"A girl shouldn’t have to live this way!" I screamed at my mother. My mother and her "buddies" were doing their usual, drinking and smoking. I can’t stand the smell of smoke, it drives me mad! She knows that. I believe she does this crap in the house to piss me off but i don’t know what’s going on in her dying head. My mother just stared at me and laughed. Does she think i'm kidding? I took a step towards her and she stood up. I'm not scared of my mom but she can be a little intimidating sometimes, you know. "You must have no idea how that shit is fucking with my health! I don’t want to be like you! On her death bead at thirty-four! So would you quit it!"

"I will quit when you stop being a baby and grow up!"

"Ha! I'm a baby? Whatever mom!" And also as usual, at the end of all of our arguments i turn away and head to my room. Yes I'm pissed. No, I'm not letting my mother get to me. In my room i walked to my window seat and sat there and watched all the birds and wildlife go by. I wonder do the baby birds have to go through crap with their parents like humans do. I bet they have it easy. No drugs or alcohol to consume their parents. Or like what if they did have to go through what humans go through. I bet it’s just as hard for them.

Noise from across the street broke into my thoughts. Turning my attention to the Moving truck i remember now that we were getting new neighbors. I hopped out of my seat as curious as a mouse and headed outdoors to meet my new neighbors.

"Wait, wait! Now be careful with that! That is expensive!" This tall blond woman exclaimed. She is really pretty. Tall around 5"9", a strawberry blond, tanned skin. Really just strong features.

"Sorry", the moving guy said ducking his head down and pushing the furniture into the house. The closer i get to the newly furnished house the more people i see. This guy, I'm guessing the woman’s husband came up behind the woman and hugged her from behind. After a while they finally saw me. Both with hesitant looks.

"Hi there" the man greeted me with a warm, sincere, smile.

"Hi, I'm Cassie" i reached out to shake the woman’s hand but she just stared at me. Rude wench!

"Yes, you must be our new neighbor! I'm Cliff and this is my wife Alison. Yeah we're moving here from California. Thought this would be a nice quiet place". Ha! Who the hell was their realtor. There is nothing quiet about this neighborhood.

"Yeah it’s nice on occasions, ha-ha, so are you guys like newly weds or something?" i asked. Cliff laughed and shook his head.

"No we aren’t, we have been married for 23 years and been together for 30 years." I nodded, pretending like i was interested. I was interested but not in how long they were married. I’m more interested in what made them choose this neighborhood of all places. A glitter in the corner of my eye made me turn. The movers were unloading guitars. Acoustic, electric, bass, you name it. As a knee jerk reaction i ran over to the movers, very interested to see the make of the guitars.

"Holy shit! These are hot!" i nearly screamed. Behind me i heard Cliff chuckling.

"Yeah, those are our sons' Guitars, he has a habit of playing and writing music when he is pissed but for some strange reason he didn’t want one. Every guitar he thought would fit into his music, he bought, ha-ha. Sometimes he plays into the morning, getting no sleep but me and his mother doesn’t mind as long as he maintains a 4.0. Our other son on the other hand, he all but blocks us out of his life ha-ha so you probably wouldn’t see him much". And i care why? Especially when i have five great looking guitars right in front of me!

"Mom?" a deep male voice questioned.

"I'm over here". Alison called out. I angled my body enough to see who it was calling her. It had to be one of her sons. He’s tall, like 6"0" Black hair with blond highlights. It was styled odd. Cut short in the back but long in the front, flowing into his face covering one of his eyes. He wore black and white skinny jeans with rips all over the place. White converse with a white t-shirt. His eyes are light blue. He is cute i must admit. Not at all my type. A guy with a piercing is gross, and tattoos, yuck! This guy has his lip pierced along with his left eyebrow in three different places. Both of his arms are tattooed. What is with people and ruining their bodies. By the time I’d got done looking him over, he'd reached Alison. He had taken a quick glance at me but then turned his attention back to his mom.

"Me and Michael going to the mall to chill, that OK?"

"Michael and I are going to the mall to hang out, is that OK" Alison corrected. "Yes, that is fine son".

"Matter of fact, maybe Cassie can show you around the city" Cliff interrupted. Their son took one more look at me and frowned deeper.

"Seriously dad! I don’t need a fucking tour guide, I'm just going to the mall to chill!"

"Yes i heard you but last time you told me that, we had gotten a call from sheriff," Cliff turned to me. "You don’t mind showing my boys around do you Cassie?" Hell yes i do mind, i wanted to say but instead i shook my head. I could have sworn i heard their son whisper, "bitch" I'll pass it off for now. "Well then it’s settled, both Michael and you go to the mall with Cassie or don’t go at all."

"Fine!" he said through clenched teeth. "We are leaving in five minutes".

"Nice son you have there." i said once he was out of hearing range and back into the house. Alison laughed and shook her head.

"I keep telling myself it’s just a phase for the both of them, but i don’t know, it seems to be getting worse." She laughed. Cliff and Alison walked into the house, leaving me waiting on their lawn for their sons, whatever his name is, and Michael.

