The moving van filled with furniture and cardboard boxes pulled up to the empty house.
Two movers jumped out and opened the back of the van as a fairly neutral looking VW pulled up. The man on the VW driver side stepped put and helped his heavily pregnant wife out from the passenger side before he ran up to unlock the door of the house.

Over the fence, two boys faces appeared. One rounded, freckled faced with warm brown eyes and a curly mop of red hair that would later darken to an astonishing shade of auburn. Next to him was the  more hesitant face with brown eyes so dark they were nearly black, hidden behind a thick fringe of black hair.

"C'mon," the redhaired boy said and crept towards the car, closely followed by the other.

Slowly they approached the VW while the movers carted boxes and chairs in under constant instructions from the man.

The redhaired boy had his eyes on a box marked "Red room". His inner horror film fanatic was itching to look into it. His hand reached to grab it when the other boy stopped abruptly.

"Cal. Look! There's someone in the car!" He whisper shouted.

The redhead, immediately doubled back.
Seconds later, two boys' noses were pressed up to the windows either side of the car as they studied the sleeping person in the back seat.

As Callum's smile widened, Logan though he had never seen anything so pretty in all his life.

Her brown hair was tied into a messy plait, the hand in her lap had chipped dark blue glittery nail polish on the end of long, slender fingers. Next to her was a guitar, encased in a softbag with the zipper undone. 

"Hey. Boys!" A voice called to them and the man who had arrived earlier placed a not so unfriendly hand on Logan's shoulder.

"That's my daughter, Red. We have travelled a long way today, so she's kinda tired right now. But if you come back tomorrow, I'm sure she will want to make some friends," he said quietly.

Logan nodded.

"Red? Her name is Red? But her hair is brown?" Callum frowned.

"It's really Rebecca but don't you call her that if you want to keep your lives," her dad chuckled and grabbed the box marked Red Room. A black scarf with white sculls on it fell off and Callum grabbed it immediately, running after the man to hand it back.

Logan stayed rooted in one place. His eyes fixed on the golden brown eyes of the girl staring back at him with a confused look on her face. He couldn't explain it, but somewhere in his stomach, a small fire was lit, the heat slowly spreading through his body. 

The girl stretched, revealing a strip of bare skin between her t-shirt and jeans, before she sat up, opened the car door and stepped out.

Logan was suddenly stood there, inches away form her, seeing the scatter of freckles across the bridge of her nose and consciously fighting his hand from reaching out to touch the end of her plait, hanging over one shoulder.

Slowly her smile widened.

"Did I just grow an extra head?" she asked.

Logan found himself shaking his head slowly, not releasing her plump lips and straight teeth from his gaze. Slowly he raised his eyes past her nose, with the freckles, up to her eyes.

Before he could reply, Callum came and dragged him two steps away from the car.

"Apologies for my silent friend. He seizes up in front of pretty girls," Callum grinned.

Red frowned.

"You can't have met many girls then...." she smirked before rounding the car to grab a box.

"See ya later. Gotta go claim the best room..." she said, disappearing into the house.

Logan was stood there, his mouth dry and his hands weirdly tingly  staring at the door she had shut behind her.

"I like her!" Callum grinned.

Logan simply nodded.

"C'mon Lo. There are other things to do... We'll find her again," Callum smirked and dragged his somewhat immobile friend back towards their bikes.

The next day, Red was in the garden on a blanket, reading a book when a dark haired head suddenly became visible over the fence separating the garden from the neighbour.

Intrigued, she sat up and waved, receiving a timid wave back.

"Mind if we come visit?" she heard behind her and turned to see a red head poking over the hedge at the other side.

"Nah. Come on," she smiled.

Around five seconds later, Callum had jumped over the hedge, and was sauntering across the lawn with a big grin. Logan was nowhere to be seen until he appeared coming down the path along the side of the house.

"Right. I'm Callum. The civilised one, walking all the way around, is Logan," Callum introduced.

Red nodded and held her hand out to Callum then Logan.

"Red," she said before fixing Logan with a smile.

"Do you talk or does he do it all?" she asked.

"Sometimes," Logan shrugged, earning a laugh form Callum.

"Sometimes... If it's with me... or his family... and not in school... Shoulda seen him when he was cast as Hamlet in the school play," Callum laughed.

"I wasn't that bad," Logan objected, picking a blade of grass apart in his hands.

"You added a believability to Hamlet's madness," Callum teased.

"Shut it, Ophelia!" Logan grinned back.

"I can't believe I had to pretend-kiss you," Callum scoffed.

Red looked between them with a widening smile at their banter.

"Do you go to an all boys school or what?" she asked.

"Nope. But Hamlet apparently has a girl phobia," Callum smirked, indicating Logan.

"So you had to step in?" Red laughed.

"Yeah. Pranced around in a skirt all day and died in a dramatic suicide.... a sacrifice for the arts," Callum sighed dramatically falling backwards on the grass in a pretend death.

Red turned to look at Logan with a grin on her face.

"Is he for real?" she asked.

"Not anymore... apparently," Logan replied with a nod to the occasional death throes on the lawn.

Losing patience with the lack of sympathy, Callum sat up again with a wide smile.

"You'll fit right in!" he grinned at Red.

"Into what?" she asked.

"Well... Lo lives on that side, I live over there, and up until recently an old couple lived here. With you here, we have the perfect third musketeer," Callum smiled happily.

"We're not musketeers," Logan grumbled.

"Yes we are. Now there's three of us," Callum argued.

