Catching Sunlight

Chapter 1

3/27/34

Today started like any other Sunday. I woke up late for church and jumped out of bed to get ready. We were supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes and I wasn't even dressed!

"Olivia?" My sister Elise knocked on the door.

"Yeah, i'm almost ready" I said.

"Ok, but, mom says hurry because Josh has work and we have to take Sam today."

"Crap, I forgot. Ok I'll be down in a minute." Josh was my older half brother and Sam was my best friend/my brothers brother, confusing I know. See, my dad was married to their mom, Paige and they had Josh. Then she got pregnant with another guy and had Sam. So they had a divorce, my dad remarried to my mom, and here we are. You'd think we'd try to avoid Sam and Paige as much as possible after a history like that, but we love them like family.

"Olivia, were gonna be late!" My mom says as I hop in the car.

"Sorry, my alarm didn't go off. We always get there early anyway."

"Well now we're going to be late; maybe you should be more responsible."

"I am responsible!" I complained, she was always telling me to be more lady like or to "try harder".

"I've been getting emails from school that you ditched fourth hour yesterday, and that doesn't sound very responsible to me."

"Mom, I already talked to dad about this. It was a one time thing!"

"What? Your father didn't say anything about this to me! What were you doing anyway?"

"Uhm, I was studying."

"No you weren't! You were with Axl!" Elise teased.

"Elise! This is why I don't tell you anything!" She stuck her tongue out at me. "I don't need a thirteen year old brat tattling on me."

"Shut up! You wanted to tell me because you have no friends that care!"

"Like you have any friends to brag about!"

"Girls, enough!" My mom yelled. "We're going to church. Olivia we will talk about this later and Elise stay out of it." She continued as we pulled into Sam's driveway.

"Hey." He said as got in the car. "I was thinking after church we should get started on our science project?"

"Yeah, we should probably start that before Mr. Johnson flips out" I answered.

"Ok, if it's cool with you Mrs. K, Olivia can come over to our house."

"Yes, that would be fine, but she needs to be home for dinner. Oh, and if Josh would come that'd be great too. We haven't seen him since he went back to college after last break." My mom said.

"Sure, he'll probably go over with Olivia anyway." He responded. I was glad Sam was my best friend, but not really the fact that he was my brothers brother. I mean, sometimes it was a good thing like seeing each other all the time and our parents being good friends, but it was just weird. I guess it doesn't matter because I like to think that me and Sam would still be friends even if my dad and his mom had never met, but what if we wouldn't have been? What if there's a completely different person out there and everything changed when our parents met. I would be a completely different person without him. I know this sounds cheesy, but it's true. My all time favorite thing to do is play hockey and without Sam I don't think I ever would have started. He practically dragged me onto the rink in first grade and I now I couldn't imagine myself without it. People at school called me Elsa because I spent all my time on the rink. I had been our high school's highest scorer since I made varsity freshmen year. I think that's another reason why me and Sam got along so well; he understood my passion for it. I mean, he was the one who helped me convince the district to let me play on the boys team since we didn't have a girls team. Me and Sam were the two best forwards on our team and as we pulled into the church's parking lot I realized just how grateful I was for the life I had.

After church the sky was pouring rain. Sam and I had sprinted to his front door to keep from getting drenched. It was as if the sky new something wasn't right. It didn't feel right either. There had been a knot in my stomach ever since the rain started. I guess Sam noticed too,

"are you okay?" He asked.

"I think so, my stomach just hurts." I said.

"Yeah, I feel weird too."

"Sam? Olivia? Is that you guys?" My brother Josh called out.

"Yeah, we just got back." I replied. "Oh, by the way mom wants you to have dinner with us tonight."

"Ok, I'll be there."

"Race you to my room?" Sam asked.

"Hah, it won't be much of a race against you!" I jokingly called as I started sprinting up the stairs. He bolted after me and caught up quickly. I had misjudged how fast he would be. I was just at the opening of his door way when he grabbed me by the waist and threw me over his shoulder.

"You thought you would beat me?" He laughed and started tickling me.

"Whatever, I'm still faster than you!" I teased, laughing in between.

"Sure you are!" He joked as he tickled me even more.

"Sam, Stop! I can't breathe!" I laughed.

"Who won?"

"Me...haha, I can't breathe!"

"Who?!"

"Ok, fine you!" I could finally breathe again. We were both laying on his bed trying to catch our breath.

"Livi?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still like that Axl guy?"

"I guess so, why?" I turned to face him.

"I don't know, he just seems weird."

"Sam, you think every guy I like is weird."

"Because they are."

"Axl isn't weird."

"I never see you guys talk." He explained.

"We talk all the time in chemistry and foods. We even skipped gym together yesterday."

"Huh? I thought you were studying?"

"Well that's what I told our friends, I didn't want them to make a big deal out of it."

"But why didn't you tell me?" He looked frustrated.

"Sorry, I didn't think you would care this much."

"I don't, it's just I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well thanks for caring, but I can handle myself."

"I know you can Livi, I just care about you." He looked hurt.

"I know Sam, I'm sorry. I guess your opinion just really matters to me." I pushed his hair back.

"So do you guys have a thing then? Give me details!" He mockingly gossiped. I smiled,

"Well, we went to the music room when we ditched gym and he played his guitar for me. And, he was actually really good! Then we went to the vending machines to get some chips and just talked about life I guess."

"Oooh, what'd you talk about?"

"Just hockey, guitar, and then you." His eyes grew wide,

"Me?!"

"Yeah, he wanted to know if we were a thing, but I told him about our families and he thought that was crazy."

"Haha, it kinda is though." He laughed.

"Yeah." I said. "But I couldn't live without you."

"And me, you." He said as he brushed the hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.