__________

It was more like an hour later, when they had come out the house. Michael looks just like the black haired one except he has blond hair and black streaks, a little taller and his eyes are a darker shade of blue. They walked right passed me and got into the car. I immediately ran to the car when they started it.

"Hey where the hell do you think you're going without me?"

"To the mall, without you."

"I don’t think your parents would approve"

"Fuck them!..." black haired guy saw my ominous expression and laughed. "Fine get in". I jumped into the car and we drove off. I forgot to tell my mom that i was going somewhere.

"What's your name?" Michael asked, his voice a little higher in pitch then his brothers.

"Cassidy Mai"

"I'm Michael, and this jackass is Colten"

"Oh i knew that already," i said trying to hold back laughter.

"Our names?"

"No, that Colten is a jackass". Colten fixed his mirror to where he could see me and gave me a fuck you look. Ha! I don’t care! Michael laughed and Colten shot him a menacing look.

"She used present tense bro, you have to admit, you are a jackass sometimes".

"Fuck you!" Colten mumbled and turned up the radio to where thinking wasn’t even possible. This is funny. One of my favorite songs is playing on the radio. Brick by boring Brick by Paramore. I began singing along with the song and Michael joined in. Colten seemed like he is being a jackass and getting annoyed.

"Oh my god! Shut the fuck up!" Colten yelled and changed the song. Well that did no good, another one of my favorites! Kings and Queens by 30 seconds to Mars was an awesome song. I began to sing a little louder, just to annoy Colten.

"Colten, she's doing this on purpose so deal with it, ha-ha." Michael didn’t seem dead to the world. He seemed more free spirited. Michael turned the music down so conversation was possible now. "So how long you been living there?"

"My whole life..."

"Which is, how many years, i didn’t quite catch that answer?"

"16"

"So you are 16 years old?"

" I said that didn’t I?"

"No you didn’t actually?" Smartass.

"Yes I'm 16, problem?"

"No, no problem at all, I'm just thinking that, you are pretty hot to be just 16, ha-ha".

"Jerk!"

"What the hell i thought that would be a compliment!"

"Well yeah, but a female in her right state of mind doesn’t want to hear that she is hot, she wants to hear that she is beautiful dumb-ass".

"Well sooorry for not knowing how you chicks work!"

"And we aren’t chicks, we are girls or woman, or females!" Michael shook his head and was silent for the rest of the trip to the mall. When we finally made it there, the three of us got out of the car and went in through the front entrance. The first place we went is the food court. Colten, Michael, and I found a seat near a pizza stand. Colten sat in front of me and Michael next to me. "What is the point of coming here if all you are going to do is sit, something you could've done at home."

"The environment," Colten stated bitterly.

"Cassie!" i jerked around and saw a running Candice, my best friend.

"Hey Candice!" she stood next to me and bent down to hug me around the neck. She gave both Michael and Colten a once over with a look of disgust on her face. She hates the emo look just as much as i do, maybe even worse.

"Who are your friends?"

"My new neighbors, I'm showing them around the city".

"Oh...hi" Colten nodded in her direction and turned his head in the opposite direction. Michael smiled warmly (he has his fathers smile) and waved at her.

"Candice-Colten, Michael...Michael, Colten-Candice". I introduced them all. It was quiet for a minute until Candice interrupted the silence.

"Well i will see you at school on Monday, talk to you later Cassie". Candice gave me another hug and walked off.

"Hey Colt, I'm going to take a piss, I’ll be right back." Colten shooed Michael away, and as soon as he was out of hearing range, Colten turned to stare at me.

"What?"

"What do you mean what?'

"You are staring at me like i killed your cat or something"

"Problem?"

"No problem, its just annoying the hell outta me!"

"Just like you were fucking annoying the hell outta me in the car with your tone deaf singing!"

"I like to sing, and i-am-not tone deaf, it’s not like i were doing it on purpose!"

"Bullfuckingshit!"

"You can bullshit me all day but that’s not going to change my answer, i didn’t do it on purpose and plus, if you hadn’t turned the music up so loud i wouldn’t have to sing so loud just to hear myself, how would i know how i sound?" Colten smiled.

"Yeah well, you suck, just letting you know." I laughed and kicked him under the table.

"What the hell!" He laughed along with me and kicked me back but not as hard.

"Why do you act so mean". His laughter stopped as soon as i asked my question. He smoothly raised an eyebrow as if he were confused.

"Mean?"

"Yeah i heard you call me a bitch earlier."

"HA! No i called my dad a bitch, not you, you're a Fe-chick, i might act like an ass sometimes but i was raised kind of right, i always treat fem-chicks, right".

"Oh so all this...the piercing, tattoos and hair cut is all an act?"

"Noooohaha, this is all me, no act, this is my individual."

"Well i don’t believe that, i think you are putting on a show." i stated.

"No show, just being myself." Colten said. "What school you go to?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Bhwelling High school".

