Chapter 1
I remember it like it was yesterday. The day that can't be expressed in words alone...
I was walking home with my little brother Kenny from my friend Jenna's house. It was only two blocks away, so I didn't see the point in bothering my mom into driving two blocks just to pick us up. We could walk home in less time than it would have gotten her to get in the car and start it anyway.
Before I say anything else, I should probably mention who I am. My name is Lindsay Kaye Johnston. I live in Alton Valley, Nebraska, and have a little brother whose name is Kenny. My mom and dad are good people who work their butts off to give us kids everything we could ever want (and I have the laptop and iPod to prove it!). I am a junior at Alton Valley High School, and my friends are amazing!
Anyways, as I was saying, we were walking home from Jenna's house. I could walk to and from her house blindfolded, no problem, because I had taken the same route since I was seven. But one thing is for sure, I never in a million years expected what happened that warm May Day, to happen.
Kenny was chattering away about the rocket ship he and his friend Timmy were going to make. "It's going to be green with blue paint dots all over it, Linds! It's going to be SO cool," he was saying. "Uh-huh. That's cool..." I replied only halfway listening to what he was talking about."LINDSAY! Are you listening to me??" Kenny yelled. I nodded my head. He was content with that so he went on talking again.
The next thing I know, Kenny wasn't by my side. He had seen his friend Benjamin next door and started playing with him. I didn't really care, I was in no hurry. But then I saw him. He was cute. He was tall. He was looking at me, smiling. Now I don't know how other girls respond to really cute guys with perfect, white, straight teeth smiling at them, but personally, I smile back. Benjamin's mom came outside. "Why hello, Lindsay and Kenny, how are you two today?" We exchanged hellos and got to talking. Mrs. Phillips pointed to the boy across the street. You know the one that was smiling at me? "That's our new neighbor, Jameson. I believe he is a junior like you, Lindsay." Jameson waved at us. We waved back. He started across the street to say hello. "Hey, I'm Jameson." he said.
OH MY GOODNESS HAVE I MENTIONED THAT HE WAS CUTE?!?!?!?!?
"Now, Jameson, Lindsay here is in your grade. You are going to be attending the local high school, correct?" Jameson nodded. I know this sounds weird and all, but I swear I saw him wink at me! When a cute guy winks at you, what does every normal girl do? BLUSH!!! Oh my goodness, please say he didn't see me turn red!!!! Of course, Mr. Observant notices everything though! It was super EMBARRASSING!!!
Jameson chuckled. I blushed more. OH GOODNESS! Come on, Lindsay, pull it together! You've talked to guys before! I kept thinking to myself. "Lindsay?" Mrs. Phillips said my name and I snapped back into reality. "Oh, hi, I'm Lindsay. I live next door." I pointed to the house next door. I thought about that moment about a thousand times after, and replayed it in my head, thinking about how much of a little kid I looked like at that moment. But did I think about then? NOPE!
Jameson looked at me with a sideways grin. I stood there awkwardly until Mrs. Phillips smiled at us and said, "Well, I think I'll leave you two alone then... Have fun!" Oh great. My backup was leaving me alone with Jameson. Can I say awkward?
"So..." I started, "when did your family move in?" "Well, yesterday was our first official day in the neighborhood, but I visited the school and stuff last week. I really like it." Jameson said, smiling of course. I didn't see him the school! WHY HADN'T I SEEN HIM?!? For all I knew, Lanie had already claimed him. I somehow managed to hide my emotions as I said "Oh, did you meet any of the kids?" He nodded his head. "I just met some of the guys, that's all though."
I swear I felt a ten pound weight getting lifted off my back. I stood up straighter and smiled. "My mom said that she wanted to have your family over. She asked me to ask you." I said looking down at the text message I had just gotten.
"Oh, obviously your mom hasn't met Max and Gracie yet," he said laughing. He must have seen the totally confused look on my face because he said, "My twin siblings... they are six so they are not exactly... calm?" He volunteered. I pointed to Kenny. "I know the feeling."
We had a mutual agreement. Siblings, little ones specifically, were annoying. Of course, all older siblings know that, but it still felt good to know that he was on the same page I was! Personally, I would rather have a 7year old sibling than a 4year old, but that's beside the point.
"What time is dinner?" His words caught my attention again. "Umm. Probably six thirty, but I'm not sure. Let me check." A text back confirmed that dinner would indeed be at six thirty. He ran home and told his mom who said she couldn't wait to meet the neighbors.
We talked for a while longer. He asked me about the school. I told him to be careful in Mr. Calbert's class, because he spits, that Miss Kingsly is really strict so he might not want to goof off or do ANYTHING wrong or she'll get ticked off and give him detention for a month (I know! Chewing gum once is SOO not worth a month's detention!) And I told him that Mrs. Forester is the only normal teacher in the school. He laughed. "And I thought my old school was bad!"
