Part 4

4


I roll out of bed feeling more tired than I did when I finally fell asleep at midnight last night. I pick out a cute outfit, knowing inside that it's not because I feel like looking good for school, it's to try and impress Arden. I smile half heartedly at myself in the mirror, my long dark hair falling perfectly around my shoulders for once. I put on mascara and I'm ready to go, grabbing lunch money on my way out the door. Madison, I remind myself when I don't see her at the bus stop.

Back inside I find her trying to pack a lunch. "here," I say, helping her. "did you hear mom come in last night?"

She shakes her head. It's too late to tell now if she ever did come home.  She'd be gone for work again already. As a nurse, she gets stuck in the hospital at really weird times and although she's supposed to have regular hours she's never home at the same time every night because they're short of staff half the time.

"alright then," I mumble. "Get to the bus stop!" I help Madison with her pack and then hustle her out  the door, on my way out myself.

"are you riding with Arden?" she watches her breath float away in the frigid air and blows another unnecessary puff out to watch it float into oblivion. She's so cute.

"yep," I say, unable to hide the smile that comes to my face at the mere mention of his name. "see you after school," I say, pushing her off toward the bus stop and turning around to walk to Arden's car. He comes out his front door at the same time.

"Andie!" he says excitedly. My heart skips a beat Buthelezi all I show for it on the outside is an upbeat, happy smile as I approach his red car. He walks around in front of it, beating me to the passenger side door and opening it for me.

"thanks," I mumble as I climb in his car. He runs back around the front and I can tell he's excited about something. He's funny to watch and I'm giggling by the time he gets in.

"what's so funny?" he asks.

"you," I laugh harder.

"Are you making fun of the way I run!?" he pretends to be offended and I just nod, still laughing. He laughs too before starting the car.

I crank the heat as soon as the car is running. It's really cold. I catch Arden watching me a few times on the way to school and I wonder why. And if he likes what he sees.

In the parking lot, a few kids look surprised that I rode to school with Arden. Their eyes widen even more when Arden wraps his arm around my shoulder. I don't shrug him off partially because it's cold and because I secretly like it.

"look at 'em," he laughs like it's a joke, watching all the gawkers.  My heart sinks inside me. I tell myself that I can't even start to be interested in him. He is the complete opposite of me. Not to compliment myself, but I'm a really good kid. And he's a really bad one compared to my standards what with the partying, girls and drinking.

"mhmm," I say sarcastically and smile up at him. The corners of his mouth fall for a second and I wonder if he caught my drift. He gives my shoulder a squeeze and we walk into the school together.

 At my locker, I catch Arden looking again. That's going to bother me. Then again, I steal looks at him all the time. My shirt catches on the zipper of my coat and slides up as I'm taking off my coat. Arden's still looking,  I remind myself. Oops, he just saw bare skin all the way to the bottom of my ribs. Good thing I'm thin, and in shape, I Think, otherwise that would be even more embarrassing.

The morning flies by, the only  part of my day worth looking forward to being lunch. Arden sits next to me, along with our normal lunch crowd and it turns into a make fun of Andie session and tell all of her embarrassing stories to Arden.

So Arden found out that if someone calls me "Spanky" it's because in French 1 during my freshman year I accidentally hit a guy's  butt while trying to smack another guy for calling me a name.

He also found out about the time I ran into the gym teacher in the baseline while we were playing kickball and fell flat on my back. And also about the time in junior high when I was asked a question about transpiration and I answered "transvestite."

I sigh on my way out of lunch, a little bit annoyed. Arden catches me and leans down in my ear. "Hey," he whispers, "don't be upset. You're human. Embarrassing things happen." I keep walking, still a little upset with my friends. I try to be a good sport but every new person I meet they tell these stories to. "you know what, tomorrow I'll tell a few embarrassing stories about myself." I can't stop myself from grinning.

"you don't have to," I say. "you didn't do anything. My friends just get on my nerves a little bit," I laugh, kind of realizing how I'm being overdramatic.

Arden laughs, "I know, but I'm sure you'd be fine with the spotlight not being on you all the time," he teases, making me laugh.

The French and Spanish rooms are right next to each other and I make my way into the french room with my classmates and he passes the door to go to Spanish. We're both going in the separate doors at the same time and he winks at me when I look over. I blush on my way in the room and hurry to my seat before the bell rings. Not that Madame would care, she's such a carefree nice lady.

The rest of the day flies by too. Arden picked his seat in health today, and it wasn't by me. he had to pick a seat in the row two over from mine and he sat In the front, so I get to admire his back while he can't see me at all, I laugh to myself.

After school, I'm waiting for Arden by his car, leaning on the passenger side door and watching the buses leave. I fiddle with my nails, noticing how my shiny pink nail polish is chipping away around the edges. I shift my weight from side to side, getting a little impatient after 5 or 6 minutes. I look around in the lot, seeing only a few cars and trucks scattered around. I'm sure they belong to teachers and coaches and students in winter activities. I sigh, getting colder, my fingers stiffening up. My winter coat isn't all that warm. Not in this weather at least.

I've been waiting for at least fifteen minutes and I'm about to make the decision to walk home when Arden comes walking out of the school. He sees me and starts jogging towards the car. My face is probably blue, I grumble in my head. The pavement is a little slick and Arden runs across a patch of black ice, learning the hard way that ice is slippery.

"Dammit," he groans loudly enough for me to hear it from his car. He gets up and walks ever so slowly to the car. I'm having a hard time not laughing although I know it's painful and embarrassing to fall on your butt on the hard pavement.

