I was woken up bright and early the next morning just as Lilly had told me. She barged into my house without needing directions of where to find the key since she already knew where it was. She was such a stalker.

After I drug myself out of my room and into the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and hair and braided my hair down my back while I was at it. Nothing better than having your hair out of your face.

I knew Lilly was in the living room watching TV when I heard the Hey Arnold! theme song playing. Early morning cartoons were the best and even I loved watching re-runs of mine and Lilly's favorite cartoon as kids.

"Well, hello there, Kate Upton." Reese said in a raspy voice. His lame joke was directed at how much I looked like I went through a hurricane. He was no better than I was - his normally shaggy hair was sticking up every which way on his head. Even his boxers were all twisted around. Luckily they weren't showing anything, and I laughed a little.

"Why don't you look in the mirror, Madonna." I laughed as I drug my feet back to my room. I pulled out a pair of bootcut jeans and some vans to slip on. I don't wear these very often because I have my boots to wear, but I will admit that these shoes were comfy.

After slipping a belt through the loops of my jeans, I pulled a sweater over my head and headed to my vanity to put on some make up. I put on some mascara and foundation so I wouldn't look so much like death and walked out of my room with my jacket slung over my arm and my small wallet hanging from my wrist. I always thought carrying a purse was too much, so I settled on having a small wallet big enough for my phone, money, and license to fit in.

Lilly on the other hand loved her small purse. I blame her sister for getting her stuck on fashion before she could even walk.

When I got out to the living room, what I saw didn't shock me. Over the years, Reese and I have become just about equally close to Lilly. She's both of our best friend, besides Reese's football buddies. So when I saw Lilly with her head on Reese's lap while he had his head rolling around on the back of the couch snoring away, I wasn't surprised.

"Ready, Lilly?" I asked her as I tiredly leaned against the door frame.

She lifted her feet off the couch and walked over to where she had her black studded combat boots. She pulled them in first and then yanked in her jacket.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She said with the roll of her eyes as she pulled on a knitted beret over her curled blonde hair. My best friend was a total rockstar. I stuck my elbow out for her to put her arm through. As she did, I opened the front door and shut it behind, not bothering to lock it since my dad and Reese were inside.

Lilly's mom and dad let her borrow their cream colored Cadillac for the trip all the way to Morgantown. From here to there, it takes about three hours.

As soon as we got in the car, Lilly turned the heat up and pushed a button for the seat warmers to come on. I loved it when she got to use their car. Although she has to be very careful with it, the seat warmers made everything better.

"So, what did Amanda want last night?" Lilly asked me after we pulled out onto the road.

"Who told you she was at our house?" I asked her. Lilly chuckled.

"I have my connections." She joked. A lazy laugh escaped my lips and leaned back in my warm seat.

"My dad asked her to marry him." I managed to finish my sentence before before Lilly squealed and said, "nu-uh!"

"Yes-huh. She said yes, of course." I said glumly, looking back out the window.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked Amanda?" She prodded at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I do. It's just.." I trailed off in search for the right words.

"Gonna be different?" Lilly asked. I nodded my head and finally looked over at her. I forced a smile on my lips so I wouldn't ruin it for anybody.

"If she makes my dad happy, then I like her. But I like the way things are now. They are about to get so crazy."

Little did I know when I said, things weren't only getting crazy at home, but also in my entire life.

We stopped at the Morgantown mall as soon as we could to look for some things for granny Bennett. Both of us were dreading going to visit the grouchy granny but it had to be done. I followed behind Lilly to a small country store with little decorations in it that were either blue and gold, camouflage, or antique. Amanda would kill to be here since she has a crap load of this stuff in her house. Which is probably going to be moved to our house...

"How about this?" Lilly asked as she held up a little candle that you plug I to the wall. I nodded my head, it seemed like a harmless enough gift. Lilly wedged the fake candle between her arm and side as she continued to look.

I stared out into the open hall of the mall watching complete strangers walk by. Some looking happy, some looking sad, and then there's the ones that look constipated; a little in between.

That's when I noticed a familiar guy standing in the store across from this one. Tall, dark, and handsome. Hunter. Butt-head.

