Chapter 2

I can't believe the day is finally here! I'm packed and ready to go (thanks to Martha) and currently lounging in the plane. My parents are here with me, but, unfortunately, Sam isn't coming. I really wish he could have, but he has other clients he takes care of so there was no way he could come stay in Texas for a year.

I'm super excited to meet my aunt and cousin for the first time in years. I talked to my aunt on the phone a few hours ago and she said her and Callan would be waiting for us at the airport.

My parents are staying at one of our hotels. Dad has to check on a few things there and they thought it would be better than quote "impeding on my new life", whatever that means. No matter how much Aunt Carol insisted, they said they were staying at the hotel.

I turn to my right side and see my parents talking to each other in hushed tones. What do they not want me to hear? We have our own plane so it's just us 3, a few body guards, and a couple of flight attendants. Are they planning on not even staying the few days now? I lean their way a little further, but it's no use. I can't hear a thing.

As I think we must we getting close to landing, the pilot comes over the speakers and notifies my family that there is about 5 minutes until we land. Once he finishes talking about the successful flight, I start to feel, what must be, nerves in my stomach.

Oh man. I'm about to live a year without the fame and luxury i'm so accustomed to. But on the bright side, I'll get to do all the things that normal teens do, like I see in movies: go to parties, have a locker, carry textbooks around to my classes, and (most importantly) go to prom. I've seen so many movies about prom and each time I finish one, my desire to go to one just intensifies. I've been to award shows, like the Grammys, and so many movie premieres that I can't even count, but prom is different. I'm sure other girls would kill to walk the red capet in a Stella McCartney, but I want to walk through a balloon archway into a gym filled with sweaty and hormone crazy teenagers. That just sounds like so much fun!

Of course, one of the biggest things I'm worried about is making friends. I'm not going to be in disguise (I vetoed that idea as soon as my mom brought it up. Way too cliche); therefore, I'm scared people are going to want to hang out with me because i'm Rory Pinnock, one of the top ten teens on 'Peoples' what hot list, and not Rory, the girl who puts ketchup on everything because it tastes good.

When I told my parents my fear, my dad gave the fatherly answer of, "yes, your famous, but there are plenty of people who will love you for you". And my mom brought back up her previous idea, "well, you can always go back to my oringinal idea and go in disguise, then you wouldn't have to worry about any of this". To both I replied, with "i'm probably overthinking this, thanks for your help", then (silently) stomped to my room.

Times like that when I really wish I had a best friend to consult with, or any friend for that matter.

I start to feel the bumpiness of the plane landing and I take a deep breath.

I'm about to meet the people i'm going to live with for a year. No big deal.

I really hope they like me. And are nice. And have some food with them. I'm starving. I turned down the flight attendents offer for food and now i'm really starting to regret my decision.

As the plane brakes to a stop, I start to gather all my stuff and then stand up to stretch and get the small bags from over head.

I step out of the plane into the brisk breeze of Texas. There is already a small group of phototgraphers waiting for us. The flashes start going off as we, one by one, step out of the plane. I shake hands with the pilot and then follow my parents as we squeeze through the papparazzi, over to where I see a medium sized SUV waiting.

I see a woman with light brown hair and glasses get out of the driver seat. I'm assuming that's my Aunt Carol because out of the passenger seat, comes a tall teenage boy with chocolate brown hair, much like mine. Aunt Carol rushes over to greet us with a huge smile on her face, while my cousin stands back a bit, looking very uncomfortable.

"Julie! Steph! Your here! It's been so long since i've last seen y'all," Aunt Carol exclaims with so much enthusiam that i'm afraid she is going to break.

"Oh it's so nice to see you Carol. How have you been after all these years," Mom asks while hugging Aunt Carol.

"I have have been just fine. Thanks for asking, but where is my beautiful neice," Aunt Carol asks after hugging my dad.

I smile and step forward to accept my aunt's hug.

Now that Aunt Carol is closer i'm able to see what she really looks like. She has light brown hair that is slowly being overcome with grays. Her face is aging, but that doesn't stop her from being absolutely gorgeous. She has the same hazel/gray eyes as my mom and is a little plump, which is a bit comforting. I was afraid she might have the same views as my mom about physical appearances and overall outlooks, but I should have known that she was different. Just the fact that she choose to live in a Southern state instead of with my mom in the North should have tipped me off that she was different.