"Still not musketeers!" Logan shook his head.

"Why do you have to be so boring?" Callum asked.

"Because I don't want to be a musketeer you dingbat!" Logan chuckled.

"Whaddaya say Red-Baby? Wanna be the three musketeers?" Callum asked with a flirty grin.

"What version? The book or the movie? Or the historical actual musketeers?" Red asked.

"There's a book????" Callum gasped and Red saw at the corner of her eye, Logan repeatedly slap his own forehead.

"Goddamned mousketeers cartoon movie ruined his brain. I'm sorry Red, I should never have introduced him to Mickey Mouse and the art of falling down spiral stairs," Logan apologised with a scrunched nose and disgusted look at Callum.

Red started laughing.

"How about we find something he can actually understand?" she asked.

"Harry Potter?" Logan asked.

"Too obvious," Red shook her head.

"Hobbits?" Logan asked.

Red looked him up and down with a smirk.

"Too tall," she grinned and received an amused smile back.

"But... But... You're in?" Callum interjected, his eyes glowing as he was bouncing up and down while seated on the grass.

"In?" she asked.

"What hyper boy is asking is, Red, are you patient enough to tolerate that idiot for more than five minutes?" Logan sighed.

"Wanna be friends?" Callum grinned.

Red's eyes flickered between the grinning redhead and the more serious dark haired boy before nodding.

"The musketeers are a-gooo!" Callum cheered and bounced over to give Red a spontaneous hug.

"Still not musketeers!" Logan huffed just before his name was called from somewhere over the fence.

"Here, Ma!" he called back and a woman with the same black hair as Logan appeared over the fence.

"Should have known... A girl moves in and you two are already over there pestering her... Princess needs a walk," the woman grinned.

"Right," Logan nodded and stood up.

"Princess?" Red asked.

"Yup. Logan's gender confused male pup," Callum grinned.

"A male dog called Princess?" Red asked.

"Not my choice... My sister named him," Logan shrugged apologetically.

"Right. Let's walk the beast," Callum sighed and stood, brushing grass off his bottom.

"Wanna come along? We can show you the 'hood?" he continued with a hand out to help Red up.

"Sure. Just gonna let my 'rents know," she nodded with a grin and ran to the backdoor.

Five minutes later, Red had her shoes on and opened the door to come face to face with a pair of dark brown eyes and a happy smile surrounded by an unexpected amount of golden fur.

Her eyes widened a second before she smiled back at the gigantic monster.

"And you must be Princess!" she laughed and got a lolling tongue in response.

She lifted her eyes from the Leonberger dog to see Logan patiently waiting at the bottom of the front steps.

"Come back here, Princess," he said. The dog shot him a look before turning his attention to Red again.

"He heard the door open and thought you'd let him in. He doesn't like the great outdoors," Logan explained.

"Aww..." Red cooed and sat down on her knees to cuddle the big animal. 

Two seconds later she was on her back with the dog practically lying on top of her rubbing his head against her hand.

"Princess!" Logan ordered tugging on the leash to stop the dog from squishing Red, while Red couldn't stop laughing at the way the dog was hinting for more scratches, more cuddles and more physical contact.

"C'mon Princess," She giggled, pushing the big furry dog off her. He harumphed and took a step back, looking at her expectantly.

"Walkies first. Cuddles later," Red smiled at his disappointed face.

Logan looked at her in horror before tugging hard on Princess' leash, forcing him down from the stairs.

"I'm so sorry... I'm sorry... he likes cuddles... but you didn't know," he apologised, giving Red a hand up to her feet.

"I like cuddles too... no harm done," she smiled, stumping Logan completely.

He was stood there wide eyed, staring at her for a few seconds before a blush covered his face and he took a few sheepish steps back, only to be pushed forwards again by a dognose.

Not expecting to be propelled forwards, he stumbled, grabbed the first thing in front of him, which happened to be Red. Suddenly Red found herself on her back again, this time with Logan sprawled on top of her and an overenthusiastic dog pinning Logan down.

"If you want cuddles, you only have to ask..." Red grinned once she had stopped laughing long enough to breathe.

Logan elbowed Princess off and pushed himself up, unintentionally hovering above Red.

"I'm so sorry!" Logan mumbled, mortified and embarrassed.

"I'm not," Red grinned and looked into his eyes.

"That dog s priceless!" A voice was heard down by the road.

Both of the two on the porch turned their heads to see Callum with a tight grip on Princess' leash.

Logan sat himself up, releasing Red. She stood up, shaking herself free from dust.

"Did I hurt you?" Logan asked with concern at the way she rubbed her head.

"Nah. I can handle overly eager boys and their dogs," she chuckled back and headed down to join Callum.

"Thanks Princess! Way to make a first impression," Logan grumbled at the dog who was sat like a well behaved child next to Callum with a smug look on his doggie face.

"I swear he did that on purpose," Logan continued, taking the leash form Callum and started leading the dog down the road while muttering curses under his breath.

Red and Callum looked at each other with matching grins.

"Shall we," Callum asked, indicating Logan's direction with a sweeping arm.

"We shall," Red chuckled and allowed Callum to link elbows as they sauntered down the road to follow the casually trotting dog and his embarrassed master.

***

Welcome to my new story.

What do you think of Red, Callum and Logan so far? I can't wait to see what kind of mischief they get up to.

I would like to get to know my readers a bit better for this one. It seems you deserve my attention in return for yours.

What's the most interesting way you have ever made a new friend?