You're kidding me...

Chapter 1

     An entire year had passed since I moved in with my imbecile of a brother, but the experience hasn't been nearly as bad as I dreaded it to be. I had even managed to get Shawn to fork over some money so I could get the dresses I had promised myself, along with some skirts and tights. Whether it would have been my choice or not, Hayes and I became nearly inseparable. Since our brothers hung out so often, he was over at our house almost every day, resulting in us becoming the best of friends.       Right outside my window was a roof overhang that I had made a habit of crawling onto late at night. It has a clear view of the sky and is long enough for me to lie on, so it's where I spend a lot of my time at night when I'm not hanging with Hayes or doing things for school. There's a ladder propped onto the roof that gives me easy access when I feel the need to sneak away. When I do, I mostly use it to go to Hayes's house. Believe it or not, Shawn can be a pain to live with.        "The way you're sitting, you'll slide off at the slightest nudge." I jumped in my skin and whipped my head around to the window behind me. Nash grinned from his spot on the windowsill.         "How long have you been sitting there?" I breathed out, placing a hand on my chest and slowing my breathing. I uncrossed my legs and stretched them out in front of me on the roof, in case Nash decides to act on his comment.        Nash shrugged, brushing off my question like an annoying bug. "Hayes was looking for you."        "Alright. But why sneak up on me? You know I'm jumpy. And what are you even doing here so late? Finals are tomorrow." I slowly moved back towards the window, but he still stood in my way, even when I tried to push him off the sill.        "Well, young padawan, school doesn't start until 9:30 on final days, remember? It's why I love them in the first place. Plus, it's funny to sneak up on you." He stepped away from the window and headed for the door. "Oh, and I won't tell your brother about the roof and ladder. It can be our little secret." With that, he waltzed out of my room.         "I am not your padawan!" I yelled after him as I climbed back through the window, shut it, and sat on my bed, grumbling. I mentally added 'padawan' to his list of nicknames for me. Seriously, he comes up with the craziest things to call me, and half of them don't even make sense.         My door burst open and Hayes stood there, breathing heavily as if he had just run up twenty flights of stairs. The funniest part about that is my room is on the second floor. "There you are! Where have you been? I've looked everywhere for you!" Hayes pointed at me with a frown. I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Oh, I see. You find this funny? I'll show you what's funny!"            He glided towards me with his hands raised. Oh no, he's going to tickle me to death. I darted to the other side of my bed with hopes that I could avoid him long enough to prepare myself. I failed. Hayes tackled me onto the bed and I squeaked very loudly.         "Hayes...stop...I can't...breathe..." I managed between laughs My body was wiggling but it didn't seem to faze him. He was pinning me down with his hands moving wildly over my stomach.         "I don't think I can do that hun. You see, you brought this upon yourself. all you had to so was answer my questions and none of this would have happened." He comtinued to tickle me until my laughing got so uncontrollable my brother and Nash thought that something was wrong.         They walked through the door and were silent for a moment as they took in the scene. Hayes was sitting across my legs with his hands on my stomach and I was lying on the bed underneath him. "What is going on here?" Nash asked with utmost interest.       "That's what I would like to know." My brother stated crossing his arms. I quickly pushed Hayes off of me and sat up as if I wasn't caught in an awkward situation.       "Well, I was looking for Melanie and when I found her she started laughing at me. I chased her around the bed and started tickling her, and now here we are explaining everything to you guys." Hayes said very nonchalantly.       "Okay, well, Hayes and I are spending the night over here since we don't have to be at school as early. I'm sleeping in the guest room so Hayes you get the couch." Nash told us. Shawn nodded in confirmation. They both left and the only sound I could hear was whatever game they were playing downstairs.       "Come here, I wanna show you something." I grabbed his arm and dragged him to my window. "This is where I was when you were looking for me. I come out here every night to look at the stars. It's so peaceful." I said stepping out of the window. He followed me out and looked at the view. There weren't any trees next to my window so it was clear and easy to see the stars.       "It's really beautiful out here." Hayes uttered as he stared at the stars and moon. We stayed up for hours talking and laughing.        I guess we ended up falling asleep because when I woke up, Hayes and I were both lying on the floor. Hayes was snoring and sounded like a mini lawn mower. I let a little giggle escape my mouth as I got up and crawled under the covers of my bed. The clock on my bedside table read 5:07. It's so early!! It took me 20 minutes to slipped back into a peaceful sleep.       "Melanie!!!!" Nash screamed through the door. "Have you seen my brother? I went to wake him up and he wasn't on the couch."       "Go away!! Hayes is sleeping on the floor and I want to go back to sleep." I shouted back. He kept pounding on the door, probably just to annoy me. I looked at my phone to check the time, 8:35. Why does he what to wake us up so early if school doesn't start for another hour? I slipped out of my bed and walked to the door.       "Can you please tell me why you want to wake us up when school doesn't start for another hour?" I said with a bit of an attitude. The door was open wide enough for Nash to see Hayes sleeping on the floor at the end of my bed.        "Well, I was thinking we all needed showers so waking everyone up gives us all time. Duh." Nash stated with a look of relief when he saw Hayes. "Anyways, now that you are up, I'm going to take a shower. Do me a favor and wake my brother up, will ya?" He walked down the hall and into the bathroom. That boy is really annoying.       I skipped to my dresser and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a plain maroon colored t-shirt. No need to dress fancy for finals. "Hayes! Get up!" I shouted and kicked his leg. He muttered something and rolled the other way. I ran to my bed and grabbed one of the pillows. Slowly making my way back to him, I raised the pillow above my head. I quickly brought it down and hit him, repeating the action until he was sat up. He gave me a murderous glare. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under right now.       "Morning sleepyhead. I want to eat food, and I don't trust you in my room alone." I said smiling and grabbing his arm. The last time I left him alone in my room, I found him in the closet messing with my stuffed animal collection. At the mention of food, Hayes jumped off the floor and dragged me down the stairs with him.       "Shawn? There is nothing to eat here! I'm talking Melanie across the street to get food." Hayes yelled. We both walked out of my house and across the street to his. "Welcome to my humble abode." He said making and elaborate gesture with his hands. I rushed into the kitchen hoping to find a box of brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts. After looking through multiple cabinets, I found the box. The only problem was that it was on the top shelf. Being 5'3 and trying to reach anything on the top shelf is really hard. As I tried desperately to climb onto the counter to get them, I heard chuckles coming from behind me.       "Hayes! Stop laughing at me. I'm hungry but I can't reach the stupid box of pop-tarts." I pouted. He walked up to the counter and simply grabbed the box as if it was sitting on the counter. "That's not fair. Why do you have to be so tall?" I whined as he handed me a package from the box.       "So, I was thinking. We should have a party to celebrate exams being over. I mean, we only have 3 days of finals and then we are out for summer. I think it will be a great idea." Hayes Stuffs like half of a pop-tart in his mouth. I thought about the idea for a few minutes before nodding my head in approval. a party would be such a bad idea. I haven't really been to one myself, but I'm sure it won't be that bad.       "Okay, but we should probably get ready for school now. Don't wanna be late for our finals." I made my way to the door with Hayes in tow. ***********************       "Finally we get to go home!" Kasey exclaimed as we walked out of our last final of the day. Kasey's light brown hair bounced behind her as she made a run for the door. Man, she really did not like school. I jogged after her into the courtyard.       "Okay listen up." Hayes shouted while standing on top of one of the stone benches. "This Friday, we are having a party at my house to celebrate the end of finals. Everyone is invited, and Make sure you bring something to swim in." He jumped down and the crowd erupted into excited whispers.       I pulled out my phone to put this on my calendar so I could plan around it. I found Friday and realized exactly what day that was. Friday was my birthday. I hadn't even realized that it was so close. A smile crept onto my lips as I stared at my phone.       "What are you smiling about?" Kasey spoke settling in beside me. She honestly scared the crap out of me.       "The party is on my birthday. I was so distracted with everything going on that I didn't eve realize my birthday was so close." I said my smile getting bigger. Last year, Shawn took me to the mall and we spent the whole day together. It was nice because neither one of us checked our phones. We just hung out and talked. I hadn't been able to do that with him since he moved out.       "Really? Why didn't you tell me this before? We need to plan something or go shopping! We could get you something to wear to the party!" Kasey gushed. She had this goofy look on her face.       "I guess we could go shopping. Meet at my place about 5? I can get my brother to give me some money so we can buy me stuff. We are also going to get food because well, duh." I started walking away to find Hayes. Kasey waved before going to find her boyfriend.       "Hayes!" I shouted, not really feeling like looking for him in this crowd of people. He showed up a few seconds later with a grin on his face. "I'm ready to go home, so we are leaving now." I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the sidewalk. I was not planning on being stuch at school for another hour.       "Demanding much? So, what are we doing today?" Hayes said as we began walking home. Occasionally running his hand through his hair.       "About that. I am going to the mall with Kasey today." I said fiddling with my fingers. I loved hanging out with Hayes, But Kasey wasn't really his biggest fan.        "Cool, I'll come too. I guess we could have fun at the mall." He said. I guess he wasn't really getting my point.        "Actually, it's kind of a girl thing." I muttered trying to get the point across. Plus, I kinda wanted my outfit to be a surprise.        "Oh, well, have fun." He said. We were ingulfed in a weird silence. It wasn;t awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either. It was just silence. I was glad when we reach or houses though. When I stepped inside my house, I immediately went to find my brother. I was ready to go shopping, and once I told him why I was going shopping, he would give me money. I yelled for my brother and got no response. Maybe he wasn't home. The sound of shooting guns and shouting as I walked passed the basement door gave me a different impression. I dropped my bag onto the floor and and made my way to the basement.        "Shawn!" I shouted as I opened the door. All of the guys except for Hayes were here. My voice made Cameron, Jack G, and Taylor all turn to look at me.        "Hey Mel, Whatcha up to?" Cameron asked trying to make conversation.        "Well, I'm trying to get my brother because I need money to go shopping." I said motioning to the dumbo who had a headset on. As I said that, Cameron reached over and hit my brother in the back of the head. Well, that got his attention.        "Hey! What was... Oh, Hey Melanie." My brother said.        "Hey loser. I need money to go shopping for something to wear on my birthday. Me and Kasey are going. Oh, and we will be getting food." I announced sitting on the arm of the couch.        "Okay." He pulled out about $500 and gave it to me. "Use it wisely. And don't get anything like Tiffany wears. It will make you make you like like a slut." He cautioned before going back to his game. Wow, Even he thinks Tiffany looks like a slut.        I smiled before leaving the room. I had about half an hour to kill before Kasey go here so I decided to spend it shooting people on Black ops II. I am actually really good at it. I haven't told my brother that I have it though because then he will want to play with me. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with him. It's just he's a lot better at it than I am and I don't want lose.       "Hey, you ready to go?" Kasey asked from my door. Had it really been 30 minutes already?       "Uh, Yeah. Just give me a second, I'm in the middle of a game." I muttered. My eyes never left the screen. The bed dipped next signaling that Kasey had sat down.        "Oh my gosh! You play this too? I thought I was the only girl who played it. All the other girls at are school are only into makeup and doing each other's nails." She gasped. This is why she is my best friend.       As soon as the match was over, Kasey and I got up to leave the house. "We are leaving!" I shouted as we walked out the door. The drive to the mall consisted of both of us singing songs off key at the top of out lungs.        When we arrived, we both ran out of the car and to the door. The first place we went was J.C Penny. I really needed a new swimsuit and they had the cutest ones. We both run upstairs and start looking though the different bikinis. We sorted through red, green, white and yellow until we found the perfect light blue one. when I tried it on, I insantly fell in love with it. The top showed off my stomach and the bottom showed off my tanned legs. I called Kasey over to my stall and opened the door. She let out such a girly screech.        "You have to get that one! You look great and You definitely need to find a date for the party. Ooh, I could get you one. Yeah let me take care of that." She mumbled something else and walked away. I quickly changed out of the swimsuit and went to the desk to pay for it.        "Off to Dillards we go." I said skipping away from my best friend. There was this dress there that I was just dying to try on. As soon as we entered, I saw a large group of girls from our school. I latched onto Kasey's arm and dragged her though a detour to the dresses.       "I found this dress a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with it." I looked through a few racks while holding my dress. I was determined to make Kasey wear a dress. My eyes landed on a wine red off the shoulder dress. I instantly pulled it off the rack and carried it over to where Kasey was waiting "Go try this on. I am not taking no for an answer." I thrusted the dress into her face and ushered her into a stall.        As soon as she was in, I walked into a stall of my own. I slipped the top of the 2 piece dress over my head and stepped into the bottom. The top was white and strapless. It was decorated with silver gems and looked amazing. The bottom was a galaxy type skirt that went mid-thigh and was more purple and black than anything else. The two different parts contrasted each other perfectly. I stepped out only to find Kasey looking in the full length mirror. She seemed to be admiring the dress I had chosen for her. The dress hung down to her knees in the back and mid-thigh in the front.       "You look amazing, and you have to wear that to the party this friday." I said walking up behind her. She nodded and we walked back to our cubicle to get changed. I made a quick stop by the shoe department to get myself a pair of white strappy sandals before heading to checkout.       We stopped at the food court and got pizzas before we headed home for the night. When we reached my house, I walked in to find all of the boys were now sitting in the living room watching a movie. I ran upstairs to put my stuff up. When I finished that, I joined the boys. it turns out they were watching a scary movie. I got stuck on the couch between Nash and Hayes. At least if I got scared I could hide my face behind one of them.