I walked out of the store while Lilly was occupied and trudged across the way to get to the shoe store. He was looking at a pair of new boots that were sitting out front in a display stand.

"Hey, Butt-head!" I called. It got a few people's attention but they quickly looked away. Hunter's head snapped up at the sound of me approaching and a grin exploded in his gorgeous face. The gorgeous face that I couldn't stand.

"Beavis!" He said cheerfully. I slapped my hand to my forehead.

"Do you have to call me that?" I queried. He smirked at my distaste for the nickname and pinched my cheek. I slapped his hand away easily.

"I do now." I frowned at him and followed behind him into the store. We walked down the aisle of men's shoes and I didn't take my eyes off my bandana in his back pocket. Was I quick enough to grab it?

"If you want to take a picture, It'll last you a lot longer." Hunter said cooly. I felt my cheeks flame as I glared at him.

"Give me my bandana." I demanded and crossed my arms. He turned around to look at me and he smiled a crooked smile. Wow, he looked like his grandfather a little...

"I can't do that." He said as he mimicked my position. I felt anger pulsing through my veins now. How could he just tell me no?

"That's mine! You stole it!" I half shouted, not wanting to gain any attention.

"I did no such thing." He smiled at me as he whipped my bandana out of his back pocket. It was still tied like I had it to fit around my head. "I found it."

"Whatever. Where did you find it at, then?" I asked him and rose my eyebrows in question.

"On the street. Remember our first encounter? You left it in the road so I picked it up. Awful nice of me, don't ya think?" He tugged on the ends of it that were tied together.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Well now you know it's mine. I think the nice thing to do would be to give it back." I said, going back on his words.

"I don't know, I could start a new fashion statement." He stuck it back in his back pocket with ease and turned on his heel to keep looking around.

While his head was looking up at the shoes on higher shelves, I leaped forward and grasped for my bandana, my good luck charm, but came up with nothing. Instead, Hunter's hands were clamped down on both of my wrists now. I had no idea how that happened, but I did know that he had awesome ninja skills.

I glared at him and stomped my foot down on top of his. He still didn't budge, only smiled wider.

"If you want it back that bad, you'll have to pay up." He let go of my wrists and I rubbed them where his rough hands were. Why were they so rough?

"With what? I'm poor." I popped out my bottom lip and batted my long eyelashes, puppy dog face in action.

"With a kiss. Surely you have plenty of them." He smirked at me again and leaned forward, his lips just inches away from my pouty lips. My eyes widened and I sucked my bottom lip back in, backing away from Butt-head.

"Heck no!" I almost shouted.

"I guess you won't be getting it back then..." Hunter grabbed it and held it tight in his rough hands as he turned the corner.

I wanted to stomp my feet but so refrained from doing so.

"I'll get it back, you'll see." I whispered to myself as my fists clenched and unclenched at my sides. Living with mostly boys my while life has seemed to make me a little violent.

I walked out of the store and over to the country store where I found Lilly checking out with the fake candle.

"Where have you been?" She scolded me like a parent would their child.

"I ran in to Butt-head over there." I pointed to the show store with a scowl on my face.

"Butt-head?" She asked.

"Oh, I mean Hunter. The new kid? Yeah, he's Charlie Smith's grandson and I can't stand him. He stole my bandana!" I said in horror. He was gnawing my last nerve away.

"He stole your bandana? Seriously?" She asked me in a time that suggested I was crazy. I gave her a bored look and shook my head.

"Yes, he did. And he won't give it back." I said through clenched teeth. Lilly looked at me for a moment longer, biting her lip as she concentrated.

"What are you going to do about it?" She put her hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow, demanding to know what I'd do. I could see the smile playing at her lips.

"Why, I'm going to get it back of course!" I said cheerily and hooked my arm through hers as we headed to the food court.

I already had a perfect plan forming in my head.

*****

"Hey Granny!" Lilly grinned when she saw her grandmother. She threw her arms around the little old lady with the gift bag in her hand. Granny hugged her granddaughter back and patted her with her hand.

"Hello, dear. Hi, Jasey!" She waved me over. Although I may not like Granny Bennett, she's always treated me as her own. She's definitely bipolar, so when I come (or am forced to come) with Lilly to visit her, she gives us a laugh.

