One of the Boys

Chapter 1: Lucie and the McCallister Boys

Kei:

Lucie Hayden had always been one of us. 

There were five of us in total: Devin, Soren, Landon, Lucie, and myself who lived on McCallister Avenue.  McCallister Ave was located in the small town of Langston, Pennsylvania where everyone knew each other - attended the same school from preschool to 12th grade, graduated together, and usually continued to live there even after college. There wasn't much change in Langston, other than the seasons, but after awhile even the changes of the weather were the same. However, it was in this small town where the five of us grew up together, played together, fought together, and spent our years together. It was in this town, on McCallister Avenue, where we were dubbed as the "McCallister Boys."

The origin of this very, admittedly so, 90s boy-band-sounding nickname is unknown. We have several theories, although the prevailing theory is that Peter the Recycler, the middle aged bachelor who lived on the corner of McCallister and Hayward Street, first called us by this name after we had knocked over his recycling bins one too many times. He didn't live in our neighborhood and had no idea who we were, but because he was always monitoring his neatly trimmed lawn, prized magnolias, and perfectly kept recycling bins, he knew we lived on McCallister Avenue.  How the name spread, that's unknown too, perhaps Peter the Recycler complained about us or screamed our name loud enough for his neighbors to here. Either way it stuck and the name stayed with us. We were the McCallister Boys through thick and thin, inseparable, unchanging. 

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The first time we became friends with Lucie was before we were known as the McCallister boys. I was in 2nd grade at the time and Landon was in 3rd. Landon's parents and my parents had been friends since high school so Landon and I grew up practically as brothers. That day happened to be one of the hottest day in August and I remember how Landon and I were lying in my front year too sweaty to move.

"Kei," Landon poked my side. "Go inside and grab us some popsicles." The nickname Kei was short for Keith, one that was given to me by Landon himself. 

"You do it," I grumbled. Sweat beads rolled along the side of my head as I turned my head to look at Landon. Landon's head was practically shaven since he always got a buzz cut for baseball. 

"It's your house," he argued, knowing full well that my house was pretty much his house."Besides I'm older."

"Stop using that-" Before I could finish my sentence, I was interrupted by the sound of a large moving truck parking in front of my neighbor's yard. Curious, Landon sat up and craned his head over my mother's flower garden. 

"People are already moving in?" Landon asked. That house had been previously owned by an elderly widow who finally decided to move in with her daughter; In only two months the house was purchased by a "nice family," according to my mom. "Do you think it'll be another boy?" he wondered aloud. I merely shrugged, uninterested. 

"Now that you're up why don't you grab us popsicles?" I tugged at Landon's t-shirt.

"Shh," he shooed me off. "Look! There's someone on the steps!" This time he got my attention and I sat up alongside him, crouching behind the flowers. A blond boy who looked to be our age sat on the front porch steps with a grape popsicle in his hand. "We should go say hi," Landon said eagerly, "maybe he'll play Pickle with us." Pickle was a three person game where one person tried to reach one of the two bases before he got tagged with a ball that was thrown by the other two people. It was one of Landon's favorite games, but could only be played if another one of our friends joined us. Our friends didn't live on McCallister Avenue so we couldn't play this game often.

"Why should we?" I asked nervously. I was shy around strangers and didn't like to talk to people I didn't really know. Landon, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He constantly found his way in conversations with adults, kids, even teachers.