Love Out of the Middle - Discontinued

Chapter 1: Meet the Lancasters

I have lots of friends. No one in our friend circle are the same. But I'm leaving all of them behind for some school where the mascot is a hen. A HEN!

The next four years should be interesting.

We're moving from a small town home, three bedroom, three and a  half bath. Sam and Andy are living in what would've been the home office. Mickey and Will are in one room. Mom and Dad have the master. And I have the smallest room. The boys all share a bathroom, Mom and Dad get the master, and I get the other bathroom. Sometimes Andy and Sam use the powder room to brush teeth if they're in a rush. And most of the time, they use mine, since ironically I take the least amount of time in the bathroom, then again, it's one girl to four guys trying to get ready at once. I think it's because I do my hair in my bedroom using the dresser mirror, and I don't wear make up. Shower, dress, hair, food, teeth. My brothers, it's almost impossible to get them out of the house on time.

~~~

"Hey Pen, do you know where my Intro to Botany book is?" Andy calls from his room.

I look around at the boxes and no furniture in our house.

"If I were a botany book where would I be?" I ask myself.

"Never mind, it was with my Introduction to Anesthetics."

"Hey Penelope, do you know where my black baseball mitt is?" Sam asks me.

"Black baseball mitt." I tell myself looking around, "It's in the box labeled Basketball, why is it in your basketball box?" I yell back to him after finding it sticking out of his box.

"Thanks sis." He says kissing my head after coming to collect it and seal his basketball box. He hands me the mitt and takes the box out to be loaded into the moving van. I look after him confused before looking down at the mitt and putting it down in his baseball box.

"Penny!" Athena and Ares, fraternal twins that live next door, both come into the house as Will and Mickey take more boxes out to the van.

"Hey guys." I greet them, I had my boxes on the van early this morning, now I'm packing the living room. I've got everything wrapped so far. "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at camp already?"

"We had to say goodbye to you, you're leaving us forever." Athena says. She wraps me in a tight, bone crushing, suffocating hug.

"Can't breath." I gasp out.

"Oops, sorry." She says letting me go. "We'll miss you."

"I'll miss you guys too." I tell her, they already threw me a going away party last night. All my friends were there. All our going away parties were meshed into one, so everyone said goodbye to everyone at the same time.

"I'm going to go say goodbye to the boys." Athena says leaving Ares and I alone in the living room.

I turn back to finish packing the pictures and books on the shelves. Trying to ignore the fact that I have to say goodbye to him.

"Penelope." Ares voice is soft, and sorrowful. I look down at the picture in my hand. How ironic that it's the picture of us two at the eighth grade dance. We'd been dating secretly since sixth grade, nothing serious, but to us it was like our Romeo and Juliet moments every time. Even Athena didn't know about us, and she's my best friend. His dark shaggy hair has grown out, since we were little his father was in the military so he liked keeping his son's hair short, finally he got his own way and has let it grow out to his ears, his bangs make a swoosh to the right, he shakes it when he's nervous. I'd always liked him, and apparently he'd liked me too. "I don't want you to think this changes anything." He says, "I still like you."