I bent down to give her a hug smelled the strong scent of cheap perfume. I wrinkled my nose so Lilly could see and she nodded her head as she waved her hand in front of her nose.

"Granny, we got you a present. Jas couldn't be here this year because she's at college till Christmas Eve." Lilly explained as she handed Granny the bag.

Granny took into her old wrinkled hands. "Jasmine's at college? How old is she now?" She asked Lilly absentmindedly while going through the bag.

"She'll be 21 soon." Lilly said.

Yes, our older siblings also grew up together. Jasmine and Grant even had a relationship going until high school ended and Grant went off to the army. As far as I know, it ended under bad terms so they haven't spoke in a while. Boy, will Jas get a surprise when she's come home on Christmas Eve and see my brother plowing the road with his old truck.

"Oh! This is lovely, Lilly." Granny said as she pulled out the candle. The cord was still in the bag when she put it down so Lilly, beaming from the happiness of her grandma, pulled it out for her.

A moment passed as she admired the little candle and it's plug-in. Then her thin eyebrows raised. "What is it?" She asked.

I had to turn around to keep them both from seeing my laugh. We hadn't expected her to not know what it was. It clearly looks like a candle, I don't know how she couldn't know what it was.

"Grandma! It's a candle that you plug in to the wall, see?" I composed my face enough to turn around to them and see Lilly plugging the candle in.

"Well what do I need one of those for?" There you go, the mood swings.

Lilly sighed as she started arguing with Granny about why she may need it or want it.

*****

I was more than happy to get out of the nursing home. It was already one o'clock in the afternoon so I told Lilly we needed to get a move on. I didn't feel like driving all the way back to Rosewood in the dark. Yes, I know it won't be dark for a while but that's all I could think of to say when Granny Bennett was yelling at her roommate for farting. It was actually Granny that farted.

Still laughing from the earlier situation, I stepped out of the Cadillac once we pulled into Lilly's driveway. Snow was starting to gently fall from the sky for the millionth time today and I was sure it wouldn't turn into anything more than a flurry.

There were strange tire marks leading into the garage built onto Lilly's two-story house. Her parents never used it since her dad always worked on his wood projects in there.

"Who's here?" I asked, curious myself.

"No clue. Mom and dad must've taken the other car 'cause it's not here. Let's go see." Before we went up to the door, Lilly grabbed a shovel that was used to shovel snow. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Uh, Lilly?" I whispered as she dug through her bag to find the house key.

"Hmm?" She replied, distracted.

"I don't think you're gonna need that." I held my smile back as I looked through the window again at the blonde sitting in the recliner. Thank The Lord for the Bradshaws' bay window.

"Why not?" She pouted and turned to me, still not finding a key. I smiled at her and pointed behind her at the big bay window. An overgrown bush in front of the window hid it from our view back at the car.

Lilly screamed, making the blonde inside jump out of her seat in alert.

"Jasmine!" Lilly squealed as she almost knocked the door down. She barreled inside the house and dropped her bag on the floor. With her snow-covered boots still on, she took three long steps before she reached her sister. Although their hair color sets them apart, their faces say they could be twins.

"Lilly! Jasey!" Jasmine yelped as Lilly squeezed her till her eyes popped out.

"Oh my gosh I've missed you so much!" Lilly laughed as she backed away from her sister so she could come meet me. I hugged Jasmine tight since she was like my own sister.

"How is everybody on the Eldridge side of the woods?" Jasmine asked. I knew she didn't want to know too much about Grant, so I kept it simple.

"Everybody's great. My dad's getting married." As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. Jasmine screamed in excitement for my family.

"What? To who? Amanda?! Oh gosh, they are perfect for each other!" She gushed. Did I mention that Jasmine was a total hopeless romantic?

"Yes, Amanda." I said a little more cheerily so I wouldn't have to explain myself again.

"Yay! Let's go gossip up in my room and watch 27 Dresses!" Jasmine grabbed mine and Lilly's wrist's and tugged us up the stairs.

Great. Girl time!

____________

Hey everyone!

Decided to say hi and I hope you're enjoying my story!

[thanks for reading]