The gravel grinded under the rubber tires of the large black SUV. The gravel grinded under the bottoms of the black pumps and the dirt brushed onto the bottom of the designer jeans. The teenage girl wearing them grinded her teeth—an unbelievable shade of white—as she walked to the front door: black curls pulled into a tight ponytail, perfectly pink lips pursed together, French manicure tightly gripping the keys, tight black blouse showing off a glowing tan and model curves, a small diamond reflecting the sunlight as it shone on her nose, a silver rod with a pink ball on each end resting peacefully at the edge of her right eyebrow, and eyes—those eyes—as green and mesmerizing as the day she'd left. Three years and counting. She pushed her over-sized sunglasses atop her head as she rang the doorbell and waited impatiently for a reply.
The large wooden doors opened with a creek. She drew in a breath of anticipation as the door seemed to be taking an eternity to open just a crack barely large enough to see the awkward boy with the red curly hair holding an almost empty beer. "Hello?" he slurred. "Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing." She raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow at the boy; it was a classic response when she knew she was about to have to entertain someone completely annoying or boring.
"You're hot! Are you here for Reid? Because he isn't home." The boy tried to take a sip of the beer in an attempt to be cool, but spilled most of it out onto his shirt.
Good ole' Reid. He never changed a bit. He was a womanizer from the day he was born. And was always the most mischievous of the boys. She imagined he still looked the exact same too: the same sharp features, the same porcelain, almost transparent skin, the same deep blue eyes that any girl would get lost in, the same temper that was always getting him in trouble, and the same sense of humor that no one else seemed to understand. But she'd understood it. She had always understood Reid in a way that no one else seemed to.
"Do you live here?" Jamie Wheeler was not in the mood to deal with drunk and/or moronic teenage boys.
"Nah. Just watching a movie. Who are you looking for?" The red-head let out a toxic belch that left Jamie ready to gasp for air.
Jamie waved a hand in front of her face to try to dissipate the un-breathable air. "Someone who lives here? Someone sober? Who fucking cares? Just get someone half-way useful!" Jamie begged.
The boy left without a comment. It was highly unexpected but also highly refreshing. Only moments later another boy appeared. This boy was taller—6'2" maybe—with black hair, golden skin, and muscles to die for. His honey-brown eyes weren't exactly hard on the eyes either. Yes, this boy was much better indeed. He was beautifully familiar and sober—just the combination Jamie was hoping for.
"Caleb Danvers! God! Are you still hanging around with my awesomely dorky big brother?" She kissed him on the cheek and threw her arms around his neck. "You haven't changed at all! Well, except for the fact that you grew, like, a foot since I saw you last!" she rambled.
It took a moment for Caleb to realize who the girl on the porch was or what was going on. The last time he'd seen Jamie was three years earlier when she was an awkward thirteen-year-old with stringy blonde hair, braces, and no shape to speak of. Obviously she'd been a late bloomer.
"Jamie? What a great surprise! How are you?" It was just like Caleb to act like a total gentleman without skipping a beat, even with his obvious surprise at seeing her. Plus, he had that kind of smile that could get a lucky girl in a lot of trouble. Not that Jamie was at all interested in getting into boy trouble so soon after her break-up from that creep of a boyfriend, Dylan.
"I'll be better when I come inside the nice warm house," Jamie hinted. Three years of living in the perpetually hot Miami had stripped her of her adaptation to the cold winters of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Caleb was quick to step aside to allow Jamie to enter the castle-sized home. "Is Tyler expecting you?" His eyes were asking more questions than his lips.
"I hope so."
"Who am I expecting?" In stepped the always adorable Tyler Sims. He hadn't changed much at all since Jamie had seen him last. He looked just like his mom. He had the same brown, thick, wavy hair, same naturally pink cheeks, same soft features, and the same caramel eyes. He had grown some in three years. He was at least six feet tall.
"Speak of the devil," Jamie teased. She knew Tyler desperately wanted to be a bad-boy like his best friend in the world, Reid Garwin, but she also knew he would never succeed. He was too nice. Jamie walked over to hug her big brother.
"Jamie? Hey. What are you doing here?" He sounded surprised, but pleased. Tyler had always been close to his baby sister and was always happy to hear from her, but was worried that she'd driven from Miami to Ipswich with no warning. Something was up.
"Dad didn't call?" Jamie didn't sound surprised. "Typical," she mumbled, followed by a classic Jamie eye roll.
"Was he supposed to?" Tyler knew his sister was infamous for her ability to act; she was also known for her crazy stories that were usually only loosely based on real events.
"He said he would tell you. He was going to call you when he made it to his meeting in Tokyo."
"Tell me what?"
"That I'm moving home." Jamie smiled excitedly.
"What do you mean you're moving in? What happened to Miami? And what is that thing in your eyebrow?" Tyler asked.
