Jake cleaned himself up before heading over to the dinner party. He took a shower, shaved, and even splashed on some cologne. He put on nice looking jeans and a nice polo shirt. 

"Where are you going, stud?" Steve asked.

"Hot date?!" Lucas teased.

"Unfortunately not," Jake replied, pulling on one of his "cowboy" boots. "Some kids from my psych class invited me to look at their place. They have a room to rent out," Jake said, pulling on the other boot.

The guys had all been lying about casually on their bunk beds. At this news, they all suddenly sat up at full attention.

"Man, you found a place already?" Lucas asked with an air of disappointment he hadn't been the one to find a place. "Lucky you! Where?" Lucas asked in excitement. 

Jake knew that Lucas was just as anxious as he was to get out of their cramped living conditions. And, he was probably hoping there was an extra room for him, too.

"Um, I don't know. But it's only the one room, for one person, as far as I know," Jake said apologetically to Lucas.

He dug in his pocket, maybe one of the guys knew where it was. "Here's the address," he said, handing Lucas the paper George had scrawled it on.

"I called a cab," Jake said, as Lucas looked the paper over.

Lucas laughed. "You can't be serious!" he said, reading the address.

"What? Why not?" Jake asked, confused that Lucas was laughing about an address.

"That's Witch Hill. You got offered to live at Witch Hill?!" he hooted in laughter, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"What's "Witch Hill"?" Jake asked.

"Don't listen to him," Steve said, shaking his head with a smile. "It's just town rumors. People say weird things happen at that house, that it's haunted, and that a witch used to live there. There are all sorts of other wild tales. As long as you don't believe in that stuff, you'll be fine."

Jake swallowed. What if he did believe in all that stuff?

"We'll save your bunk for when you run back scared out of your mind," Lucas laughed.

"I'll be fine," Jake told them.

If he could handle his dreams, certainly he could handle a haunted house. And who knew? Maybe the house could give him some answers, like if Aurora was a ghost that had been haunting him.

He laughed internally. George, Emily, Ray, Raven, and Tony all lived there and none of them seemed like they were being haunted. No, it was only Lucas trying to scare him. Maybe to get the room for himself?

The phone rang and Steve picked it up. "Just a minute," he said, and hung up. "The cab's here."

*******************************

Jake's driver eyed him when Jake handed him the address but said nothing until they pulled up to an open gate at the bottom of a steep hill. Jake saw nothing but the gate, trees, flowering bushes, and a long driveway up.

"I stop here," the driver told him firmly in his thick Indian accent.

"What?" Jake asked, looking out of the window confused.

"But where's the house?" Jake asked him, frowning.

"All the way up there," the driver said, pointing up the drive, his arm visibly shaking.  

"I don't go up there! Strange place. You go!" he said, putting out his trembling hand for his fee.

Jake handed him the fare and got out of the cab. The driver quickly sped off, the tires squealing as he left Jake in an exhaust fume cloud.

Jake coughed in a fit for a moment before stepping through the open gates.

He took a deep breath for courage and started walking up the large hill. The path was lit along its edges with small lights that peeked out of the grass.

Large trees and thick bushes hid the gates, so nothing but green was seen around the perimeter of the property on either side.

As he walked up the hill, there were gardens of gorgeous flowers of all different varieties and colors. There was green grass and flower gardens for what seemed like acres, upon acres of land going up the hill. Jake finally reached the top, where everything leveled off.

He stared at the house. It seemed more like a mansion than a house. It was an old Victorian style home rather than the new modern architecture or Spanish styles that he'd seen throughout town.

The house was painted a light sunny yellow with white trim and shutters. It had a cool tower at the right side of the house.

There was a porch, that seemed to wrap around to the back of the house, with a two person swing in the right corner near the front door. More chairs made of white wicker went down the porch on the left side. The front door was open with a screen door still in place to keep out the bugs.

More flowers lined across the front of the house. To the side of the yard was a water fountain, which had one of those Italian figurines pouring her pot of water into the fountain.

He'd never seen such a pretty place before, except on TV. It was a different experience seeing something so incredible in person.

Jake nervously walked up the front steps. He heard laughing coming from the inside. It was all so pleasant, Jake relaxed. He felt like he was already at home. He felt if he opened the front door, his family would be right inside sitting around the kitchen table. He stopped at the door and knocked. He took a deep steadying breath. This was not his home, not yet anyway.

Emily came out of a room to the left, smiling brightly. "Hi, Jake, come on in," she said, backing up to let him in.

Jake smiled and stepped into the house. He admired how she looked in the strawberry colored sundress. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail with curls twisting down her back. He pulled his eyes away from her and glanced around.

To his right, there was a large open room with a large screen TV and some large couches. Built-in bookcases lined the walls.

In the hallway, just past that door, there was a staircase leading upstairs. Straight ahead in front of him, the long hallway continued straight back to another living room area, all the way at the end of the house.

To his left, a table sat in the hallway just past the kitchen door. Mail sat unopened on it.

