so i think i have a disease. it's called publish 12890174982 new stories and then never update and never finish them. but i recently got my computer fixed, so not only do i have a word processor now (which means updatesupdatesupdates!),

but wooooh! i have a new story.

take my advice,

'cause we are bad news

--

Tanner Block is a stud.

Actually, there isn't really another noun that he could be categorized under. Hunk, maybe. But that's about it.

Tanner's the ultimate jock, in a sense; he's played nearly every varsity sport there is since he was a freshman. In the fall, he maintains his tan as captain of the water polo team. As if he needed to; our frequent vacations to the Bahamas keep our family dark pretty much year round.

In the winter, he is the starting pointguard of the Briarwood-Octavian Country High Tomahawks on the basketball team. He's lead our school to state championships ever since he was a freshman. Literally every college scout already has him on their radar, and trust me, they've been trying to recruit him since day one.

And its not just the colleges. No, he's on the radar of any female who goes to BOCHS, too. Girls come up to me all the time to tell me how "dreamy-and-deep-and-dark-as-the-ocean" eyes are. How his hair is just the right shade of blond. If we didn't live on the east coast, he would totally fit into the California surfer scene.

People, mainly my parent's friends, would comment all the time about how different we looked, despite being only two years apart. They said that it was a wonder how Tanner was only seventeen when he could easily pass for twenty one.

"And take a look at Massie!" they'd say. "Her features are so... different..."

My parents would exchange a look. "We think she got her great grandmother Addie's looks," they'd assure our guests. But I don't know if it was them reassuring themselves--or me.

It was fine though; I've been used to the attention centered on Tanner. It just gave me more room to live my own life, with my parents always focused on Tanner's grades, sports, and awards.

Yet there was another side of him that my parents didn't know. Naturally, a guy like Tanner got all the girls (he did), threw all the best parties (trust me, I would know. And he definitely did.) and he was no doubt the most popular guy in the junior class.

But only his closest friends knew where his heart was truly centered. And that was in volleyball.

--

I started off the last day of the summer before high school waking up to a roomful of soon-to-be juniors standing at the foot of my bed.

As my eyes blinked open, I noticed a bunch of figures shuffling about, struggling to stay quiet. My eyes struggled to adjust to the contrast of figures in multicolored clothing in ratio to my royal purple walls. I squinted, then registered exactly who was standing in my room, in the presence of Massie Block, who, by the way, was pretty sure she looked like shit.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" I shrieked, frantically bunching the covers up around me. "Get out!"

Tanner held his hands up in surrender, then grinned, promptly flashing his laser-whitened smile for his audience. "'Mornin. The team's going out for pancakes and Mom said to invite you."

I rolled my still-groggy eyes at him. "Tanner Douglas, I suggest you get out of my room if you want to wake up tomorrow with your eyebrows intact."

He narrowed his eyes at me. I smirked back at him, knowing perfectly well he hated his middle name and especially hated it being said out loud. He flipped me off, then told me they were leaving in ten minutes.

The second the door shut behind them, I jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of True Religion shorts and a purple V-neck. It was, after all, still August in upper New York, and therefore still warm. Once my chocolate brown hair was looking semi-decent and I had smeared mascara and eyeliner on my eyes, I figured it was okay to go downstairs.

"Massie?"

I turned, already halfway down the hallway, to stare face to face with the most gorgeous boy I'd seen in my fourteen years of life. He had deep brown eyes, with dark brown hair that swept into them. The boy was pretty darn tan, which, of course, drew my attention to his super bright smile and his adorable dimples.

My face lit up. I'd seen this guy before.

"Josh Hotz!" I squealed, as he wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace. Josh Hotz was my brother's best friend. His right hand man. I'd known Josh since I was in fifth grade; when Tanner was in seventh grade at Briarwood. That's when Tanner was first introduced to the sport. They'd tried out for Briarwood's team together, made it, and then became the most sought-after volleyball players in all of Westchester.

"Massie Block!" He smiled. "I haven't seen you all summer." I blushed furiously. "I know. How was your summer? You went to Greece again, right?" God, could I possibly get any more lame? Of course I knew he went to Greece. Josh visits his family in Greece whenever there is a break from school longer than a week. He's gone every summer since I knew him; since he and Tanner became best friends.

