Did he say the first door from the hallway my room is in? Or the second? I think it was the second. I walk up to the second bedroom along the balcony and knock on the door.

"Come in," a voice says. I push open the door and see Ryder pulling a shirt over him.

"Oh! Sorry." He spins around, apparently not expecting it to be me.

"Oh, hey Annie," he says, walking over to me.

"Hey. I'm guessing this isn't Tyler's room." He chuckles and shakes his head.

"His is the first door," he says. I nod and step out of his room. I knew it! Well, actually I didn't, but I thought it was.

"Okay, thanks!"

He nods and leans against his doorframe. I knock on the first door and am greeted by Tyler.

"Hey Annie, what's up?" he asks, allowing me into his room.

"Thought I'd just see what your room looks like." I look around the room and laugh. Typical boy room. Blue walls, posters of football players and music he likes all over the wall. And it's super messy in here. Like, I think that sock is going to attack at any second.

"Sorry it's such a mess," he says with a laugh, looking at my terrified face.

"Mhm, right," I joke and take a seat on his bed. It's not easy to joke right now, but they don't know what's going on, so I'm going to fake it as best as I can. "So, tell me a little bit about you and your family."

"Okay, well what do you want to know?" he asks, taking a seat next to me.

"Who's the oldest?"

"That'd be Nick," he says. "He's in college, but he still lives here when he's on break and stuff."

"And then the next would be Ryder, right?" He nods and picks up a baseball from the ground. He lays back and starts to toss it in the air.

"Yeah. He's quarterback of the football team, total player, but he's managed to keep an on-again-off-again relationship for about a year," he explains.

"Let me guess, head cheerleader?" I guess. He chuckles and shakes his head.

"Our school doesn't do cheerleading. But she's the star of the soccer team."

"Your school doesn't do cheerleading?" What the hell?

"Nope, why?" he asks, glancing at me.

"That's my sport." He frowns and sits up.

"We have a dance team," he says, like that makes it all better. It does in some ways, but dance and cheerleading aren't as similar as people think they are.

"Does this city have an athletics club?"

"Yeah, I mean, probably," he says with a shrug. "We can find one."

"Sweet. Hopefully it has a cheer team."

"Hey, Ty?" a voice says, stepping into the room. I look up to see Ryder standing there, shirtless. Didn't he just pull on a shirt? "Oh, hey Annie."

"What's up?" Tyler asks, walking over to his brother. They whisper something, both of them glancing at me once in a while. Tyler sighs but nods finally. "I have to go, Annie. I'll see you in a bit."

"Oh, okay." I give him a hug, surprising us both, and I walk out of the room.

"So, Annie," Ryder says, walking next to me. "What brings you to California?"

"My, um, p-parent's had busy lives and since we're underage they sent us here." How the hell did I come up with that so easily?

"Oh, that sucks," he says. I nod and head towards the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"I think I'm going to go check out Carter's band."

"How'd you know they were here?" he asks, following me up the steps.

"He asked your mom in front of me last night." He nods and leads me towards the music room. We step inside and I hear an amazing voice flowing through the room. The sound stops and I look up to see a group of boys looking at me. Where did Ryder go?

"Hey, Annie. What's up?" Carter asks, letting his guitar slide to his hip.

"Mind having a small audience?"

"No, not at all. Do you guys have a problem with Annie being in here?" he asks the other guys.

"Dude, she's hot, she can stay as long as she wants," a blonde haired, brown eyed guy says with a wink my way. The others agree, boosting my confidence a little.

"Then you can stay," Carter says, turning to look at me. I nod and take a seat on a leather couch across from where they're set up.

"You never said you had a girlfriend," another boy says.

"She's not my girlfriend," Carter says and winks at me. "She lives here now."

"I say we have practice every day," one of the boys says, making all of the guys laugh. I blush a little bit and focus my attention on the instruments strung throughout the room.

"1...2...1,2,3,4," Carter counts and the boys start to play. His beautiful voice flows throughout the room, and a smile makes its way onto my face.

"You guys are great," I say when they finish a song.

"Thanks, Annie. Do you want to come to our next show?" Carter asks, flipping through lyric sheets.

"Sure! When is it?"

"Saturday," he says, dropping the lyric sheets onto the hardwood floor below him.

"Th-this Saturday?" He looks up at me and nods slowly. "What time?"

"Eight o'clock. Why, got somewhere to be?" he teases. I hold back my tears and nod.

"Yeah, I do," I say with a small smile.

"Oh, will you still be able to come?"

"I'll have to see, but hopefully." He smiles and they start to play again.

——

I step into the living room, spotting Amy sitting on the couch with her iPad. "Hey, Amy?"

"Hello dear, whatcha need?" she asks, looking up from her iPad.

"What time is the flight on Saturday?"

"It's at seven, why?" she asks, setting her iPad on the couch and patting the spot next to her. I take a seat and play with the ends of my hair, something I do when I'm nervous.

"Is there any way we can push it until after Carter's gig?"

"Of course! I actually forgot that was this Saturday. But we will probably have to leave right when it's done," she says. I nod and smile.

"That's fine."

"Alright, I will go change the flight," she says with a smile, and pushes herself off of the couch, and walks out of the room.

"Hey, you're Annie, right?" a deep voice says. I look over to see a guy about six foot, with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Yeah, and I think you're..." I trail off, trying to remember which boy he was.

"I'm Nick," he says with a small laugh.

"Oh, right. You're the one in college." He nods and takes a seat next to me.

"That'd be me. So, how are you guys liking it here so far?" he asks.

"It's going to take a while to get used to. Moving from Indiana to California, from a small two-story house to a giant three-story mansion."

"Yeah, I feel you. Listen, since I'm here for summer break, you can come to me for anything. And even when I'm back in school, I'm a call or text away," he says. I smile and nod.

