Chapter 1

Cool breezes rustle through the park, leaves blow into the Horton Town Square, and another year begins at Salem High. Within the blue high school walls, crowds of students gather to chat about their fleeting summer adventures and the upcoming school year.

Among these teenagers are a few kids who've spent their entire lives in Salem, for their parents have established some solid roots in this town. Standing next to her open locker, Claire Brady gossips with her friends. But Allie Horton was her cousin. And Ciara Brady was technically her aunt.

"And then we got ice cream afterwards," Ciara was telling her friends as she flipped her long black hair, "it was really sweet."

"Oh, my gosh, Ciara," Allie said shaking her head, "you and Theo are so cute together."

"I know," she replied shrugging her shoulders as much as she could without letting go of the books she was holding. "So Claire…"

"What?" Claire asked not understanding what Ciara was getting at.

"What about you and Parker? Still going strong?"

"Oooo…" Allie teased.

"Oh, stop it," Claire said rolling her eyes and shoving more things into her new locker. "Yes, we survived the summer. Yes, I am still really into him-"

"And yes, he is still cute as ever," Ciara added. She and Allie laughed. Claire smiled in agreement.

"That too," Claire said. She pulled her backpack up onto her shoulder and adjusted the books in her arms. Straightening out, she noticed the other girls staring into the mass of kids swarming around the hallway.

Allie sighed. "You know, this year, I hope I get a boyfriend so I can be as happy as you guys."

"That's ridiculous, Allie," Claire said, "you don't need a boyfriend to be happy."

"Yeah," Ciara agreed. "But if you really wanted to get a boyfriend, now's the perfect time. It's a new year and there are lots of newly single people."

"Yeah, alright," Allie said sarcastically. "Unfortunately my choices are limited cause it's hard to find a single guy that I'm not somehow related to."

Just as the girls start giggling over the truth of that statement, three boys sprint down the hallway passing a football. The stragglers in the hall dash out of the way so that they don't end up with a football mark on the side of their face. And by the way these guys were throwing, that was a definite possibility.

"Whoa! Up high, man!" one shouts as he gestures and reaches his arms up in preparation for the ball.

"Incoming!" another screamed as he wound up, football clenched in his fists.

As the third ran past he shouted, "Interception!" He jumped up to steal the throw but his friend was too fast for him.

"Nice try. Next time, bro."

He sighed and it was at this point that Parker Jonas noticed his girlfriend standing at her locker. "Hey, Claire," he said before he walked over and pecked her on the cheek. Claire smiled as Parker draped his arm around her.

"Hey, boys!" Ciara said to Claire's boyfriend and her other friends, and cousins, Joey Johnson and Johnny DiMera.

"Whoo!" exclaimed Joey as he walked up to the group standing around Claire's locker. "That throw really jacked up my shoulder."

"Oh, yea right, Joey. This hallway's not the gridiron, chump," said Parker.

"Hey, watch it, buddy," Joey warned. "Johnny ran far to catch that one."

Just then, the DiMera in question raced up from down the hall with the football in his hand. "Sup bro," Allie smiled as her half-brother joined his friends.

"Hey guys, what are we talking about?" asked Johnny.

"Your sister wants a boyfriend," Ciara declared.

"Ciara!" Allie shouted in response.

"Wait, really?" asked Parker. "Allie, are you crushing on someone?"

"No." Allie adamantly denied.

Johnny passed the ball over to Joey. "Seriously, sis," said Johnny, "if you are, there are not a lot of guys who we aren't related to. So, we could easily figure this out."

The gang laughed. Allie did too. But she wasn't keen on talking about her love life with her brother so she crossed her arms and gave him a look.

Claire came to her defense. "Actually, Johnny, she was just casually saying in general she wants to be happy like Ciara and I are in our relationships."

"I think that's cool," Joey offered. "It's a new year. A good time for exploring new things. You know, meeting new people.

"We all pretty much have hung out together since we were kids," Claire said.

"Yeah, we've pretty much kept within our little group," Ciara agreed.

"Again," Johnny said, "Because we are all related." This made the group chuckle.

"Well, I'm not related to any of you guys," said Parker. "Thankfully," he added looking at his girlfriend who he was still wrapping his arm around.

Johnny rested his elbow on Ciara's shoulder. "So, what, Allie? Are you sick of us?"

"No!" Allie exclaimed. "All I was saying was kinda like what Joey was saying." Joey smiled and nodded. "Maybe I should try to- I don't know- branch out."

"I don't know, it's a pretty small town," Parker countered.

"Yeah, and some of the people around here aren't that friendly," Johnny said.

"Oh please," Ciara said rolling her eyes. "Salem's a nice town. Most people I know."

"What about the people you don't know?" he retorted.

"Like who?"

Johnny looked around. "Ok, that guy." He jutted his chin out toward someone.

