So the video on the side has pretty much no relevance to the story line, but I like the songs I put up and thought it would be cool. So yeah. I like the songs. Enjoy! Oh yeah, P.S., thats my boy Logan. Hes looking especially hot right there.
Love you guys, LadyInTown
Brothers. All I can say about them is that they are mistakes. I mean, I love my brother and all that jazz, but when in comes down to it, he is a pain in the ass. I'm not even joking either, they are horrible creatures. The whole male species is messed up, brothers just being one of the many horrible categories in that section.
Then, you have the equally aggravating brother's best friend. Does God hate the females of Earth? I think so. Especially when they make it their life's goal to prank me every chance they get. Idiots.
Summer has just started and I know for a fact that this one will be interesting. My parents decided that they want to go to the lake for a few weeks. It is the best place in the whole wide world. My favorite place.I know every nook and cranny and I hide there for the majority of our trips.
Let me introduce myself. I, am you're faithful narrator, and I will tell you the story of my summer in complete accuracy. Well, my side anyway. And things through my eyes are always right. According to myself, that is. My name is Nicole Baily, Nikki for short, and I am the latest and greatest River's Mill High School graduate. Thats right, 18 and ready to see the world.
My brothers name is Devon, and he's only a year older. At first, when I was 14 and he was 15, he brought over friends and it was great. Hot older guys to hang out and flirt with. Then he got one friend, and I began to understand just how annoying boys really are.
Logan Lerman. The bane of my existence. He thinks he's all high and mighty because he starred in a few movies. I'll admit, Percy Jackson was really cool and I was a big fan of it until I found out who would play him. Not so good.
Logan has made it his job to scare away every living creature even remotely resembling a boy that got close to me. I'm not even kidding, if a squirrel passed and it was a boy, Logan would chase after it. Then he and my brother would laugh about me not being able to get a date.
Then, if that wasn't enough, they pulled horrible pranks on me, all ending in my embarrassment. Some of then were funny, and even I chuckled about it later, but they were childish jokes. They weren't well thought out. Numerous, but stupid.
So now, I find myself packing for the trip, stuck in my bedroom.
Devon pops his head in and looks around the room in amazement. Okay, I'll admit, I have a lot of clothes, and the contents of my closet had been spewed out all over the room like a hurricane had passed through.
"What happened in here?" he asked, opening the door a little more to show the rest of his body.
Not to be gross or anything, but my brother is really attractive. He has short blond hair and really green eyes, kinda like mine. Most people mistake us for twins, but we're about 13 months apart.
"I dunno, I have a lot of clothes" I shrugged, then dove into the nearest pile, searching for the green top I love.
"Well, I just thought I'd mention who was coming with us on our trip." his voice was gleeful, as if enjoying every second of this.
"Who?" I'm sure my voice was muffled from the load of clothes pressed up against my face. My mom used Tide. It smelled nice.
"Me" I heard another voice. Oh sweet baby jesus tell me that isn't who I think it is. I'm sure I looked pretty strange, half my body sticking out of a massive pile of clothes, my butt in the air.
I scrambled out of the clothes into a sitting position on my wooden floor. Devon had taken up a comfortable spot on my bed, looking very happy. And there he was. Mr.Devil Spawn himself.
"Logan" I inclined my head in greeting. 'Keep it polite' I chanted to myself in my head.
"Nikki" he nodded back. I pushed myself from the floor and looked around the room. I spotted my green top on the lampshade next to my bed and grinned. I zoomed past Logan who was leaning against my doorframe and grabbed my shirt in my hands.
Waving it around over my head I did a happy dance and leapt back to my suitcase on my bed, scrambling over Devon in the process.
"Hey!" he yelped, clutching his side that I was sure I had put my foot only seconds before.
"Sorry! That was the last piece I needed!" I smiled, doing a twirl and shoving the article of clothing in with the rest.
Thats when I noticed the issue. Apparently, so did Devon.
"Er, Sis? How are you gonna get that thing closed?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck and eyeing my suitcase skeptically.
"Well, if I sit on it like this, then pull the zipper like this..." I said, doing everything I was saying. Before, my bag had been overflowing with clothes and necessities, making it impossible to close. With me sitting on it, the stupid thing only sunk about an inch.
"Are you really that light?" Devon asked, his eyes still glued to my bag like it was a possible enemy.
"No!" I yelled, then got my foot stuck on the wheel, thus making me fall off the bed.
Before I could even yell at my poor, fat suitcase, the boys had already gotten to work, Devon sitting in the place I had occupied and Logan zipping it up easily.
"Done" Logan grinned. I smiled, hopped up, and hugged Devon.
"Thank you!" I said, then finishing it off with a sweet kiss on the cheek. He smiled at me, tilted his head to the side and sat back down on my bed.
"Do I get anything?" Logan asked, looking at me with innocent eyes,
I rolled my eyes and hugged him, his warm arms wrapping around my body. I kissed him on the cheek then backed away from his embrace to start cleaning up the mess I called my room.
This whole scene was not unusual. The boys and I have a difficult relationship. Sometimes we act like best friends, other times we could be fighting like our lives depended on it. I liked being friends with them, but that never lasted.
Once I finished I smiled sweetly, fluttering my eyelashes. "Oh wonderful brother of mine, would you please assist me in taking my suitcase down stairs? It is far to big for a small girl like me to take." I pleaded, my fake sweet voice floating around the room.
He smirked at me before pulling the handle and wrenching the bag off the bed. It landed with a thump on the floor. I smiled and skipped after him as he walked into the hall. My hair had been tied up like it usually was, but a few small curls were escaping from their nest and bouncing against my neck.
Devon had already managed to get my beast suitcase down the stairs so I hopped up on the banister and slid down it, letting my sweat pant-clad legs dangle over the sides. My balance was easy, and I landed without a sound.
Thats when Baxter came up and tackled me.
"Argoof!" I yelled, as the monster licked my face with his slobbery tongue.
Baxter is Devon's dog. He was so sweet and small when he was a puppy, but he grew to be about 10 times bigger. Baxter is a St. Bernard, and he absolutely loves everyone.
Devon laughed and left me there, but once Devon left the room, Baxter obediently followed, happily trailing along after that jerk.
I picked myself up off the floor and glared in the direction they left. "Mom?" I asked.
"Yeah hunny?" she asked, waltzing into the room.
"When are we leaving?" I follow her into the kitchen. We are not poor. Not by a long stretch. In fact, we probably have more money than we know what to do with.
"Soon, but I need you to pack up Sage's stuff, we're taking the dogs this time because of the bears." mom said, humming to herself as she fluttered about.
"But... she's only a baby...." I whispered. Sage is my little puppy. Devon got Baxter about three years ago, and that dog was more than we bargained for. So about a month ago my parents got me Sage. She was a beautiful Dalmatian with a mostly white body and clumps of black spots every here and there. The idea of her fighting off anything bigger than a goldfish scares the shit out of me.
"Oh, she won't be doing any protecting, we just don't want to leave her in the kennel all by herself. Baxter is usually with her and we think she might get lonely." mom explained. I relaxed and went upstairs to the dog room. Yes, the dog room. Devon must have already come in to collect Baxter's things because there wasn't much left.
I got a little pink bag and packed her leash, bed, treats, bowl, collar, brush, and toys. Sage herself was probably sleeping in the laundry basket again, so I pulled the pink bag strap onto my shoulder and walked to the laundry room. Nothing moved, but my eyes saw something that didn't belong.
A small white tail with black spots was sticking out from under one of my dads shirts. It was quivering, and I laughed.
"Where's Sage?" I asked loudly to myself. This was our game. She hid and I found her. Not so fun for me.
The tail was full on shaking now. I crept up slowly and silently, then grabbed the sides of my little shirt-wrapped baby.
"I found you." I told her adorable face. She happily licked my face and her tail started wagging. I smiled and set her down, letting her follow me from the room and down the stairs. It was so cute how she concentrated on each step. She was so tiny that one misplaced paw could lead to a tumble down our stairs.
We made it to the bottom and walked to the car. The others were already there, and I climbed in the seat just behind my little baby sister Lucy. Lucy was born about a year ago, and she is almost as cute as Sage. Curly blond hair that barely makes a fuzz on her little bald head, big blue eyes. Just adorable. She's giggling in her seat, playing with one of her many toys and looking around at everyone.
Sage perches herself on my lap and I buckled up.
"Ready, family and Logan?" my dad yelled from the front seat. We smile and shout out just how ready we are.
"Lets go already!" I yell. Chuckles fill the car as we all brace ourselves for the best summer ever.
