The Brave One *Book 1*

Party Poopers

Lights adorned the McMiller house and I watched them twinkle and fly. “Hi Raini” my best friend Debby walked up to me and sat down looking up at the sky for almost an eternity with me. Debby is kind of a dork. She like only Sci-Fi movies and is dancing the night away (every day) with the only boy in town I know who can get a dork as a girlfriend. Mason Loutfeild. He’s kind of uh nice looking, if you look at him from 3 miles away. Get it? Because he’s really not that cute. He’s kind of chubby, and his hair is so short it kind of looks like his bald head is glistening and then poof you see a wave of hair. And that’s who came to my parent’s get together-kid party. I’m not a kid. I’m 17. And for once, I’d like to have a party with normal kids. But I would never say that to Mason or Debby. You see, I’m having a problem. But you keep reading and you’ll figure it out. Wait, I’ll tell you. Debby is a loser!! The place was packed by the time my parents were just starting their get together. I picked up the tunes and swayed with Debby and my not-so-best-friend-but-friend, Louise. She’s actually as popular as me, and she has the most awesome hair. It’s blue, pink, red and blonde. She’s a total rock star so I decided most of my tracks would be rock. But Debby must’ve put a slow song in-between there because Louise was pulled away by football champion Glenn Gable and Debby started dancing with Mason. “Listen to your soul, and then everybody knows. That you and I can roll. Ohhhh” I felt sick listening but everyone was enjoying it and I wanted to be a party starter not a party pooper. I stumbled blindly and bumped into somebody. “Oof” I rubbed my head and glanced up. “Watch-“but I stopped as I got a closer look. Now that was a hunk. Sure he was kind of short, and had a layer of books slapped to his chest. But he was CUTE, man. I stood up and combed my fingers through my neck-length purple hair. “Uh hi” he stared at me and raised an eyebrow. “Hi…I’m-I’m Raini” I shook his hand and one of his books tumbled to the ground. We both leaned for it and our noses were 2 inches apart. “I’m not usually so clumsy” I searched for something funny and clever to say but all I could think of was key lime pie. “Me either. I just moved in here. Are you-“he began? “Your neighbor? Yeah, that would be me” I shuffled my feet. I think he was going to say something but the slow song ended and I no longer felt like I was in a romance movie. No, he was still HOT! LOL, like Taki’s. But everyone was just partying and pushing around. If me and this new guy were going to talk then we were going to talk as if we were in a movie. I pulled him to the side and made sure Debby and Mason weren’t looking. “Hi” I blushed. “Um hi….again” he laughed. When he laughed I felt like laughing too. He was so adorable. “So, where did you move from?” I asked. “Gless-“he began. “I mean Oregon. Good old Oregon” he blinked and hid his face. “I get embarrassed sometimes around…uh pretty girls” he peeked to see if I was laughing. “No-no. It’s okay. Pretty?” I asked aloud. “Right. You are…really pretty. I mean for 17. I thought you were 29….like Katy Perry….” He frowned. “There I go again” he added. “29?” I hoped he wasn’t 29 because if he was, then this relationship. OVER LIKE PEANUT BUTT-ER! “No. Well…I’m Richard. And I’m 19” he looked upset. “You?” he asked. “I’m 17 actually. And it’s okay to think I’m pretty…” I glanced at my ripped shoes. Did I look raggedy? Had he noticed my toe was fighting through the hole? “Don’t mess up my chance, TOE!” I wanted to say. “Really? I-“then he suddenly looked up from the tree and ran away. Toward a house with all the lights on. Debby turned to look at me. “WHAT?” I said my mouth fighting the urge to say some really bad words to the girl. “Uh, Raini? You promised you wouldn’t get a boyfriend before me and Mason got our first date kiss?” Debby pushed her glasses up unto her nose. “He’s my neighbor, not my boyfriend” and as if on cue “The Boy Next Door” by Hera blasted. “The boy next door. He’s so FRESH. Puts me to the TEST. That boy! That BOY! THAT BO-OY-OY-OY! The one’s that got me ringing and singing my heart out of my CHEST. THE BOY NEXT DOOR!” I stared at everyone dancing and my heart did feel like it was beating out of my chest. And he was the one I wanted to dance with. I mean, where else was I going to find a geek who was well, just like Richard. Louise begged me to join her. Debby gave me a look. She has a ton of looks, just like Ashlynn her little sister. And that one look was Are-You-Really-Gonna-Dance-With-Louise-The-Leafy Beef-Instead-Of-Hanging-With-Me-And-Discussing-This? I mean, it can only happen ever so often, but right now I wanted to let all my worries go. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d get lucky and some other girl would ask Richard out and he’d say no. It’s not like I was ever going to really catch his attention. And so….I had one thing to do left. Dance. “Come on Louise” I got up from the prickly grass and followed 2 steps behind Louise. I turned around. “Your welcome to join us” I put my hands on my hips and squinted at Debby. She sneered at me and went to dance with Mason. The party was dying out. Only Debby was left and she was already walking toward the exit with Mason trying to keep up as best he could. “Raini” a whispered voice echoed over the remains of the platform where I stood. “R-Richard?” I asked. “Raini” he barged through the fence and told me to come to his house. “Come on!” he forced me to jump over the fence and run. “What? What are we running from?” I asked. “More like who” Richard mumbled.