His friends followed his gaze and they spotted the boy that Johnny had indicated. As the boy stood up, they realized that the Salemites, indeed did not recognize him. The stranger had slightly overgrown blonde hair and blemish-free white skin. He wore a scowl that was somewhere between anxiety and frustration. They only had a few seconds to examine his face because he turned and knelt back down to his locker.

"Well, you're right, Johnny," Parker said. "We, who have lived in Salem all our lives, do not know that guy."

"Must be a new kid," said Joey.

"The point is," Parker continued. "How do you know he's not friendly?"

"Well," he began to explain. "I saw him earlier over at the entrance door. And I was throwing the football up in the air when I accidentally dropped it."

"As opposed to you dropping it for a reason?" Ciara said sarcastically raising her eyebrows.

As the girls giggled and Joey high-fived Parker, Johnny rolled his eyes. Then he continued, "Anyway, the ball landed right next to that guy's feet. He definitely saw it. He definitely saw it was mine. But did he pick it up and hand it to me? No."

He shook his head and glared in the boy's direction.

"Aw, he is a new kid, Johnny," Allie defended. "He probably was focused on finding his way around, not giving you your ball back."

"Well, if he wanted to make a friend, he could have done the courteous thing. And then maybe I would have shown my new friend how to get around."

"Like he'd want to be friends with you, you dork," Joey teased.

"Maybe he doesn't like football?" suggested Parker.

"I don't know," said Allie. "He looks like he could be a football player."

Ciara whipped her head to look straight at Allie."Wha-? Allie, you think he's cute?"

"I don't know," she replied. "He seems normal and…decent looking."

"She thinks the new kid's cute!" Ciara squealed.

Allie shoved her lightly to quiet her down. Now everyone was staring at the boy, judging for themselves how good-looking he was. "Allie," Claire said. "You should go talk to him."

"Are you crazy? No." Allie protested.

"Why not?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, he's new," added Joey. "He could use a welcome. And we've established that he doesn't like your brother."

"Hey!" Johnny said.

"No way. I'm too nervous," Allie admitted.

"Well, damn. Now I'm curious about this kid," Joey admitted. "I saw his earlier too and he doesn't seem to be talking to anybody."

Claire tilted her head to get a better look at him from across the hall. "Well, maybe someone should at least say 'hello'" she said.

"Why don't you, Claire?" Johnny suggested although half kidding.

"Maybe I will." Claire stepped out of Parker's embrace and made her way over to the boy's locker on the other side of the hall. He was leaning over so he didn't see her a first.

"Excuse me," she started.

This got his attention. He perked his head up to see the girl standing in front of him. As he straightened up, Claire got a good look at him. Allie was right. He was pretty handsome. He nodded at her as if to ask what she wanted.

"Hi," she said.

"Um, hi," he replied. He didn't look like he really wanted to meet new people. The kid casually leaned up against the lockers. When he tilted his head, some of his loose blonde hair fell onto his face.

"Well, I'm Claire. And you look like you're new, so I thought I'd introduce myself," she said sweetly.

"Well, you guessed correct. It's my first day," he said with a slight grin. "I'm Tyler."

"Hi, Tyler. You know, I've lived in Salem for a long time. Actually I was born here."

"Cool," he said simply.

Claire expected that he'd say something about himself, but he didn't. So, she just continued, "Yeah, I moved away with my parents when I was little, but obviously we returned and settled down here."

"Must be an okay town if you wanted to come back."

"It is. Did you just move here?"

"Uh- well- uh," he started. Claire didn't think it was that difficult a question. "Yeah, I just relocated."

"Oh, how come?"

Tyler clenched his teeth. Standing up straight and turning back to his locker, he said, "Look, it was for…personal reasons and …I really don't wanna get into it."

"Oh, okay," Claire said apologetically. "Well, where were you living before?"

"Hey," he said sharply. "Didn't I just say it was personal stuff?" His tone was harsh and it silenced the girl. "Look, Clara-"

"Claire," she corrected.

Tyler raised his eyebrows at her. "Claire. I don't mean to be rude. But it's my first day and I should really get going." With that, he grabbed his bookbag, shut his locker loudly and walked past her.

Throughout this entire interaction, the gang had been watching from across the hall. They saw the new kid walk away from Claire as she made her way back to her friends.

"What was that all about?" Parker asked as soon as Claire rejoined them.

"Did you find out anything?" Ciara prodded.

Claire sighed. "Well, his name's Tyler. But that's all I got out of him."

"What a jerk," Johnny stated. "you were talking to him and it looked like he just walked away from you."

She shrugged. "Apparently he didn't want to talk about moving to Salem."

"Maybe he just didn't want to talk," Allie suggested softly.

"Well, there you have it," Parker declared. "We tried making new friends, and widening our circle and it didn't work out."

"I guess us, Salemites, should stick together," Claire surmised.

"Us-family-should stick together," added Allie.

To be continued...