Yea, that's right. He spent one day at my school, and he already knows it's screwed up! It's kind of sad, actually, when you think about it… But hey, that's how my school is. Hate it or love it, it's not changing for anything!
We talked and laughed for what seems like 10 minutes, before Kenny started teasing us. He was singing "Lindsay and-- What's your name???—sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Jameson started laughing when Kenny asked what his name was. It would have been funny if Kenny wouldn't have been completely humiliating me! But Jameson somehow found is humor funny. How? I will never know…
I mean, don't get me wrong. I love my little brother. He can always cheer me up when I'm upset or sad. But for a 17 year old guy to laugh when a 4 year old little boy says that the aforementioned 17 year old guy and the 4 year olds sister were in a tree making out isn't exactly normal, if you know what I mean.
The teasing went on for about 5 minutes before my mom came outside and told Kenny to shut his trap or he's regret it later. I swear I could have kissed my mother's feet I was so relieved! "Hey Linds. Why hello. You must be Jameson Laden. I'm Mrs. Johnston, Lindsay's mother." She said, extending her hand. "I was just on my way over to your house to give your mom some cookies and invite her to dinner tonight." When Jameson told her that he had already let his mom know, she waved the fact away. "I always tell people when they are invited over, even if others do also. That way I know they get the invitation." My mom said. Oh, my goodness! I swear I could have died of embarrassment. First, an annoying kid brother, now Miss perfect for a mother?! I knew Jameson was going to think I was a freak, which is, ya know, great if he likes girls that have insane families, but I honestly don't think he was one of those kinds of guys…
As soon as my mom walked away, I felt compelled to apologize for her. "Sorry about that." It felt good to get it out of my system. "I know the type." He said as he pointed across the street to our mothers who were making their way into the Laden family home.
Make that two things in common.
*~~~*
Later that day, I was talking to my friend Olivia, when somehow guys got brought up.
"Oh, Linds, did you see the cute new guy last week? He came in for orientation."
"Who?" I asked.
"I think his name was Jameson or something like that."
"Oh, do you mean Jamie, my new neighbor?" I asked with a huge smile painted across my face.
"He's your neighbor???" Olivia practically yelled into the phone.
"Mhm, I have the best view in the world!" I said, looking across the street at Jameson in his tee shirt with the sleeves torn off totally showing off his biceps.
My mom is kinda famous for her "welcome to the neighborhood" dinners, so I wasn't surprised at all when I heard Olivia ask when dinner was. I just told her to not worry about it because my mom would never let her come anyway. Olivia knew it was true, so she dropped the subject.
*~~~*
At six sharp my mom yelled for me to get ready. SHE MADE ME PUT ON A SKIRT!!! No offense to all of you who like them at all, but I would MUCH rather have gone in the skinny jeans and camisole I was wearing before! But nope, I had to get dressed up. I mean, jeez, even a JEAN skirt is dressy for me! Luckily I didn't have to put on a fancy shirt or I think I might have died. Seriously! I am not even exaggerating!
Anyways, the Laden's got there at six twenty-five, just in case their clocks were behind (I know, what kind of excuse is that???). Mom had made Lasagna and breadsticks, which she only makes on special occasions and it's really good, so I couldn't complain TOO much about the skirt. It's weird, somehow at the 9 seats at the table, Jameson and I somehow ended up sitting next to each other. It's almost like that's how mom planned it, but she's not the match making type if you know what I mean. He looked at me. "Nice skirt." He said. "You think I wanted to wear it???" I asked back. He chuckled and we went back to eating.
The evening wasn't too completely humiliating! I was surprised! My dad didn't actually pull out my entire Straight "A" report card collection like he usually does! And my mom didn't talk about how Kenny learned how to read when he was 2! I swear it was a miracle! I honestly, hand on the Bible, could! I was in awe as to how... normal my parents were being!
My parents invited the Laden's to come to their book club. Ok, cool, my parents are going to hang out with them. They'll leave me alone more, right? Then I thought about the naiveté of what I just thought. Of course, I wouldn't be left alone! I would be doing one of two things: A) Get stuck babysitting for Kenny, or B) Get stuck going with my parents… I didn't know which was worse… really, it was THAT BAD!!!! I figured that if I just took it one day at a time, I would be okay and it wouldn't get too overwhelming.