I smile at him, forgetting his fall as he comes to the car and unlocks the door. "Sorry I made you wait," he apologizes, looking at me sincerely and cranking up the heater in his car. "You're freezing," he says, staring at me in concern. "I'm really sorry Andie. I'll leave it unlocked tomorrow for you." he reaches over and grabs my hands in his rubbing them in a back and forth motion, trying to warm them up. I blush at the contact but enjoy the warmth as the friction heats my frozen hands up.

"it's ok," I say. "what were you up to? If you don't mind me asking."

Arden's face is stone as he stares at our hands together, still rubbing mine furiously. "I had to get some new kid papers cleared up. Its a load of crap if you ask me, but whatever."

"ew," I say sympathetically, pulling my hands away and placing them in my lap.

"I know. It's so dumb," he half smiles, but not in amusement. "are you warm? I still feel bad." he looks at me with such concern.

"yes," I say, smiling at him.

We get home and go our separate ways, saying goodbye to each other for the night.

I walk inside, setting down my school things and noticing that there is a message on the answering machine. I hit play as I walk to the cupboard to see if we have any hot cocoa mix.

"Andie?" it's my grandmother's voice. "Call me back when you get this.. It's important, so don't ignore gramma!" She sounded urgent, like something was seriously wrong.

I turn on the stove to prepare the water for my hot chocolate and hit the call button on my phone.
"Andie?" My grandma answers halfway through the first ring.

"Yeah?" I breathe, seriously worried now. My thoughts move to my mother and how she didn't come home last night. In this half second pause in the conversation, my thoughts are running wild, my imagination coming up with awful things that could have happened to my mother.

"Is your mother home?" She asks slowly.

I'm confused. "No?" I say.

"I've been trying her cell phone since last night at supper time trying to get ahold of her," Grandma says, sounding extremely concerned.

"what for?" I ask. "she probably has it turned off," I justify the lack of contact anyone has had with my mother. "But I haven't heard from or seen her since Sunday night, when that mall shooting was," I say.

"oh my," my grandma says. "I wonder what shes up to. " I can tell my grandma is really worried that Maddie and I have been left alone for almost two whole days. "I'm coming over," she says,  a determination in her voice that I know I won't be able to derail, but I will try.

"Gram, it's ok. I can hold down the fort while she's not here," I say even though I want my grandma to come. I know she would say something to my mom for not being here and I wouldn't. I know she'd take care of us and make dinner tonight.

Grandma doesn't hesitate in saying, "I know you can, sweetie. But I wanna be there in case anything happens."

"thank you gram," I say. "see you soon then." I hang up the phone, a sick feeling in my stomach. I don't want my mother to be in trouble, or out doing something reckless.

I sit on the couch, the sick feeling still there, lingering on even as I reassure myself a thousand times that there's a good reason my mother hasn't shown up or at least called us in two days. The same thought keeps coming back. "you don't know for sure, Andie," the voice keeps saying in my head. It reminds me of when I was a kid and when I would jump to conclusions my dad would say that same line. "you don't know for sure, Andie."

I pick up the phone and call my mother's floor at the hospital. Someone answers, so I say, "Hey this is Andie, is Mary there?"

"No, sweetie," the person says. I recognize the voice as Clive, the gay secretary on my mother's floor at the hospital. He's great, so I'm glad he's the one who answered. "Today is her day off, is there a problem?"
"no, no." I say, "thanks though." I hang up the phone feeling sicker than before, the thoughts of what could have happened to my mother coming back.

The tea kettle screams, startling me. I'm not in the mood for hot chocolate anymore since my mom is missing and my thoughts are drifting to things my beloved dad would always say. I make two cups of hot chocolate though, so when Madison comes home she can have one.

Madison makes it home a few minutes after I pour the hot chocolate into our favorite mugs and take mine to the living room. She's excited, of course. She loves hot chocolate.

"careful," I warn her, making her sit at the table to drink it because she has a bad habit of drinking every last bit she can off of the spoon. I take mine to the living room with no intention of drinking it.

I turn on the tv back in the living room, trying to return to some kind of normalcy although I cant convince my mind to slow down, and that everything is alright. Finally though, I resort to laying down and putting a couch pillow over my face. I don't handle stress well.

---

"Gramma!!!" I hear Madison squeal in delight, her mispronunciation of grandma amusing me for a moment. I sit up, looking around me and trying to figure out what's going on. Clock. It's 6:00. I need to make dinner, I release a deep mental sigh.

Grandma walks in the room and the situation hits me again. I was out for a solid hour and a half, so I definitely had the time to relax my mind. "any word from your mother?" my grandma looks at me.

"no," I say, furrowing my eyebrows.

Grandma comes and sits on the couch with me. "I'm sure everything is fine. I'll make us some supper, what do you have in here?" My grandma has always had a way of being comforting.

"I'm not sure what we have, Gram," I say suddenly becoming self conscious and trying to fix my hair.

"well, we'll see I guess," she stands back up slowly and goes to the kitchen. I have a feeling she has an idea of what's going on.

In the middle of dinner, at 7:00, the phone rings. I walk to the receiver slowly, nervous about answering it.

"h-hello?" I stutter, embarrassing myself.

"Hey honey!!" It's my mom's voice.

"hi," I say suspiciously. "where are you?" I demand, not in the mood to play any games. My mom tends to try and talk in circles til I'm confused enough to not care about the answer I was after. Usually it's small stuff, so it doesn't matter anyways, but it's still annoying that she does it.

