Chapter 1
It's the summer before seventh year and Alice, Marlene and I were all in my room, on my bed, pretty decent looking sixteen year old girls debating of all things. Why were we debating—well, at least they were, I was trying my best to not get in the middle of it—when we could be out and having some fun like normal teenage girls? And the worst part was they weren't even debating about anything consequential, at all.
In fact, if you asked me, the matter wasn't even debatable anyway.
But alas, no one has asked me, because apparently I should have no say or whatsoever in the course of my own love affairs. According to my two best friends, at least.
And to be honest, I could care less, really. I was mentally and physically exhausted. Sixth year, for me, brought on a lot of huge changes. Some were good, others were most certainly not. I had other things to think about. But as much as I wanted to just relax and live in peace for the summer, Alice and Marlene had different ideas.
Ideas that revolved around that hot bloke that had just moved across the street.
"I say just ask him out, simple as that. You don't have to bother yourself with playing those petty little games girls like to play. If you really like him, just tell him and be done with it. " Marlene said.
"I think she should play it cool with this one. I'm pretty sure blokes like him are used to girls just throwing themselves at his feet. Play it coy, Lily. Give him something to think about at night, you know?"
"Lily, don't listen to Alice. She clearly wants you to be a part of some weird porno set in the guy's head. Unless, of course, you're into that kind of thing… "
"When did I ever say I wanted Lily to be a part of some weird porno or even any porno for that matter?"
"You literally just said you wanted Lily to give him something to think about at night!"
"You know I didn't mean it that way! Merlin—"
"In what way could you have possibly…"
They went on like that for what seemed like hours. The funny part about all this was that the bloke from across the street—what I shall refer to him from here on out, at least until I get a hold of his name—had just moved across the street two hours ago.
Literally, 120 minutes ago.
I knew this for a fact because Marlene decided that the moment he moved into that house with his lovely family was the start of what she referred to as our 'inevitable love affair' and had taken the trouble of writing down the exact time he stepped into that house on a piece of parchment. After which, she went on about how getting married on December was infinitely better than getting married on June and then proceeded to exclaim how she would be glad to accept the role of maid of honor, to which Alice, of course, just had to express her disagreement.
All of that in a span of 120 minutes. Well, no one ever accused my best friends of being dull.
I cleared my throat. They've been at it long enough.
Marlene glared. "What?"
"Maybe, just maybe, you want my opinion on the matter at hand. I am one-half of the golden couple, after all."
"Well, go ahead then. Tell us what you have to say." Marlene said.
"What if I just come up, be the nice neighbor I am, and introduce myself to them?"
"Them? Who's them?" Alice asked.
"The hot bloke from across the street and the rest of his family, who else?"
Marlene beamed. "Ooooh, planning on getting cozy with the future in-laws, are we? Now you're talking! I knew you were top of the class for a reason!"
"Or maybe, just maybe, you're forgetting that these people are all going to be my neighbors, and just maybe I want to do the right thing by introducing myself and welcoming them to the neighborhood." I said.
"No. This clearly isn't just about you being neighborly, Evans. Trust me. "
I raised my eyebrow. "What makes you say that, McKinnon?"
"Because maybe, just maybe, if you simply wanted to be a good neighbor, you wouldn't dress up so nicely."
I looked down at what I was wearing, one of my dad's old shirts back when he was still in Uni and an old faded pair of trousers. "This is dressing up nicely?" I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her my best look of concern, " Tell me, Marlene, have you ever found yourself in a museum, looking at the cavemen exhibits and thinking to yourself how incredibly nice all their outfits just were? Because if you have…well—"
"Oh, shut it, Lily! Alice, be on the lookout."
Huh? What on earth did she mean by that?
I was then unceremoniously yanked out of my bed and was dragged across the hall to my sister's room.
"Get inside." Marlene hissed.
Oh no.
" Have you gone completely bonkers?! What are we doing here? Petunia could come back home any minute!"
"We, Evans, are going in."
"Oh, no, no, no. We are not going in there. If you want to, go right ahead, be my guest. But you're doing it alone. My sister hates me enough; she is not going to be happy when she finds out that I went inside her room without her permission. With you. Again."
"Nonsense! Dear Petunia adores me. And besides, there's still the matter of what you're going to wear when you meet the future in-laws. I still have to make you look nice, remember?"
"First of all, my sister hates you. Second of all, they are not my future in-laws. And lastly, I thought I already looked nice?"
Marlene gave me a once over. "Maybe, just maybe, you don't."
"I resent that. Besides, why can't you make me look nice using my clothes?"
"Maybe, just maybe, I can't make you look nice with mythical apparel." Marlene said.
"I'm sure—did you just call my nice clothes mythical?!"
"Maybe, just maybe—"
"Stop it already with the maybes!"
"You started it!"
I sighed. "Let's just get this over with already."
A/N: Because I'm bamf that way and I finished the 1st Chapter and although I didn't get a lot of reviews on the prologue, I still wanted to post this :D