Chapter 2
Beeeeeeppppp!!! The sound of my alarm woke me up. Oh, great! School. BLAAAAH!!!! I thought in my head. I put the pillow over my head and hit the snooze button. I heard a knock on the door to my room. "Oh, Lindsay, time to get up for school." My mom sounded WAY to awake for six in the morning. "I'm up, I'm up." I groaned. I looked at the outfit I had picked out the night before: A green Aeropostale shirt, a black zip up sweater, black skinny jeans, and white flats. Sensible, but nice, just the way I liked it. I got dressed and turned on my iPod. I flipped through the songs until I found the one I was looking for, and put the headphones in. I was dancing around my room when Kenny walked in. He pointed at me and started laughing hysterically. I turned off my iPod and started yelling at him. "Kenny, you little idiot, you little twerp, you…" mom cut me off before I could say anything else. "LINDSAY KAYE JOHNSTON! YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW AND TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!" she hollered over me. "That boy," I pointed my finger at Kenny, "walked into my room when the door was shut, and started laughing at me." I could barely control my anger. I swear, if my mom had come any later than she did, I might have killed him. It's not even like this is the first time it happened either! But did my mother yell at him??? NOPE!!! All she did was tell him not to do it again! My little brother walks into MY room and I get yelled at. That's just not right… Seriously though.
I grabbed a granola bar and an apple for breakfast, and headed out the door to wait for the bus. I had my iPod on again, and didn't even realize that my friend Kenna had walked up until I got a text that said "Look next to you." I started laughing really hard. Oh, goodness, you should have been there! It was hilarious! I took off my headphones. "Hey Kenna! Long time!" She had gone to Italy for a week and a half with her family, and in 'girl' time a week and a half is ETERNITY so it really HAD been a long time! She had this AMAZING TAN! I swear her skin was perfect! "How was Venice?" She got this look in her eye that told me she was imagining all the sights again. "Lindsay, it was amazing! You should have come with us!" She sounded as though she was dreaming. "It was beautiful. Wonderful. Amazing. " Then she snapped back into reality. "My mom and dad said that you could come with us next summer. We would pay for you." DID I JUST HEAR THAT CORRECTLY?! A PAID IN FULL TRIP TO EUROPE?! Ah, life is good!
Jameson walked up to where we were standing. "Hey, Lindsay, I take it we wait for the bus here?" I nodded my head. "Jameson, this is McKenna Connors, but we all call her Kenna. Kenna, this is Jameson Laden, our new neighbor." Kenna and Jameson exchanged greetings and we all stood there talking until the bus got there. As we got onto the bus, Kenna whispered, "He's kinda cute!" I gave her a look that must have said "NO, DUH!!" because she started giggling. I shushed her, which made her giggle even harder. "Jeez, settle down giggle box! What did Europe do to you, girly??" I asked. She was laughing too hard to respond. I rolled my eyes.
*~~~*
"¿Dónde está América del Norte?" Señora Lider asked. "El Hemisferio Occidental." The Spanish II class responded in unison. TO be quite honest with you, I had zoned out a long time ago, but she didn't notice that one girl in the back wasn't saying that North America was in the Western Hemisphere. She didn't notice me at all. I wasn't thinking about Spanish. I wasn't even thinking about school. I was day dreaming about what it would be like one day when I could be the lawyer I wanted to be. I was already accepted into Harvard Law. I mean, I've never gotten an A- on a report card. And if only gotten a few A's in my life. I was pretty much born accepted into Harvard Law. I could fall asleep for the whole hour, and still get an A on a quiz the next day. Yea, it's a gift.
"Lindsay?" the teacher asked. I brought myself into the real world. Out of Harvard Law (for now). "¿Sí?" I asked. "Cuando su hora de almuerzo?" she repeated. I don't know why though, because she knew perfectly well when lunch was. She DID usually hold us a few minutes into lunch though, so I decided to answer. When I gave the correct answer and she was satisfied, I zoned back out.
Before I knew it, the never-ending (at least it seemed that way) class was finally over. Coach Monica had all of us cheerleaders on a diet, which Jenna totally didn't need to go on, so we could "stay in shape," so I was stuck eating a salad. All the guys that I sat with were munching on big, delicious looking burgers. And I was stuck with a Caesar Salad. Some things in this world is just screwed up! I'm being totally serious right now! I felt ripped off (thanks for that Coach Monica, by the way). My friend Lory ran up to me. "Coach wants us to practice for the pep rally this afternoon." She was completely out of breath.
FANTASTIC! Not only is my stomach half empty, but I get to do flick-flacks all day! Yes! (That's totally sarcastic by the way.) I was the team's main tumbler, which makes sense, because I have grown up in the gymnastics center. I said good-bye to Ryan and Kevin and headed up to the gymnasium.
When I got upstairs, Coach Monica already had the girls doing pyramids. I am SO glad I don't have to be up there, because, although I'm awesome at tumbling, heights aren't my thing. AT ALL! So, I just took my place, and started doing layouts and tucks and flick-flacks. It's my life. I live, eat and breath two things: gymnastics and school. Those two things come natural to me, and I could do those two things all day, if I were allowed.