"I'm on my way home," she replies.

"from where!?" I demand, all the emotion rising up through my voice in a louder tone than I intended.

My mom sighs, "look honey, I'll explain when I get home. Seeya soon!" She sounded annoyed with me with the sigh and everything, and it suddenly changed to glee with the "seeya soon!" It made me feel sick.

Grandma looks at me. "your mom?" she asks. I just nod, walking back to the table. Here comes an argument, I think to myself, knowing my grandma will confront my mom. She's never left us alone for 2 days. Especially without saying anything about it.

We all sit around the table after dinner and we play yahtzee  with Madison to keep her from thinking something's up. I feel bad trying so hard to keep her in the dark but the situation would be ten times worse if she knew what was up. So we continue playing yahtzee until my mother comes home.

My grandma stands up when she hears the door creak. I crane my neck trying to see through the arch that separates the living room and kitchen. My mother enters my line of vision, but the first think I notice that her hand is in someone else's.

"who's that!?" Madison jumps up from the table and runs to the arch to peek around the corner.

 Inspecting him and expecting the worst, I notice that he's kind of handsome, ruffled brown hair and a certain way of holding himself. I quickly rid my head of the thoughts, wondering again where this guy is from.
My mother jumps on the opportunity to introduce the stranger. "this, girls, is my boyfriend. " I feel like vomiting as she pauses to beam up at him. This can't be happening.

The man steps toward me where I'm frozen in place,  anger and confusion and sadness holding me down. "I'm Mark," he says, putting his hand out. I stare at it rudely, wanting nothing to do with him. Only wanting to be in my room alone, to think. After a moment he drops his hand back down and takes a step back.

I walk away, headed towards me room when my mom tries to stop me. "Andie, don't be rude," she pleads. I glance back a moment before defiantly going into my room anyways. I can't be out there right now. I'm liable to have a breakdown. My mom can't be doing this. She can't replace my dad. She can't just bring a strange man into the house after two days absence and expect us to be fine.

I collapse on my bed, trying to convince myself not to think at all. Eventually I cool down and get dressed for bed. I look out the window again before sliding into my comfortable bed. No Arden again tonight. I wish he was there. It'd be of some comfort, to have a friend so close.

Part 3

3
Arden's point of view.


I hurry and I'm back in a minute or two, backpack and military history homework in hand.  I smile, walking over to Andie after taking off my shoes.

Andie looks down at her feet when I come close,  hiding her pretty baby blues for a second. "I cleared off the table," she says awkwardly after a moment, making a motion for me to sit down as she does the same.

"So," I start. "How in the world do I do this. There's a special way I have to take notes?"

She nods, her bright smile exposing her immaculate shining white teeth. "yeah, it's one of the easiest things after you figure it out." I watch her ice blue eyes watch me. She's so cute, but I refuse to try and make anything out of it right now. I've only just arrived here in this new school and just met her last night--in a terrible situation at that. She grabs my notebook and draws a grid type thing with large and small blocks, showing me where to put what information.

"Oh," I say. "I would never have been able to figure that out by myself."

"that's ok," she says, "he had to explain it to all of us at the beginning of the year. And most people still don't get it right."

I smile at her before moving onto the next step, which I can do myself. I suppose I'll stay til this is done and go home afterwards.

She has her stuff out and is done in a matter of minutes, while it's taking me forever to figure it out.

"Here," she says, leaning over my notebook again and circling the things I need and drawing arrows to where they go in the chart. I did have it done, but I grouped it wrong and confused myself.

"You'll get it," she says reassuringly.

I smile again, still feeling like a complete doofus. "you'd make a good tutor," I say stupidly, filling the silence.
"I don't think so," she says. "I would have gotten a little frustrated if you didn't get it so quickly."

I laugh and then reply, "I gotta go. The kids over there need some food, I bet. And Tommy probably isn't doing a great job taking care of business."

Andie stares at me a moment before saying, "wait. You live in the house!?" she seems so astonished when I just nod my head. Then she continues. "this doesn't make sense. I thought you were adopted?"

I nod my head again. "I was. They were looking for another permanent, I guess. Funny that they adopted me, as old as I am, but they did." I explain to her although I don't totally understand it myself.

"so you didn't do anything awful to get put in the house did you?" she looks at me with wide eyes. The house is a place where troubled boys like me get sent. For different reasons, but none of them good. You have to be pretty bad to be put in the house and I guess Andie knows this.

"nope," I say, which is a lie. They did officially adopt me. But they did so because I have done a lot of things wrong.  Things I don't want to follow me to America.

Naomi and Darren are obsessed with trying to make good people out of us. It's a full time job, taking care of us eight boys and keeping us out of trouble in our new school.

"so, because you aren't really a part of the house, that's why you're allowed to drive then.." Andie trails off, her face confused.

I hadn't thought about that, but I assume that's why. Naomi and Darren had no care in the world when I asked if I could drive their old red car to school every day. As long as none of my brothers came along, they said. They're afraid that if we get together we'll come up with a plan to do something bad. As if we didn't have enough time to think of awful things to do while we were at home. I suppose the car is transportation though. I shut myself up, trying hard to concentrate on the conversation. "yeah," I say like I know.

I stand up, gathering my stuff and wanting to be done with the conversation now. I don't want to slip up and tell Andie something that would show who I've been in the past. "do you want a ride to school tomorrow?" I ask her, hoping she'll say yes.

"sure," she says, smiling a little bit.

