He was a Boy, She was a Girl

Aiden's POV

My family has ALWAYS lived in a big cabin pushed far into the forest. Okay, so not that far. But we had our privacy and all that. Not anymore. Parents are so irritating sometimes. Like when they decide that moving to a suburb would help socialize the family. Socialize my ass, there is no way in hell i'm going to join some white superiority club. No way at all.

On the contrary, my argument didn't go over too well with my parents and i'm headed to the house right now. With my brother that is. They actually PAID him to tie me to the seat and drive me here. I'm pretty sure this is illegal in some way, but i'm too lazy to find out.

“so, mom called this morning and said there was a girl next door that's around your age.” mike, my older brother says on our way to the house.

“so.....?” I ask, confused on why he'd give me this information in the first place.

“get some action little bro! You're seventeen, it's no time to waste time.”

I just roll my eyes and look forward. Not like there was much to look at. Just a bunch of houses that look almost identical with expensive cars in the driveway.

I lean my head back against the seat. Ugh. I'm so tired. Why did my parents want us to come so early?

Minutes later we pull into a driveway to a house that I now have to call home.

“untie me” I tell mike, “now!”

he quickly unties the ropes and lets me go. I grab my board and backpack and walk inside the fairly large house.

“hey honey” my mom welcomes me with a big hug.

“hi” I mumble, still mad at them.

“your room is on the top floor, it's the only room up there.”

“thanks.” I say and walk up the stairs to my new bedroom. As you can tell, my parents and I don't talk much. But I guess that's what you get being the 'rebel' child and all.

The door creaks open and I see a large space with no carpet. Just wood. Which was nice since I love hard wood floors more than anything. I walk over to the bed that was sitting next to a window and sit down on it. Looking out the nice big window. I spot a girl at her closet. “must be the neighbor girl.” I mumble to myself as I sit down on my bed.

I pick up my board and walk back down the stairs to see mike, “hey, mike, wanna jump some cars before you have to leave.”

“sure thing bro, let me just grab the ramps out of the truck.” he does so and we set them up on either side of a vw bug out front.

Just as we were discussing who'd do what when and all that, the girl from the window comes out and starts screaming at us. I look up and see her in jean shorts and a black t-shirt. She honestly looked hot. Her blonde hair yet to be washed and her face with no make-up on. Just like any guy truly likes it.

She stands there with her hands on her hips, “what in the world do you think you're doing?!” she screams.

I was at a loss for words, still getting over her looks, so mike steps up. “skating.” he says and then turns back to me.

This obviously wasn't the answer she was looking for. “you are not jumping over my car.” she says in a strict voice that almost made me laugh.

I grab my board and look over to her, catching her eye, “watch me.” and then I back up, run forward, hop on my board and smoothly glide over her car. I walk over to her, getting close, “see? No harm done, no need to worry, barbie.” I smirk.

She takes a step closer but before she could giver her comeback my mom comes out the doors. “oh! You guys met.” my mother says awfully too sweetly, “callie, these are my sons, aiden and mike.”

I take a step back and cough, as does she (takes a step back) I put out my hand for her to shake, “nice to meet you callie.” I change my evil smirk into a “kind gentlemanly smile” as my mother would put it.

“likewise” callie replies, shaking my hand.

My mom walks back into the house, and the instant the door closes the nice act is thrown away.

“touch my car and die.” callie says before walking into her own home. Stomping into the home is more like it.

I just smile hugely.

Cause she just said don't touch it; she gave full permission to jump over it.

Mike and I switch off for about an hour before he finally decides he should go.

“mike, please stay, how am I supposed to survive here?”

“well, there's always the girl next door.”

“ha! Did you see her?! Totally not my type.”

“uh-huh, that's why you couldn't keep your eyes off her.” mike puts on his I know something you don't know smirk and I scowl at it, “just be careful aiden, don't get too mixed up with these people.” with that we walk back into the house and he says bye to our parents.

I head back up to my room to finish unpacking.

There was so many boxes of books and sketchpads I didn't know what to do. It was one of those moments where you try to figure out how everything fit in your room before. As in HOW THE HELL COULD I HAVE ALL THIS CRAP!!? I sit up from looking at my old sketches and catch callie looking towards my empty room. Her eyes looked swollen and red and, well, you know, like she'd been crying or whatnot.

I flip to a blank page in my sketchbook and write “you okay?” on it, and then climb on the bed and show it to her.

What can I say, i've got a soft spot for rich blondes. Actually, no, I don't, but I do have a soft spot for sad people. And she looks sad.

Callie pulls out her sketchpad and writes, “what does it look like?” I could hear every bit of sarcasm intended.

This had Taylor Swift written all over it. You know? Her music video “you belong with me” and they share notes through windows or what not. Yes I have heard taylor swift music, i'm not that deprived.