"It's an eyebrow ring," Jamie answered. Not only did she and Tyler have the similar trait of stating the obvious, but she wanted nothing more at that moment than to avoid the topic of why she was back in Massachusetts.
"No shit," Tyler snapped. He knew something was very wrong concerning his little sister and he often times expressed his worry with what seemed like anger.
"I think what Tyler means," Caleb—the calmest and most serious of Tyler's friends—intervened, "is why don't we move this conversation to the kitchen where we can sit in relative privacy. Caleb had noticed several young boys in matching black, blue, and red Varsity jackets straining to hear the conversation from where they sat in the front living room of the house.
Jamie and Tyler both followed Caleb into the kitchen and they all sat around the small, cozy table. Jamie had always loved to sit at that table. The rest of the house had always been dark and decorated with heavy furniture that was never meant to be lived on—especially by kids. The table was like something out of a TV sitcom like the Brady Bunch where families actually seemed a little normal; they were families where people actually ate meals together with just the family and not one hundred of their closest friends at a charity auction being held at the house. Those TV sitcom families had always seemed so un-like anything Tyler or Jamie had grown up with.
"Jamie, what's going on? I thought you loved Miami. Besides, you spent your whole life trying to get away from here. Why are you so happy to move back?" Tyler reasoned. He'd talked to Jamie at least once a week since she'd moved three years earlier and she'd loved Miami from the day she got there.
"Miami was great. It was just time to leave. Things had changed—heartbreak and all that…" Jamie trailed off. She didn't want to go into the details of why she was leaving her home in Miami yet, though she knew that the truth would come out eventually. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Anyway, Dad said it was okay if I moved back here with you and him. He said he would call you. I'm sorry for the surprise. I thought you knew. And I would have called, but it's just, it's been a little crazy with packing and everything lately. "
Jamie was rambling again. Tyler and Caleb were both really good at reading people and both of them could tell that there was something Jamie was not saying, something she was hiding. They could also tell that she didn't want to talk about it. They would let it go for the moment. Jamie was home and they would focus on that. They were both happy to see her, especially Tyler who had missed his little sister immensely.
"Why don't we get some of the boys to take your bags up to your room?" Tyler suggested.
"About that, who are the kids drinking beer in the living room?" Jamie wondered.
"Beer? Who has beer?" Caleb asked. Obviously he was not happy to hear the news about the younger boys and was not aware that they had gained access to alcohol under his watch.
"Some dumbass red-head kid. I dunno." Jamie assumed they knew what was going on. Just proves that assuming makes an ass of you and me.
"Clyde!" Tyler screeched. The boy came stumbling into the room only moments later. "Have you been drinking?"
"Yeah." Clyde looked completely unapologetic as though it was perfectly understandable for someone who couldn't have been a day older than fourteen to be drinking in the middle of the afternoon.
"'Yeah?'" Caleb repeated, ready to lose his cool. He never lost his cool.
"You said to help ourselves to whatever was in the refrigerator. We thought it was okay," Clyde said in his defense.
Caleb and Tyler looked at one another and exchanged a glance of understanding. "Reid," they both sighed.
"Go made yourselves a pot of coffee or something. And tell anyone who isn't drinking to come in here," Caleb—a natural born leader—ordered. Clyde obeyed and exited the room promptly before Tyler or Caleb had time to lecture him.
"Freshmen from the swim team. Only five made the cut this year. The coach asked Caleb and me to baby sit them while we work on a project for our Calculus class today," Tyler explained as they waited for the remaining sober freshmen to arrive before them.
A few moments later, three boys seemed to appear out of nowhere. "You three do me a favor and take the bags from Jamie's car and put them upstairs in the room next to Reid's." Tyler grabbed Jamie's keys out of her hand and tossed them to one of the boys who promptly turned to leave.
"Careful with my new paint job!" Jamie called after them.
Jamie turned her attention to Caleb and her brother. "Reid's room? Since when does Reid have a room in our house?"
"He and Pogue both do. They stay here most of the time since we moved out of the dorms earlier this semester and since Dad isn't home most of the time. Reid hates to be home too much and Pogue has a new baby brother keeping him up at night at home," Tyler explained.
Tyler, Reid, Pogue, and Caleb were like brothers: best friends who drove each other crazy at times. All of their families were close. Their dads had been friends as kids. They had been friends since before Jamie was born and had all always been a big part of Jamie's life.
Jamie had never had many friends in Ipswich. Mostly she knew Tyler's friends. She'd been quiet and shy. The other kids feared what they didn't know; they didn't know Jamie, not really. With the rumors of witchcraft that surrounded her family, everyone assumed and speculated about Jamie without ever getting to know what she was really like.
When Jamie's parents got divorced, her mom moved the two of them to Miami. Jamie's next door neighbor taught her that in their neighborhood, make-up, hair dye, designer clothes, a wonder bra, and some attitude equaled instant popularity. Three years had changed a lot about Jamie. She could hardly even remember the girl she used to be.