Her teeth are so perfect and I stare for a moment before replying, "ok. See you in the morning." I'm out the door in a couple of seconds and on my way to The House.

***
Andie.

I sit alone at the table for a few minutes, thinking about how Arden lives in the house. I had totally forgotten that the house kids were my neighbors when I found out Arden was too. I sigh, getting up. I didn't have any other homework, so I guess I'll get to work cooking dinner.

My mom doesn't come home in time for dinner, so i set a portion in the fridge for her. She's a nurse and is always working screwy hours.  Maddie and I eat our spaghetti though and have a good time doing it.
"did you have fun a school today?" I asked her, like my mom would if she were here.

"we made elephants out of clay in art today! It was totally awesome!!" Her eyes light up just thinking about it.

"cool," I say, remembering when I did that it elementary school. "when do you get to bring it home?"
"I named him Rocky," she says. "I don't know when I get to bring him home yet."

"cool," I say again, getting up to rinse my plate. She goes to copy me but I stop her, saying, "you need to finish what I gave you. You didn't even have a snack after school today." she turns around and goes back to the table, obediently eating the rest of her spaghetti while I do the dishes.

After dinner, I get online to check my facebook, feeling a little lonely since my mother isn't home yet. Everyone I don't feel like talking to is on, so I creep around facebook, looking to see if Arden has one. I don't know his last name, so I scroll through the list of Ardens looking for one that looks like him, and is British.

I'm surprised to finally find him, and his profile is public! I look through his photos surprised to find almost all of them being with a different girl. A few of them are kissing photos, which disturb me. And one is of four girls kissing Arden at once. I click out of his pictures and move on to his information, which doesn't surprise me after those photos.

He likes to party. He likes to drink. On his wall there's posts from months ago about him getting drunk, or going to a big party with this Katey girl, who is tagged in a lot of his photos. She's pretty, with long dark brown hair and brown eyes.

I sigh and click off, going back to the home page to see what else is going on. I feel like a total creeper but I'm glad I found those things out about him. I have a feeling he's not been telling the complete truth about everything but I won't bring this up. I'll see what kind of person he is after a while, whether he feels guilty for not telling me, or not. After all, I've only known him for a day. I can't expect him to spill his guts about everything. Just like I'm not willing to tell him my life story, I think.

Its an average night, except my mom doesn't come home, and by nine o'clock, I'm going to bed because of boredom and loneliness. Madison spent the whole night in her room, watching cartoons, so she didn't even entertain me. Before I lay down, I open my curtain again like I did the night before. Arden's is closed. I couldn't figure he'd look at the same time as me anyway, so I just lay down and read my favorite book before going to sleep.

Part 2

2

I wake up in a panic because I'm up late and I still need to shower and if I miss the bus I'll have to run to school and it's winter so I'll freeze, and be late. So I spring out of bed, grab a hoodie and my favorite pair of ripped jeans and run to the bathroom for a shower. Instead of my normal, 15 minute shower I'm out in a matter of 5 minutes and running to do the next task, packing a lunch. The bus will be here in 3 minutes.

Of course there is no food in the house. My mom is already gone for work and my sister is waiting for the bus outside. I wonder briefly why nobody woke me up. Maybe my mom thought I was skipping on purpose. I'm never up late like this.

I make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and grab an apple. I'm on my way out the door as the bus pulls away.

"Damn!" I stomp my foot on the ground, taking a second to get my cool before footing it to school. I'm looking at the snow dusted ground with my hand on my forehead, making sure I have my things for the day. But all I can think is, what a freaking great way to start my day. It's just gonna be the second terrible day in a row. I sigh, looking up and seeing a red car in front of my driveway.

"HEY!" A voice calls from the open passenger window of the car. When I focus on it, I realize it's Arden. "do you need a ride to school!?" he shouts.

"oh my goodness. You're a life saver," I breathe as I  scurry toward his car. This is the second time he's showed up out of nowhere to help me.

"hey," he says as I lower myself into his car. "How are you. Running late?" he teases me a little bit before pulling away from my driveway.

"I slept in late," I sigh, "you are such a life saver. You know?" I laugh a little bit after saying that. "thank you," I smile over at him. "again. "

"it's no problem," he takes his eyes off the road to reply to me. "no need to thank me," he laughs. I smile at him again.

We pull into the school parking lot with plenty of time. "so," I say to him as we climb out of his car, "is this your first day? Cause I haven't seen you around. In fact, I never even noticed you moving in." I say, confused now. You would think that I'd notice his family moving in at least.

"yes, it's my first day," he laughs nervously. "you might have to help me out."

"no problem," I say, "I owe you."

"and about me moving here," he starts, his voice obviously hesitant. The bell rings and cuts him off. He sighs in relief, "I'll tell you later sometime." we both hurry into the school and I head straight to my locker.

"hey," Arden asks quickly, trying to get my attention. "where are the 600 lockers?"

I smile at him. He's on my block of lockers. "this way," I say, leading the way. We wasted too much time talking so now we need to hurry if we want to make it to home room on time.

Arden stops at his locker, which is only 4 lockers down from mine. I open mine with ease and smile to myself as I watch him struggle with his. I'm surprised nobody is jumping on the opportunity to help him out. He's really cute. Then again, they wouldn't want to be late and probably haven't noticed him yet.

"what do you have first period?" I ask him, looking over the door of my locker to do so.

"military history with... Conner," he says.

