Chapter 1
(If this were happening in real life, they would be speaking completely in French. However, for the sake of our writing and your reading purposes, it is in English.)
It was not love at first sight.
More along the lines of confusion at first sight. When I first saw Mia Belgard I couldn't stop looking at her. I guess she just wasn't what I expected for a French host sister. To be honest, I thought this Mia, was going to be a fat awkward girl who hated everything except watching TV and eating potato chips. Let me tell you, that is not Mia. The only part that was correct was that she hated everything. Not to brag, but I kind of changed her. To start, I think I started drooling when I saw her. Beautiful green eyes and long, curly black hair. Well, to be fair, I didn't know it was long until much later. However, I could easily tell it was curly from the strands hanging out of her ponytail.
You would think that with the description I gave of her, it was totally love at first sight. That's what I thought too when I stepped out of the plane gates. But as I got to know Mia, it changed.
"Welcome Cody!" Barb, my host mother, greeted me with a hug. I had not expected that.
"Yeah, welcome." Mia mimicked her mom and rolled her eyes to make matters worse.
"Mia! Be nice!" Barb scolded. Then she turned back to me and said, " This is Mia, your host sister. As you can tell she is very excited to have you here." She spoke the last part through gritted teeth. Sarcasm. I recognized this from my family back in South Carolina. We were the royal family of sarcasm. Still are, actually.
"Oh, whatever. Don't talk to me." Mia said. It felt like she was staring into my soul and pulling out all my secrets. "I was not involved in this decision and continue to be left out." She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through some social media page that I hadn't seen before.
"I will work on her." This was the first time I heard my host father, Marcel, speak. He said it with a smile that made me feel much more comfortable around him. Being a dude and all, I shouldn't have been worried. But for some odd reason, I felt like he was pulling out the rest of my secrets that Mia didn't collect. I don't know, maybe it was just his extremely small eyes and bald head that scared me.
"Thanks." I responded. "It is so nice to meet you guys." I smiled and watched as a tall brown haired man walked around the corner and started talking really fast. In fact, so quickly that I stood there looking very confused for a while.
"Oh no! I am so sorry!" The man said slowly. Spotting how lost I was. "I am Jolie, your host brother. I won't be living with you guys because I am staying in Paris for college. I thought I should stop by and meet you. I was just telling my family that there was very bad traffic on the way in." Jolie laughed. I have to admit, the family seemed very approachable and I felt comfortable immediately. Okay, that's a lie. Mia and Marcel still creeped me out a little bit.
"What are we all standing here for? Let's roll!" Barb exclaimed. We all smiled and followed her out to the car.
The whole 30 minutes that it took to drive to my host family's home, Barb would not shut up. She told me all about Murat, and the wonderful 2,000 or so people that lived there. Then she moved on to explaining every single detail of their house as if I wasn't going to see it in a matter of minutes.
"We are here!" Marcel yelled in his deep voice. I felt like my ears would explode if he did that again. We all climbed out of their SUV and walked up the front steps. The house was absolutely beautiful. I normally wouldn't pay attention to things like that, but I was in France, why not?
"You have a lovely home." I said trying to be respectful to the family taking me in for the next 10 months.
"Oh thank you Cody!" Mia said. Sarcastically. Again.
"Mia! For Pete's Sake!" I had no idea the French used that saying. I thought just old American people said that. "Let me show you to your room." Barb lead me through a long hallway and up some narrow stairs. It felt like a secret entrance. "I hope you don't mind. Our guest room is in the back of the house." She gives a giggle and places my bags next to me. For such a small woman, she sure carried a lot of weight up the stairs.
After some unpacking, delicious Pate for lunch, and listening to the CD Jolie made me: Which by the way was a really nice of him, I was laying on my bed stuffed. Of course I was exhausted! But my mom told me and I quote, "Try to stick with the family's schedule! And remember, if they want to keep you, let them!" I guess you could call my mom humorous... I just like to call her a lazy parent who wants to get rid of me for a year. But you know, whatever floats your boat. After about ten minutes more of thinking about my life and trying not to fall asleep, Mia barged into my room. Before I could question what she was doing she climbed on top of me and started making out with me. If an extremely hot girl was making out with you, would you tell her to stop? I don't know about you, but I did not push her off. Before I could take a breath, she was pulling off my clothes. You know the rest. I am going to spare you the gory details of my sex life.
"We never speak of this." Mia said pulling her shirt back over her head. Then she walked out the door and slammed it behind her. What the hell just happened?
I hope you guys all enjoyed our first chapter! This was written by me-Alyssa-and I am very proud. Brenna will be writing the next one. I am odd she is even! I hope everyone liked Cody as much as I did. I am so excited to create these characters with Brenna! Mia is pretty mysterious huh? Love you all!
Kisses -A