I think we will get along just fine.

She gives me one tight squeeze before stepping back to examine me.

"You know. Those cameras really do you no good because you are far more beautiful in person than in those internet pictures. Wow! I just can't believe what a gorgeous young woman you've become," she says with a slight sniffle.

I laugh and thank her, before letting her turn and talk more with my parents.

"Oh Callan. Come hug your family. They are not going to be here forever, you know," Aunt Carol scolds, as I watch Callan's face turn slightly pink on his cheeks. He mutters an embarrassed "yes, mom" before proceeding to hug my parents.

As he comes over to me, I can see some of his blush has worn off, but the awkwardness in the atmosphere around him definitely hasn't. I try to take some of the pressure off of him by stepping forward and giving him a hug. He's at least a head taller than me, but very muscular. Not in the weird over buff type, but in the lean, "I work out" type.

"So Callan, how's life in South," I ask with a smile. I might as well get to know Callan if the adults are going to be trapped in conversation for a little while.

"Um.. Pretty boring. Good food, but not a lot happens here. I'm sure New York is much more entertaining," Callan says.

Even though my family's main house is in New York, I don't exclusively live there. Like I said before, my family is always travelling because of my parents jobs, so I don't get to call New York my true home.

However, I can't argue that more probably happens in my life than his. There is never a dull moment when you're a teenager in Hollywood; I can assure you of that.

"Yeah. My life is definitely eventful...," i trail off, trying to come up with a topic to talk about.

Saved by the bell, Aunt Carol suggests that we get into her car and go get something to eat before heading home. I'm the first to agree with this before we get all the luggage loaded into the SUV and head out.

****

As Aunt Carol pulls the SUV into the driveway, i'm able to get a good look at the house. It has a comfortable look to it without being to showy and overbearing. The size of the house is not huge, but looks big enough to be considered a modern house. The vehicle comes to a halt and I open the door to welcome the fresh air I have been deprived of for an hour and a half. I take a few deep breaths of the brisk air, then turn back around to the car to see every else already unloading the car.

I quickly make my way to the trunk and begin to help pull them pull all the luggage and boxes out. I don't remember having this much stuff. Now I feel bad for Martha, she had to find a place to put all this stuff. Oops.

"Sweetie. Could you and Callan start carrying in all these boxes? We'll unload the rest, but just make sure you get everything inside," my mom asks me.

"Sure thing, Mom."

I grab the nearest luggages and pull them behind me as I walk to the front door. I turn the handle and push open the door to find a fluffy, little pomeranian waiting to greet me.

"Aww," I coo as I bend down to pet the little dog. "Aren't you just the cutest?"

"Yeah. That's Fitz. He's a bit tempermental so you'll have to be careful," Callan says as he walks through the front door carrying a couple of boxes.

"I'm going to bring these to your new room, so you can follow me and put those luggages in there too," Callan tells me, already leading the way towards the bedroom.

"Okay."

I follow him through a long hallway decorated with a lot of pictures. Most of them are of Callan, varying from a young age to present. Among those are a series of soccer pictures. From the looks of it, he has played soccer since he was really young.

We pass by a few doors until we reach a room on the left. The first thing I notice when I walk in is the purple walls. There is bathroom to the left of the room and a closet farther down that wall. The room is not nearly as big as my one in New York or even the one I have at our beach house in LA, but I almost don't want it to be as big as those rooms. Those places don't feel like home and even though i've only been here for few minutes, this place does.

I stop examining the room when I see Callan staring at me.

"I was just wondering if you like the room. I know it's probably not what you're used to, but we tried to make better for you. Your mom said you loved purple so we painted the walls and we have this other present for you, but it hasn't came in yet," Callan said.

I looked around the room once more with admiration. Wow. They did all this for me even though they haven't seen me in years. It was my aunt's suggestion that I come live with her in the first place. She offered when I was on the phone with her one day and she heard about what a hard time I was having, always traveling and having such a public life. I owe her so much already and I just got here.

I turned back to Callan and smiled at him.