Above it, looked to be a bulletin board and to the side of them, there were hooks with keys hanging from it.

Just a bit further down, before the other living room, were closed doors. One was to the left and two were on the right of the hallway. A closet, half bath, and a basement door perhaps. He doubted they were all closets.

And to his immediate left, was the kitchen. This was where all the voices were coming from.

Jake followed Emily into the kitchen. Laughter, as well as wonderful baking smells, filled the room. There in front of him was a kitchen table and around it was George, Raven, and Ray.

Newspapers and magazines were spread across the table. George was reading out loud the comic strips from the paper. Ray was checking out the sports page, and Raven was flipping through some fashion magazine.

Emily headed over to the other side of the room, which was separated by a large island counter. She opened the stove, checked its contents, and closed it again.

The kitchen was large and contained what seemed to be every modern appliance. The floor was white and black marble tiles, and the appliances were black and copper. The cabinets were of a chocolate colored wood.

On the back wall, opposite of Jake, there was a door to the outside. On the wall to the right of him was a door in the corner, the door was open and seemed to be a large walk-in pantry. To the right of that, the refrigerator, a large counter, and further to the right, a large double sink.

The farthest right of the wall was an open doorway, which Jake could see led to a dining room. Through the doorway, he could see the dining room was an open room with a step down to the back living room.

Jake turned back around to look at where everyone sat around the kitchen table. Behind them were three windows with white shutters that were open to let the early evening sunshine flood the room.

"Hey, Jake," George said, looking up. Raven and Ray said a "hey" too.

"Hey," Jake responded back.

"Why don't I show you around while we're waiting on the pizza?" George said getting up. "Tony should be back with it in a few minutes."

"Sure," Jake said in agreement. He could barely contain his excitement to see the rest of the house, to move in, to actually be friends with these people.

George, in a tour guide voice, started speaking. "As you can see, you have entered an updated, early 1900's kitchen. All appliances have been updated, and are yes, fully functional."

George turned on the kitchen sink. "See, running water," he said and then turned it back off.

"To your left --well, my left, your right-- is the doorway to the dining room. But we'll come to that later," George walked to the pantry.

"Food in there," he said barbarically, like a caveman, and pounded on his chest.

"And there," he said, pointing to the refrigerator. He pulled the door open. Some items had "sticky notes" with names on it.

"You claim it, or it's up for grabs," he said, picking up a yogurt and showing Jake that it had Raven written in black capital letters across it.

"Like I'd steal that," George said in disgust and put it back in its place.

"We take turns grocery shopping. You add what you want on this list," he said, pointing to a piece of paper hanging from a magnet on the side of the refrigerator.

"Emily uses money from the rent towards food. It's for everyone. If you want something that no one else is supposed to touch, you have to go buy it yourself. Or, give whoever goes shopping the money for it. Chores are announced at our monthly meetings and there's a copy of the schedule on the bulletin board in the hall. This way." He said, moving to the door from which Jake and Emily had entered.

George headed for the room across from the kitchen. "We call this the family room," he said, as they walked in. "TV," he pointed to the giant screen TV.

He opened a large, cherry wood cabinet. "X-box One, PlayStation 4," he continued. "The X-box is mine, PlayStation 4 is Ray's, but everyone's welcome to use them. There's plenty of games," George said, pointing things out in the cabinet.

"Couch. Chairs," he said, pointing to the large, tan, L shaped sofa, and matching Lazy Boy Chairs.

Large windows ran across the back of the room. Drapes hung at the sides, and a sheer white curtain hung in front of the windows to cut the amount of sunlight to the room.

Towards the front of the house, the walls curved. Jake guessed this was part of the tower he saw. There were large windows on the curve, and there was a window seat covered in white linen. White and tan throw pillows were propped up along the sides.

George led him out of the room and made a right. "We'll hit upstairs in a sec," he said, stopping with his hand on the railing and then walked past it.

"Closet," he said opening the first door on the right inset in the wall of the stairs. Jake saw jackets neatly hung up and shoes lined up on a rack on the floor.

"Bathroom," George said opening the door on the left-hand wall.

Jake peered inside seeing a nice half bath with a toilet and a pedestal sink with an antique looking mirror over it. It was small, the size of a closet, but it'd serve its purpose.

George knocked on the door across from the bathroom to his right. He waited for a second and opened the door. George turned on a switch on the right-hand wall and illuminated the wooden stairs going down.

"Always knock before opening the door. Tony's room is down here. He's not in right now, but sometimes he sneaks up on you and he's not always up for visitors," George explained as they descended down.

They entered the basement level. To Jake's right were two washers and two dryers. He was glad to see there was more than one since there was six of them. Shelves lined the wall with detergents, bleach, and fabric softeners. To the left, was a small couch and a small TV on a stand.

"This is as far as you go. Unless Tony invites you back there," George said, pointing down the hall. Jake looked curiously down the hall. "Best just leave him alone," George said in a warning and headed back up the stairs.

