Chapter 2

James;;

James shook his head, clearing his overly stuffed mind. He took a sip of his drink before rubbing the side of his cluttered head with his hands. His brain was full at this moment, thoughts of last time he was in New Hampshire.

He shared his best, and his worst, years of his life in ole New Hampshire. Born and raised proudly. But right now, there was no time to think about those times, just the last time he was stuck in this place. He had a lot eating away like one of those little pacman guys at the dots. It seemed they never stopped.

A power ranger lunchbox handle was held tightly in a young 6 year old boys hand, with his favorite lunch loaded up into it. A PB & J sandwich, a handful of lays classic potatoe chips, and a mini sprite can was his everyday lunch and couldn't picture a day without it.

"Mommyy! I don't wanna go to kindergarten!" James hollered at his mom as she zipped up his jacket. "James, now don't you raise your voice at me. You are going to school if I have to strap you to the hood of my car and take you there!" She argued back. "But Mommy… Can't I just stay home and make cookies and color with you?" He asked giving a bright childish smile.

Mrs. Hamilton stood up, ran her hand through young James' hair. "James, don't make this harder than it is." She repeated for the twentieth time just this morning. She pushed James out the front door and into the car.

A few minutes later, they had arrived at a neighborhood elementary school in New Hampshire. She unbuckled James, and checked to make sure he had everything before he ran off. "Respect other kids and your teacher, be nice and share, okay James?" she questioned.

James nodded his head, "Bye mom." He quickly pushed her out of the way when he saw his best friend, Brandon Andrews.

"Brandon!" James screamed at the top of his lungs. "James!" Brandon yelled back, waving his hand insanely.

The day had gone by pretty fast, but then again. It's only a half a day of class. It was the end of the day, and it was what was known as 'coloring time'. James sat across from Brandon as a young brown haired, brown eyed girl skipped up to their table.

"Hi. I'm Samantha." She greeted brightly. "I was wondering if I could possibly borrow your pink crayon?" Her hands were tucked behind her back. James starred back at her. He gulped loudly and nodded but forgot to hand her the crayon.

Brandon stood up, picking up the pink crayon from the box and handed it to her. "I'm Brandon and this is James." He said with a nod and he returned to drawing his lime green dinosaur.

"Nice to meet you." She giggled and skipped back to her own table.

He swished his drink around in the small glass. More thoughts and memories poured into his mind. But the most that stuck around was how he just left without any warnings.

The night had been quiet, long, they had all been at a party. As Sam strolled around the large house she continually got stopped by old friends. On the other side of the house, Brandon and James were attempting the difficult task of making Michelle put her drinks down.

The other three approached Sam after loosing her at the senior party, Michelle's arm drooped around Brandon's shoulders trying to keep her from slamming to the floor. "Sammy!" Michelle hollered out, trying to catch her attention without leaving Brandon's arm which was completely holding her up.

James walked to Sam's side, pecking her on the cheek, "Hey babe."

She smiled up at him, "Hi." Michelle had gotten a little dizzy, and pushed herself off Brandon and onto the wall. "You okay, Michelle?" Sam asked, looking worried.

"I'm fine!" she insisted while reaching out for another glass.

"Slow down there, Michelle." Brandon took the drink from her hand and placed it back on the table that she picked it up from. "You've already had five too many." James nodded in agreement. Michelle insisted she was fine again, that was until she lost her balance and completely hit the floor.

Both Sam and Brandon dropped down to her side. Sam put her hand to her forehead to check for a fever and Brandon helped her sit up.

A few minutes had past and still no sign of Michelle's awakening. "Maybe we should take her home?" James assured, feeling useless. Sam shook her head, "Her parents aren't home, and my parents would have a cow." She said and then looked up at Brandon.

He shook his head, "My parents are on a business trip, if they called and heard her in the background who knows how many times I would be murdered."

The two both looked up at James, bringing there pouting faces out. "She can stay with me." James sighed, pulling the keys from his pocket and continuing to talk. "Brandon, will you carry her outside while I go get my car started and I'll get it pulled up to the door."

