The welcoming feeling faded on my first weekend at home. First, Haley couldn't stop grumbling that she couldn't sleep properly in Riley's room. Despite the fact that they were twins and best friends and they pretty much did everything together.

Bullshit, if you ask me. She was doing fine with Riley; she was just upset that Mom had kicked her out for the summer.

On Sunday morning, she stumped inside my room to get her clothes, making as much noise as she could. Then, she spent all day complaining endlessly at everything and anything.

I helped Mom wash the dishes after dinner. Dad had cooked an amazing barbecue in my honor, and we'd enjoyed the afternoon in our yard.

Mom loved gardening. She was really good at it too. Our backyard wasn't big, but it was filled with exotic plants. My father would complain every time she got a new plant, but in all honesty, the whole garden was beautiful, and his complains didn't last much, anyway.

Staring through the window in front of the sink, my lips curved up as I looked at my sisters playing around with Dad. They were trying to play soccer.

Both girls acted out differently from what I remembered. They'd ditched the dolls for boy-bands and each one had a different haircut. They were identical twins, and as big sister, I'd loved to pick up on them. They both had dark brown hair and chocolate eyes like Dad, and when they were younger, they'd insist on wearing the same clothes and having the same hairstyle and I enjoyed messing up their names. Calling Riley-Haley and so on. They absolutely hated it. But now, Haley had long hair and Riley had a short-bob, making it impossible to screw up their names. Bummer.

"I'm feeling old, Mom." I burst out as I finished scrubbing the last pot.

She chuckled at me. "They are growing up, aren't they?"

I rinsed the pot, enjoying the coolness of the water in my hands as I snorted. "Haley is acting out like a teen!"

Mom shoved me playfully by the hip. "Look who's talking." Her eyes glinted mischievously. It was kind of funny how much we both looked alike. Unlike my sisters, my hair was blond and my eyes were baby-blues like hers. I also inherited her lack of boobs. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

I smiled at her. Tomorrow was my first day of summer school and I couldn't wait for it to start. Plus, I was meeting my friends in the afternoon. Cassie had vowed to keep it between us, meaning that neither her boyfriend or Chris were bound to be there. Thank God.

"Yes," I said as I wiped my hands in the kitchen towel, leaning against the counter.

Mom took out a mug and poured herself the last remains of coffee from the pot, so we could wash it too. "So, how was Jake's wedding?" She asked carefully. Too carefully. I was sure she wanted to ask if Chris was there, though. She knew he was still a sore subject for me.

Suppressing a smile, I played dumb. "It was great. Marie looked stunning in her wedding dress, and Cassie was radiant, too."

"Yeah?" Mom prodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Did you see anyone interesting?"

"All the guests were over fifty Mom."

She pursed her lips. "Huh. I'm sure there were a few dashing boys. Like Nathan. Or Chris." She finished the coffee, placing the mug in the sink before wiping her hands on the kitchen towel, not really looking at me.

I grinned at her. "They both looked handsome, if that's what you mean." Her blue eyes cut to me.

"Did you see him? How did it go?" She asked excitedly, taking a step closer in my direction.

I would have laughed if my stomach hadn't sink as I remembered how awkward and pathetic I felt. I stared at my green toes. I'd painted my nails today. "It was awful." I grimaced.

"Oh honey." Mom passed an arm across my shoulders, pulling me closer to her. "I thought you were quite over him."

My brows furrowed. "I am. I think so. Yet, seeing my friends made me remember things, and then, he showed up." I stared at Mom's soft eyes. "And darn. He looked more handsome than ever." She chuckled at that. "It's awful, Mom!" I pulled apart completely as she watched me amused.

She stayed quiet for a moment. "How do you feel right now?"

Sighing, I pressed my lips together. "Quite pathetic," I murmured honestly. "But I guess this was bound to happen eventually." She patted my shoulder as I glanced at her. "Are you still friends with his father?"

She nodded. "We met Luke before you started to date Chris."

I so wanted to roll my eyes at that. "For like a week, Mom!"

Her lips curved up. "Still..."

