SAMMY KEYES

"Sweetie. Time to wake up," my mom said, shaking me gently.

"I'm too lazy," I said rolling over on my side. It was Saturday and I was too tired to get up.

My mom got up and left the room and waited for me to wake up. I got up ten minutes later and got dressed.

You may be wondering who I am. My name's Kimmy but I hate that name. Well, it's better than my full name. I have brown hair and green eyes and I'm really short. I hate being short. Anyway, my life's changed dramatically in just a few months! My parents are divorced and my dad moved to the UK. While my mom took me and moved to a town pretty close to the one we live in now, Santa Martina. My mom met this guy named Warren Acosta like three months ago and they just got married like three days ago! And now my mom and I have moved into his house with his son, Casey.

Casey's actually a pretty cool stepbrother. We have a lot in common, like we both like skateboarding, riding bikes, music, that sort of stuff. I've started to teach him guitar and I gave him my old acoustic guitar. I've been playing guitar for the last three years and I named one of my electric guitars (my Fender stratocaster) BJ, after Billie Joe Armstrong, guitarist and lead singer of the band Green Day. They're my favorite band. Oh, and I named my other guitar (my Fender telecaster) Casey. Wait! That sounded odd, didn't it? I know what you're thinking and no, I didn't name it after Casey my stepbrother. I named it after Casey Calvert, screamer and 1 guitarist of the band Hawthorne Heights. They're my second favorite band.

Now, Casey and I may have a lot in common but that's not the case with his sister, Heather, and me. I hate her! She's mean, stuck up, and thinks that she's popular! She makes fun of anyone that wears high-tops, which would be me. I've gotten in trouble before for punching her. Casey always sticks up for me around Heather so that's another reason why he's a cool stepbrother. I'm kind of nervous about going to school on Monday. Heather's most likely was going to be in most of my classes. I'm in seventh grade and still twelve. I'm not going to be thirteen for another four months! Heather also has to go on about how she's one year older than me. She thinks that just because she's thirteen and I'm still twelve that she can control me! Too bad Casey's fourteen and in eighth grade.

I walked downstairs and saw my mom and Casey in the kitchen. Casey was sitting at the table and my mom was busy making breakfast. Oh great! She was making us eat as a family! I usually just grab a pop tart and go up to my room. I sat next to Casey at the table and said, "Morning Casey." Casey was the only other person in the house because Warren was at an audition. He's an actor. Well, Casey is too but for now he's only really in plays with his dad or he does school stuff.

"Morning Kimmy," he told me and smiled. If you know Casey Acosta, you know that he smiles almost constantly! I think he stops smiling only when he's around his wacky sister and mom. Seriously, if it weren't for their red hair, you'd never know that Casey and Heather were related! Well, Casey actually has reddish brown hair while Heather has bright red hair. I wonder why Warren and Candi (Casey and Heather's weird mom. She scares me because she acts just like Heather!) ever got married!

My mom brought a plate of pancakes to the table and sat down. We ate in silence for a minute before my mom tried to start up a conversation. She asked me, "So, sweetie. You excited about school on Monday?"

I was tired so I just yawned and said, "No."

Casey laughed and said, "You're not an morning person, are you?"

"Yep. I hate getting up early!" My mom and I are really different. She's a lot girlier and she wakes up much earlier than me.

My mom turned back to Casey and asked him, "So what's your school like?"

Casey thought for a minute before saying, "Well, there's not really a whole lot to say about William Rose Junior High. It's just a normal school." He thought for a few more seconds and then continued, "Well, I guess the students aren't exactly normal."

"I'll fit in great!" I said. Most people think I'm really weird. And that's true too.

My mom asked Casey another question. She asked, "Casey. What're your friends like?"

"I don't really hang out with anyone. My best friend used to be Taylor Briggs but it turns out that he's a drug addict so we stopped hanging out."

I thought about that. Casey used to be friends with a drug addict! Scary! Well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about Taylor if he and Casey didn't hang out anymore.

Casey was talking again. "Hey! I know that Kimmy's gonna be new and all but I already know that she'll get along with one of my friends!"

"Who?" I asked curiously.

"Sammy! You two have a lot in common!" Casey told me about Sammy and I swear that he was grinning the whole time! Is it just me or does Casey Acosta have a little crush on Sammy Keyes? Hmmm. I wonder. Casey's not very good at hiding this kind of stuff. Anyway, it turns out that Casey was right! Sammy and I did have a lot in common. That's kind of a first.