"Well, thank you, but I don't have a phone to call you with." He looks at me in surprise.

"A teenage girl without a phone? Well, that's a first," he says with a chuckle.

"My family and I never really had a use for them. We always had our schedules all planned out."

"I don't mean to pry, but what exactly happened?" he asks. I feel a lump in my throat, but I force it down.

"If I tell you, you have to promise you won't tell anyone else."

"I promise," he says, noticing my change in attitude. "Do you want to tell me somewhere else? I mean, anyone could be listening."

"Yeah, sure." He grabs my hand and pulls me up off the couch, then leads me out into the back yard. We walk for a few minutes, until we reach a clearing, and we take a seat in the grass.

"And by the way, you really don't have to tell me. But now you know the way to our hide out," he teases. I let out a breathy laugh.

"I will tell you. I just think I need to tell someone, you know?" He nods and waits for me to continue. "On Saturday, me and my family were doing our normal family night. We went to the movies, had dinner, and it was a fun night. And then on the way home..." my voice breaks. This is the first time I've told this story, and it's so fresh in my mind. "A c-car hit us head-on. Right into the front of the car. And we flipped th-three times. Our parents didn't make it."

I cover my face with my hands as I start to sob. Nick immediately wraps me up in a hug and just lets me cry into his chest. I sob uncontrollably for about five minutes before my tears run dry. A blush forms on my cheeks and I pull away.

"I'm sorry for soaking your shirt." He chuckles and we both look at his blue shirt to see part of it is darker than the rest.

"It'll dry," he says, rolling his eyes. "I'm so sorry about your parents. I know saying that probably does nothing to help, but I'm always here if you want to talk about it. Austin too."

"Thanks, Nick." I smile slightly.

"No problem. Do you want to go back inside now?"

"Yeah. Thanks for listening." He nods with a sad smile and helps me to my feet. We walk in silence back to the house.

"Nick! Catch!" I hear a voice say. Nick curses under his breath and pushes me out of the way and grabs a football. We both fall to the ground, him landing on top of me.

"Shit! Sorry. I just didn't want you to get hit with the ball," he says with a laugh. He helps me to my feet and sends a glare to someone in front of us. I look up to see Bradley running towards us.

"Sorry, Annie. Didn't see you there," he says with a frown.

"It's okay. Unless you aren't playing tackle football, then that was Nick's fault." They both chuckle.

"You know football?" Nick asks with a smirk.

"My brother was the quarterback and I was at every game, so yeah."

"You went to every game?" Bradley asks with a surprised expression.

"We were a tight family." I shrug it off.

"And she was a cheerleader," Tyler chimes in, walking over to us.

"Oh, a cheerleader. Nice." Bradley winks, making me laugh.

"Who was a cheerleader?" Ryder asks, walking over to us with Carter and Austin. And they're both shirtless. I look away from Carter quickly, not wanting to get caught staring.

"Annie was," Nick says with a smirk.

"Too bad our school doesn't have a cheer team," Ryder says, shaking his head. "Just picture it guys, Annie walking into the kitchen in her cheer uniform."

"We could always buy her one," Carter teases. I laugh and bump his hip with mine.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Austin mutters, making everyone chuckle.

"So, do you want to play football with us?" Bradley asks.

"Sure. But I hope you don't mind that I'm keeping my shirt on."

"Aw, come on!" Bradley says with a laugh.

——

"You're pretty beast at football," Ryder compliments as we lounge around in the living room.

"I learned from my brother, he was the best." I smile and look at Austin.

"Was?" Tyler asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I quit playing," Austin explains.

"You should join our schools' team," Ryder comments. Austin just shrugs, I don't think he'll ever actually play again.

"So, I think I've met everyone except for Randy. Where's he been?" I ask, looking around.

"He likes to keep to himself. But don't underestimate him, he's the number one pranker in this family. So, watch out," Nick explains with a laugh.

"Yeah, one time, he set a trap so that when I went out of my room, paint poured onto me," Ryder says, shaking his head. "And it was pink paint."

"Aw, I bet you looked pretty," I tease. He glares at me while the other guys chuckle. "So, where would Randy be?"

"Probably in his room or the game room," Bradley says.

"Someone show me the way?" Ryder, Carter and Bradley all jump up from the couch.

"I will!" they say in unison. I stare at them for a second until I bust out laughing.

"I think someone has a few admirers," Nick teases. "I'll show you, Annie."

"Thanks, Nick." We stand up from the couch and I teasingly blow a kiss at the three guys, then walk away laughing to myself. Austin laughs loudly, then hits the guys in their arms for hitting on me. Being here has already helped. I love hearing Austin's laugh.

Nick chuckles and starts to climb the stairs. I follow him up to the third floor and we come to a stop outside of a set of double doors.

"He's probably in here," he says and pushes open the door. I hear machine guns going off and spot a boy sitting on a red bean bag with a black controller in his hands. "And there he is." He chuckles.

"Thanks." I laugh and take a seat next to Randy on a black bean bag. "Hey, I'm Annie."

"Hey Annie, wanna play?" he asks, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Yeah, sure." He hands me a blue controller and glances at me.

"My brothers falling over you yet?" he asks, looking back at the big screen TV in front of us. I don't reply, instead I start to play the game.

"I heard you like to play pranks on people." He smirks and nods.

"You heard right," he says shooting at a zombie.

"Maybe sometime you could help me prank one of the boys."

"That'd be awesome," he says with a big smile. "You're pretty cool. I think I'll hold off on pranking you."

"Oh gee, thanks." I chuckle.

We stay in silence as we continue to play the video game. I don't even know how to play video games, but I don't think he cares. I think he just enjoys the company of someone other than his brothers. Not that I mind though, I like the company too.