"great. Me too," I say, grabbing my books and waiting for him. He gets a notebook and a pen and follows me to the room. A few other students straggle in with us and Mr. Conner greets us as we take our seats.
There's an empty desk by mine and Arden sits there.

Mr. Conner comes over and looks at Arden. "You must be Arden," he says, his deep voice audible to the whole room.

"yes sir," Arden says politely. Mr. Conner is surprised by the accent, which I'm actually kind of used to now. A lot of girls in the room turn and stare at him in awe. Here it comes, I think. He'll turn into every other new guy who ever comes here. He's cool, and then the boy crazy girls get to him and he either becomes a player, or a geek who is shunned from any popular crowd. Unlike the boys who have been here their whole lives, new boys are a novelty. I can't stand it and I try to stay out of it as much as I can.

Mr. Conner grabs Arden a text book and the syllabus he gave out to everyone at the beginning of the year. "here you go," he says, letting the book fall heavily to the desk Arden is sitting at. Arden flinches when it hits and Mr. Conner can hardly contain his laughter.

The class is long and boring and it's basically a review of what we went over on Friday last week. I spend most of the time doodling while other students are furiously scribbling down notes that they didn't get when they should have or missed while they were out.  I glance over at Arden and absentmindedly wonder what his handwriting looks like before Mr. Conner calls on me.

"Andie," he says. "what is the area in between trenches called?"

I hesitate a moment before answering, surprised that he called on me. "No man's land, sir," I say. He's a little bit upset that I knew the answer since he caught me off guard, but I never let him get to me. He's been trying to get me all year and it's a personal goal of mine to never be stumped by him. Stupid games like these are how I stay the A+ student I am. Otherwise this school would be too boring for me and I wouldn't bother to get work done.

After class Arden catches up with me in the hall. "what's your schedule?" he asks, holding his out in front of me.

"hmm," I groan trying to think of my schedule. "we have military history, study hall, trig, lunch, and phys. Ed together."'I groan inwardly when I see the phys. Ed class.  I am so clumsy at gym and I embarrass myself all the time. "so, see you third period," I say as i walk toward the art room and he walks down the English hall.

The periods I don't share with Arden, I'm thinking about him. I scold myself multiple times and try to force myself to focus on my work. I just can't, there's something bothering me about him.

The periods we do have together he sits by me and I help him to the class. I feel bad for him trying to find the others because he gets swarmed by girls who want to "help." He accepts their help but seems to ignore their attempts at flirting with him. All of this is stuff I watch happen from my locker.

Finally lunch rolls around and Arden comes to sit at my table, where I introduce him to my best friends Sam, and Hunter and Aaron and Kayla.

Sam is with Hunter and Aaron is kind of with Kayla (its just not official) so I'm the only single person at the table normally. But then I think about it. I'm assuming Arden is single when he might not be. Besides, it doesn't matter because we are just friends. I'm not interested, I tell myself. Even if I was, he wouldn't be. I've never had a boyfriend because boys always look right over me. And it's not what my dad would have wanted..

I eat at  my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, not finding it very appetizing and quitting halfway.
The conversation is all about yesterday at the mall and how thats where Arden and I met and how scary it was. Then it turns to Arden and where he's from in England and stuff. Its interesting to find out about him, but he avoids the subject of family every time it comes up.

Lunch ends and Arden is walking with me to the locker rooms and I ask him, "would you mind giving me a ride home?"

"I thought that was the plan," he laughs, putting his arm around my shoulders in a friendly way.  I get butterflies in my stomach and my face gets hot. Arden chuckles in my ear.

"just making sure," I smile up at him. He laughs at me and gives my shoulder a squeeze before I step away into the girls' locker room.

"so. Andie and the new guy," one girl comments. "Is he nice? He's been spending all his time with you. I haven't even gotten a chance to say hello," she says in a sweet innocent voice. Not trying to explain it nicely, she's the slut of the school. If anyone doesn't deserve good looks its her. But she has them, and she manages to use them to get whatever guys she wants.

I ignore her and walk by, trying to channel my thoughts so that I'm not being bitter. I change clothes quickly and leave the locker room before they can say anything else.

Arden is waiting for me in the gym and his face lights up when I walk in. "Hey," he smiles.

"Hi," I say, biting my lip a little bit. "are you good at sports?" I wonder out loud.

"I'm okay," he says. I can tell he's being humble and he's probably boss at everything athletic. "and you?" he asks, raising one eyebrow slightly.

I blush and sigh, "I'm awful." We laugh and our conversation is cut short by the blow of Mr. Young's whistle.

We're playing hockey in class today. Hockey is my favorite sport, and it's probably what I'm best at in gym but that doesn't guarantee I won't do something ridiculous and embarrassing.

The class goes smoothly except for one incident where Arden, who plays for the other team and has never played hockey before--except field hockey-- is running after the hockey ball and runs right into my side, knocking me flat on my back. I should be used to it by now but it hurts like Hell and I feel like crying. Of course Arden feels terrible and helps me up, asking if I'm alright or not.  I nod my head, swallowing the pain and continuing to play even though I have the option to sit out the rest of class. He keeps apologizing even though I emphasize the fact that it isn't a big deal and I'm fine.

On my way out of the locker room, Arden catches me again. "I'm really sorry about knocking you over," he smiles.

"it's totally fine," I say. "It's ok."

"if you say so," he says, "that looked extremely painful."

I fake a smile because it does hurt but I repeat myself, "It's alright Arden," I laugh quietly.

