Edited by Selinah 14/2/14. Picture of Daniel off to the side
Chase stormed up to us, with his long legs the long walk took merely seconds, well that's what it felt like anyway. A fiery glare was being directed at Daniel as Chase stood in front of us, arms crossed over his chest, looking like the picture of intimidation. To Daniel's credit, he held Chase's gaze the water still flowing from the hose. He drops the hose and retracts the arm around my waist.
Thankfully Courtney switched the water off before stepping in "Uh you must be Amelia's brother, ? I'm Courtney" she said extending her hand. It seemed my brother was still too angry to respond as he gave her a curt nod before facing me.
I flinch at the anger in his eyes and look away from his stony gaze, I have no idea why he was so angry. It's not like I ran away from home without telling anyone.
"H-h-how" I clear my throat in an attempt to stop my stuttering "How did you get here?"
"Jake drove me" he answered in a hard tone eyeing the space between Daniel and I, which probably wasn't big enough for my protective brother. "Anyway I'm here to take you home Mom is going berserk, you're grounded from the moment you step in the house apparently". I didn't move and replied in the same hard tone.
"I'll be there in an hour I have to help Courtney with something" switching my gaze to Courtney and pleading her to go along with it.
"Yeah. Come on you guys get changed or you'll catch a cold" she ushered us into the house, all three of us going upstairs to get changed, leaving Chase and Jake standing in the hallway awkwardly. I quickly changed into a white blouse and black tights, packing up my stuff. While we were changing Courtney and I discuss how awesome our prank were so we burst into laughter.
Once downstairs, I immediately notice the tense atmosphere with Chase glaring at Daniel and Jake just standing around awkwardly.
"Chase you can go, I'm coming I promise" I sigh.
"No can do Mia. Mom specifically said to bring you home myself. Bring your bags. Now" Chase said angrily. I huff before storming upstairs and gathering my bags. There was no point in arguing with an angry Chase. Once again I descended the stairs hugging Courtney and Daniel (much to my brother’s anger) goodbye.
"Thanks you guys for letting me stay over and good luck removing the makeup Dan. I owe you guys" I said smiling at Daniel who frowned at my teasing.
"Yeah you owe us big time Johnson" Daniel said in a teasing tone. I smile before following my two pig-headed 'guards'. Jake's car was impressive a Porsche Cayenne. While Jake and Chase sat upfront I plonked myself on the backseat, staring moodily out of the window. I quickly checked my phone sighing when there was no response from my three best friends.
"What did you do to get grounded anyway?" Chase asks turning in his seat to face me. I just scowl facing the window in the hopes that he'd leave me alone what a change of mood my brothers gone through. "Mia.." he warned.
"I yelled at her throughthe phone before hanging up on her" I mumbled the two boys obviously heard as they started snickering
"That's all?" Jake asked in disbelief.
"It wasn't even my fault! I called you to let them know where I am anyway. Wait. You did tell her didn’t you?!" I asked angrily giving a pointed look towards Chase. He suddenly turned away rubbing the back of his neck nervously
"Imighthaveforgottentotellher" he mumbled quickly.
"What? Speak up!" I said my anger rising. He cleared his throat. "I might have forgotten to tell her"
I let the words sink in before my anger took over "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU COULD BE SUCH AN ASSHOLE! I'M GROUNDED BECAUSE OF YOU!" I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down. I regretted screaming now, my ears were ringing and judging by the pained face of my brother and neighbour their ears were hurting too. In your face suckers!
"Yeah well at least I'm not flirting with guys to let me stay at their house" he spat with disgust. "That's going a bit far dude" Jake said in a warning tone in the background. I had trouble processing the words, shock flowing through my body.
My own brother thought that of me. Chase realized too late what he had said "Shit I'm sorry Mia I didn't mean it you know that" he pleaded looking back at me.
I shook my head "No it's fine Chase it's good to know what you really think of me" I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay, thankfully we had reached home. Taking my bags with me I run up to my room. By the time I got to my room, tears were streaming down my face.I locked the door and threw myself at the bed. Chase came pounding on my bedroom door moments later but I ignored his pleas my crying only increasing, I was on a fresh round of tears when my phone rang. I answered without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Amelia he didn't mean it" Jake's voice said on the other end of the line.
I sigh "I don't care what he thinks Jake" I quickly wiped my nose with a tissue.
"Oh? , Then why are you crying in your room?" Jake said, I froze, how did he know that? As if he could read my mind he sighed, before replying my unasked question "Look out at your balcony" I turned to see Jake standing outside.
I gasp ending my call and opening the balcony doors "What are you doing here?" I hissed unnecessarily.
"Checking up on you duh!" he said taking a step inside to look around my room. Was he serious? "Ha ha, well you can leave now" I respond walking back to my bed, he sighs before following me.
"You know you're making this caring act really hard for me" he said annoyed while I flopped onto the bed burying my face into the pillow.
"Maybe you should drop it then" I reply grumpily though my words were muffled by my pillow.
Jake took a seat beside me running his hand through his hair as I turned to look at him. "Amelia I'm sure he didn't mean it. He was just being an angry jerk" his blue eyes were piercing into my hazel ones. Is it possible to get lost into someone's eyes? Because that’s exactly what I feel right about now.
"Yeah I guess" I say reluctantly, I guess I can't really be angry seeing as Chase was pretty pissed.
I look at the boy next to me and scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. Jake seems like a really sweet guy and nothing at all like the twins described...the sweet moment didn't last long though. "So Daniel huh?" he cocked an eyebrow.
I groaned rolling my eyes "We're friends, I didn't flirt myself an invitation if that's what you're thinking".
"Hey I was just joking around" he raised his hands in mock surrender "So you gonna forgive Chase now?" he asked hesitantly.
I let out a laugh "I've already forgiven him I'm just going to let him sweat it out a little, did he tell you to check up on me by the way?" I raise an eyebrow.
"U-u-hh no?" he said though it came out more as a question. My eyebrow if possible went further up "No?" I watched him fidget, laughing.
I went over to my bedside table and got my Ipod out searching for the song "Aha!" I cried out before placing the Ipod on its dock, the sound of Avril Lavinge's ‘What the hell’ flowing through the room. I looked back at Jake to see him staring at me with amusement? What is with these LA boys around here and finding me amusing?
I was about to ask him why he was looking at me like that when he spoke "I didn't pick you for a Avril Lavinge girl, though your screaming in the car should have tipped me off" he let out a chuckle.
I just shook my head before the longing to be outside suddenly struck me "You play soccer right?" I asked him excitedly, he just looked at me smugly.
"Stalking me are you?” Gosh his ego needed to be taken down a peg or two.
"You wish" I snort unattractively before giving off my own smug smirk. "Hang on for a minute" I said quickly bringing out my phone and dialling Courtney's number. "Hey Courtney!"
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I pulled on a pair of black shorts that reached just above my knee, choosing a light purple shirt before tying my hair up into a ponytail. I went downstairs, pulling open the backdoor to see Chase setting up the goals while Jake helped. A couple of minutes later Courtney came running out wearing a navy blue shirt and black shorts similar to mine.
The four of us decided to play girls versus boys, to make the game interesting, something that Jake was over the moon about. Poor guy, he actually thinks my brother can play the sport. I think to myself laughing mentally.
He doesn't even know I was the captain of the girl's soccer team back in New York, pair that up with my brother who can play practically every sport but soccer and Jake was in for a rude awakening.
"You know Amelia I play both football and soccer amazingly" Jake had warned me before Courtney arrived. I merely scoffed in response, Cocky bastard.
I wore an emotionless face masking my smugness, overconfidence always leads to mistakes it's better to be wary of the opposing team. Something that Jake should keep in mind but judging by the smirk on his face and challenge in his eyes eyes he thinks he's just facing a couple of girls. Moron!
