By

Mir-Kitty

I guess this whole situation came about because I was stupid and decided to get in the car with my drunken friend Bjorn. We had just left a wild party in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was drunk. I was drunker. WE were driving through the Southern end of Amherst when Bjorn had to swerve to avoid hitting a cat and instead hit two gas pumps in front of a general store. WE were at such a speed that the tanks didn’t explode until after we had passed. Fortunately the flames didn’t reach the owner’s house which was near by, but they completely torched the store. The force of hitting a tree knocked me out and when I woke up a cop was walking towards the car. I groaned and slowly stepped out of the car.

“Sir, may I see some identification please?”

“Sure.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet. I flipped through my cards and handed him my drivers’ license.

“I wasn’t driving the car or anything, Bjorn was.”

“We already knew that son, but you’re still in some trouble. Your friend is in a hell of a lot more though. Underage drinking, driving with a suspended license, driving while under the influence of alcohol, possession of illegal drugs, destruction of private property, driving an unregistered vehicle…the list just keeps going on.” Most of that was a HUGE surprise to me.

The trial was 2 days after the accident. Bjorn got 5 years in prison without the chance for parole. I was sentenced to help re-build the store. The family who owned the store offered to have me stay in their spare room since the rest of my family had to go back to Tulsa. We were obviously going to have to cancel the rest of the tour. My brothers and me were pretty pissed, which was understandable. But enough of that because this is where my story begins.

As my limo pulled into the driveway, anxiety started to grow in the pit of my stomach. How in god’s name was I supposed to fit in with these people? I was used to room service and bodyguards, and most importantly, my brothers around me at ALL time. The only upside that I could think of was that I was most likely be getting more than 3 hours of sleep each night. My mom had packed my laptop and cell phone so I would be in constant contact with my family. I also brought my acoustic guitar and I was told that these people had a piano, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that.

I stepped out of the car and told the driver to bring my bags. I grabbed my backpack and my guitar case, walked up to the door, and rang the doorbell. A woman with long dark brown hair answered the door.

“Ah, you must be Taylor. Come in, I’ll show you to your room.” She picked up two of my bags as I waved the driver away. I got the third bag. “You’re going to have the room next to Noah’s.” She led me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway to the guestroom.

The room was well suited for me. It was almost entirely white, and I never have liked dark places. She motioned towards the dresser. “You can put your clothes in there.” She turned to leave.

“Excuse me,” She stopped and turned back towards me.

“Yes dear?”

“You never told me your name.”

“Viola, dear.” I instantly liked her. She reminded me of my mom. “Alright, now Taylor, lunch is in about half an hour, so you stay here and get situated and I’ll call you when it’s time to eat. The bathroom is the door diagonally across from here. I know you had a long ride.” I blushed.

“Thanks.” She walked out the door and I heard her footsteps going down the stairs. I glanced around the room again. There was a bookcase in the corner and it was filled with books. I’d have to check those out later. I begrudgingly began to put my clothes away and when I was done I changed into my Nimrod T-shirt. Now that I was away from the public eye for a while I could wear that kind of stuff and not hurt my image. Then I sat down at the small desk and tried to set up my laptop. I managed to do it fairly mishap free, but somehow I accidentally plugged the speaker cord into the printer port. As I was about sign online, Viola called me down for lunch.

At the table was a girl of about 9 eating a roast beef sandwich. She glanced up.

“Hi.” She said cheerfully. “I’m Olivia and Mom says you’re Taylor.”

“Uh-huh.” I said, studying her face. She had long straight black hair, freckles, and stunningly blue eyes. I had a feeling we were going to get along well. Viola called in from the kitchen.

“Taylor, there’s soda and fruit salad on the buffet, and stuff on the table for sandwiches.” I grabbed a bowl, spooned some fruit into it, poured some Sprite into a glass, and sat down across from Olivia. A screen door slammed and a blond girl and a guy who looked eerily like Olivia, minus the long hair came in. He had the same blue eyes and porcelain skin. The girl had tanned skill, long dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes. I took a bite of a strawberry and waved. The blonde beamed. Viola walked in and said in a motherly tone, “Dear, you’re too thin, make yourself a ham sandwich or something.”

“I’m a vegetarian.” She flushed a deep red.

“Oh…I’m terribly sorry, I’ll go out later and get some food for you.”

“That’s okay, I’ll go get some veggie burgers or something later.”

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