Bringing Them Back

Chapter One

"Okay mom, you can go now! Love you! Go get food!" I exclaimed, literally pushing her out the door.

I ran into the living room and plopped down on the couch behind my sisters, who were sitting on the floor with dolls in each of their hands. I looked up at the TV, noticing that Disney channel was actually having a throwback for once, showing shows like That's So Raven, and Lizzy McGuire. It was pretty cool. I almost didn't hear the doorbell ring.

I got up from my oh-so-comfortable seat and answered it, making sure my sisters were still engrossed in the TV. I opened the door and there stood the most attractive male I had ever seen my life.

He was about my age and had dark hair and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. He was taller than me, but not by too much. He had an athletic build, but not to muscular. He was perfect.

"Hey, I'm Tanner Matthews. My mom told me to bring these to you? You are the new neighbors right?" He said, holding up a plate of brownies. I looked at the brownies. They looked so delicious and staring at them made me forget about him. My hunger started taking over. "Hello? Can you understand me?"

"Uh, yeah... yeah. We are. I'm V-Val and thanks!" I exclaimed, as I grabbed the plate of brownies and slammed the door.

He knocked again but I ignored it. I really didn't feel like embarrassing myself.

I had never been good with boys. I had a guy I liked back in my home town and ended up pouring all of my chicken noodle soup down his shirt because I tripped while trying to talk to him. Talk about embarrassing. As I walked back to my seat, I took a bite of one of the brownies. When I sat down, I realized that the twins were no longer there.

'Oh crap!' I thought as I frantically went and searched the house.

"Jay! Ray! Have you guys seen the girls?" I yelled up the stairs. When I got no response, I started to worry. I immediately went out to our back yard. I found them gathered around a group of bricks, oddly shaped like a large rectangle.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know, we just got out here," Jay replied.

"I think it is a barn or shed or something of that sort. Maybe the owner before us had one. I mean, it has to be like a hundred years old because no one has owned this house for like fifty years. That's what dad told me!" Ray explained.

That statement got Jay started. "Maybe there's treasure of something buried here. We could dig it up! We could be rich! We coul-"

"Nope. Not gonna happen. Mom told me to watch you guys and you are NOT going to destroy the property while she's gone. I refuse. So, go in the house and do something so I don't get in trouble because you guys are doing something you know you're not supposed to," I demanded. "And girls, you two need to go back to watching TV. You guys need to be where you were when mom left when she gets back."

"But Vaaaaaaaaaal" They all whined simultaneously.

"Go," I said as I gave them a look that they knew they couldn't convince.

'Dang, I'm a great big sister!' I thought as I followed them into the house.

About a two hours later, my mom came back with a crap load of groceries and started on dinner. It was spaghetti and meatball night. Yum. Around the time she finished, my dad got home from work. It was about 6:30 in the evening. We all sat around our new dinner table, said prayers, and dove into our meals.

"So Val, how are you liking the house?" My dad asked between bites of pasta.

"It's nice, I guess. I like my room, even though I really want to change the wallpaper," I replied.

"Cool. We can fix that. You'll go out with your mom sometime to find new. "

"Alright." I said, as I smiled.

"Aren't you glad that we came at the beginning of the summer? That way, you have time to get situated before school starts."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll make some friends before school starts so I won't feel like an outsider when it does." I replied.

"Oh Okay. Well maybe we can go look around the town later on in the week when I'm off. I heard they have a beautiful waterfront."

"That sounds good"

"So what did you guys do while I was out getting groceries?" My mom asked all of us.

"It was super cool mom! Me and Ray looked around the yard and we found this patch of bricks that Ray thinks is a barn and I think has treasure buried underneath!" Jay exclaimed.

"Yeah. We also found this path out back that we didn't follow because you told us not to go too far," Ray added.

"That's great, guys! It sounds like you guys had fun. So, what did you girls do while I was gone?" She asked.

"We did the same and then Val made us come back in the house," Ellie said.

"Our new neighbor came. He brought brownies, which I think would make a great dessert for tonight," I replied.

"That's great. I was wondering where those brownies came from. Good idea, I'll go get them now," She got up and left.

The rest of our meal went that same way. My dad talked about what he did at work. My mom talked about this "interesting" story that happened at the grocery store. My sisters just talked about anything that came to their mind. And my brothers just talked about what came to their mind like the treasure, what type of pet they want to get, and other random things like that. I just sat and listened.

When we were dismissed, I immediately went to my room to bed. I was almost asleep when I heard something tapping on my window. I slowly trekked over to it and then I realized it was rocks hitting my window. I opened it and nearly got decked in the face with a stone. I looked down to see none other than Tanner Matthews standing on the ground under my window.

*********

A/N: Just like I said, it gets more interesting as the story progresses. Also, the chapters get longer. This is NOT just a typical romance story. It's much more than that. Thanks for reading my first chapter! Please continue reading. Tell me what you think!