“meet me at the swing out back,” I write and then show her. She gives a slight nod and leaves the room.

I walk out the back door and sit down on the swing next to her.
“so, what happened?” I ask after a few moments.

Callie keeps her gaze on the 'too' green of grass as she speaks,“my boyfriend, he was cheating on me.” she pauses and I stay quiet, not knowing what to say to that. So she continues. “he called and said it was over. And I don't know where it came from, but I just asked who she was and he only defended himself once, saying that he wasn't seeing anyone and then all it took was me to ask a second time for him to blatantly tell me the truth. Her names Samantha.”

“you knew he was cheating?” I ask, a little bit shocked.

“no, not at all. Never got that hint. He was always with me, ya know? I guess it was like a late late night thing.” another silence sweeps over us. Some people start to ramble in awkward situations, I just stay quiet. That's what I was taught to do. Better to say nothing than something that could backfire. Callie seemed to like this more than talking, so it worked out.

I could tell that callie needed to get away I stand up and hold out my hand to her, “come on”

she just stares at me, “come on what? What are we going to do?”

“come on I have something that might cheer you up.” I reply. She finally takes my hand and I lead her to my parents car. She stops in front of it, not getting in.

“seriously aiden, we just met and I don't know if this is such a good idea”

I hold back a laugh, “seriously callie, you're not my type.”

I saw her flinch a bit at the comment, which made me feel the slightest bit bad. Was she hurt by it? And if so, why was she hurt by it? She wasn't my type, I wasn't hers, nothing wrong there. Right?

She gets in and so do I. I drive for about a half hour until we reach the ferry in which we get on and head across to the islands.

“you took me to an abandoned island?” she asks, confused. I just laugh and drive.

Once off the ferry, it was about another half hour drive to the cabin. I pull up to my families cabin and stop the car.

“you know, I may not look like the type, but i've seen my share of horror movies.”

“think what you want callie, but i'm not going to kill you. You coming or not?” she gets out of the car and follows me to the cabin

I fumble with my keys for a minute or so (too many keys!) once in, I go into the guest bedroom and pull out the rack of swimsuits “pick one” I say to callie.

“you know, you could have just told me to grab my swimsuit.” she replies.

I sigh, “honestly, I hadn't decided what we were doing. I was just driving around.”

“okay, the black one” I pull out the plain black bikini she's pointing at and hand it to her.

“down the hall and to your right.” knowing that's what she'd be asking. I quickly change into my swimming trunks and grab my camera.

Callie walks out of the bathroom and meets me in the hall. I seriously had to do everything no to freak out. She looked hot before, but now....damn, she's got a great body. Lucky for me, her break-up was so distracting she didn't notice me staring.

“so, what exactly are we doing?” she asks, which brings me back to reality.

“swimming, duh!” she rolls her eyes and then we head down a long path. The path lead to a nice green field that had a rope swing just over the water.

We stop right on the edge by the swing, “ladies first” I motion toward the rope. Callie gives a slight smile and then grabs the rope and swings out over the ocean. I grab my camera and take pictures of each motion. Capturing her smiling more than anything else.

“feeling better?” I ask, as she climbs back up.

“getting there.” she looks at the camera, “you took pictures.” she states.

“i did. But you don't get to see them yet.” she sticks out her tongue and I laugh, taking another picture. Then I set down the camera and walk over to the swing. Before I can jump in, callie picks it up.

“can I take pictures?” she asks.

“only if you don't look at them.” I reply. She nods.

We swim for another hour or so before walking back to the cabin.

“what do you want to do?” I ask, after we ate some lunch.

Callie shrugs, “i don't know, board games?”

so I pull open the cupboard with all the games in it and she chooses monopoly.

Two games of monoply, three of life and at the end of chutes and ladders later and i'm winning.

“NOOOOOO!!” she screams as she hits the last big chute, sending her practically back to the beginning. I laugh and she glares at me. I spin the wheel and get five, the exact number I need to win. My smile widens as I take the last step to the ribbon.

“i think the score is 4-2 now. Want to call it quits?” I ask

“not at all. You are NOT going to beat me.” she says.

“i think I am”

“this game is rigged.”

“yeah, that's what you said about monopoly and life. Face it, you're just not good at board games.” I reply.

“she looks over at the shelf of games, “trivial pursuit. One game and I promise i'll win.”

“i think you underestimate my IQ callie.”

“and I think you underestimate mine.” she replies, practically daring me to a game.

“okay, trivial pursuit it is.”

I pull out the game and set it up. Around an hour later, we came to a tie. I needed my worst subject, sports. While callie needed art and literature.

It was her turn and I pick up the card. A smile forms on my face as I see the question, “what was mother gooses sons name?” I ask.

