The Girls Next Door

Chapter One

(Alyssia's POV)

I was currently at the very last place on Earth I wanted to be, doing the very last thing on Earth I wanted to do. I've been through some unpleasant situations in my short 16 years of life, but standing on a stranger's doorstep with a plate of cookies in my hands as my sister rang the doorbell—I'd never wanted to crawl into a dark hole and disappear more than I did right then.
After a few minutes the door finally opened, revealing a slightly disgruntled-looking boy about my age. He looked down at us, and, after an awkward second, raised his eyebrows, giving us an expectant look.
"Can I help you?" He asked, giving us a quick once-over, his hazel eyes lingering on the plate of cookies before traveling back to my face.
"Um..." I hesitated, took a deep breath, and flashed him a smile, giving him my well-rehearsed speech I had gone over about a million times in the past ten minutes.
"Hi, I'm Aly, and this is my little sister Aislynn, we're your new neighbors," I told him, gesturing to our new house, right next door to his. "My Mom has this sort of tradition of bringing our new next-door neighbors cookies as a way of introducing ourselves."
I gave him another smile, and after another awkward second, he returned it. Then a look of confusion crossed his face.
"Oh, thanks. But aren't the existing neighbors supposed to bring the new neighbors cookies?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow. I shrugged, biting my lip as my sister scoffed.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I tell her the same thing every single time, and yet, here we are." She waved her hands at all of us standing in the doorway.
The boy smiled again, running a hand through his brown hair.
"Well, it's nice to meet you guys. I'm Drew." He said, offering his hand for us to shake. My sister shook his hand firmly and I followed suit, surprised at the weird feeling that all of a sudden erupted in the pit of my stomach. I ignored it, handing him the plate of cookies with another smile.
Drew opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by an accented voice shouting from somewhere in the house behind him.
"Drew! Who the heck is it and why the heck are they taking so long?!"
The voice grew louder and louder until another boy appeared beside Drew. I thought Drew was tall, but this other boy towered over him by at least another three inches. He didn't look anything like Drew, though, so I assumed they weren't brothers.
Drew rolled his eyes at the boy, who quickly looked us over. He looked at me, then at Drew, back to me, and finally back to his friend before his face broke into a smile.
"Well hello there," the boy said, pushing past Drew and offering his hand. "Allow me to introduce myself...I'm Regan. Nice to meet you. And who are you lovely ladies?" He asked, nodding his head towards his friend, who just rolled his eyes again. Now that Regan was closer, I could place the accent. It sounded English, mixed with a bit of American. Probably from living in the States for a while.
My sister scoffed at his comment, opening her mouth, probably to protest the fact that she is not by any means a lady. I shot her a pointed look, however, and she closed her mouth, rolling her eyes. I turned back to the boy, giving him a smile.
"I'm Aly, nice to meet you." I told him, shaking his hand politely.
Regan nodded and grinned at me, then turned to Aislynn. "And what's your name?" He asked her.
"Trouble," I muttered under my breath, then mentally cursed myself. I felt both Drew's and Regan's eyes on me. I shouldn't have said that out loud. But neither of them seemed fazed, and neither did my sister. She only rolled her eyes again and turned back to Regan, sticking out her hand.
"Aislynn. And for the record, I am most definitely not a lady."
Regan smirked, shaking her hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Trouble." He said, then brought her hand to his mouth, kissing it and then dramatically bowing. I smiled in amusement, and Aislynn yanked her hand back, scrunching up her face.
"Definitely never call me that again, and please, don't do...whatever that just was."
Regan laughed, then stepped back beside Drew.
"So, what brings you two here?" He asked, eyeing the plate of cookies Drew held. Drew rolled his eyes.
"They're the new neighbors," He answered for us. "They just came to introduce themselves."
"And I see they came bearing gifts," Regan said, snatching the cookies from Drew. Drew gave him another epic eye roll and turned back to us.
"Please excuse his rudeness, he's not exactly the epitome of a gentleman, obviously."
Regan scoffed, placing his hand over his heart like he'd been wounded.
"Ouch, mate. That hurts."
"Whatever."
I smiled. Beside me, my sister raised an eyebrow.
"Alright well, we'd better get back. Mom is hellbent on getting everything unpacked by the end of the week." Aislynn said, breaking the semi-awkward silence. I nodded, my eyes meeting Drew's again. He opened his mouth to answer but once again got cut off by Regan.
"Oh good luck with that. Unpacking is fun. Whenever you get done with that, I'm sure Drew would love to show you around town." He said, directing his last words at me. I could feel my face heat up, especially when my sister grinned wickedly.
"You know, Aly would be very grateful. While I see getting lost in a new town as more of an adventure, that would be enough for her to start ripping her hair out."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with wanting to know where you are." I attempted to defend myself. Aislynn brushed it off.
"A guide would be helpful. And you know where to find her." Aislynn threw a a pointed look at Drew before clapping her hands together. "Anyway, we really should go now. Toodles!"
Aislynn grabbed my arm and started dragging me away. I barely got the chance to give Drew a small wave before I was yanked off the porch and back onto the sidewalk.
Once we reached the porch of our own house, I reeled on Aislynn.
"Aislynn! What was that about?!" I whisper-yelled. She only raised an eyebrow at me.
"Oh please, Aly, calm down."
"Calm down? You just embarrassed me!"
Aislynn rolled her eyes, opening the front door and slipping inside. I followed her, still fuming.
"Embarrassed you? You did enough of that yourself, making googly eyes at our new neighbor."
"I was not making googly eyes!"
She whipped around to give me a skeptical look.
"Suuuuure you weren't."
I threw my hands up in frustration, and shoved past her, running up the stairs towards my new room. I could hear Mom calling to us from the kitchen, asking how it went. Aislynn could fill her in, I needed a minute to regroup my thoughts.
Once inside my room I shut the door and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The fluttery feeling in my stomach was still there, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. Aislynn was definitely wrong. I wasn't making googly eyes at him.
I rolled over on my side, staring out of my new bedroom window and realizing that my view consisted almost completely of Drew's house. I groaned, shutting my eyes. No, this couldn't happen. We probably weren't even going to be here that long anyway. We never were. There was no point in getting attached, as Aislynn would say.
I sat up, taking a deep breath. On the other hand, what was so wrong with making a couple of friends? It probably wouldn't ever go any farther than that, so what could be the harm in getting to know Drew, at least a little bit?
I could practically hear my sister's voice in my head as I joined her and my Mom downstairs. They were the same words she told me the last time we moved somewhere, with the same promise of staying in that one place for at least a year.
Just be careful, Aly. Don't get too attached, you'll just end up getting hurt in the end.
I shook my head, clearing my mind from her advice. She'd always been way too negative for her own good. Maybe Aislynn was right, maybe I would end up hurt. But it was just a simple friendship, right? What could go wrong?

A/N: Well there you have it...the first chapter! I'm not sure if it's good or not, it's unedited, I wrote it all pretty much last night. But I had a lot of fun writing it, so, if you got to the end of this chapter, I hope you had fun reading it! Let me know what you thought of it...vote , comment, whatever your heart desires. All feedback is welcome, even and especially constructive criticism! Thank you so much for reading, and hopefully I'll be able to update soon!
Love, Hannah ♥️