After breakfast, I went back up to my room and fell asleep until about noon. That's the usual time for me. After I got up, I decided to play guitar. I took out my guitar, BJ, and started playing.

As soon as I finished "Hitchin' A Ride" by Green Day, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" I called.

The door opened and Casey stepped into my room. He grinned and said, "Hey Kimmy!"

"Hey Casey. What're you doing here?"

"Your mom just told me to tell you that I'm gonna have to watch you tonight. Your mom and my dad are going out."

"Okay," I said. Since Casey's older, he always ends up being in charge when my mom and Warren go out. I was glad that Casey hadn't said babysitting because he's only two years older than me. "Thanks for not saying babysitting."

He shrugged and said, "Your mom said I'd be babysitting but that didn't make much sense 'cause I'm only two years older than you." He grinned and added, "And I'm like two feet taller!"

I laughed and threw a pillow at him while I said, "Shut up Casey!"

He caught my pillow and threw it back. He laughed, "Well it's true!"

He had a point. He is like two heads taller than me because I'm so short. Man, I hate being short! I put my guitar away and asked Casey, "Why are you always right?"

"I'm just smarter," he replied with a grin.

I snorted, "Yeah right!"

"I'm just stating the facts," my stepbrother said with a shrug. "Well, I'm gonna go back to my room." He walked out the door.

I got up from my bed and turned on my CD player. I put on a Bayside CD and flopped down on my bed.

At around 7 o'clock, Warren and my mom went out for dinner. My mom said, "Okay. Well, you guys be careful, you know how to contact us. We'll be back before ten and I made macaroni and cheese." Casey and I grinned because we both put salsa in our macaroni and cheese. I didn't even know that anyone else did that but Casey's weird when it comes to food. Well, I am too but Casey's come up with better stuff. Anyway, my mom thought of something else to say. "Oh and Kimmy, listen to Casey. Casey, Kimmy's bedtime is nine thirty."

Casey and I smiled at each other and rolled out eyes when my mom wasn't looking because one- my mom was being totally overprotective as usual and two- Casey always lets me stay up late! And Warren knows about it! Sweet, huh? My mom gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then she walked out the door with Warren following her.

When Casey and I heard our parents drive off we raced each other to the kitchen. I won because I got a head start. I got the salsa out of the refrigerator and Casey got the plates and mac 'n' cheese. We sat at the table and mixed in the salsa. My mom thinks that putting salsa in macaroni and cheese is just plain disgusting but it's good! I've also been known to put ketchup in my mac 'n' cheese. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Gross! But it's actually really good!

After Casey and I finished eating, we just sat at the table until I said, "So, what od you wanna do now?"

Casey shrugged but then said, "Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure!" I followed Casey to the living room and the first thing I saw was the Star Wars trilogy on DVD. "STAR WARS!"

Casey picked it up and asked, "Wanna watch it?"

I nodded like crazy so Casey laughed and put it in the DVD player. I walked back into the kitchen to make popcorn. I walked back into the living room about three minutes later with the popcorn and sat down next to Casey on the couch. He hit play and my favorite movie of all time started. I really got into the movie. I started saying all the lines. Surprisingly, Casey just looked at me and then went back to watching the movie. Most people would tell me to shut up.

About halfway through A New Hope I got kind of hyper and threw a piece of popcorn at my older stepbrother.

He said, "Hey!" And then he threw a bunch of popcorn at me. This started a huge popcorn fight! We completely forgot about the movie and just tried to avoid popcorn. I ended up hitting Casey more than he hit me! Sweet!

After about fifteen minutes, the living room was a mess! I said while still laughing, "This is gonna take a while to clean up!"

"Better get started!" Casey said with a grin.

Casey and I cleaned up our mess and then went back to watching the movie. At around nine thirty, Casey pointed out that our parents would be home soon and I was supposed to be asleep. I got ready for bed and then listened to music until I fell asleep. I heard my mom come in to see if I was asleep. She didn't even suspect that I was up later than I was supposed to! This is how it usually is when Casey and I are home alone. And Warren's the only adult that knows about it. He hasn't told my mom because then she'd probably ground me. When my mom and Warren got married, I thought that it would be too much change for me but now that I think about it, all the changes that I've had to make haven't been as bad as I expected.