Part of Her World

Chapter One

^For making the awesome possum cover and even redoing it when I was picky about the font, plus being an overall amazing person. You rock, Ressa!

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“Ethan!”

Before I could see the blur running down the front porch and across the lawn towards me, I was being hugged by a mess of curly brown hair and cotton tee shirt.

“Let’s not attack the newcomer, Spencer,” I said teasingly, gently shoving her away, which was harder than expected. Though I was now almost a head taller than her (although not after spending practically fourteen years as the shorter one), she’d maintained her strength, and when she resisted pushing her away was not as easy as expected, although with some force it wasn’t difficult.

“I hate you,” she grumbled, before breaking out in a smile again. “I’m so happy you’re here!” she squealed.

“Whoa, what is this?” asked my sister Carley, stepping out of the car. “The Spencer I know does not squeal.”

“Sorry, I’m just so excited that Ethan’s going to be staying with us!” she squealed again.

“Believe me, he’s not that big of a deal,” joked Carley, nudging me on the arm. The mood changed as she hugged me. “I’m going to miss you, big bro.”

“Hold on, hold on, goodbyes aren’t in order yet!” Spencer interrupted us. “You still need the tour of the house! Ethan, you’ll be staying downstairs in the guest bedroom.”

“We have been here before, Spencer. We don’t need the full tour,” my dad reminded her as we entered the house. Spencer continued downstairs anyways. We dropped my things off in my room and saw the rest of the basement (which we had seen enough times before).

“And now, for the next portion of our tour, we will go to the kitchen, because I am hungry,” Spencer said with a flourish as she guided us upstairs. Luckily enough, her mom had already prepared supper for us.

Supper was a happy ordeal. Our parents were all chatting, while Spencer, Carley and I were all talking about my stay in Carmel. Spencer evidently had a very extensive list of things for us to do for the next two years, and was rambling on about all of them. The more she talked, the more excited I was getting about living with the Chaleks.

But supper had to end eventually, and it was time for goodbyes. My mother had tears in her eyes and she hugged me, and Carley definitely wasn’t too far from tears either. I couldn’t blame them. It had to be hard leaving a member of your family in a completely different part of the country for almost two years. Once they left, I went to my room to unpack.

As I was absentmindedly stuffing clothes into the drawers of my dresser, Spencer came into the room. “I found something that may be incredibly useful,” she told me, smiling.

“I’m unsure of whether I should be scared or pleasantly surprised,” I joked, with a hint of truth. Spencer was a great practical joker, and highly unpredictable.

“It’s not bad, I promise you,” she said, holding out an iPod docking station. “Any money says you wouldn’t last a week without one of these. I found it at Value Village for, like, fifteen bucks. And it’s in good working condition, too.”

“Dude, you are now officially the awesomest person I know,” I told her, setting it on the dresser and plugging it in. “No doubt I wouldn’t have been able to live without this.”

One thing, and probably the most important thing that Spencer and I shared was our love of music. Not only that, but we’d spent twelve years of our lives listening to iPods side-by-side before realizing we had practically identical tastes in music. We found out we were both big Christian rock fans, and bonded over listening to Relient K together, and then giving each other suggestions about other bands. I’d got her hooked on August Burns Red, and she’d introduced me to Switchfoot. There were always times when Spencer would go almost a month without e-mailing me, and just when I thought I’d lost all hope of contact, she’d send me a link to a great song, and we’d begin talking again, over e-mail, on the phone, or texting, however we could communicate.