Stay Awake

Jack and his friends had planned a welcome party for me. I had already been here about two days, and I loved the Barakat family. Joe is awesome, May is a sweetheart, and Jack was just off the walls and crazy.

Jack lent me his laptop so I could put together a playlist for the party, and I scrolled through his iTunes, finding amazing artists like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Every Avenue, Four Year Strong and Good Charlotte. I plugged in my iPod and imported All Time Low, Cobra Starship, You Me At Six, and The Used.

Once I was done, I shut the laptop and got changed and headed downstairs.

"Are you ready for your party?" Joyce asked, as she was baking cookies.

"Yeah, I guess. Who's going to be there?"

"Oh, sweetie, a lot of people. All of Jack's friends parents are our friends, so they're going to be there." she explained. That seems like a whole lot of people who want to meet me. Why am I so important to them? I'm only Jack's adopted sister.

"That does seem like a lot of people." I chuckled nervously. I sat down at the table and watched as she took a batch out of the oven.

"It is," she said, looking up at me. "Jack should be here any minute to pick you up. Bassam and I will be there very shortly, once these are done." she said. I nodded and heard a car pull into the driveway.

"Hey, mom, I'm home!" Jack yelled, walking into the kitchen.

"Hello, Jack. Your father and I will be there shortly, I'm waiting for these to be finished." Joyce said.

"Okay. Can I have one?" he asked, grabbing for a cookie on a cooling rack.

"Wait until the party!" Joyce laughed, slapping at his hand. Jack frowned and turned towards me.

"Are you ready, Summer?"

"Yeah. I Made a playlist, too." I smiled, handing him his laptop.

"Awesome sauce. Let's go! Bye, mom!" he said. I followed him out to his car, and my jaw just about dropped. What did he do for a living to own a high end sports car? I climbed into the passenger seat and couldn't believe how fancy it was. I looked out the window as Jack pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.

"So Summer, how's life?" he asked, glancing over at me.

"Good, I guess. I mean, I've only been here a few days, and I start school after Thanksgiving." I said.

"Oh, are you going to Towson? 'Cause that's where me and my friends went!" he said.

"Yeah, I think so. I go for an open house thing soon."

"Sweet. So tell me about yourself! We haven't really had one-on-one time yet."

"Well, I'm 16, from Chicago, my parents died in a plane crash, and I have an 8 year old sister named Jenny." I explained.

"You have a little sister? Where is she?"

"Still in Illinois. Your parents only wanted me."

"What? That's weird. I'm sorry. If I knew, then I would've told them to adopt her, too." Jack frowned.

"Oh, it's okay. I hope I see her soon, though, whether I have to fly back to Illinois or go to her new home." I said.

Jack pulled into a driveway full of cars, seeing a white house with blue shutters with huge windows and double doors and a huge porch. I looked at the front yard, seeing that there was a huge sign that read, 'WELCOME, SUMMER!' I climbed out of the car and followed Jack up to the house, hearing loud music and laughter as we got closer. I walked up the steps and walked in, standing behind Jack. I followed him over to a group of people, and they turned to us.

"Hey man, what's up? Where's Summer?" a guy with light brown side-swept hair and scruff asked, pulling him in for a hug.

"Right here!" Jack said happily, wrapping his arm around me and pushing me forward.

"Hi!" I waved.

"Hey there! I'm Alex! And this is Rian, Zack, my girlfriend Lisa and Rian's girlfriend Cassadee. Oh, and by the way, nice shirt!" Alex introduced me. I looked down to see that I was wearing my Glamour Kills shirt, something that I got for Christmas last year from the foster home.

"Thanks! And it's nice to meet all of you!" I smiled. So these people are Jack's friends? They weren't as scary as I thought they would be.

"Alright, Summer was the music provider, so let's see how quality her music taste is," Jack said, opening his laptop and opening the playlist that I made. He plugged it into the giant speakers and hit play, and The Used started playing. "Not bad, not bad!" Jack nodded at me. I smiled and Alex joined us, as Jack was scrolling through the playlist to see what else I added.

"Dude, does she know who you are?" I heard Alex ask Jack. He was Jack Barakat. What's so special about him? He's my new big brother, was he hiding something from me?