Jake followed him but looked back down the hallway suspiciously. Why was Tony so protective of his room? He could understand Tony wanting some privacy but to the point that people were warned to leave him alone? To not go to his room unless invited? Didn't Tony want his friends hanging out with him?

Granted, Jake preferred that his sister stays out of his room; he liked his privacy. But he also liked it when Samantha came in sometimes just to chat or hang out.

Though Sam was his sister, she was pretty much the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had. He'd welcome the opportunity if George, or any of the others, came to his room to hang out with him.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they headed to the right and went into the living room. George flipped on the track lighting and dimmed them to a lower setting.

A large tan sofa was in front of him along the back wall. Two large matching comfortable chairs were at the sides, and in the middle, a coffee table made of glass. The wall was lined with windows, but large shutters closed out the light.

To the left of the room, which was open, there was a step up to the dining room. Large brass candlesticks were unlit on the table. The table was set for six in some fancy china.

On the far wall, to the right of where they stood in the living room was another door. George went in that direction and opened the door.

Jake stepped in and his jaw dropped in awe. The room was filled from top to bottom with thousands of books, all neatly arranged in bookcases from floor to ceiling.

There was a rolling ladder like he used to see in old black and white movies. The room was as big as Jake's hometown library.

"You'll find that most of the books you need on the subject of parapsychology are right in here," George said, gesturing to the shelves.

"Seriously, man?" Jake asked in shock. Who owned this many books? Who had their own library in their house? There were table and chairs in the room, just like a real library and it even looked like it had its own old fashioned card catalog. Someone had spent a lot of time and money putting a room like this together.

George shrugged. "We usually do homework in here. We get too distracted in the other rooms," George backed out of the room and held the door open until a stunned Jake followed him out.

George went to the right and opened a door. Sunshine filled the room. Jake followed George outside. Jake smiled, finding a huge pool in the middle of the large patio. White lounge chairs and tables with umbrellas surrounded the pool.

"Listen," George said to Jake, holding a finger to his lips.

"Is that the ocean?" Jake asked in surprise after a moment.

George smiled. "Sure is. Go about 100 feet that way and you hit the edge of the cliff," George said, pointing straight ahead opposite the house.

"And be careful if you go out there. Watch your step. We don't want to end up scraping your remains off the rocks below," George said, glancing over at him with a friendly smile.

"There's also a path that goes down to the beach," he said, pointing over to the right where there was a wooded area. "We'll show it to you sometime. It's like our own private beach. It's paradise," George said with a contented sigh.

"Cool!" Jake said with a grin as he checked out the backyard landscaping. He could definitely get used to living like this. There was bright green grass, and all sorts of flower gardens, and flowering trees as far as he could see. It was truly like paradise. And like paradise, he never wanted to leave.

"Well, I know you hate to leave this view, but we still got upstairs to check out, including your room," George said, walking back to the back door. Jake took another look at the incredible backyard before following George back inside.

Jake followed George up the stairs. Laughter still rang out from the kitchen. And the smell of baking chocolate pulled at Jake's stomach and taste buds. His mouth was already watering.

Jake smiled as he walked up the stairs, feeling like he finally belonged somewhere. This was home; he knew it deep in his bones.

On the second floor, they passed an open door that contained another set of stairs on the right, it looked like it led to a walk-up attic.

"Emily's room is upstairs," George said, passing it by.

He opened the next door on the right. "This is your room," George said and smiled. "That is if you decide to stay with us."

Jake followed him inside, though he already knew he'd loved the room instantly. And he did. The room was nice and cozy, Jake thought.

A big double bed was made up neatly with a navy blue bedspread and several matching pillows. It was up against the center of the left wall.

On the left of it, closer to the door, was a large wooden dresser. On the other side of the bed was a matching nightstand with a large silver, modern looking lamp. Across from the bed was a cabinet. Jake opened it. Inside was a large TV.

"Sweet," Jake said admiringly.

In the back right corner of the room was a full bathroom. The tiles were navy blue and white, matching the décor of the bedroom. Navy towels were neatly laid out, like at a hotel, waiting for use on the towel bar. The shower curtain was a matching blue.

Jake stepped out of the bathroom. He continued to look about the room. Next to the TV cabinet was a large bookcase that was actually built into the wall.

On the wall, to the left of the entrance of the room, was a set of doors. Jake opened the doors to reveal a large empty closet. He walked around the room looking at it in satisfaction.

He pulled back the full length, navy curtain along the far wall, between the bathroom and his bed. There was a sliding glass door. He opened it and stepped onto a balcony.

The balcony seemed to run along the length of the house. He had a great view of the pool below. He could see the drop-off point of the cliff from his view.

Jake looked up and saw that there was another balcony above him. Emily must have access to it from her room, he deduced. He could see a couple of chairs at the corner of the house. He stepped back inside, sliding the door closed behind him.

"Well, what do you think?" George asked, now sitting on the bed.

"This is really awesome," Jake responded sincerely.

George grinned. "Sure is, isn't it?! I'll give you a ride back to the dorm after dinner. We can get your stuff."

Jake looked at him in surprise, "I can move in tonight?"