A coin toss decided that the boys will start with the ball. Jake took the lead, expertly dribbling the ball towards the goal, I watched his movements concentrating so I didn't miss the perfect moment to strike. There! Just as Jake stopped near the goal, ready to score a point I tackled the ball off him dribbling to the other side of the 'field' quickly and dodging my brother's feeble attempts to get the ball off me. The sound of Jake cursing could be heard as I passed the ball to Courtney who was waiting near the goal ready to attack. A few minutes later and we were in the lead with the boys left to nurse their wounded egos. There's only more to come boys. I thought smugly.
We carried on playing Courtney and I working speedily to further enlarge the gap in points, we are in the lead with six points now, the boys sitting on a feeble two. Courtney had the ball now and was running to our goal so that she could get a clear goal when she lost the ball. The soccer ball now in the possession of a certain blue eyed boy I ran after him and with some difficulty got the ball away from him. I turn around making my way back to my goal but Jake wasn't giving up just yet. He ran behind me trying to steal the ball away, while that failed, he did manage to trip the both of us so that we were sent sprawling to the ground. He landed ontop of me and i think it's safe to say that the air escaped my lungs at this point. My body was a little sore from hitting the grassy ground and I struggled to move under Jake's weight.
How much did this guy weigh???? Though I was pretty sure he consisted mostly of muscles if the six pack pressing into my back was an indication. He lifts his head so that his blue eyes could look into my own brown ones.
"Hey" he whispers smiling down at me. I roll my eyes ignoring the butterflies raging in my stomach at the close proximity between us.
"How much do you weigh? You're practically crushing me!" I groan and he chuckles. Chuckles!! I'm here, getting crushed and he's finding it amusing!
"Fiesty! I like it, but it's pure muscle babe" I glare at him and scoff.
In response he smirks and responds with a cheeky "Want to check?" and proceeds to flex his biceps. By now the two of us were standing up and I couldn't help but let my eyes wander to his arm to see that yes, he had quite a bit of muscle.
He was so busy showing off though that he didn't notice how close the ball was, I took my chance and ran with the ball shooting a goal that my brother failed to block. Meanwhile Jake was left standing in the same spot cursing everythingthat had happened. I laugh and hug Courtney as we celebrate the easy goal, Chase however had better things to do.
"Dude, keep your head in the game. And. Not.On.My.sister" he ground out, this had Courtney and I on the ground clutching our stomachs. There is just something about beating a couple of guys which fills me up up with laughter, or maybe it's just the fact that Chase and Jake appeared to be sore losers.
"You may be all muscle Jake but I'm allskill. Meet captain of the Jackson girls soccer team, state champions two years in a row" I smirk gesturing at myself. Jake stood there his mouth slightly agape, shock written over his features.
I walk over to him gently closing his mouth with my finger "Don't want to catch any flies now do we? I say with a wink. "Guess we won!" I cross my arms over my chest "Sooo.. I think it's time you admit it don't you think?".
Jake just smirks "What makes you think the game is over?" he took a step forward and wound his arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. I let out a small gasp escape my lips at the sudden contact, it feels...strange the only guy I've been this close to are my ex-boyfriends Damien and Ben, and I had known them for years!
I struggle against his grip while he watches me, amusement painted on his face. The sound of car tires reach my ears and I smirk leaning in I whisper into his ear, responding to his earlier question "The fact that my parents are home". We stood there for a couple of moments before my mum came storming through the backdoor effectively cutting off our mini staring contest.
"AMELIA JOHNSON WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? YOU'RE MEANT TO BE GROUNDED!" her brown eyes burn into mine, then she turns her head and notices Jake next to me the two of us still in our awkward position "Oh hello Jake". I stare mouth open. How could she do that?! One minutes she's full on angst and then she's a sweet ol' mother? Is there some sort of switch that I don't know about? Turn the angry mother into a sweet lady with a flick of a switch?
Jake was shaking as he tried containing his laughter, jerk. He gave a polite smile and a "Hello" before he finally let me go. I glared at Jake before stomping on his foot, hard. Giving him a sweet smile I storm off to my room, giving a last glare at Jake who was cradling his foot a pained expression on his face.
I spent the rest of the day cooped up in my room with Courtney as she helped me pick an outfit for school tomorrow, the two of us just talked for awhile before she left. Chase came in soon after to give me my dinner - pizza. I headed over to my balcony sitting outside on the bench by the doors eating pizza quietly when I heard Jake's voice "Well hello neighbor!".
I look over to see him standing at the balcony next door so I guess that's his room, which means that small window, must look into his room too. I smirk "Hey! Someone sulking at a girl beating them at soccer?" I sang as he glared.
"Haha. What are you doing?" he said curiously leaning over his balcony which was so close I could easily jump over to his house, explains how he came earlier I guess.
"Running for president" I said sarcastically rolling my eyes.
He wasn't fazed staring at me with seriousness he placed a hand under his chin in a thoughtful expression "Oh? Are you a Republican or a Democrat? Anyway why did you stomp on my foot earlier?" he asks raising an eyebrow.
I turn my attention to my pizza "Because you annoyed me" I shrug.
"Annoyed you? Are you serious?!" he asked amazed the expression on his face caused me to giggle.
"Sorry Jake I was angry and you just happened to be there".
"Well glad I could be of assistance" he replied sarcastically.
I was about to reply when my phone rang, "One minute". I picked it up "Heyo!" I said enthusiastically.
"Hey Mia! Wassup?" Alex said on the other line my smile dropped.
"Oh hey jerk!" I said innocently as Jake watched me curiously.
"What? Why are you calling me a jerk!" he asks bewildered and I chuckle a little holding the phone away before answering.
"Well.......you see I couldn't be angry at you on Friday since it was my last day and everything....so now I'm in LA I decided I can be angry at you again!" I said in mock happiness awaiting his reaction, it was fun messing with Alex.
"What! That's not fair MIA! I didn't do anything!" he whined and I could just imagine him throwing his hands around. Once again I held the phone away before giggling as I came up with my response.
"Well.. as I remember correctly you yelled, and I quote '"When were you going to tell me? Hmm when you're on the plane to SUNNY LA!!!!"
I waited for his reaction, as Jake whispered to me "Who are you talking to?”
I hushed him as Alex finally started taking "I do not sound like that" I laughed.
"Yeah. You do, you sound like that now! I do NOT sound like that!" I mimicked him, cracking up at the end.
"You were messing with me the whole time? Well....I guess I'll go now I don't think I want to talk to you anymore" he pouted.
"Wait! No come on Alex! You know I love you!" I pleaded.
Jake's eyebrows went up "love..." he muttered.
"Well... OK I'll still talk to you not like I have anything better to do" he muttered.
"Are you saying you would rather talk to someone else Alex?! How could you I thought we were best friends!" I faked sobs.
"Seriously Mia, how's LA?" he said.
"LA is fine I've made friends with a couple of people from my school" I replied.
"Good, Good now you know you can tell me anything right?" he said seriously and I roll my eyes.
"Jeez you're worse than Chase, Alex! Look I gotta go. Good night and sweet dreams!"
"Good night!" with that I ended the call. Jake was about to say something when I interrupted him "Alex was one of my best friends back in New York" understanding crossed through his face before it was replaced with a smirk.
"So you're single then?" I gave him a glare before an innocent smile took over.
"Yep! But sorry I don't date boys that can't beat me in a soccer game" and with that I walked inside and went to bed laughing to myself.
-----------------------------------------------------------Jake's POV -------------------------------------------------------------
Amelia Johnson. That one girl has surprised me more than any other girl I've known in my seventeen years. Her wild mood swings and talent in soccer was enough to hook my interest...but with her being my neighbour I think it's safer if I don't go down that route. Besides in the short time I've known him, I've grown close to Chase and I would never dream of playing his sister.
