"I know you don't honey. But since your father and I are splitting up due to his drinking problem and he insists on keeping the house, it's only mandatory." Her mother explained.
"But we don't even know where we're going to live." Haylee stated, calming down a little.
"I'm sure we will find somewhere. But we need to get out of her soon before your father has another one of his tempers. But we will probably heading down south to Florida." Her mother elaborated, "Now go and pack."
"No mom, not Florida. There's too many bad memories relating there."
"Such as..." her mom asked, waiting for a response.
"Brian! I am going to kill you!" a 10-year-old Haylee screamed jokingly as she ran up the basement stairs.
"Aaahhh, you caught me." Bryan yelled playfully as Haylee tackled him to the ground.
Brian was Haylee's babysitter and best friend for a long time even though there was an eight-year difference between the two of them.
"Let me up." Brian said, "I have to get the phone." "Hello?" Brian asked into the receiver, "Oh hi Mrs. Whitman" He greeted to Haylee's mom, "I'm sorry, I won't be able to baby-sit Haylee tomorrow."
Brian looked at Haylee and realized what he was about to say could hurt Haylee badly emotionally, so he stepped into the next room. But unknowingly to Brian, Haylee followed.
"You see, I am leaving tomorrow to visit with my cousin." Brian said.
Haylee's heart broke that very minute. Even though she was only ten, she knew that she would never see her best friend again.
"Haylee, that's not a good enough reason for us not to move to Florida!"
Haylee's mom stated after Haylee gave her reason for not wanting to go. "I don't care. That's my reason and I'm sticking to it." Haylee demanded.
And with that, Haylee's mom left her room insisting that that were leaving for Florida tomorrow and that whatever she could pack till then, she would be able to bring.
"Haylee! Are you ready to go?" her mom yelled upstairs.
"Yeah." Haylee replied as she sulked down the stairs.
"Is all your stuff in the car?" Her mom asked, noticing her empty hands.
"Yes, everything I could pack."
"Okay then, let's roll." Her mom said locking the door and heading towards the car.
Haylee was always the kind of girl who kept to herself. She liked to do everything by herself, but she wasn't a social outcast. She had plenty of friends and was very active. She was a varsity soccer player freshman through junior year. She would be starting her senior year in a new school where she knew no body.
The car ride took about two days to get from Cleveland to a small town outside of Orlando.
"This place is amazing!" Haylee exclaimed as they pulled into a driveway of a three story Victorian house, "I thought you didn't know where we were going to be staying?"
"So I lied. This place belonged to my mother. We used to come down here all the time in the summer when I was a kid. And she left it to me when she died." Her mom said, opening the trunk, "Now come one, we have to unpack."
Haylee was in the middle of unpacking when the doorbell rang. "Can you get that honey?" Her mom yelled from the kitchen. Haylee dropped what she was doing and ran down the stairs to answer the door.
"Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood!" A lady on the receiving end of the door greeted, "My name is Jane, and this is one of my five children, Leslie."
"My name is Haylee and me and my mom just moved in."
"Hi." Haylee's mom said drying her hands on a dish towel, "My name is Julie and I see you have already met my daughter Haylee."
"I'm Jane and this is my daughter Leslie." Jane said once more, "I just came by to invite you over for dinner to our house tonight. We are having a barbecue and have plenty."
"We'd love to," Julie replied, "What time would you like us over?"
"Seven is okay. We live right next door."
"Great. We'll be there." Julie said, shutting the door as Jane and Leslie walked off the porch.
Haylee ran upstairs to finish packing when she saw that it was 6:30. She hopped in the shower and went into her walk in closet to see what to wear. After about ten minutes of browsing, she finally decided on a pair of baggy cargo khakis and a blue baby tee. She threw her hair up into a messy French braid and ran down stairs just as her mom was coming up to get her.
They walked next door to another beautiful Victorian house, just a little bigger than their's was with a bronze gate in the front. They rang the bell and a girl that looked a little younger than Haylee answered the door.
"Hi, you must be Haylee and Julie. My name is BJ" BJ greeted, "Come on in."
"Hi Julie, hi Haylee!" Jane greeted as they entered their living room.
"I'd like you to meet the rest of my children; You just met BJ, she is my second oldest. She is 16. Leslie, whom you met earlier is 15, and Aaron and Angel are twins and they are 11." Jane introduced.
"I thought you said you had five children?" Haylee attended.
"I do. The other one is just upstairs in the shower." Jane explained.
"Dinner's ready!" Jane's husband called from the backyard.
About five minutes into their meal, their oldest son came running out the door.
"I sure hope there's some food left. I'm starved!" he announced as he ran towards the grill, but slowed himself down once he got a glimpse of Haylee, "Whoa, who dropped the angel from heaven?"
"Nick, these are our new neighbors, Julie, and her daughter Haylee." Jane introduced.
"Enchante [means "pleased to meet you" in French]." Nick greeted as he bent down to kiss Haylee's hand.
"Likewise." Haylee returned.
Once dinner was over, Haylee and Julie headed back over to their house.
"Hey Haylee." Nick called once Haylee got outside the front gate; "Do you want to hang out on the beach for a little bit?"
"Sure. Mom, I'll be back around 11 or so" Haylee agreed as she said good-bye to her mom.
Haylee and Nick walked through Nick's backyard a little bit until they hit the beach. They sat down along the shore and watched the waves crash along the rocks.
"How old are you Haylee?" Nick asked.
"I'll be 18 in August." Haylee replied, "How about you?"
"Cool. I'm 19." Nick answered.
"Can I trust you with a secret?" Haylee asked.
"Yeah, you can tell me anything." Nick sympathized.
"I didn't want to come down here because of past happenings but now that I met you, I think I'll have a great time. I've never met any one like you before." Haylee explained.
"Well, now it's my turn to tell you a secret." Nick started.
"Okay." Haylee said, listening.
"It's true what you said; I'm not like any one you've ever met before. And I'm surprised you didn't recognize who I am." Nick said.
"Well Nick, I do know who you are. You are Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. And you are the only one I have heard of out of all of them. I just chose not to say anything because I didn't want you to thing that I was just some crazed fan. I wanted to get to know the real you." Haylee confessed.
"Ya know, that's the sweetest thing any one has ever said to me." Nick replied. "Do you want to do something with me tomorrow?"
"I'd love to." Haylee said.
"Great." Nick answered.
"Where are we going to go?" Haylee wondered.
"It's a surprise." Nick smirked. "Now come on. Let's go inside."
Chapter Two
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