"Of course, why not?!" George asked with a laugh. "We already talked about it and everyone's fine with you moving in."

"Even Tony?" Jake asked concerned.

"Don't worry about Tony. He's fine with it too. He just takes awhile to adjust to people. Especially, people that he doesn't know. He'll be your best friend within a couple months, I swear," George said persuasively.

Jake looked at him skeptically. Tony didn't look like he'd like him anytime soon. He seemed to instantly dislike him. But Jake felt the others liked him and having four other friends was way more than he'd ever had.

His family had really been his only friends - his sister, his mom, and dad. But they didn't understand him, and it was hard for them to be supportive of him.

"There's only one problem," Jake groaned disappointingly.

"What problem could there possibly be?" George asked puzzled.

"My parents," Jake answered simply.

"Oh? Why?" he asked with a frown. "Oh! Because of the girls?" George said with an understanding nod.

"You got it," Jake responded, blowing out a sigh of frustration. He wanted so desperately to move in, but his parents held the purse strings and he had to do as they said.

"I know. I had the same problem at first. But, then we explained the rules to them and they were fine with me moving in with the girls," George explained.

"Besides, I think it's harder on the girls getting permission to live with us guys than the other way around. It'll be cool, you'll see."

"What are the rules, by the way?" Jake asked.

"They are mostly regarding the co-ed business. Obviously, no walking around the house naked or nearly naked, including in your underwear," George counted on his hand.

"No leaving similar items around the house. No members of the opposite sex sleeping in the house overnight. Those are the main ones, really," George said with a shrug.

"The opposite sex sleeping overnight? Isn't that what we are to Emily and Raven?" Jake asked confused.

George laughed, "It just means you can't have a girl sleep in your bedroom with you. We don't mind you having a girl over or in your room to hang out during the day. It's just we don't want to deal with all the drama a sleepover with that person might entail with the rest of us. You know...morning after stuff. Or during..."

Jake's eyes widened in understanding. He blushed, "I really don't think that'd be a problem. At least for me. It sounds reasonable," Jake said, playing with the cabinet door to the TV, still worried his mother wouldn't let him move into the co-ed house.

He frowned, "What about inside girls?" he asked hesitantly. "Like say Raven or Emily fell asleep in here, would that be okay?"

George's eyes widened. "We'll see about that, buddy," George said with a chuckle. "I think it's fine as long as all you're doing is sleeping. But we really don't have many rules. You don't need to worry. The ones we have are pretty reasonable, and they allow the parents to not worry about us. If that's possible," George said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, um, not to change the subject, but what's the deal with people calling this place Witch Hill?"

"Where'd you hear that?" George frowned.

Jake shrugged "My roommate mentioned something about it."

George looked out the window and shrugged, "It's a big old Victorian house on a hill. People are going to make junk up to scare the little kids. You know how it is," he shrugged again.

George stood up quickly. "Let's finish the tour. The food should be here by now, and I'm starved," he said, motioning to the door.

Jake followed him, closing the door to his room behind him. He didn't want to look at it anymore, giving himself any more false hope, when he knew it could be so easily snatched away with one phone call. He didn't care what people called the house as long as he could call it home.

George showed him where his, Raven, and Ray's rooms were. Raven's room was across from Jake's. Her bedspread was a dark red with matching red pillows. She had shiny black dressers and a TV cabinet, as well. Raven, like Jake, had her own bathroom. Hers was black and white tiled, and she had dark red towels.

George's room was next to Jake's, and Ray's was across from George, next to Raven's. A bathroom was between George and Ray's rooms, at the end of the hall, with green and white tiles, and had green towels. George and Ray shared this bathroom.

George's room was all in a dark green. His dressers were all of cherry wood. Ray's room was of dark brown wood and white walls. It also had a large desk with a bulky computer, and two monitors, which filled up half the room.

George didn't take him up to see Emily's room, which disappointed Jake. He wondered what color she got. Everyone seemed to have a certain color theme to their room. Jake seemed to think that the color of their rooms matched that person's personality. Raven wore a lot of red and black and was full of passion and, he suspected, a romantic nature. George seemed to be someone that was at home in the outdoors, so green suited him perfectly. Ray was quiet and didn't stir anything up. Jake's first impression of him was that he was neutral on everything. He just went with the flow of things, so the dull colors suited him.

Jake suspected Tony's room would have a lot of black since that was the only color he'd seen the guy wear.

Emily most likely would have a bright color, or maybe some pastels, to compliment her sunny, sweet nature. 

*******************************

Jake followed George back downstairs to the kitchen thinking he analyzed things way too much.

"Pizza's here," Tony grunted when they walked in.

Jake noticed the window shutters were now closed and the light fixtures were turned on. He hadn't realized it had turned dark so quickly.

For the first time, Jake saw Tony without his sunglasses. Jake had thought his eyes would be a dark brown or even black to match Tony's all black motif, but they were a light honey brown color, almost golden.