Ever since that damn soccer game all I could think about was the way she moved on the soccer field. Her effortless dribbling and the look of concentration as she tried to come up with the best strategy to use on her opponents, the complete opposite of her brother. He wasn't all that bad but he definitely wasn't going to get on the soccer team with his level of skills...his sister however...
Well, she's another story. I have no doubt that if she tried out for the girls soccer team at WestOak she would get in. The girls there don't have a large interest in soccer, there is never a big turn out anyway so Amelia won't have much competition to deal with. The only girl I personally know who's as into soccer as Amelia is Courtney. Not that I've talked to her or Daniel much since freshman year.
Once again I found myself drifting back to that year and all the things that went so terribly wrong and caused Daniel and I to drift apart.....My gaze sweeps across my room, the pictures of our childhood were safely tucked away in an album in my cupboard. I don't need to see a damn reminder of my stupid mistakes in my own room, when it's hard enough to see Daniel and Courtney in school.
Deciding I need some fresh air, I walk out on to my balcony only to see Amelia sitting on her balcony with a plate of pizza in hand. Her brown hair was once again tied in ponytail that was being ruffled by the wind. I couldn't help but smile as I remembered when we tripped playing soccer and how....beautiful she looked as she glared up at me with those rich brown eyes of hers. Jeez Jake, can you sound like more of a girl? Why don't you just bend one knee and propose to her as well...beautiful. Since when did you start calling girls (other than your own mother) beautiful?? You're a player dude! Not some lovestruck teen! With that kind reminder from my consciousness I sigh and decide to talk to her anyway.
"Well hello neighbor!" I looked at her with a smile she looks back at me with a smirk.
"Hey! Someone sulking at a girl beating them at soccer?" she sang, I grit my teeth and sent a glare her way.
"Haha what are you doing?" it was late, around ten and she was just eating outside?
"Running for president" she replies sarcastically rolling her eyes. So she's sarcastic too huh? Two can play at that game.
"Oh? Are you Republican or a Democrat?" I asked pretending to be deep in thought while leaning on the railing my hand under my chin. And then I asked her my real question "Anyway why did you stomp on my foot earlier?” I can see the look of amusement in her eyes as she responds but I am so not in the mood for games
"Because you annoyed me" she said shrugging. I thought back to earlier I didn't do anything except put my arm around her waist.
"Annoyed you? Are you serious?!" I ask slightly angrily, my foot hurt like a bitch afterwards and it was all because she was annoyed?!
"Sorry Jake I was just angry and you just happened to be there". My foot had to suffer because of that?
"Well glad I could be of assistance" I replied sarcastically when her phone rang. She answers casually with a
"Hey jerk". Well that's an interesting way to greet somebody wonder who she's talking to? After she yelled into the phone I guessed it was one of her friends in New York though she ignored me when I asked her who I wonder who this Alex dude is. I was about to ask her when she hurriedly talks into the phone
"Wait! No come on Alex! You know I love you!" hmm so maybe her boyfriend.
I raise my eyebrows at the thought "love.....?". My heart starts plummeting at the thought of her having a boyfriend but I push it away why should I care? I'm not looking for a relationship and I barely know her anyway. I shake her thought away just as I hear her calling him a best friend and my heart picks up again, I mentally curse myself traitor I think angrily.
I was about to say something to Amelia who had ended her call when she interrupted. "Alex was one of my best friends back in New York" so I was right... I smirk .
"So you're single then?" she gives me a glare before an innocent smile takes place, God I hate that smile, last time she had smiled like that I ended up with an injured foot.
"Yep! But sorry I don't date boys that can't beat me in a soccer game" with that she went inside laughing. I couldn't help but smile atthat Amelia who was so different to the girls at school, I guess I've received a challenge. Three words Amelia Johnson
"Bring it on" I mutter before walking back inside myself.