Shaking my head, I padded through the kitchen towards the hallway. Before I left the room, I turned to her. "Does Chris still lives with him?"

Warily, she nodded.

Freaking awesome.

We are still neighbors after all.

***

After a quick shower, I stepped inside the kitchen, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee made me sigh. There's nothing better like fresh coffee in the mornings. Mom was nowhere to be seen but I decided to help her out filling her thermos and setting a quick breakfast for my sisters.

Half an hour later, she stepped inside the kitchen. "Thank you for doing this, sweetie." I smiled at her as I spread peanut butter on two sandwich breads.

"No worries, Mom," I murmured as I finished making the peanut butter-jelly sandwiches for my sisters.

"They're eleven now. I make them do their lunch." She raised an eyebrow before kissing me on the cheek and walking away, with the thermos in her hand.

Glaring at the lunch I'd already made, I called after the culprit who'd told me to do it. "Hayley! Get your ass down here!"

Little feet stomped down the stairs. "You can't talk to us like that." She crossed her arms on her chest, flipping her hair back. She looked like a total teen in that bright purple tank top and blue jeans with a snobbish attitude combo.

"Deal with it. And drop the diva attitude. We have to go, and since I made you guys lunch, you're going to make me dinner." I'm not your slave.

She opened her mouth to retort when Riley passed next to her. "We could have grilled sandwiches for dinner. Hayley is a master doing them!" Her smile was easy going as she grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. Haley didn't say anything else after her twin complimented her. I grinned at that. Riley is good.

"Maybe we could get some ice cream on the way back from school," I added as I grabbed my own coffee thermos. As I passed next to Haley, I shoved her playfully with my arm. "Come on grumpy, I don't want to be late for my class, too."

"I am not grumpy," I rolled my eyes at Haley's angry tone, "or a diva, for that matter." Riley chuckled next to me.

Still smiling, I unlocked Mom's blue van. "You could have fooled me, Hals!"

"I'm not Hals anymore!"

Good grief. I looked at Riley with a please-help-me expression on my face. She shook her head smiling and made a dismissive gesture with her hands. Thanks for nothing, Riley.

Trying not to make this whole ordeal bigger, I didn't say anything more. Yet, I didn't want to be mad at her, so to make amends, I put on Haley's favorite band on the radio. She hadn't shut-up about the boy-band over the last few months when we chatted through Skype. It did the trick, since she was all smiles when I dropped them off.

Thank God.

I don't know how Mom puts up with all her moodiness.

I was awful at following directions, and even though I'd lived in Boston for a while, I still followed the GPS direction's for Emerson College. It was located around downtown and that meant two things, one, that it was bound to be a tall building and two, that it was probably going to have an amazing view. Either way, I dreaded the parking. I didn't have a car back in California and I'd never been a skilled driver.

However, since it was summer, there weren't many cars in the small parking lot I found two streets over. There was a small coffee shop around the corner, and I made a mental note to check out the place later.

Grabbing my backpack, I hopped out of the car and trotted to the main building. I was barely on time, so when I finally arrived, I grimaced at the fact that the whole place looked packed. Great.

I walked to the Admission's office with the documents Mom had given me. A girl that looked around my age was behind the main desk. A kind smile drew on her face as I approached her. "Hi, can I help you?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm looking for classroom B7?" I showed her the paper with the inscribed course.

"Photography, right?" her hazel eyes sparkled excitedly. "It's one of our top courses. You're lucky to have gotten a spot in. Michael Axe is giving the class." I raised both brows in surprise. I didn't know much about photography, but that Axe dude was quite famous. He took artistic photographs of different cities around the world and was a big shot in the industry. "Almost everyone wanted in that class but he only took five students." She added as she typed something in her computer. Mom had to know this. She probably was one of the firsts to sign me in. I figured it was because she felt bad for making me chauffeur my sisters for the rest of the summer. Either way, thanks Mom!

"They're meeting right on Boylston Station." She grinned sympathetically. "If you run, you can get on time."

Groaning inside, I thanked her and sprinted that way. Apparently, photography was going to be an unusual class. It was a good thing that I was just a few blocks away.

