Chapter One: Live Free or Die

It was only six hours ago that he boarded the Jet Blue airlines flight, 347, from LAX to Logan International Airport. Now here he was driving up I93 towards Bow, New Hampshire, three thousand miles from home and three hours ahead.

It was the start of July and he did not want to be here. He hated Walter for putting the idea into his mother's head that he needed a change of scenery. That maybe her sister would take him for a year, at least until things back home adjusted.

"So Drake what do you think of New Hampshire so far?" His Aunt Laurie asked as she got off exit one at the I89 junction.

"There are a lot of trees." He stated he did not care for New Hampshire at all.

"Well this is Bow. There's the Famous Bow Mobile." She smiled at the gas station right off the exit, dead ahead. It was pathetic; it even had a sign saying 'The Famous Bow Mobile' in front of it. "And to the left is the Chen Yang Li." Pathetic once again, the only cool things here were a gas station, a Hampton Inn, and a Chinese restaurant. No Premier, no galleria, no guitar world, and no mega dome. They drove on passing the 'Welcome to Bow, est. 1727' sign.

"There's the bandstand and the community center/fire station." Laurie said playing the tour guide. Drake noticed the banner saying 'Army Band playing Saturday the 6th' hanging from the bandstand.

They took a right onto White Rock Hill Road.

"There's your new school." Laurie pointed out. Drake could barely see it, set way back in the trees. At least it had a football field, and basketball and tennis courts.

They drove on down a hill, which Laurie advised not to drive down if it was snowing. Up another hill then down her road with the huge houses, hers being the biggest,the yellow colonial on the bluff that overlooked the mountains.

She and her husband were dentists and he knew he was in for it when she picked him up in a mini cooper. He saw the four other cars in the driveway. The Corvette, his Uncle Dave's, the Audi, his older college bound cousin Emily's, the Prius, his 17 year old cousin Carries, and the Saab Carries twin brother Nathan's.

"Dave's at work, so are Emily and Carrie. Nathan is at soccer practice. Sarah's at home." Laurie said as she grabbed his suitcases. He took his two guitars. That's all his mom would let him bring, his two favorites, the maroon Les Paul and the black Fender acoustic.

His cousin Sarah was 15, almost 16, due to get her choice of car soon. She was watching Laguna Beach on their plasma screen, on their leather couches, in her Abercrombie ensemble. The whole family was preppy.

"Sarah, would you show Drake to his room?" Laurie said as Sarah paused the TV and grabbed his suitcase, taking him up the staircase, off the kitchen.

She placed his bags down in his room. Obviously, it was Nathan's. It looked just as clean and expensive as the rest of the house.

"So why are you here?" She asked randomly filling in the silence. She hadn't seen Drake in a good ten years. Laurie and Emily had visited them two years ago when they took Emily to look at colleges out in California; Emily was now at Columbia, majoring in biochemistry.

"Walter made me come." Drake replied. "I don't like talking about it." He added as he started to unpack his clothes.

"You play guitar?" She asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, I used to have a band. We played on TRL."

"Really?" she asked excited her cousin was on MTV. "Made came to our school last year. The girl wanted to be a rock star. It was lame." Sarah said as she played with her blonde hair, then with her bellybutton ring. Drake pretended not to notice, she was his cousin after all. "My mom said I should entertain you." Sarah said making it painfully obvious that she didn't want to.

"Sarah, Drake, I'm going shopping, do you two want to come?" Laurie called up the stairs.

"No we don't." Sarah called down. "Trust me you don't want to go shopping with her." Sarah smiled. "You know if you don't like have a girlfriend back home I know a few people that you might like." Sarah said after a few minutes of silence. Drake shrugged and added an –I'll think about it- he was not in the mood for a girlfriend. "Oh and just so you're aware mom has planned a ton of day trips so you get to know New Hampshire and us better." Sarah informed Drake.

"Great." Drake said monotonous. He did not care for New Hampshire at all.

Later

"Drake what do you think of L.A.? Carrie asked at dinner. It was question after question with these people. "I liked it a lot when Mom took me to UCLA and since I want to go there, I want to know what you think."

Drake fought hard against the emotions, that thinking about L.A. brought up and he managed to calmly spit out, "It's an okay city." As he tried to suppress the memories.

He then answered the –Have you seen any celebrities?-, the –Is it nice there all the time's-, the –how do you like New Hampshire's- and the took in the –you'll like it here's-, the –You'll get used to the cold's- and the -You'll be back before you know it's-. All while eating his steak dinner off his fancy plate, in this rich town, three thousand miles away from home, where he so desperately needed to be.

Later

"That's your bed okay?" Nathan said as he pointed to the bed on the left of the room.

Nathan, the cousin who was his age, was his total opposite, only in the fact that he was a jock. Nathan was just like him in the looks and woman departments. He had the same auburn hair as their Mother's did and the same brown eyes. Nathan though, looked more like his father, facial wise, same as Drake. Nathan also had more body hair than Drake, he was almost cave man like, but so was Uncle Dave, but girls still seemed to love him.

"Do you have a girlfriend back home?" Nathan asked as he took off his shirt showing an impressive six-pack. He was a soccer player after all.

"Nope." Drake said a little self-conscious of changing, he was a skinny gut, not muscular.

"I know a few girls. There aren't many attractive girls here, plus I've known everyone since Kindergarten so I know who's date worthy and who's not."

"That's good to know." Drake said slowly.

"I noticed you play guitar, think you could teach me? Girls seem to really like guys who play guitar."

"Maybe." Drake said. He did not want anyone touching his babies while he was here. No one.

"Cool, night." Nate said as he turned off the light and quickly fell asleep.

Drake was jet lagged and his body kept telling him he needed sleep but his mind wouldn't let him. He let the silent tears fall as he pulled the covers over himself. How he wished what happened hadn't, but there was no going back. The past couldn't be rewound, he'd just have to wait until everything settled down. What he didn't understand was why Megan got to stay home and he couldn't. She was going to be with him that day, she was Audrey's child too. Why was Walter so set on sending Drake away? Why did he blame Drake for something that no one could control? It wasn't as if Drake had planned for it to happen and it wasn't Drake's fault that Josh hadn't sat next to him, was it?

A/N: Okay so there was chapter one and I know you're all probably wondering where his family is, what happened, and what's up with Josh. Well I'm not going to tell you, you'll just have to speculate. So review and I'll post some more. Information on Bow NH found at