The best year of my life

Chapter 2

As the group played next door I sat and dotted down lyrics. Every once in a while Riker looked over to me, more of a glance then he'd turn away as I caught him. I closed my book and stood up, stretching my muscles out as I walked back to my house. I threw a glance towards Riker and this time I caught Ross looking at me. I blushed and rushed inside.

I went up the stairs and into my bathroom. I looked at my reflection as I thought of how Riker and Ross looked at me. My blonde hair framing my blue eyes, I mean nothing unusually beautiful but I'm not ugly. I ran a brush through my hair and brushed my teeth before heading into my room. I changed into a pair of large red plaid sweatpants and a red tank top.

As I passed my window I saw everyone head into the house next door, Riker glanced up here as I closed my curtains. Something about him made my insides all giggly. I crawled into bed and fell fast asleep.

I woke up to my phone alarm going off, my mom had given me the day off of school so I could unpack while she's at work. I threw on some old jeans and a hoodie, I ran a brush through my hair and decided that I looked good enough for unpacking. As I went down the stairs I groaned at the quantity of boxes.

I grabbed the door mat and went onto the front porch, I swept up a little when I was out there. As I was about to head inside I heard blasting music from the house next door, I think it was Riker's house but I can't be sure. I continued unpacking inside but I couldn't focus with the music blasting. Finally after an hour of not being able to get anything done I finally marched over next door.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself before knocking. A blonde woman answered the door with an apologetic smile. "Hello, um I'm sorry about the noise." She said, I smiled. "It's fine but do you think you could just keep it down a tiny bit?" I asked shyly, the woman looked at me for a second.

"Wait... Are you Sarah?" She asked me with a grin. "Yeah, I just moved in next door with my mom." I explained, the woman smiled. "I'm Stormie, Riker's mom, he's told me about you." She said with a grin, I blushed and the music seemed to get louder.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, I was on my way out. But the basement is where the kids practice,You can tell them to pipe down if you want." Stormie explained as she ushered me in and pointed me to the basement door. Suddenly Stormie turned on her heels and was out the front door, leaving me alone in her house.

I opened the door and the music came and almost smacked me in the face it was so loud. I walked down the stairs as they finished a song, all of the teens from yesterday were each around an instrument and tuning them on a concert set up stage. The step beneath me creaked and everyone turned towards me. I blushed deeply as I continued quickly down the rest of the stairs.

Riker smiled and walked over to me. "Hey Sarah, what are you doing here?" He asked me. "Um, I came over to ask for the music to be turned down a bit and your mom told me to just come down as she left." I explained so quietly only Riker heard me, he explained to the rest of the teens before introducing me.

After I learned everyone's name I also learned that they were all siblings except the drummer, Ratliff. "Well, I better uh go. I have to finish unpacking." I explained as I started back towards the stairs, as I reached the stair were you couldn't see anyone anymore I peeked and saw all the guys staring at me. I blushed and rushed out of the house and into mine as fast as I could.

Finally I finished unpacking the entire house and just as I sat down my mom came in with a pizza in her hand. She flopped down on the couch beside me as she popped open the pizza box. We ate in silence as we did every time my dad was gone or late coming home from work. My mother and I have never been close but we still tolerate each other. As my mom snagged the last piece of pizza I wiped off the table and threw away the box.

Looking at my phone I saw it was almost 5, there was just enough light to write outside so I grabbed my book and sat beneath my tree. As I wrote lyrics I let my mind back to my father. "Are you okay?" Riker asked from beside me, I shrugged and wiped away my tears. I nodded and closed my book. "I saw you out here and thought you needed someone." He blushed, I giggled. He's adorkable when he blushes.

"It's just... My father left us two days ago. We moved because of that actually." I explained as I tried to stop my tears. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Riker said sadly, he blushed and looked at me. "You need a hug?" He asked as his blush, a couple more tears escaped as I nodded. Riker wrapped his arms around me and almost instantly I felt better. It's probably because he's a big brother, big bro hugs are always better.

Riker and I separated as I stopped crying. "Thanks Riker. I actually feel way better." I sniffled, Riker blushed and only now did we notice it was dark out. The stars here are brilliantly bright. "Whoa...." I breathed as I stared up at the sky, Riker chuckled as he laid down in the grass. "Yeah the stars here are gorgeous." He said dreamily, I laid down beside him and we stared at the stars. Riker began to tell me about their band, I've heard of R5 the 'popular' people were obsessed with them, Christine was obsessed with Riker.

Oh the karma, sucks to have it bite ya back. I explained this to Riker and we laughed. "Hey dog out have her number?" He asked, sadly I did have her number since she forcedme to be Facebook friends with her to raise her friend number. I took out my phone and handed it to Riker, he opened a new text and took a picture of us laying in the grass. He sent it to Christine before texting. "Oops wrong number."

"Thanks Riker." I said as we stopped laughing, he smiled at me. "No problem. Well we better get to bed." He said as we got off the ground. "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow!" He called as he ran to his house, I went into mine and passes out on my bed fully clothed.