Tony avoided Jake's gaze and picked up a bunch of soda cans. "The girls brought the pizza into the dining room," he said and walked through the entrance to it at the back of the kitchen. George and Jake followed him.

"What do you think of the place?" Raven asked as they dug into the pizza.

"It's great! I'd like to stay if you guys will let me. If my parents will let me," Jake sighed.

"Of course we'll let you!" Emily said firmly, "we invited you to live here. Nothing's changed."

"Ah, the parents," Raven said, with a smile leaning back in her seat. "Turn them over to Emily, she'll sweet talk them," Raven said, wiggling her long red painted finger nails in Emily's direction.

Emily blushed the color of the red sundress she was wearing.

"Play the money card," Ray spoke up. "By staying here, you don't have to pay as much as the dorm. We all just pay a share of utilities and groceries. Emily doesn't really even charge us for the rooms. It comes out much cheaper than staying in the dorm. It worked for my parents," he said and took a bite out of his pizza slice.

"That's a good one," Jake replied, smiling in agreement.

Jake studied Tony who sat at the end of the table, as quiet as a mouse, sipping wine and just watching them. He hadn't even taken a slice of pizza, though there was a plate in front of him.

Tony caught his eye, "I'm not hungry," he said, getting up and leaving the table. The basement door closed with a loud thud behind him.

"Was it something I said?" Jake asked the group.

Emily shook her head, picking up Tony's empty plate. "Never mind him," she said and took the plate back into the kitchen.

Raven got up and followed her. Jake watched them leave, curiously, but then George grabbed his attention by asking him a question about his class schedule.

*******************************

"He'll get over it," Raven said, stepping behind Emily who was putting Tony's clean plate back in the cabinet.

"We've been broken up for months, you'd think he'd be all done with the whole jealous ex -boyfriend thing by now," Emily said annoyed, turning around.

Raven chuckled, "You do know that this is Tony we're talking about, right?"

Emily opened the utensil drawer and put his unused silverware away. "I thought he understood."

"He does. Just give him time," Raven said, leaning against the counter.

"I've given him time. I've given him lots of time. He's always known..."

"It's not the same as it happening now, Em," Raven said with a sigh. "Yes, he knew it was coming, but that was always so far off. And now Jake's here and ..."

"And what about you? I thought you wanted to date Tony?"

Raven gestured to the door, "Not like that. He's not ready to date anyone else. He's still in love with you..."

"He is not!" Emily protested.

"Of course he is and don't tell me that you can't read that from him. The boy's been head over heels since he first laid eyes on you," Raven said, crossing her arms.

"We've both changed since then. Everything has changed since then," Emily said quietly, shaking her head. "Tony needed someone to help him into the light, and that's all I did."

"That's not all you did, Em," Raven said, slapping her on the shoulder.

"I love Tony. And it hurts me that this hurts him. But I can't pretend that I can't see what's supposed to be. I can't pretend I never saw it. And I couldn't bear to let...things slip by just because he's scared of letting someone else in."

Raven grimaced. "It took him time to trust us. We just got him to trust Ray and George. With everything else going on, letting Jake in is going to be harder than anything else has been."

"He doesn't have a choice. Jake's becoming one of us, and he just has to accept it and stop acting like a big baby about it."

Raven stared at her and Emily met her gaze. Both girls burst out laughing. Raven wiped her tearing eyes once she could control her laughter.

"Who would have thought using the word 'baby' in association with a big, bad..." she bit her lip as Jake entered with Ray and George.

"What's for dessert? " George asked, setting their empty plates in the sink.

*******************************

Ray's suggestion was the one Jake used on his parents, and it worked. His mother did moan and groan about him "shacking up" with a couple of girls. But after his insistence that it was perfectly platonic and how much money they would save, she gave in.

George and Ray had come back with him to his dorm to get his belongings. His previous roommates bid him farewell, but Jake could tell that they were happy to get at least one person out of their crowded room. If they only knew the comfort that Jake was moving to, they wouldn't feel so happy for themselves.

Jake had truly lucked out, not only with his own room in a big house, but his new housemates were all great. He could deal with Tony being the one exception.

Jake hadn't brought much to college in the first place, so it didn't take him long at all to move his things and unpack.

When he had left for college, his mother had promised to send some more of his stuff to him, so he could make his room more like his own, once he settled in. But the room already had felt like his room at home in Iowa. Even the color scheme was like his room at home. It would take very little of his own possessions for him to feel truly moved in.

Later that night, after he was all moved from the dorm and settled into his new room at the house there was a knock at his door.

"Yeah?! Come in," Jake called out and looked up from the textbook he was reading while lying on top of his bed.

"Wow," Raven said in surprise from the doorway, "you're actually doing homework the first week of school?" she asked looking over the textbook in his hand.

Jake looked her over as she did so. She was ready for bed wearing red short shorts and a black tank top.

"Yeah. I want to stay on top of things," Jake said embarrassed,"I know it's nerdy, but I'm a real procrastinator and I want to do well in college, ya know?"

"Sure, I understand," Raven said with a smile. "Study all you want, Jake. Most of us are a little nerdy ourselves."