After school, Arden waits for me in his car, which he parked in the student parking lot. The car is nice and warm when I climb in. "how long did I keep you waiting?" I feel bad, he could have been home already.
"only about 5 minutes. I had to get out of there before those girls..." he trails off at the end of his sentence, shuddering and I laugh at him, knowing exactly what he means.

"they'll get over you in about a week when you're no longer a novelty," I joke, although it's true. If he doesn't succumb to their charm, they'll most likely give up after a week or two.

Arden gets a worried look on his face. "you won't, will you?"

"No!" I exclaim. "you're a friend. They just want to get in your pants." We laugh and then he puts the car in drive. Unfortunately, my being late to the car made it impossible for us to beat the buses so we have to wait in the long line of cars in order to get out.

"wait," I say as we're pulling out. Arden looks at me, a little worried expression on his face. "You are from England right?" He nods. "isn't it weird driving on this side of the car, and road then?"

"I've actually been in the states for a few months to get used to it," he smiles. "I didn't really drive when I was still in England."

"oh," I say. "So, why are you in the states?" I ask, "is it permanent?"

"I'll explain why when we get home, if you'll let me come over," he says. "But yes, it's very permanent. I like it here too."

A song I like comes on the radio and Arden reaches to turn it up. "I love this song," I exclaim excitedly,  looming over at Arden doing  a little dance in his seat.

Im having a lot of fun dancing along and singing, "I've had the time of my life," as the Black Eyed Peas sing it. "and I've never felt this way before!"

"whoa," Arden says. "you have an amazing voice. You sound like Fergie," he laughs.

"thanks," I say, a little embarrassed and feeling awkward.  I stop singing but continue nodding my head a little bit as it changes into a rap section of the song. I feel totally comfortable since he's dancing like a weirdo too.

We both laugh when the song is over and we pull into his driveway. The snow is a little deeper and my feet get wet as we walk over the little grass patch between our houses.

I feel relieved when we walk into my house and it's clean because my mom was stressing yesterday and she cleans when she's stressed. My sister isn't home yet since she was riding the bus and we are like the last people to get off.

I offer for Arden to have a seat on the couch while I go to the kitchen to get us something to drink. "lemonade?" I ask because that seems to be the only beverage I can think of even though it's winter and you'd think something like hot chocolate would be the normal drink of choice.

"sure," he says, taking his shoes off by the door like I did and then sitting on the big couch in the living room. I bring our lemonades and sit a comfortable distance away from him.

I start thinking about the topic we came to my house to talk about and why he avoided it multiple times when other people asked at school, and again in the car. I hope it's not bad, but something tells me it's serious before he even starts talking.

After taking a couple gulps of lemonade Arden begins. "I'm in the states for a few reasons." He chuckles slowly and I can tell he is trying to lighten the mood a bit. "First of all though, my parents both died in a house fire when I was 14." it surprises me how easily he says that. There's only  a tiny bit of pain in his voice. Then again, he's had at least 3 years to deal with it. "after living with my aunt B for a while, I got into some trouble and she couldn't handle me no more. She sent me off to a special adoption program for troubled teen orphans or whatever. I couldn't stay in that place very long either, and I had a plan to run away to London to meet up with a buddy of mine. This is when I'm almost 17. but your neighbors, AKA my new parents decided to adopt me  after they saw my profile online. Apparently I'm perfect for them but I don't know why they'd want a delinquent like me. So anyways, they had some issues with papers and stuff after I got brought to the states and so I didn't get moved in until Saturday." He takes a deep breath. "I don't want everyone to know all that, and I feel like i can trust you, so... Don't tell anyone. Please?" he looks over at me, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Promise," I mumble, still thinking about his story. It seems like it'd be sort of traumatic to go through all that stuff. I mean, I haven't been through the loss of both parents and being shipped into a new country with people I don't know, but just the loss of my dad a few years ago has left such a deep, never healing wound. I don't know. Maybe it's different for everyone. But I was especially close to my dad, and it was devastating when he died.

"I like you, kiddo," he says, a new smile on his face, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I glare up at him through my long eyelashes.'"don't call me kiddo!" I say, laughing.

He ruffles up my hair with his big hand. "why not, kiddo?" he asks teasingly, his accent making me laugh. I jump on the opportunity when he stops watching to throw my hand into his hair and mess it up
.
He immediately starts rubbing his hand all over my head, really making it look bad, I'm sure. "ok! Ok!" I yell, giving up. He ruffles my hair once more and I'm forced to take it without retaliating. I grumble at him and pick my feet up onto the couch, sitting up again. Arden laughs at me and my hair before attempting to fix it, his big clumsy hands failing at it.

"you look like a hot mess," he laughs, still trying to fix it. I laugh at him and move his hands away, expertly starting to do it myself.

"Andie!" my sister yells when she walks in the door.

"hi,  Maddie," I say, getting up and heading for the kitchen.

"your hair's a mess," she points out.

"I know," I laugh. I hear Arden behind me chuckling and I feel like turning around and attacking him again.

"do you want a snack?" I ask like I do everyday. Normally, I make her a snack after school.

"no thanks," she says, "I'm not hungry. I'm gonna go work on my homework." I'm surprised by this. She always seems to be starving, and she never wants to do her homework.

"hey Andie," Arden says as I turn around.

I look at him in curiosity. He's standing in the middle of my living room. "yeah?" I ask, since he waited for me to reply, rather than just getting on with it and saying whatever he had to say.

"do you think you could help me with that military history homework?" He looks down sheepishly, obviously embarrassed that he needs help.