Sprinting to the meet-up point, a small trail of sweat formed on my forehead just as I saw a few students holding cameras in their hands. My heart almost burst out of its place when I recognized one of those students, though.

No, no, please no...

The soft, brown waves and the strong build gave him away. My feet froze at his sight and my eyes widened. Why is he here? As if on cue, his olive-green eyes turned my way. My stomach churned uneasily at how good he looked. More even so than at the wedding reception. He had a military-green jacket and a plain white t-shirt with jeans but he looked more like him.

His lips parted as surprise flashed through his face. He had an expensive camera on his hands, too. He was standing between a blond girl with long-curly hair and a black guy. Hesitantly, I kept going to where the other students were. I purposely stood the farthest away from Chris as I could. Next to a girl with a gray jersey. Two more guys were next to her. A redhead and another blond.

The teacher nodded my way as he counted us with his eyes. "Good. We're all here. I'm Michael but you already knew that." A conceited smile formed on his face. Although the guy was famous, I only knew him by name. He looked around his early thirties and had a trendy look going on. I did like the combination he pulled out, a denim jacket with a light gray scarf around his neck. He was good-looking, and he knew it, too. His voice tone was confident as he went on. "We won't step foot in our classroom. Not for most of the course, anyway." His eyes studied each and all of us.

I couldn't help myself and I sneaked a peek at Chris. He was focused on Michael's directions, his face completely expressionless. He must have sensed me looking at him because his eyes cut to mine. Damn it! I averted my eyes, but my cheeks felt warm either way.

"I want you to experiment with Photography. We won't get too technical because I want you to show your feelings through your pictures. Of course, I'd be delighted to answer all your technical questions, but my main interest in this course is to make everyone see the world through your own eyes. I'm going to let you choose one subject and play with it during the upcoming weeks." He continued to talk about light and progressive things and a whole bunch of things I had no idea what meant. His eyes stopped on mine for a moment, before his lips tugged up on a smirk. "I'll pick your best work and expose it by the end of summer in my art gallery for a month." His steady stare made me uncomfortable and I gripped tighter my backpack's strap. Is the word clueless tattooed on my forehead? He focused on the girl next to me before clapping his hands. "Okay. You'll have the next two hours to tell me your subject. I'll be doing a one-on-one time with each of you so we can talk about your cameras." He turned to me. "Blondie, come this way." He gestured for me to follow him.

Apparently, my lack of knowledge is transparent, then. Reluctantly, I followed him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Chris was following my every move, something that made my pulse race.

Why is he looking at me? And what the hell am I doing looking at him too?

"Farah Dent, right?" Michael scrolled through his phone. "Is this your first time?" I blinked at my teacher, completely taken aback by his question. He stared at me, raising an eyebrow. "I'm obviously talking about Photography."

My stomach sank and I cringed inside. I'm making a fool of myself. "It is." I took off my backpack to show him my camera. "Is it that obvious?"

He smirked. "You seemed lost when I was talking about the lenses and photo definitions."

I scrunched up my nose. "Sorry."

He chuckled before grabbing it. He examined it with his eyes, turning it around a few times. "This is supposed to be an advanced course, but since you're already here, I'm going to cut you some slack." He sounded sincerely nice, though. I breathed out relived because I was sure that he was going to send me away. "I can give you the basics of this—" he started to explain how my camera worked best, what buttons did what and such. He didn't go into much detail and I was glad he didn't. The whole thing seemed quite complicated as it was "—but you're going to give me your subject by the end of the day, okay?" I nodded a bit awed at his detailed explanation. "Okay, go mingle, Farah." He gestured me with his hands to go away. "And send one of your classmates over, will you?"

The rest of the class wasn't far away, but my feet moved out of their own accord to the only one I knew. "Hey," I bobbed my head when I reached Chris. "Michael wants to talk to you."

His eyes looked stormy before he grabbed the black case where I assumed was his camera. "Thanks," he muttered before walking away.

Alright. Someone is happy to see me here!

Sighing, I stared at the black device in my hands wondering what the hell was my mother thinking about when she signed me up for this. 

Thank you for reading me :)