"You? Nerdy?" he asked puzzled.

He looked her over. She was one of the kind of girls that all the guys in high school would have drooled over. They would have dropped to their knees and begged for her mere notice of them.

"You'd be surprised," she shrugged a shoulder, "I just came to say goodnight. I'm hitting the hay not the books. I'm beat," she said with a yawn.

"Night," Jake said amused. Who knew that a nerd existed in a cheerleader's body? He still doubted it. Seeing was believing after all.

"Night, Jake," she smiled and walked away.

"Night, Jake!" he heard George and Ray say in a sing-song voice.

He turned back to his book. A second later he heard a sound by his doorway. He looked up.

"I came to say good night, too," Emily said from the doorway.

She hadn't yet changed into her pajamas. Jake internally kicked himself for thinking such a thing. This was supposed to be platonic, he reminded himself. Emily smiled at him and Jake hoped she couldn't hear his thoughts.

"See me in the morning. I have a surprise for you," she said mysteriously.

"A surprise? For me?" Jake asked with a shiver of excitement. No one surprised him with anything.

"Don't get too excited," Emily responded, "it's not that big of a deal," she said and turned to walk away. "Hey, Jake," she said turning back.

"Yeah? " he asked, happy she prolonged her stay. She was someone he definitely wanted to spend more time with and get to know.

"I'm really glad you decided to come here," she said, her cheeks growing a charming pink.

Jake grinned, "Yeah, me too."

She smiled back, "Well...goodnight," she said and disappeared back down the hall.

Jake decided he might as well go to sleep too. It had been a long, exciting, but tiring day. He threw his textbook onto the nightstand, shut off the light, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the soft pillow.

*******************************

Jake woke up hearing a noise downstairs. He got up to check it out. He was sure it was one of his new housemates but, it being his first night in a strange house, he wanted to know what made what noises for future reference.

It was a big house and it was rumored to be haunted. He didn't want to make a fool of himself by screaming in terror over the air conditioner or some such thing.

He felt along the dark wall to the stairs. The light from downstairs was enough so that he could see the steps, and he headed down quietly. The noise came from the family room.

Jake peeked in and spotted Tony sprawled on the floor, playing a video game.

"Sorry to wake you," Tony said, not looking away from his game.

"No prob," Jake responded. He looked up at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It said 2:15 am.

"Don't you have class tomorrow?" Jake asked, bewildered why he would be up so late when everyone else was sound asleep.

"My first class isn't 'til noon. I'm not a morning person," Tony responded, still not looking up from his sci-fi looking game. He was shooting at all sorts of ugly looking aliens.

"I didn't know you liked video games," Jake said still from the doorway.

"There's a lot about me that you don't know," Tony responded.

"True," Jake said back.

"Look," Tony snapped, and then took a deep breath, "I have nothing against you...personally," Tony said to him, still not looking at him.

"What is it then?" Jake asked him curiously, "Why do you have this instant ...dislike of me? You don't even know me."

"Time will only tell," Tony responded softly and kept playing his game.

"I'm going back to bed," Jake answered annoyed at Tony's manner. Tony had seemed to want to say something, but wouldn't come out and say it. And, as far as Jake was concerned, he hadn't done or said anything to warrant Tony's hostility.

"Night," Tony responded mimicking the sing-song from earlier that night.

Jake rolled his eyes and left the room. If Tony wanted to be a jerk, that was Tony's problem, not his. He was fine being friends with just the others.

Tony watched Jake leave the room. He closed his eyes, "It begins," he said to himself with a heavy sigh.

He rubbed his eyes and turned off the television. Technology could only distract him for so long from his inner demons, past and present.

*******************************

Jake awoke to the blaring of his alarm clock. He groaned and smacked it off the nightstand.

"Time to rise and shine, Sunshine," Raven's voice called out.

From somewhere in the direction of the doorway she ran in and jumped on his bed. On top of him.

"Ow!" Jake yelped as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Sorry. I've had two cups of coffee already. Makes me hyper," she said with a grin, flopping onto her stomach, "Especially after I had four tablespoons of sugar. In each."

"And why do you have to inflict your sugar high on me?" Jake asked, rubbing his eyes with a yawn.

"Come on and get up," she said, pulling on his bare arm, "Upsy -daisy," she beckoned. Jake sat up, his bare chest exposed.

"You got something on under there, handsome?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow, and motioning to his lower body under the bedspread.

"Yeah, I do. I wear sweatpants," Jake responded with a sleepy grin.

"Darn," she said, snapping her fingers. She moved into a sitting position.

He smiled again, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"You've got really cute dimples, Jake," she said, poking her finger into his left cheek.

"Ugh! Nails!" he protested, rubbing his cheek.

"Sorry," she said, pulling her hand back.

Raven studied her nails. "Time for a manicure," she muttered.

She got off the bed and headed to the door. "Breakfast's in ten or you get cold cereal!" she called as she breezed out of the room.