I nod, "oh yeah," i laugh. "Connor's system is hard to get used to."

"k," he replies, "I'll go get my stuff."

While he's outside in his car I pick up Maddie's backpack off the table so we can sit there, glad he wanted help with something I knew something about.
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I know I picked a really bad spot to stop for this part, but I felt like it was long enough and I wanted to upload another part today when I had access to the internet.. Hope you like it!!!!! Comment please!!

Part 1

HEY, THIS IS ALSO ON WATTPAD.... comment for me please. I wanna know what you think!!!! (: Please and thank you. <3


It's not fair," my sister whines as my mother drags her away from the rack of overly expensive jewelry. In her defense, my mother bought me one necklace, but lately we've been tight on money and this is for the wedding we're going to next weekend. I have a necklace perfect for the dress shes wearing but she'll have none of it. She's only 7, she doesn't understand the money situation.

"Honey, sis has a necklace perfect for your dress. You're going to look wonderful," my mom says, exasperated. We've been having this fight for 6 minutes now and I can tell my mom is going to give in soon.

"you know what, Madison?" I ask her, looking down at her little teary eyes and feeling bad. "I'll give you this necklace after the wedding." I hold up the shiny new silver necklace that matches the silver decorations on my dress. I could always borrow it from her, I suppose even though it's tough to part with something I've wanted for a while.

"really!?" she jumps excitedly, all her previous sorrows forgotten.

"sure," I say. "deal?"

"yeah," she smiles up at me. She adores me. And although we don't always get along, my sister and I are pretty tight. "Thanks Andie!" she says, still beaming, her grin stretching from ear to ear.

"anytime, sissy," I say, ruffling her hair as we walk back out into the mall. She hugs me around the waist and trips me up, making me drop my bag with the necklace in it.

Before I can bend over to pick it up, there's a hand darting into my vision. Funny, I think to myself, it's not mine or my sister's. When I look back up I see the face of a guy I recognize from school. Or somewhere.

"thanks," I say kind of awkwardly, waiting for him to hand back my bag.

"welcome," he says. I'm surprised to hear that he has a British accent. I smile at him in a friendly manner and he does the same as I take the bag.

I walk away after another moment. For some reason  I got the notion that he wanted to say something, and it's confirmed as I walk further and I hear him cursing himself. I look back, a crooked smile on my face, trying to catch what he looks like before I get too far away. He's staring after me and I blush a little bit as I turn back around to watch where I'm going.

Later, I decide that I'll get ice cream for my sister and my mother and I at the Baskin Robbins on the way out using some babysitting money I have saved up. As I'm paying for the three small vanilla cones I drop a handful of change on the ground. Bending down to pick it up I come face to face with the same guy who picked up my bag earlier. The first thoughts that come to mind are, is he stalking me? And why is he so dang nice? I laugh at myself inwardly and break the eye contact, reaching for a quarter that rolled a little further out of reach. I start to lose balance and the guy places his big hand on my arm, steadying me.

"thanks," I laugh. "again."' he cracks a smile, his especially white teeth distracting me for a second.
"Hi, I'm Arden," he says, leaving his hand on my arm.

"I'm Andie," I say. "do I know you from somewhere?" I ask slowly. It's unreal, how familiar Arden seems to me although I've never heard that name before.

"I don't think so. Then again, I have one of those faces," he laughs. "I just moved here."

I smile at him. "well thanks," I say, "we should probably stand up."I look around me and up and the cashier lady is bent over the counter looking at us.

"I have your cones," she says impatiently.

We both laugh before standing up. I grab the cones and go to hand my sister's and my mother's off when suddenly there's a loud crack, like a gunshot or something.

Everyone around me is screaming and ducking and there's a lady across the mall crying over the body of someone. Oh my God, I think to myself, that was a gunshot. A hand grabs mine and I'm being yanked to the ground. "ow!" I yelp as I hit the ground, hard.

"shhh," Arden says in my ear right before the gunman starts shouting orders to the crowd. Where's mall security!? I look to my left to find that Arden was the one who pulled me down.

The gunman keeps screaming out commands. He doesn't want anyone to move, talk or call for the police. I curl up in a ball next to the ice cream counter, my ice cream slowly melting in my hand.

"you might want to get rid of that," Arden says in a hushed tone after a minute or two of melting. I whimper a little bit before throwing it to the side, away from any people. I'm shaking really bad from fear and confusion. Arden slides closer to me the next time the man turns around.

"it'll be alright," he comforts me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I lean on him, too scared to care that he's a complete stranger. But my sister and mother quickly come back to mind. I look around the open food court for them. They were just right here! Luckily I find them a few yards away from where I'm sitting. But they're out in the open on their own. My sister is crying uncontrollably and my mother who is normally the rock of the family, unphased by anything, has a worried look on her face as she tries to quiet my sister.

Arden flinches when he sees the man with the gun raise it and hold it above his head. He's losing the crowd's attention.  How much time has gone by? No mall security or anything. He has a gun and he's shot someone for heaven's sakes.  I can't control my thoughts. I need to calm down, everything will be alright.

Arden turns to me, "do you have a phone?" he asks slowly and quietly.

"yes?" I say, still scared out of my mind. I don't want to draw attention to us by pulling it out. The guy has a gun, he could shoot us. A shiver runs through my body, prompting Arden to give my shoulder a squeeze.

"it'll all work out and we'll be fine in the end," he whispers in my ear. "just pull out your phone. slowly now," he instructs me as I do what he asks. "let me see it," he holds his hand out for me to hand him the phone.

