine and silently walked back into the house and straight to my room. Throwing the box on the floor I spotted a long oval mirror hanging on the wall and I walked up to it.

Staring back at me was someone who definitely looked a lot like my mom. Long black hair that curled a little at the ends, only thing was that my mom didn't have bangs like I did. The same slender, tan face with full lips and a nose to perfectly match it. The thing that haunted my family the most was the fact that my mom and I had different colored eyes.

It was like looking at my mom but at the same time it wasn't and it tore me apart every time I saw the smile on my dad's face fade a little when I looked into his eyes. My mom had crystal clear blue eyes, but I had dark grey ones that gradually faded into a piercing gold and I hated them.

Sure they were interesting and looked kind of cool in my opinion, I just wondered where I got them. No one else in my family as far as I knew had eyes like mine. My dad's were hazel, Peter's were a grey-blue, and Zach's were a dark blue. Sighing, I absentmindedly played with the necklace my mom had given me for my sixth birthday. I've had to replace the chain multiple times sense then, but the sentimental value only grew with time.

Glancing down at my outfit I just had to smile at it. I loved my style of clothing. I had on a coral colored baby-doll top, a pair of slightly faded blue skinny jeans, tan and grey boots, a thin tan hooded jacket, and a grey worn leather biker jacket. Of course I had multiple bracelets on and a thin black scarf. It was just my look.

I sighed, blowing my bangs out of my face and turned to sit down on my bed. "Ugh!" I fell back onto my bad, my good mood killed. I honestly didn't know what to say to the guy. I missed my mom so much.

There was a knock on my door and I heard Peter call my name through it. "Hey are you OK?"

"I'm fine Peter," I called.

He opened my door and peaked his head through, his short black hair messy as always. "Jenny says to come down stairs, we're going to have lunch."

I got up off my bed and walked out of my room, shutting my door behind me. "Are those guys going to be having lunch with us?"

"Yeah, Jenny invited them. Plus, dad wants to catch up with what's been going on here."

"This is going to be so awkward." I said, remembering how I just rudely walked away without even saying a proper hello.

"I'm sure it's not going to be so bad Annie." Pete always was there for me and I smiled as he put an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the stairs.

---------

'Pete you're such a liar!'

Every single one of us sat there in utter silence. A fat plate of steaming spaghetti sat in front of me. Now normally I would be dinging into it as if I hadn't eaten in days but the tension around the room made me think twice about that.

Every single curse word that was ever invented ran it's way through my mind as I sunk lower and lower into my seat; I really didn't want to be here right now.

"So, Annelle, your father here tells me that you're excellent at the guitar," Mr. Black spoke up, trying to kill the eerie silence that fell over everyone.

"I'm alright," I said, trying to get the topic switched to anything but me.

"Don't be so modest Annie," my dad said. He then turned to Mr. Black and they chatted about how I've been playing ever since I could walk. I sighed, thankful that the tension in the room was gone and dug into my slightly cool plate of spaghetti. It didn't matter much; Jenny's cooking was the best.