Josh shrugged, letting go of me and continuing to make our way downstairs. "It was fine. Nothing special, really. What'd you do?"

"We went to our Hamptons house," I explained. "Tanner was at UCSB's summer volleyball program until a couple weeks ago."

Josh nodded, frowning. His brow furrowed and his dimples disappeared, accentuating his sharp jawline. He stared at me, perhaps into my soul, even, but he didn't say anything. "You've really grown up, Mass," he said, finally, while still holding my gaze.

"Uh, thanks."

We both looked down, consumed by awkward silence. Secretly, however, I was freaking out on the inside and wanted to give him a very inappropriate hug. Or something like that.

"Yo, Josh, Massie, we're ready to go!" Tanner called from the kitchen.

It took us twenty minutes to figure out who was going in whose car, to actually get to IHOP, get seated, and finally have time to converse about what everyone did this summer. After only sitting with Tanner's team for less than ten minutes, I'd already learned more than enough about the twelve of them.

For instance, there were the six starters: Tanner, Josh, Kemp Hurley, Chris Abeley, Harris Fischer, and Nick Harrington. Harris and Nick were the older brothers of Cam Fischer and Derrick Harrington, both of who were in my grade and part of the soon-to-be-freshman guys A-list. Not that I didn't know that already.

As I sat in the IHOP booth, though, keeping to myself and sitting next to Josh (!), I couldn't help but to overhear their conversation. It's times like this when having a popular older brother comes in handy. I'm always the one with the best gossip about some of the hottest guys at our school. And especially with school starting, classified information about who-hooked-up-with-who during the last three months comes in handy.

"Summer hookups," Kemp said, sighing.

Tanner snorted. "What about them?"

Josh rolled his eyes. "Look, we all know Kemp just wants to brag..."

"If you did Alicia Rivera then you'd wanna brag too!"

Everyone hooted and laughed.

Josh chuckled. "Kemp, there's nothing to brag about if you hook up with a skank."

"Alright, alright," Tanner grinned, trying to turn the attention towards him. "So you know how I went to UCSB for their summer program?" He paused, probably to make sure he still had a captive audience. "Let's just say that California girls are hot."

I gagged at that. I mean, my brother and I are close to some degree, but when it comes to what he does, I like to be kept out of the loop. Sure, I've met all his girlfriends, even accidentally walked in on them making out a couple times, but still.

"Dude, you cheated on Skye?" Josh raised his eyebrows, incredulous.

Oh, how could I have forgotten about Skye Hamilton? They'd been an on and off couple since the beginning of their sophomore year. She was gorgeous; piercing blue eyes and long blond curls, but she was also a raging bitch. She really didn't like me that much, either, because back when Cam and her had a thing, he ended it to go out with me. But seriously, if you're a junior girl, why would you waste your time with freshman guys?

Probably to get at Harris, who she cheated on Tanner with, but that's a whole different story.

Tanner shrugged and took a sip of his orange juice. "I won't deny it. After all, you were going out with Sammi when you had that thing with that Greek girl."

Josh reddened. Nick Harrington crinkled his nose. "Dude, I do not want to know about what you did with my older sister. That's nasty."

Josh flipped Tanner off. "Yeah, but that was over the summer. Personally, I think cheating is wrong, now. And besides, it's a new year. I'm ready to settle down this year, I think."

"Pansy."

I found myself interrupting. "Shut up, Tanner. You should learn something from Josh. He actually has morals." Immediately I turned to look at Josh next to me. But to my surprise, he was cracking up. Unlike Tanner, who was content with chucking Sweet'N'Low packets at my face.

Josh grinned, showing off those adorable dimpled cheeks of his. "I think every girl should be more like Massie," he announced, putting his arm around me and squeezing my shoulder.

I felt my cheeks turn bright red as Tanner raised his eyebrows at me.

Josh Hotz is a junior. He's two whole years older than I am. And I think it's safe to say that I have a full-blown crush on him.

what do you think? i got inspired. :)

review? should i continue?

-sm!(: