*EDITED*
Avery's POV:
I hate moving.
The quaint little town of Who-gives-a-shit is coming into the horizon. Large two-story houses all look the same, and an abundance of over-dramatic stereotypes, who wouldn't love it?
Answer: Me.
We lived in LA, with all the beautiful lights, eccentric people, and glorious sun, surf, and sand. I left it all: gorgeous friends, my perfect life, and my sex-God boyfriend just so my mom can have a fresh start with me and my brother in tow.
Northern California has none of that; well, it's so far north that I am basically living in Oregon, and it's so dull that I don't really care to know.
We pull into a two-story house that looks identical to every other on the block except for the small off-set in color.
"This is gonna suck ass," I grumble, grabbing a box from the back of the moving van. A few of the 'spunky new neighbors' have come out to greet my mother with warm smiles and friendly hugs.
One of the women's sons walks out of the house adjacent to mine. A cocky smile plastered on his face as his eyes scan my body; I roll my eyes and flip him off. "Yeah... totally gonna suck ass." I sigh.
"Avery Scarlett Summers, watch your language!" My mom yells at me, flailing her arms like a bird, amusing.
"Jake is twelve; I think he knows what an ass is," I say, hoping my attempt to piss her off is successful. She huffs loudly and stomps around.
I'm holding back some serious laughter right now.
"Go to your room!" She yells quietly, trying not to let the neighbors hear.
"Love to." I scoff and grab a few more of my boxes before climbing upstairs away from the crowd forming. I pull my sunglasses up on my head.
I hate to admit it, but the house is pretty impressive: high vaulted ceilings and super spacious. As I turn to go down the upstairs hallway, I realize mine is the only bedroom up here. Finally, some privacy. Outside the enormous floor-to-ceiling window is a balcony overlooking a pool. Damn, this place is cool—a nice house in a shitty city.
I lie down on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the whole room so far, and pull out my speakers from the box. I plug in my phone and blast The 1975s.
---
"Thanks, Mrs. Cordelia!" I sweetly call after her as she rounds the corner. I grunt, rolling my eyes as I bring in another fucking casserole and set it down on the dining room table.
Mom and Jake have gone to go buy some furniture for the backyard; they want to have a pool party with the neighbors after everything is settled in.
I go back out to the front porch and await more food we probably won't eat. I put my headphones in, cranking them up to full blast, and sit back against the house. It's pretty sunny today, and it's nice and warm, so I close my eyes and relax.
"Hello." Says a muffled voice I faintly hear over my music. I flick my eyes open, almost sleeping, oops. I pull out an earbud and raise my eyelids, looking to see who it was.
"Hey." A cocky grin grows on the face of the boy next door. He's holding a bowl of salad that he sets down on the porch before sitting too, "I'm Mason Reed, and you are?"
"Not interested." A snarky smile crawls across my face.
He looks dumbfounded. He recovers quickly, "Well, a pretty face like that needs a name. Every guy in town is already talking about the hot brunette in town." He winks at me, running his hand through his blonde hair, and I laugh at his attempts to be slick. Such amateurs.
"Avery, I say, opening the salad. I take the plastic fork and begin to eat. "Now, if you please." I stuff the food in my mouth and shoo him away. It's a pretty good salad.
I eat like half the bowl in a matter of five minutes, and the annoying boy returns.
"Ugh... What do you want?" I say taking not looking up and taking another bite.
"My mom told me to drop off these brownies, but I guess someone's a bit cranky." It wasn't the same voice.
I look up to see a tall guy with a tray of brownies. "Do those have pot in them?" I ask, still trying to chew the bite I had in my mouth while pointing at the tray.
His eyes grow wide, and he chuckles. "No, those are at home. My mom made these." He motions across the street to where I assume he lives.
"Can you bring those over here too?" I say with a smirk, hoping he's not entirely oblivious to the joke.
Motioning for him to bring the tray of brownies, I take one as he sits next to me.