"Yeah that’s where we are going, i don’t see why, its our last year, and I'm transferring 4 months before graduation, which is stupid."

"Oh wow, how old are you?" i asked

"I'm seventeen, my brother is sixteen, i feel old, ha-ha, hanging out with you and him."

"Oh, so what was Cliff talking about, getting a call from the sheriff?"

"Long story, bad memories, in the past, i say fuck them." Colten was frowning again. Why frown when you have a smile as great as his.

"Wow it sure is taking Michael a while in the bathroom."

"Knowing him he probably got lost." Colten joked.

"Ha!" I kept looking around for Michael, to be truthful, i enjoyed Micheal's presence more than Colten. Colten must have guessed what i was thinking because his facial expression changed immediately.

"What am i boring the hell outta you?"

"No, it’s just..."

"Whatever" He interrupted.

"No honestly you're..."

"Doesn’t matter, don’t care." Colten got up and stalked off heading towards the empty wing (reconstruction) of the mall. Ugh! For a guy that claims to be big and bad he sure is sensitive. After a short minute of sitting there, i began to feel bad. So what do you think i did...of course, got up and went to go find him. The empty wing of the mall was a little dark so i couldn’t see very well.

"Colten!" i yelled out only to hear my echo respond. "COLTEN!" again no response but my own voice yelling what i said back at me. I turned a corner and yelled his name again but was cut off mid-sentence by someone grabbing me and covering my mouth with their hand. I was backed into a wall. I tried to scream but i didn’t when i realized my snatcher was Colten. "Damn you, you scared me!" Colten laughed.

"Sorry", he whispered.

"What the hell are you doing over here?" i hissed under my breath.

"I saw this area as we were walking in, thought it would be nice". Okay these guys and their parents have different opinions on nice.

"Nice for wh-" I was cut off by his lips placed on mine. What the hell! I tried to push him away but gave up when i felt his tongue part my lips and enter inside my mouth. Oh My Gosh! This guy has a tongue ring also! A small bolt of electricity was sent through my body as we kissed and i found myself rapping around him. My hands in his hair, our bodies pressed together. His hands on my face. Colten grabbed a hold of my thighs and picked me up to where i was elevated off the floor and against the wall. The kiss began to get deeper and i could feel my body reacting to him. I could also feel his body reacting to me. At least i think to me. Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry began to ring out and Colten reluctantly pulled away from me. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket to see who was calling.

"Damn Michael." he whispered. He picked up the phone and stared me in the face. I blushed under his stare and he brushed my cheek. "Hello?"...Silence. "Yeah me and Cassidy took a walk since your retarded ass took so long." silence. "Well go wait there and we will find you OK." Colten hung up the phone and turned his attention back to me. He caressed my cheek. "You are so beautiful." i blushed. What the hell! I'm dreaming, i have to be dreaming. I mean this incredibly hot guy that pisses me off and isn’t at all my type just called me beautiful. Should i question this. I think he’s just trying to get some ass.

"T-thanks, i-i think." Colten leaned down to kiss me again, except i turned my head away. When i looked at him, he seemed to be pouting. "Do you have a multiple personality disorder or something because your mood swings are unpredictable."

"No".

__________

We left the mall with a lot of tension in the air. It was around 6:30 by the time we got home. Michael ran into the house when he saw the movers were gone. I guess excited. Colten stood against his car staring at me.

"What?" i asked.

"Can i have your number?"

"Why?" was all i could think of saying.

"So i can text you later tonight, duh dumb ass." i snickered.

"That’s not the best way to ask for a girl’s number."

"No, wrong, i asked you politely, but then you had to start asking stupid questions like 'why' and just like you being stupid, i called you a dumb ass."

"Ugh, asshole!..." i recited my number to him and he walked into his house without as much as a goodbye. Such a pain in the ass. When I'd made into my house i was verbally attacked by my mom.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"The mall".

"I didn’t know that. You could have been off fucking for all i knew. You don’t tell me anything or anywhere you're going. Cassidy you better get your act straight before you end up in the gutter. You need to get some common sense and tell people where you are going!"

"Whatever mom, it’s not like you would have cared and, or remembered."

"You shut up, and go to your room. You're grounded, 2 months, no TV, no computer, no mall, any of that!"

"Whatever! You’ll probably forget you even grounded me when you start drinking again". I ran to my room down the hall and locked myself inside. What a day. Nothings new with my mom. My new neighbors on the other hand are a whole other story...and Colten...i really want to know what’s with him...what’s going on in his head. It would be really good if i figured that out. I pushed away my thoughts and went to take my usual hour long bath and get ready to sleep. I settled into my bed and turned my TV on. I wonder what’s on MTV.

"Cassidy turn that TV off!" my mom yelled.

"Fuck off!" i yelled back and turned the TV off. Instead i turned my radio on and laid back. As i was drifting off, i heard my phone vibrate. I reached over to see who it was. Unknown name, weird number. I checked the text i got.

*hey its Colten, is this Cassie?* i didn’t really think he was going to text me, but since he did, i might as well text back.