Jake smiled in affection. Even with Raven's flirting, it felt more like his sister was waking him up rather than just a beautiful girl. It was nice to have a friend that was a girl. Heck, it was nice to have a friend at all.

Jake got out of bed and took a quick shower. He pulled on jean shorts and a tee-shirt and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Pancakes, eggs, and sausage were displayed in a large quantity across the kitchen table. "Wow! It's like Sunday breakfast at my grandma's house," Jake said sitting down at the table next to George.

"Only better," George said, taking a big bite out of a pancake dripping in syrup. He moaned. "God, this is good."

"I'm going to gain, like, fifty pounds living with you, Em," Raven groaned from her end of the table.

She pushed her half eaten food away and thought about it. Then pulled it back to only start eating it again.

"I'm not doing this every day, you guys," Emily said from in front of the stove, pouring more pancake batter onto the pan.

"Tony's not joining us for breakfast?" Jake asked as Ray walked in rubbing his half closed eyes.

"He doesn't do breakfast," Emily responded from the stove.

"I guess not," Jake said.

He remembered Tony only had a glass of wine at dinner, while everyone else had scarfed down pizzas and soda. He must've eaten earlier. Then he'd been up to God only knows what hour playing video games, Jake thought.

"Tony's a night owl," Emily said, putting another plate of pancakes in front of Jake.

"Yeah, I woke up early this morning; he was up playing video games," Jake said between bites of food.

Emily smiled. "George just got him hooked on those games," she said, sitting down in the empty chair next to him.

"Oh, blame me," George said sarcastically. "As I recall, I didn't have to do much influencing. And that includes you, missy," George said, waving a fork at her.

"Emily's a vicious Call of Duty player," Raven said grinning.

"Better watch out playing against her, Jake," Raven told him scraping every last crumb off her plate.

"She looks all sweet and innocent, but behind that disguise is one mean killing machine."

Emily stuck her tongue out at Raven from the stove. "You're just jealous that I beat you every single time."

"Hardly every time," Raven said and got up from the table. She went to the sink and started to wash her dishes.

"Rule number two, Jake," Raven yelled from across the room, "Clean up after yourself!" she made a face as she put the dishes in the dishwasher.

They got through breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, and headed out the side door from the kitchen with their backpacks tossed on their backs. Emily led them over to a large garage.

"Man, you could fit a dozen cars in there!" Jake exclaimed.

"Just about," George said smiling. "Hey, give me a lift would ya? I don't want to hang around for the girls to finish their art class," George said to him as they walked towards the garage.

"Art history!" Raven objected.

"But I don't have a car. I took a cab here, remember?" Jake responded to George.

"Didn't I tell you to come see me in the morning?" Emily said as a garage door started up.

"You really have to learn to listen to me more, Jake," she said smiling, and she held out a key.

"For you," she explained when he just stared.

A red Jeep Wrangler sat inside the garage. "Here," Emily said, putting the key in his hand, closing his fingers around it.

"I can't take this," Jake said to her in shock, his mouth dropping open, looking from the key in his hand to his dream car in the garage.

Emily laughed, "It's okay!" She studied Jake's hesitant face. "Look, I inherited cars from my parents, cars from my grandparents. I've got cars coming out my ears!" Emily explained.

"The Jeep was my dad's," she said, touching the hood lovingly.

"Emily, I can't take your dad's car," Jake said to her horrified.

"My parents died last year, Jake. It's okay. He'd want you to use it. It'll just rust up and die out here not being used. He'd rather someone drive it. You don't have to keep it forever. Just use it while you're here at school. With us," she said, looking around at the others.

"But you hardly know me. I just met you guys. I've moved into your house. Now you're lending me your dad's car," Jake protested.

"Well, if you wreck it," she said, putting her arm around his shoulders "I know where you live," she said with a serious face.

Jake looked into her eyes. They were a bright sea green with gold around the edges and speckled in the middle. He could fall into those eyes.

"It's okay," she said to him in almost a whisper.

"Okay, then. If you're sure," he said back.

"I am," Emily told him with a pleased smile.

"Glad that's resolved," Raven broke Jake's trance into Emily's eyes.

He took a step back as Emily's arm had fallen away from him. He felt like they'd been standing there all day.

"Come on, Em. I'll be your chauffeur today," Raven said, walking around the Jeep to a blue Corvette convertible.

"See you later," Emily said to Jake and George. She slid gracefully into the passenger seat of the Corvette.

"That's the most generous person I've ever met," Jake said to George as they got into the Jeep.

Emily had lost so much herself. She had no family that he knew of, yet she insisted on helping out a perfect stranger.

"And ever will meet," George said in response, looking in the rear view mirror as Emily and Raven drove off.

*******************************

Jake didn't see any of the others until he met up with George after his last class ended around three o'clock. George was waiting for him. He was seated on the hood of the Jeep reading a book.

George looked up when Jake approached and quickly put the book in his backpack. They drove away from campus and back to the house.

"I know I sort of asked you before, but you didn't really answer, why do people call the house "Witch Hill"?" Jake asked him as they pulled up the large hill.