Without blinking, without skipping a beat, without even a second in between the question, she answers, “Jack.”

my mouth drops, my eyes bug out and callie grabs the camera, taking a picture as she starts laughing.

“i'm right, right?”

“how the hell do you know that?” I ask frantically.

She smiles at the sight of the card not being turned, “how the hell do you know that?”

“i told you my IQ was high.”

“and I told you my IQ was high. So stop acting so surprised.”

we pack up the game and put them all back on the shelf.

“come on” I say, grabbing callies hand and pulling her up. It was weird, but her hand in mine, it felt...right. Like it fitted and all that. I shake the thought out of my head and lead her back to where we were earlier that day. She sits down on the tire swing and I take a spot next to her on the grass. We look out over the water, watching the sunset.

“you never did tell me how you know about this place.” she says.

“it's mine.” I reply, because all in all, it was.

“really?” she asks with disbelief on the edge of her voice.

“well, no, it's my families. The island and cabin and all. It's all my families.”

“how the hell did that happen?” I chuckle a little at her response.

“see that mountain over there?”i point a little to the east.

“yeah, that's mount baker.” she says it in that 'duh!' tone and I laugh.

“we're the baker family.” I state.

“so? Baker is a common last name.” I roll my eyes and sigh, realizing i'd have to do a lot more explaining.

“that mountain is named after my great great great grandpa.”

“oh. Okay, and the island?”

“this is where he settled and the land just became ours. It became legal in the 30's I think”

“i wish I had a mountain named after me.” she sighs.

I smile “i think we all do.” I look back over the water and notice that the sun is almost fully down. “e better start heading back” I say, and callie nods. We both get up and walk back to the car.

It was silent and I hated it. So once we hit the road, I popped a question, “what's your favorite color?”

callie looks over at me like i'm crazy, but answers anyway, “gray.” she says.

“gray?” what kind of color is that? Well, I can tell you kind of color. It's a neutral color. That's what it is. It is the color of sorrow, although native americans associate it with friendship, the symbol of security and maturity. I guess at the moment, gray kind of suited callie.

“why? What yours?” she asks.

“turquoise.” I say. Turquoise, now there's a color no one would expect to be my favorite. It represented love, healing and generosity. Also independence and emotion. I smile at the that thought. I never showed it, but all of those, plus the rest of the list, really did represent me. The actual me, not the punk I showed to everyone.

“good color” callie says. And I have an itching feeling that deep down, that's her favorite color too. Just not today.

“it is.”

“so, mike's in college?” callie asks, changing the subject.

“how'd you guess?”

“um, he's taller than you.” I couldn't help but laugh at her answer.

“yeah, cause you know, everyone in college is taller than me.”

“shut up” and then callie blushed. Wow, she looks so cute when she blushes. I think, but once the thought pops into my head, I shake it away. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN. I tell myself over and over again.

“yeah, he's in college at the moment.”

“any other siblings.”

“nope. What about you?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“just me”

“that's what I thought.”

“cause you can so tell by just looking at me.” she says sarcastically.

“you just...seem like the only child type.” I chose my words carefully, hoping not to offend her.

“what's that supposed to mean?!” oh damn, she defiantly sounded offended.

“that you're spoiled. It's known that only children are spoiled more than those with siblings.” I state.

“ha! You actually think your life was worse than mine?”

“no, actually I think mine was better. I doubt yours was too bad though.” I reply, “do people actually compare who's life is worse than the others around here?”

“yeah.” callie says shyly, “they do.”

“that's just sad.” I say.

“life's just sad.” and I couldn't agree with callie anymore, cause those words were the most honest words I'd heard. Ever. “so, when do I get to see the pictures?” callie changes the subject.

I shrug, “when I decide to show them to you.”

“you're seriously going to keep them from me?”

“mhmm” I reply, pulling into my driveway. Callie gets out of the car quickly and I follow.

“thanks for today. It really helped.” she says, smiling a little.

“no problem. But don't be going and think we're friends now barbie. I'm a punk an d you're just some little ballerina.”

she gasps at the insult, “i am not a skinny little wimp of a ballerina, “she scoffs, “it called cheer leading dummy!”

I laugh and cross my arms, “my point made. See you tomorrow at school barbie!” and then I walk inside leaving her standing there at my car.

I flop down on the couch and turn on the TV.

Today was nice. Nice, but with the wrong person. Cause we all know that nothing could ever happen between callie and I, we're too...different. Come from opposite worlds more like it. So like I said, nothing could happen.

But that didn't mean today wasn't good and that I didn't have fun. Cause it was and I did. It was just a one time deal. Callie needed someone and I was there. But that was it, nothing was going to grow from today. Nothing.