It had not been long since the four had reached James' house. Brandon did his duty of carrying her up to James' room and laying her on the black blanketed bed.

Sam gazed at the alarm clock on his night stand. It had been about an hour since they had left. "Don't you think she should be up by now?" She asked as worried emotions filled her face.

"She's knocked out pretty well." James replied, "Why don't you two go back to the party, there's no reason for you guys to stay here and have a night of boredom. I'll watch her." He could tell Sam didn't like the idea one bit, but Brandon pulled her out by the sleeve.

Hour after hour after hour had passed along as the night grew darker into black. James had his head propped up by a pillow on the window bench he sat on in a light sleep.

"James?" a voice said while trying to catch his attention. He quickly snapped away, pulled his resting legs back onto the wooden floor and over to the side of the bed. "You feel okay?" He asked, sitting at the edge of his bed. James had just set up to check her temperature again when Michelle had grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. Typical Michelle for being drunk, and James should have known that, but it all back fired when they heard the door knob jiggle, and before either could pull away, Sam had just walked in.

It was almost as if he could hear her heart break into a thousand pieces. Time had frozen as what it seemed like and James stopped breathing. They all exchanged looks, Michelle to James, James to Sam, and Sam to Michelle.

He opened his mouth, hoping something would come out but that failed. Sammy's eyes filled with tears, she shook her head at the two and took off running, leaving the door wide open.

James stood up, pulling away from Michelle's light grip she still had on his shirt. Nearly tripping over himself, he pushed the door open and gazed out the front door, but the lights of Sam's car were already retreating out onto the street.

He turned back, "Damn it, Michelle." He mumbled, grabbing his jacket off the chair next to the door. Running out of the house, and swinging open his door to his '67 Impala and jumping in. James turned the key, but the car failed to start. "Shit!" he hollered out, giving the dashboard a good hit before trying and failing another 10 times, finally he got it. He took off after Sam before even getting his seat belt on, even less his door completely shut.

Clearly going over the speed limit, turning corners sharply, cutting off cars on every single street, he pulled up in Sam's drive way just as you could see her bedroom light flick on. He had no time to waste for shutting off his car, nor shutting his door. He ran up the steps, skipping over 2 or 3 the whole way up to her room.

His feet shuffled up the long stair case leading up the second floor. He lifted up his hand and lightly knocked on the door. He could here her light cries threw the wooden door. "Sammy..." He said lightly, turning the knob and pushing it open.

Pushing the door open James felt a lump grow in his throat when he saw her there, all curled up on her bed. "Sam?" James asked aloud.

"Go away." She huffed turning over to face the opposite direction from where James was standing.

"Sam, come on. You can't be serious."

"I am James!" She shouted in retort rolling off her bed and sanding up straight. She glared at him as he stood there. James shook his head.

"Seriously Sam, what you saw…"

"Don't!" Sammy shouted cutting him off. "I don't want to hear it. I don't care! You kissed her James! My best friend!" Sam's shouts were loud and her glares were from teary eyes.

"Sam! Just give me a second to explain!"

"No James, you don't deserve that. You don't!" Sammy ran forward and started pushing him out her door. "Get out!"

"I am not going anywhere until you listen to me!" James shouted, raising his voice in way that Sammy, nor James himself, had rarely, ever heard. He was shocked that he was using that tone with her, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"No! I'm done with you! I don't care what happened, you kissed her and that's all I need to know! Now get out, leave! I never want to see you again!" She shouted. James could almost feel his heart breaking but through all his anger it went almost unnoticeable. With a sudden rage James turned out stopping at the doorway.

"Never want to see me again? Your wish is granted. Goodbye." He huffed and ran out of her house, sliding into his car and tearing out the driveway. He was going somewhere, but he wasn't quite sure where yet.

"Excuse me sir, but I need to close up soon." A voice spoke up behind James and he looked up from his dense gaze to see a dazzling young brunette before him. James was almost speechless at the sight in front of him.

"Sam?" He asked his jaw almost hitting the floor.