The house was beautiful, he couldn't see why anyone would even think of witches being connected to it unless the haunted house thing was true and a witch actually was haunting it.

George made a sound that came out something between a strangling sound and a cough.

He cleared his throat, "Ah, there's nothing to that," he said taking a big breath of air. "I think Emily's great grandma made up some stories to keep people away. It worked too. We can't even get anyone to deliver pizza up to the house," George said with a grumble.

"Why would her great grandma want to keep anyone away?" Jake asked as they pulled into the garage.

"I don't know. Probably to keep them out so she could have some peace and quiet up here," George replied, getting out of the car.  They walked down the paved drive to the side kitchen door. "She got it, didn't she," George gestured around the gardens surrounding them.

Jake smiled. "Sure did," he replied, following George to the house.

Entering the kitchen, Jake saw Tony sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. "Decided to finally get up?" Jake asked.

"It was about that time," Tony said, snapping his paper up higher to block his face.

Jake rolled his eyes and went to get a glass out of the cabinet that he saw Emily get them from in the morning.

"Shut the door," Tony ordered George sternly from behind the paper.

"Oh! Sorry, dude," George said absently and closed the door.

"And for the love of God, don't call me "dude". We've had this conversation before, George." Tony complained from behind the paper.

The kitchen instantly darkened. Jake noticed that the shutters were closed since their morning breakfast. He liked it much better when they were open and the sunlight filled the room. Obviously, Tony didn't. He had the kitchen lights on instead of using perfectly good sunlight.

Jake went over to the sink and filled his glass.

"Ew, tap water?" George asked, cringing in distaste. George grabbed the glass from Jake before he could protest and dumped it down the drain.

"Filter, my boy, the way of the future," George explained. He pushed the glass up against a bar on a spout that sat at the edge of the sink. Water poured into the glass.

Jake took it from him. Jake was surprised at the coldness of the water that had already turned his glass cold. He took a long drink, wiped his mouth, and smiled at his friend. "Thanks."

"We got to take care of our roomies, bro," George said, patting him on the shoulder.

He opened the fridge and pulled out a large Tupperware box. Jake watched George open it and he groaned as he saw George reveal more of the delicious brownies Emily had made the night before.

"She always makes extra," George grinned and handed Jake a plate.

"I think I'm going to need milk for those," Jake said, dumping out the remainder of his water in the sink.

"Here. Here," George saluted him in agreement and put a humongous brownie on his plate.

*******************************

"What are the other rules?" Jake asked as he sat around the family room watching "Three's Company" reruns on TV with Emily, Raven, and George. Emily apparently had a thing for old TV shows. And while Jake liked them as well, he'd already seen the episode, and he was more interested about his roommates than watching TV.

"Monthly meetings," Raven groaned as she stretched her long, smooth, bare legs down the seats of the couch.

"But you can call one anytime you want for any reason," George piped in.

"Like the no walking around half-naked rule," Raven said with a grin.

"I was only walking from the bathroom to my room after my shower," George explained as if he'd explained it a hundred times and failed.

"He didn't hold on tight enough to his towel," Raven laughed, covering her face with her hands. Jake laughed. "I got mooned!" Raven hooted. Jake laughed again, harder.

"Therefore, the rule came into place after an emergency meeting," Emily said.

"I didn't really mind. You've got a cute butt, George," Raven said, patting him on the head as he was sitting on the floor next to her.

"Thanks, Rave," he responded, his ears turning pink in embarrassment.

"Well, some of us aren't as liberal," Emily said. "I personally don't want to see any of you without any clothes on."

"Speak for yourself!" Raven said with a grin and wiggling her eyebrows at George.

"I did," Emily told her and turned to Jake, "So we came up with that rule."

Jake laughed again.

"We decide at the meeting who's going to clean what in the house," Raven continued, "Obviously, you're responsible for cleaning your own bedroom and bathroom, but the rest of the house needs to be cleaned too. Also, who's cooking when and who's doing the shopping. You're lucky, we decided to wait until the next meeting to make you start doing chores."

"I don't mind," Jake said and meant it. He'd be glad to pitch in if it meant he could keep living with them.

"I'm a farm boy," he said in a badly acted southern accent. "I'm used to hard work."

"Good," George said, "then you can help Emily with the gardens this weekend, instead of me. I have a black thumb, not a green one."

"Sure, I'd be glad to help," Jake offered all of them a friendly smile.

"Okay," Emily replied with a shrug.

"Then you clean the pool for me, you're not getting out of everything!" Raven said to George tossing a pillow at him.

"Piece of cake," George responded with a shrug, turning his attention back to the TV show.

"Hey, are you guys up for a movie tomorrow night?" Emily asked from her seat in the window seat.

"Sure," they all responded.

Jake held back a grin. He couldn't remember the last time that he'd been to the movies with anyone except his sister or parents.

It was one of those things that hit him hard in the gut when he heard groups of friends at school talk about their weekends. No one wanted to go to the movies, or anywhere with him. Emily looked over at him and winked, before getting up and leaving the room.