There was a large part of her that hoped that the family would buy the house and that she'd get to watch the boy and the rest of them more, but another part knew that it was a selfish thing to wish. Bad things happened in this house. It was weird and stupid, but she felt unusually protective of the boy even if she didn't know him at all. She just couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to him.

She remembered when she had first seen the house, back when she was a vapid, unimpressionable, living teen. At the time she didn't want to be looking at some big house that her parents thought would make everything better, or for her parents to even try to keep the family together. She didn't want her mom to be pregnant. There was so much going on at the time and everything was so wrong. Violet had thought that this move and everything they did was bullshit, and that no stupid house would fix anything.

But then when they took the tour of the house, there was something about it that really drew her in. She loved how oddly everything was adorned, and all the warm wood, and the creepy basement that everyone else hated. She'd even thought it was cool that people had died there, sickly enough. She had thought for a second that maybe this house would be good for her, that maybe she'd be able to forgive her parents for being shitty and maybe things would work out. Now she wished that she hadn't been so hopeful.

They can't buy the house. She sighed to herself, feeling notably virtuous as she approached the ancient foyer table by the front door. There was a pen and some papers sitting on it, along with a desk lamp and a decorative plant. She casually leaned against the wall next to the table and looked around, as if someone might catch her being mischievous. She looked back at the boy, who was now playing with the old lamp.

Whew I don't know if it's just because I haven't seen a boy my age in like, a long time, or what, but he is really gorgeous. Up close she could see all of his enviable blond curls and admire his chiseled jaw, his straight nose, dark eyes. She was almost jealous of how attractive he was. I better get some brownie points or something for kicking the hottest person I've ever seen out of my house. She reached out and poked the pen a bit, to see if he'd notice the movement. He was losing interest in the front room, and looked about ready to turn around to join his family in the kitchen, so Violet took that as her cue to sweep the pen off the table. It bounced off the floor heavily and pretty much sounded like the loudest thing in the world.

The boy swiveled back to face the pen, mildly startled. He quickly looked around like he expected someone to come out from around the corner and be like Haha man I got you- did you see your face? or something, but no such luck. He rolled his shoulders and tilted his head from side to side like he was stretching, before going over to pick up the pen and set it firmly back on the table. He backed away from it with his hands up as if to say "stay".

He put his hands down just as Violet pulled the chain on the desk lamp, illuminating the dusty room with its faint light. The boy stumbled backward, looking disbelievingly at the lamp. Violet yanked the chain again and the light shut off, causing him jerk back, even more surprised.

"You've gotta be shitting me," He whispered to himself, a mixture of irritation and fear. "Of course we have to get the house from The Shining." He approached the lamp, testing the chain to see if he could somehow find an explanation. Sorry kid, I'm trying to save your life here. Violet looked over the boy's head and could see Chad leaning against the wall opposite them, a thoughtful look on his face.

"I think he's kinda cute." He said casually, shrugging his shoulders. They watched the boy as he straightened up and tried to look composed before walking quickly down the hall to the kitchen, where the rest of the group were standing with the back door open, inspecting the back yard.

"Sucks for you that he can't stay," Violet flashed him a snarky smile. "Isn't that right?" Her relationship with Chad mostly consisted of snide bantering and occasionally listening to him complain about his boyfriend. His casual attitude always hid loads of tension.

"Oh I'm sure we'll have time to have a bit of fun with him," He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "They're definitely going to buy it- I mean our taste in wallpaper is superb," Violet raised an eyebrow and looked around at green floral print. "After that we'll just have to see how much of a backbone that dreadful bitch actually has."

Violet's eyes followed the boy down the hallway, getting distracted by the width of his shoulders and how the sleeves on his sweater fell to the middle of his hands. Violet hadn't noticed the sweater before, and she made a pained expression. It was the middle of summer and nearly 90 degrees out; she knew what long sleeves at this time of year meant. Another teen tragedy.

"You really think they'll buy it?" She could hear her voice crack with concern and damned herself for being such a starry-eyed moron. He smirked at her.

"Looks like Little Miss Unpleasant has a crush," His arms unfolded and his hands clasped behind his back as he approached her, still smirking. "Sucks for you that he can't stay though, right?"

"Oh haha you're so funny," She smiled sarcastically before rolling her eyes and starting down the hallway- she obviously wasn't going to get anywhere with scaring them out. "Now if you excuse me, 'Little Miss Unpleasant' will be up in her room listening to depressing music and thinking about how terrible her existence is." She turned the corner into the room with the staircase.

"I can't tell if you're joking or not."

Violet just rolled her eyes and kept walking.