"Hungry there?" He teases as he takes off his sunglasses to reveal deep blue eyes, and I mean deep like Tumblr quotes deep.
"Yeah, actually, cause unlike this town's never-ending stream of stereotypes, girls do eat a fucking lot." I eat more salad vigorously to prove my point.
"Someone's sassy." He rolls his eyes and says in an offended tone. "You at least know my name, right?" He says cockily.
What's with these guys? I don't give a shit who you are! "No, why would I." I scoff and pick up my phone, walking inside to get a glass of lemonade. I hope he's gone when I get back.
"Come on, babe! You've been here for a day, and you still don't know me?" He stands up and follows me into my house, and just called me babe. I hate this town so much.
"What's your name then, hotshot?" I say dryly, more of a demand than a question.
"Brett Dallas." He leans up against the island in the kitchen as I take a sip of the refreshing lemonade.
"Ohhh, you're Brett Dallas!" I gasp in shock, setting my drink down and walking back outside.
"So you do know who I am." He states victoriously, following me like a lost puppy. No, that's too cute, more like a pedophile following you home.
"No, why the fuck would I?" I laugh out breathily.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm kinda king around here, so better shape up, princess." His lips draw into a straight line.
"If you're a king and I'm a princess... are you trying to say you're my dad?" I gag in his direction, fake puking. "Ew."
"You're so twisted," he says seriously, but his lips curve into the tiniest hint of a smile. "Tell me your name, so I don't have to keep calling you babe or princess. Unless you like that, babe." He smirks while tightening his defined jaw.
"Is the welcome community just full of teenage boys trying to flirt with me?"
He thinks for a second. "Basically." Nodding in confirmation.
"Hmm," I nod a little, "okay, then." I chuckle and pull my hair up into a messy bun. "Question, why is every boy in town obsessed with me?"
"Kay princess, lemme break this down, smokin' hot babe moves into town, and every guy is swarming to take dibs on the fresh meat. It's a competition and just a shit ton of fun to pass the time away." his face is blank like this is some foreign concept I've never heard of.
"This town is full of such annoying flirts." I recline against the house.
"So since I'm such a flirt, can I have your number," I give him a look, "your name at least..."
"Avery Summers," I tie off the bun I've had to redo like five times and shake my head to loosen it a bit, "my friends call my Ave or Summers, so you can call me Avery." I give him a cold smile.
"Ok, Avery, where you from?" He pulls out his phone and goes on Tumblr, scrolling through.
"City of Angles." I sigh profoundly wishing I were there instead of here.
"Oh, big city girl, I see. That makes things more fun... How old are you?"
"Is this an interview? I don't remember applying." He rolls his eyes.
"Answer the damn question, Avery." Fucking snappy, gosh.
"17, how about you?" I don't look at him, just at the dull sky.
"Same, so are you going to Higgins or Westfield?" He asks, messing with the hem of his shirt now.
"Um... Westfield I think." I say calmly, picking up my phone seeing a text from mom.
To: Avery
From: Mom
Be home in 40, we had to go to the next town over to buy the chairs (:
"Well, I'm gonna be a gentleman here and offer you the luxury of being my friend because you're hot as fuck." He pulls his sunglasses back on and looks to me, awaiting an answer.
"Well, if you word it like that... no." I pick the fork up again, remember I'm hungry, and I have salad, placing a bite in my mouth and putting the fork down.
He picks it up and takes a bite of my salad with my fork. Haha, no.
"Get off my porch. You can't just eat a woman's salad."
I don't see it at all as funny, but he starts busting up in laughter. "Wow, you're so protective of your food," He stands up and take a few steps down the entryway and turns around, "I'll pick you up at 8 tomorrow for school, beautiful."
"You wish," I cockily say, practically singing it.
"Considering you have no idea how to get to Westfield, I think you'll need me!" He calls as he walks away, most likely smirking.
"Fuck you!" I yell, picking up my almost empty bowl of salad and phone.
"Any time!" He waves, smiling, and I laugh for the first time since I've been in this dump. It might not suck that badly.