disclaimer: Yeah I'm not Rick, ok?
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Chapter 1

They say that everything happens for a reason. That everything that happens is meant to be, But at the time, and i'm not trying to be over dramatic here, but I had no idea that a baseball crashing through my window would change my life forever.

June 13, 2012

Moves are supposed to be a good thing, right? New friends and new adventures awaiting you? Well at least they're described as that on the pamphlets my dad gave me and in crappy tween movies. But, I was feeling anything but excitement for "new adventures" as my dad had described this turn of events. It was the summer before senior year and all I really wanted was to hang out with my friends before I'd end up never seeing them again. You know the whole, "We'll keep in touch for about a month and then I'll never call you again" thing.

But I guess it wasn't so bad. I mean, I couldn't really complain. We could have moved into a trailer park instead of the cute and quiet New England neighborhood my dad chose. The house he chose was a two-story, white with black roof, typical suburban home for a family of four. Except, we were a family of two. My dad was one of those people that always got more than he needed.

"It's cute." I said as I got out of the car. My dad frowned up at it as if he was trying to find something wrong with it. "Yeah. I guess so." He replied as the moving truck pulled up behind us.

I sighed, "You're the one who decided we get it!"

"I know.." He shrugged, "It's just the whole fence situation." I looked at the white picket fence surrounding the house. You could hardly call it a situation. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but my dad was a critic so criticizing stuff was kind of his thing.

I picked up my box labeled, 'Katie's Crap.' "Well, we could always fix the fence, dad." I reassured him despite the fact I enjoyed the perfectness of the fence. Maybe it was the slight OCD, but I thought things looked best neat and orderly and perfect.

When we went inside, I noticed the house was stripped bare. It'd take forever to move in all our furniture.. I smiled when I saw that we had a fireplace. That would be so awesome to curl up in an armchair with a cup of tea and absorbed in a book. Well, if it wasn't summer and 80 degrees out..

"The living room is great." I said at about the exact time a baseball hurled through the window. I covered my face even though I was far from the window. I had a habit of flinching like that in gym class when we'd play dodgeball even when the throw wasn't aimed at me. Still, wasn't going to risk the glass hitting and destroying my perfect face! (just kidding, I'm not that self centered. but you get the idea. Glass + eyes = bad.)

"Jesus christ!" My dad yelled. "What the hell just happened?"

I picked up the dirty ball with a disgusted expression. "A ball broke our window."

The ball read Travis 2006 on it in blue marker.

Dad replied dryly, "Already got that.." He swore under his breath and started picking up the shards of glass on the floor. "Watch your step, ok? The last thing I need is to take you to the hospital and have the glass be surgically removed from your foot."

"That was an optimistic thought, dad!"

There was a knock on the door. I opened the door to two tall curly haired teenagers. They looked strikingly alike. Twins, probably.

"Hey this is an awful way to meet our new neighbors, but uh we're here to apologize about your window." The taller of the two said with a sheepish grin.

I shrugged, "Well these things happen, so I guess I accept your apology. But you should probably pay for the damage." They raised their eyebrows and looked at each other, shocked at my response. But seriously, I was not going to pay for their carelessness.

"Katie," My dad called from the living room, "Don't be so hard on them, they're just kids." Was my dad really going to do that? We weren't poor or anything but we just bought the flipping house..

The shorter one perked up, "Actually we're not kids. I'm Connor and I'm sixteen and Travis here is 18." Travis elbowed him and gave a look as if to say, 'not really helping here.'

"Thanks for sharing." I called out to my dad, "See Dad, they're perfectly capable of paying us." I gave a small smile.

My dad limped over. He'd been limping for a month now, always saying it was a bad hip or something. Connor winced. "Me and Travis will make it up to you, I swear. Sorry again for breaking your window Mr.."

"Gardner." My Dad smiled. Why was he being friendly with the devil children who broke our window? "I'm Dan, and this is my daughter Katherine Winifred who isn't as rude as she appears." (True fact)

He gave my shoulder a squeeze and I gave a disgusted look. Like thanks for telling them my hideous full name dad. I hated when people found out my full name, it made me feel like they had something against me now..

"Where do you boys live?" He asked them.

Travis smiled back at my dad. He wasn't hot or anything, but he wasn't ugly either despite his noticeably flawed nose and teeth. He was cute in sort of a scruffy little puppy way. Bottom line, not really my type, but still good looking.

"We live right across the street. My mom will probably end up bringing over a lasagna later."

Connor made a gagging noise, "Don't eat it though, she can't cook at all." My dad laughed. "Thanks for the tip, boys."

After that, the two boys headed back over to their house. Of course we'd end up with teenage boy neighbors. They'd probably have parties and break a few more windows, maybe even blow up a house or two. I shook my head. I was just hoping for a nice and quiet summer.

"They seem really nice." My dad said cheerfully.

Sorry, but I wasn't going to agree with him on that one. I'd expected him to get super pissed over this and maybe leave their mother an angry voicemail. Where was my dad's normally negative outlook on life?

"Did you forget they hit a baseball through our window?"

He shrugged and unloaded a few dishes from a cardboard box. "I used to do shit like that with my brothers all the time. You don't get what it's like to be a boy Katie, you gotta look at it from their point of view."

I went over to help him, since I knew he was going to put it all in the wrong cabinets and our kitchen would look like apes organized it. "Well I wouldn't know. Last time I checked I had girl parts."

"Why are you so agitated about this anyways?" He questioned.

In all honesty, I wasn't even sure. I just got a bad vibe from those boys. Maybe it was the mischievous smiles or the up to no good twinkle in their eyes? "I just don't feel like replacing a window."

"You're like you're mom, you know that right?" He said, which was probably not a compliment. My mother was liked by few, but still one of the most intriguing and beautiful women you'd ever meet.

"So I'm a nagging, fun sucker who cheats on her husband with college students and-" My dad covered my mouth. "Shh, Katie. I know you're not in the best place with your mom right now, but I fell in love with her so you know she couldn't be that bad."

I let out a snort. "Let me guess, it was the endearing way she'd tell you how everything you did was wrong?"

"Definitely that." My dad said sarcastically. "Why don't you go to bed, kiddo. It's been a long day."

I almost went to go up the stairs but then I remembered the time. "Dad, it's six o'clock."

~0~