The drive was long, to say the least. Logan and Devon kept making jokes and pulling my hair. I just opted to lay down stroke Sage's soft fur, letting the music from my ipod lull me to sleep.
I was being shaken awake and lord knows I hate that. I growled at the person and threw my hair up to catch their wrist. I twisted it around to a painful angle and growled.
"What do you think you're doing?" I hissed in a low voice. The person whimpered and I opened my eyes.
Devon was staring at me with wide eyes, his wrist in my hand and a pained look on his face. I smirked and let him go, but not before twisting it a bit more. I left me alone, but before he left he muttered "We're here".
I nodded my head to show I heard and picked my stuff up. Sage was curled up in a tight ball next to my tummy, and I smiled. Trying hard not to wake her up, I maneuvered myself over her and into a standing position. My hair had completely fallen out of its hairband and I didn't fix it. My head kinda hurt from the weight of it.
My hand slipped under her warm form and lifted her to my side.
I stepped off the van as lightly as possible and walked to the cabin.
Cabin-http://www.christinaslittlecabin.com/Pictures/Cabin_400_home.jpg
Almost every year we do this. Its a tiny little cabin right next to the lake. It doesn't even have a kitchen, forcing us to make a fire outside and cook over it.
We each get a room, and we sleep in it. The shower (to my disappointment) is in a separate room all-together, forcing us to walk in the forest to get there. But the lake was still amazing.
I walked into the small cabin and picked a room, shoving my bag into a small closet in the corner. There was no decoration, just a simple bed, dresser, and night stand
All the rooms were stationed in one hallway. Then a small family room held a couch, fireplace, and ancient TV.
So basically, this was a very outdoorsy trip. I didn't dare take out my phone because mom would scream, thus making dad confiscate it.
So no ipod either. Well, no sulking in a corner thinking my life sucks with said ipod. If I wanted to walk and listen to music that was fine, but I had to be outside. Bugspray is my life.
I set out Sage's bed and allowed her to curl up on it once again. Small puppies need their sleep.
I walked around a little and stretched, then finished helping my 'rents unpack the car. Devon and Logan were no where to be seen, and I had a bad feeling that they were up to something. After I got permission from my mom (I know, how lame?) I slipped into the thick green forest. I remembered everything. All the trees were the same, the dirt unchanged.
I took a barely-there path next to the lake, allowing myself to blend in with my surroundings. It was hunt or be hunted out here. At least, to me it was. And that feeling earlier was a being hunted one. Logan and Devon had something horrible planned for me. So now I give myself a mission.
Mission: Find Boys and sabotage any plans that could make me uncomfortable without them knowing about it. Be secretive.
I looked around and found a large maple, then decided to climb it. My long arms and legs made this considerably easier than it had been a few years ago. I was perched in my tree when I spotted something. That something made my mood brighten considerably.
My old hide out! From the outside it looked like a huge old tree with a chunk missing out of it. That chunk was the entrance, but you could only find it if you looked really hard. I smiled and jumped from the tree I had literally just climbed and jogged over to my fort.
I slipped through with ease, only acquiring a small scratch on the back of my hand from where my hand slammed against the bark in my attempt to get in faster.
The space was smaller than I remember it. It must have been a badger den at one point because I had to crouch to fit. I remembered about the box I had hidden. I had spent almost a week digging in here to make it comfortable a few years ago, and I had dug in the sides to create a little compartment.
A metal box was there, unopened. I scrambled to unlatch it and the lid opened with a groan of protest. Everything was there. My old brass binoculars. They were tiny, but useful.
The leather pouch I had used to collect rocks and such was still unscathed in the corner... and my..... Is that? Could that possibly be? MY MAP!
I was 15 when I made it. I had drawn up the forest surrounding our cottage on a piece of paper. It was highly detailed from my art phase.
It was beautiful. The page was yellowing and cracked at the edges, and I couldn't help but to be reminded of a pirates treasure map.
Map of the Forest-http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YGZ2e2GuefA/TKecj7BOL-I/AAAAAAAAAyU/j9U-Q-GUHVg/DeepForestMap.jpg
(AUTHORS NOTE: The image I'm putting up for the map won't be perfect, but it's about the same. Ignore the words, 'cause I didn't want them there.)