I'm still too scared to make my own decisions and I hand over my phone. He dials 911 and holds it behind my head, leaning over to conceal himself. There's enough people in the food court that he shouldn't even be noticed.

"the mall. Food court," Arden says slowly and quietly, sounding surprisingly calm. "there's no mall security in here, and theres a man with a gun, threatening all of us." I hear the operator ask him to stay on the line. They want to know what the gunman wants, but I haven't been able to comprehend his words past the part where he has a gun and can kill any one of us at any time.

Finally, after what feels like forever, he hangs up the phone and hands it to me. "DID YOU JUST CALL THE POLICE!?" the man booms, I shriek and hide my face in Arden's armpit, which I can't help but notice, smells delicious. But when I look back up the man is storming in someone else's direction. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I shake in Arden's arm a little more. I feel terrible for the people on the receiving end but I'm glad it wasn't us.  He holds his gun in their face and yells. But when they deny it repeatedly he leaves them alone.

Arden gives me another comforting squeeze. I drop my head on his shoulder. I have no clue what I would have done without him in this situation. "thank you,"'I whisper in his ear.

"for what?" he asks, his voice more raspy as he speaks in lower tones.

"being here," I whisper again. I look at his face and he's wearing a big goofy grin.

"no problem," he laughs quietly. The man with the gun is still running around, pointing it at different people. I never thought about his motive to do this, he never said anything about why. But I suppose it's because somewhere else, he has a buddy who's stealing something or holding up another crowd.

Eventually, the man settles down and isn't as threatening. I think reality is hitting him. The police come though and they refuse to come inside because he's armed and apparently dangerous. The person on the other side of the food court who got shot lost a lot of blood on the floor and I imagine they're dead, which makes me feel especially sad.

And finally, a police squad comes in, and some go to get the man, who basically surrendered himself.  Most get sent around the food court to see if everyone is ok, plus the EMTs going to the seriously wounded person. One officer comes up to Arden and I and asks if we got hurt and if we were the ones who called the police and all sorts of things that I felt too exhausted to answer. In any case, Arden and I have to go back to the police station to answer more questions.

In all the chaos, I can't find my mom and sister. And the police officer is getting impatient with me because I insist on telling her where I'll be. How am I supposed to get home? There has to be something that says she has to be at the station with me. Or something. I don't want to be alone.

Arden grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. "text her on the way there," he says. "I'll make sure you get home ok," the smile on Arden's face is convincing and I follow the police officer and Arden as they lead the way out to Trooper Burnham's squad car. He's not very friendly or all that nice and he demands that we climb into the back seat. This whole experience is just really scary.

I sit next to Arden silently on the way to the station. I don't know what other questions can be asked. The guy obviously had a gun and he obviously shot someone and we were all obviously scared out of our minds. My head thumps on the window as I lean over. I feel exhausted after that experience.  Out of my peripheral vision I notice Arden flinch and look over. He's awfully nice for someone I've never met before.

At the station we sit in the main waiting area forever. That's where I remembered to text my mother and tell her everything was alright and I'd have a police escort home by 6:00. Of course she was a little outraged. She walked out without any problem but we got stopped.

***

It is 6:00 by the time they even get to us to ask questions. Apparently we were 2 of many randomly selected witnesses to recreate the event in the mall today.

The officer talking to Arden and I explained why there were no security officers and why the man knew this. They were called down for an emergency in the lower left wing of the mall, opposite where the food court is. There was a bigger scene there apparently. Of course the man had it planned so that he and the guy in the lower left wing would tie up any security and civilians that they could while others went and robbed stores. The police are still sorting through who got robbed and how much since two of the robbers got away.

After all this is explained to us, which, it's not as if I had paid attention through most of that, the officer asks us for our addresses. I give mine first and then Arden. We both give each other a strange look. One number off.  "you're my new neighbor?" i ask, smiling.

"I guess so!" Arden says happily. "what a coincidence," he laughs. We wait for the policeman to enter our addresses into his gps so we can go home. I can't wait to be home. Today got really stressful.

Fred, our escorting police officer is much more friendly than the one who brought is to the station and keeps trying to strike up conversation but Arden and I are just too tired to keep up with one.

The car stops in front of my house and Arden and i get out. It pulls away as soon as the door is shut, not giving us a chance to thank the driver or anything. "well then," I laugh, watching him drive away. "I'll talk to you later Arden," I smile at him. It's dark outside and I can't read his expression. The cold air nips at my fingers and body and I grab both sides of my coat, pulling it tighter around me before walking away toward my house.

"seeya," Arden says, turning toward his own house which is right next to mine.

I walk in the door to my house and my mom runs over to hug me. "oh," she sighs. "that was the scariest thing ever!" she hugs me tighter.

"yeah," I agree with her. "I'm going to bed."

"well goodnight," she says, looking at the clock. It's early for me at 8:30 to be going to bed but I'm exhausted and I have a lot on my mind. "I love you," she adds right before I close the door.

"you too mom. Night." I say loudly through the door, hoping she hears me. I gaze out my window, looking at the house next to mine.

 As I'm about to put the curtain back in it's place I see another curtain open on my neighboring house. It's Arden. Embarrassed, I feel like closing the curtain but our gazes meet and I'm mesmerized. Butterflies swarm my stomach.

 After the moment is gone I let the curtain go and flop onto my bed. Despite today's scary events all I can think about is Arden. I fall asleep in my jeans and without taking a shower, Arden still on my mind.