Bumps in the road

Chapter 1 - Victory at last!

I paced the hall. For about a week now I had been expecting a letter from the record label.

You see, a while back I had recorded some songs and sent them to a popular record label. There was a new talent contest and thousands of people had entered. I recorded four original songs and two covers. They said that within a month I would receive a letter telling me if I had been one of the finalists.

I had been informed that I was one of the lucky twenty people who had been selected for the final round. We had to send in some new work, and with all of the original songs I submitted, I had about an album's worth.

'Come on mail man!' I thought as I walked up and down the hall with my hands clasped behind my back.

I heard a noise outside and I ran to the door and swung it open. The goofy smile on my face, the panting, and the creepy giggle obviously scared the mail man. I honestly was afraid that I had given him a heart attack. He stumbled back with wide eyes, clutching his chest and looked like he had just seen the chain saw massacre jumping at him.

"I'll take that!" I said excitedly, eyeing the wad of envelopes in the man's hands.

"Here!" He said, shoving the mail into my face.

I happily took it and flipped through it. The mail man ran away in horror. I just went inside. He would get over it. Eventually. . . Maybe.

"No. No. No. Nothing so far." I said pulling out one letter at a time then throwing it on a table with great dissapointment when it wasn't for me.

"Nooo!! It isn't here!" I screamed.

"Ryan Embers! Shut up!" My younger sister yelled at me. She was tired of going through this every afternoon.

"But Lexi!" I whined.

She came around the corner and glared at me. Her hair was straight as an arrow, black, and her blunt bangs really made her angry brown eyes pop.

I took a step back, she looked about ready to claw my eyes out.

 There was a knock at the door and I trudged over to it to open it. The mail man stood there timidly and gave me a shakey wave and fake smile. I looked at his other hand and saw an extra letter. I beamed.

"Sir. . . There was one letter I didn't give you. So sorry." He apologized, setting the paper in my hands.

He then ran back to his car again and drove off eagerly.

Just as I was about to check who it was for, Lexi came around the corner and snatched it from my grip. She laughed manically and raced down the street a little ways.

"LEXI!! GET BACK HERE!" I screamed, as I chased after her.

She kept laughing and running along.

Our back yard is a patio, some plants, then it turns into lots of sand and the gulf of Mexico.

I watched in terror as she jumped over the fence and ran towards the water. I hopped the fence after her, I was closing in on her, but she was fast. Lexi kicked off her flip flops and ran faster down the sand bank. She was headed straight for the crashing waves.

She stopped when she got into the water. She held the letter in the air with a devious smile.

"You wouldn't." I growled, stopping dead in my tracks.

"Oh but I would." She replied, looking pure evil.

She was planning on soaking the letter. If she did that then either I'd have to wait forever until it dried to open it, even then the ink would be blurred together. Option two was to open it, and it would all tear. Either way I was completely screwed.

"Alexis Diana Embers. Give. Me. The. Letter!" I demanded.

She giggled and lowered her hand along with the letter. The bottom corner was getting dangerously close to the water. I fell to my knees and started begging. What else was there for me to do?

"Pretty please?" I asked in a sad voice. I made the best puppy face I had ever created, but she wasn't buying it.

"Okay okay! I'll do all your chores for a week!" I suggested. Yup, I was officially the most pathetic human being that had ever existed.

"Make it three. And you have to take me to the mall with Melody for a month. Whenever we want you to." She shot back smugly.

"But" I started to protest, so in return she lowered the letter some more and I just about had a heart attack. The tip of the letter was only about two inches from the water!

"Okay okay!! It's a deal! Just give me the letter already!" I whined.

Lexi laughed and flicked the letter at me. I jumped up and caught it. It was addressed to me so I ripped it open and read it quickly. Congratulations to our winner. Ryan Embers. Was written in bold across the bottom.

I squealed like a little fan girl and started doing cartwheels across the sand. I also danced around and pranced like a freak. This caught the eye of a few very amused by standers. A couple of girls who I recognized from school (they were very cute) saw me and started laughing. Yup that blew my chances with them. Well I didn't care, I won! Nothing could bring me down now!

I just needed to do one more thing to celebrate my victory.

I set the letter on the ground and ran full speed at Lexi. She looked startled as I body slammed her into the water. She got soaked while I stayed, for the most part, dry. I picked her up and spun her around, squeezing her too tightly, then sat her down once she was all dizzy. She toppled over and looked at me in disbelief. The waves splashed against her and she swayed side to side trying to stay upright.

"Oh yeah, that totally just happened. Turnabout is fair play you know." I bragged.

I started strutting back to the dry sand then I was tackled from behind by Lexi. For a small girl she could sure pack a punch! I came crashing to the ground and she laughed at my surprised face. I was dragged back to the water, she was way stronger than she looked. Then she splashed water on me and proceeded to cover me in sand. It turned into mud. I looked like a mud monster by the time she got through with me.

She took the letter and ran back home with it.

By now everyone in view was watching. I stood up and yanked my shirt off, causing several girls to giggle, blush, etc. I ignored them. I then went into the water and rinsed off the sand. I walked back to my house in my shorts.

Lexi was going to get it.

I opened the door to find the letter laying on the table. Next to it was a note.

"Congrats Ry, I'm proud of you. Please don't kill me. Love Lexi." I read it out loud as I chuckled quietly.

Even if she was annoying as heck, she was still my little sister. I still loved her and yes, she was still cute, even if she was pure evil.

For the next month I drove Lexi and Melody to the mall and  they made me carry all their bags and I had to listen to them talk about how cute boys were. It was torture! Not to mention disgusting!  But soon enough it was over and I was a free man once again.

A week later I had my bags packed and I was getting on an airplane. Going from my little home town in Florida to L.A. California.

I was going to be a rock start baby!