Living with the Bad Boy

Chapter 1: The Move

"Honey, did you get all the boxes into the truck?" My mother calls from down in the kitchen. Today is the day. My mom and I are moving in with her rich boyfriend, Joe, and I couldn't be more upset. When my father found out that Mom was cheating on him, he took off in the middle of the night and never looked back. For a while it was just my mom and I, and that was okay. We're pretty close. But now they've decided to move in together, and that means me too. Maybe I should have just gone to live with my dad. I'm seventy percent sure my mother is after Joe's money and I think he lives in a mansion.

"Yeah, this is the last one." I shout. I close the last cardboard box, tape it shut and carry it downstairs, saying a last goodbye to my bedroom. I've lived in this room since the day I was born. And now I'll never see it again. All week long I had been saying my goodbyes. My friends, the park, everything I had grown up with that I now had to give up all at once. Maybe this new town will be good for us. Or maybe not.

Once I put my last box into the moving truck they pull the back hatch closed and I sigh. I guess this is it. Goodbye Smallwood. It was nice knowing you.

I slide into the passenger seat of my mother's Subaru, hesitantly clicking my seatbelt into place. I swallow the lump in my throat and avoid making eye contact with my mother as she climbs in and puts the key in the ignition.

"Are you excited, sweetie?" She asks with a warm smile on her face. My mom is always so optimistic. I wish I was that lucky.

"I don't know, mom." I sigh. "I mean, I've never even met Joe, and now I'm just supposed to live in his house?"

She frowns. "I know, baby." She sounds guilty but I know she isn't really. "But Joe has everything you'd ever want. I'm sure this will great for our two families." I'm grateful to her for trying to keep things upbeat.

"Does he have any kids?" I ask warily. It's bad enough to handle my mom dating someone I don't and moving in with them. I don't think I could deal with new siblings as well.

My mom looks down for a second. "Yeah he has a son, Daniel." He's a year older than you." Great. A stepbrother. Exactly what I need right now. Not.

"A 17 year old boy?" I groan. "Just kill me now." I'm usually not one to overly complain, but I feel extra irritable right now.

"Dammit, Serenity." She seems upset now. Not necessarily angry, just unhappy. "Joe and I really love each other and we would really appreciate it if you and Daniel would try and get along."

"Fine." I mutter under my breath.

"And look on the bright side, honey." She shrugs. "You'll already have a friend at your new school!" I've never had guy friends before. Im more the  bookworm type who only occasionally partake in girl talk and gossip. And what if Daniel is uncool? Or too cool for that matter? I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up when there's a 50/50 chance of utter disappointment.

"I looked up West Johnson Prep online. Everyone there is rich." Joe's son goes to private school, so he had offered to pay my tuition to go there as well. My old school was as middle class as it gets and it wasn't the best as far as Academia goes. I don't know what to expect from a snobby prep school except what I've seen on television or in movies. My expectations are low.

For the rest of the ride my mother and I sit in silence, listening to the low volume of the classical music station on the radio. Faure's Requiem was playing and I closed my eyes, hoping that somehow all of this is a sick dream and that in an hour or so I'll wake up in my bed with my parents still together.

"We're here!" Mom rouses me from my half asleep trance and I open my eyes, only to widen them in shock. When she told me Joe lived in a mansion, I was picturing a large suburban home. But this was no ordinary house. There was a fountain out front, a perfectly manicured lawn, and the driveway was crafted of crisp black asphalt unlike any road I'd ever driven on. There was a four car garage, at least three floors, and about a hundred windows. "Isn't it lovely?"

"Yeah." I breathe. "It's unbelievable."

We step out of the car and suddenly two men come through the front door and mom squeals like a teenage girl.

The one man steps forward and mom throws her arms around him. He hugs her back and I deduce that that must be the infamous Joe.

He then looks at me and smiles. "You must be Serenity!" He beams, pulling me into the most awkward hug of my life. "Your mother has told me so much about you!"

"Nice to meet you." I murmur softly. Joe is dressed in what look like a thousand dollar three piece suit and I suddenly feel uncomfortable in my half price cotton sundress from the mall.

"This is my son Daniel." Joe says, stepping aside to introduce him and my jaw drops. A tall boy with perfectly tanned skin and the most beautiful brown hair I've ever seen steps beside his father and I freeze. This boy is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life.

"Hey." Daniel says and I resist the urge to swoon. Even his deep, brooding voice is sheer perfection. He has a sly grin on his face as he holds his hand out for me to shake, but all I see is the crystal blue eyes staring back at me. It makes me feel vulnerable, like they're looking into my soul or something. I realize I've been gaping and my face heats up. I shake his hand quickly and hope to hide my blush.

"Hi." Is all I can make out. In my experience, the hot boys are the rude ones. So even though Daniel appears to be a god, my best guess is that he's a player. A bad boy. Maybe he'll stay out of my way and I'll stay out of his. That sounds like a pretty fair agreement to me.

Ugh, what am I saying? I don't even know this boy and I'm already casting him off as a bad guy? I make a silent vow to get to know him better before I start to place my judgments.

"Daniel, would you show Serenity to her room and help her with the boxes?" Joe asks him politely but it sounds more like a demand.

"Sure." Daniel smiles brightly and heads toward the front door they originally emerged from. I follow him a foot or two behind, not wanting to stand too close and make things weird. "There's a party tonight. Wanna come?" He asks, still facing forward.

"Where is it?" I ask nervously.

He grins. "Here." He laughs a little bit to himself as he starts heading quickly up the stairs and I rush to keep up with him.

"Your dad lets you have parties here?" I ask, dumbfounded by this entirely different style of parenting I'm totally unfamiliar with.

"Yeah?" He says like it makes perfect sense.

"But everything in this house is so expensive. What if things get broken or stolen?" I ask.

"We hide all the valuables. And the really drunk people stay in the backyard or the pool." He shrugs nonchalantly.

"There's a pool?" I ask. "I didn't see one outside."

He laughs again. "It's on the roof." I gasp a little bit but the conversation ends when Daniel stops in front of a white door with an ornate gold handle. "This is your room. Mine's next door in case you don't want to sleep alone." He winks and I frown. I was right. He's a player. That's just perfect...

"Thanks." I mutter. He walks off and I enter into the room, almost falling over when I get inside. This is nothing like my old room. This is more like a three person hotel suite. There's a king sized bed, a flat screen TV, a desk,and a leather couch in the center of the room. I open the first door on the right and find my own bathroom with a full shower and separate bathtub. I pull open the second door and find a walk in closet almost as big as my entire bedroom back at the old house. It's completely empty and I don't think all the clothes I brought will even put a dent in the room.

This seriously must be a dream of some kind. No person actually lives like this, do they? But here I am, and my entire life is being turned upside down. Now I have a rich stepfather, a bad boy stepbrother, and my overly affectionate gold digger of a mother. What is happening to me, and what can I do to put a stop to it?

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Hey guys! So this was just sort of a short little introduction. The rest of the chapters will hopefully be longer and more action-packed. Either way, lemme know what you guys think so far and tell me what your plot predictions are! Thanks!!
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