I smiled and traced the canyon line with my index finger, remembering every stroke of the brush it took to make this. I folded it up, put it in the leather bag along with the binoculars and looked at the rest of the box's contents. Only a few small things, like netting and a pocket knife. A dusty old watch that didn't work anymore stayed in the box.
The rest of my fort held cool stuff. Like an old bow and arrow my dad gave Devon for his 16th birthday. Devon had put it aside due to his dislike of anything that took more than 5 minutes to learn, and I had instantly taken it. I taught myself. I'm not gonna lie, my aim wasn't too great, but it was good enough to let me feel like a real adventurer.
Plastic beach buckets were stacked along the walls and tools were hung on roots from the ceiling. There must have been 40 or so buckets. Big buckets, too.
'Wouldn't it be fun to have a prank war?' I asked myself. Imagine it, two against one. That would be so fun! I grinned and decided my strategy. Of course, battling them would be difficult. It was two against one, and they were both bigger and stronger than I was.
But I was fast and knew my way around the forest. They were blundering idiots. I smiled and left my fort, making sure to leave it looking like some old tree with nothing to hide. But it had everything. That was my base. I used my map to go around the forest a bit, to find it perfectly accurate. There wasn't a single rock not marked on this map.
I made my way back to the house and got supplies.
Lots of water bottles, bug spray, paint, locks, flashlights, matches, rope, paper, and pens were among the things I brought. After the bear attack two years ago, dad had been convinced we were all going to die a painful death by bear. So he got a lot of supplies.
I walked through the woods and got out my notepad.
Mission 1: Make fort bigger.
I got to work and used a shovel from the shed to expand my creation. It was really hard work. We had arrived at the lake around 9:00 am, and it was 12:00 pm now. I wiped the line of sweat trickling down my face and continued digging. The dirt I was digging up was going straight into the buckets. Earlier, I had used some of the rope to tie around the branches of two trees near my hide out.
It was the perfect booby-trap. The buckets were strung onto the string and ready to fall if someone walked past. Only I knew the correct rout to escape being dumped dirt on. It was a lot of dirt, too. Dirty dirt.
Finally I finished my first mission, I could stand and walk around in my fort. There was a smaller room a little ways to the left. It was nothing fancy, but it was so damn cool!
Storage room, check! Special locked compartment, check! Ego, larger than ever!
I tested the trap and it turned out perfectly. The person caught in it would be disgusting, if they made it out alive. This was my part of the forest and I intend to keep it safe.
I looked to my notepad.
Mission 2: Find boys hideout and give them note.
I smiled and clutched the 'note' in my hand.
The trees were so closely compacted that I climbed one and was able to leap from branch to branch. The idiots wouldn't dare go very deep into the forest, so I decided to go closer to the cabin.
I almost screamed when I spotted Logan exit the forest a little ways away. Then head into the house, and I kept myself stationed in a tree at the edge of the clearing. Not minutes later Logan left the house, looking around cautiously.
'Somebody doesn't want to be followed' I thought to myself. Thats exactly the reason I followed him.
He walked deeper into the forest than I had expected. Devon was sitting at the base of the tree, carving a stick with his knife.
"Did you find her?" he asked Logan when he sat down next to him.
"No. I wonder if she knows what we have planned for her." Logan said. What they have planned for me? I was right!
"I hope not. That won't be fun." Devon pouted sarcastically. Ass.
They were silent for a few minutes when I decided to act. The bow strung around my chest was removed and I folded my note around an arrow. I notched it in my bow and aimed for he trunk above their heads. Man, this would be difficult. I really hope I don't miss.... Thwang! And the arrow landed in the place I wanted it to. The boys leapt apart, shrieking in a girlish manner.
"What the fuck?" Devon screamed. Logan hesitantly pulled the arrow from the tree and unwrapped the note, reading aloud.
" If you really think you can pull a prank on me then you are highly mistaken. I take this as war. Good luck, you'll need it. -Nikki" he read. "Damn. That was cool."
"Shhhhh..... she's around here somewhere." Devon said, putting a finger to his lips. I smiled at their idiocy and went back to my fort, putting away all my stuff and going to the cabin. I had marked their land on the map as enemy territory.
I had to shower before lunch because of how dirty I had gotten, so I changed into a bathing suit and went to the lake. It was very cold and refreshing, and I audibly sighed in relief when I felt the dirt leave my skin along with the sweat.
Then my peripheral vision caught movement from the corner of my eye and I spun around in the water.