My first car sat in the driveway at my first new house and all I could do was sit on the sidewalk and stare at both.

Mom and Dad thought buying a car and buying a big house would make up for the fact that they'd uprooted me from my old home and torn me away from my old life.

They were wrong.

I didn't want the car or the house, I'm not complaining, but I would've rather had my old life back.

I wanted to go to the movies and the beach with my friends. I wanted to go shopping. But no, that was no longer an option.

Instead, I get to side all alone on a hot sidewalk in the middle of Vermillion, South Dakota.

Of all the places we could've moved to, my parents chose Vermillion.

They couldn't have picked New York, or California, or Florida? Of course they couldn't, Dad hates big cities, and that was the reason we left Chicago.

I laid down on the sidewalk and the sun burned through my eyelids, I pulled on my sunglasses.

"Up ahead!" Someone yelled from down the sidewalk and I turned to look.

Two boys on skateboards were barrelling towards me. I hopped up and moved off the sidewalk and into the grass.

The boys flew past and stopped abruptly at the house next door.

One of the boys was really tall with dark brown hair and pretty blue eyes. The other was tall, but not quite as tall as the other, with blonde hair and gorgeous brown eyes.

The blond turned towards me and walked over, the brown haired boy followed.

The blond smiled and held his hand out. "Hi, I'm Sam."

I shook his hand. "Hi. I'm Lexi."

"Welcome to Vermillion, Lexi." Sam grinned and said, "This is my best friend, Cole."

Cole nodded shyly and muttered "Hello."

"Hi!" I smiled.

I was about to say that I should head inside when Cole's phone rang and cut me off.

He answered and hung up a few seconds later.

"That was my dad, I have to go." He said to Sam.

"Oh, alright. Later, man." Sam said.

"Later. Bye, Lexi." Cole hurried to his car and drove off, leaving Sam and I standing in a semi-awkward silence.

Sam ran a hand through his hair and finally said "So, are you busy?"

I shook my head. "No. I was just staring at my car because I had nothing better to do. Then you almost ran me over and now I don't have plans."

He chuckled. "Do you want to come inside and hang out for a while?"

I bit my lip. "Um, sure. But, I should probably tell my mom so she doesn't think I got kidnapped or something."

Sam laughed. "Okay."

I ran inside and found my mom. "Hey, Mom. I made a friend, with our neighbor. I'm going to go hang out at their house, okay?"

Mom looked up from her iPhone, wow, that never happens. "Which neighbors?"

I fought to remember the name on the mailbox. "Um, the Millers."

"Oh, okay. Sounds fine." She said and I hurried back outside where Sam was waiting.

"We're good to go." I smiled.

"Great." Sam grinned and led me towards his house.

We went inside and I said, "Wow, this is beautiful."

"Thanks." He smiled. "Can I get you anything? That's the question to ask, right?"

I laughed. "Yes, that's the question. But no, thanks. I'm good."

"Okay." He said and sat down on the sofa.

I sat on the other end, leaving plenty of room between us.

"I don't bite, unless you're into kinky shit like that." He teased.

I rolled my eyes but continued to flirt for the rest of the night.

Maybe Vermillion wasn't going to be so bad after all.