"This is perfect. Your right this isn't what i'm accomstomed to, it's better. Thank you so much," I said still smiling.

He seemed a bit taken back because he just kinda stood there, looking at me, like waiting me to say "no i'm just kidding. Take me back to New York".

"Right," he finally said. "I guess we should get back to bringing everything inside."

As if on cue, I heard my mom ask us what was taking so long.

Callan and I both laughed before walking outside to finish bringing all my stuff inside.

Once we finished putting all the boxes, luggages, and trunks inside my room, the little place was full. I sighed when I realized I would have to unpack most of the stuff so that way I could move around the room.

I walked into the living room where everyone was standing and carrying on a conversation. When my parents noticed I was in the room, they pulled me over to hug them.

"Carol. I think we are going to head to the hotel. I have a few things I need to take care of there and we really should get our rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. It was nice to see you again Callan," he said shaking Callan's hand. "You too Carol and thank you again for letting our daughter stay here," Dad said as he hugged Aunt Carol.

"Stephan, are you forgetting something," my mom asked my dad, with a mischievous smile.

"Oh yeah," I dad said, smiling at me.

Okay. So it has to do with me. I don't if that's good or bad.

"Rory, why don't you follow us outside," Dad said already walking towards the door. "Okay. You have to close your eyes until we say you can open. Here, Stephan. Lead her out," my mom said once we got to the front door.

"Oookay," I said, squinting my eyes at my mysterious parents. Unfortuately, their smiles gave nothing away.

Letting out a defeated sigh, I put my hands over my eyes and let my dad lead me outside, with Mom, Aunt Carol, and Callan following close behind.

"Okay on the count of three, open your eyes. One, two....," my dad stalled.

"Dad!"

"Okay, okay. One, two, three."

I removed my hands and saw the most beautiful car ever. It looked like the Audi RS 7 that I had been drooling over for months.

"Is this mine?"

"Of course, sweet heart. We thought you might need something to get around in since they don't have taxi's and subways like New York or any of the other cities we live in."

I let out an excited squeal as I rushed over to get inside of it.

The outside was a crimson red with beautiful spokes and the inside was to die for. Everything was black except for the seat belts, they were the same red as the the outside of the car which really made them pop against the black. Even the stitching on the seats was extravagant and beautiful.

I looked up and saw my parents and Aunt Carol all smiling. The look on Aunt Carol's face said she probably knew about this present, but Callan's, however, said otherwise. He had his mouth hanging wide open and I assume it had been like that for a little while now.

I stuck my head out of the door and waved him over.

He only nodded and came and sat in the passenger seat.

"Holy...," he trailed off once he saw the inside. We both looked around the car, afraid to touch anything.

"You guys want to take the car out for a little test drive," my dad asked.

"Yes," I replied a little fast.

"Callan, just take her around the neighborhood. You know what, you can drive to the school if you want so she has an idea of where it's at," Aunt Carol told Callan. "It's just down the road from here," she told my parents.

My dad came over and handed me the keys before telling me to drive safe. I started the car and the motor was like a symphony to my ears. I backed out of the driveway, listening to the purr of the motor. Everything about this car felt right.

I glanced at Callan to see him still awestruck as he looked around. I laughed as I came up to a red light.

"Which way," I asked Callan.

"Oh, turn right. Then when we get to the four way intersection, turn right again."

"Soo," I said after a minute of silence. "Do you play soccer?"

"Yeah. I play center forward," he told me as if I knew what that meant.

I don't have a lot of time to learn new things by myself, so if someone that is around me a lot doesn't like it, I probably don't know about it.

"Soccer has pretty much been my life since I can remember. Mom put me in this little leagues team and then, after that, me and the game couldn't be seperated. What about you? What are your hobbies? Other than acting and modeling, of course," he said with a smile.

"Well actually, other than a few shoots here and there, I don't really care for modeling, and as for acting, well, i'm not so sure about that anymore either," I said, making sure to not look at Callan for fear of seeing a questioning look on his face.

If I saw that look, I would probably spill my guts to him and freak him out. Yeah. I'll save that for a different day.

"Is there anything your sure of," he said, jokingly.

"I know that this year is going to be the best and that your school isn't going to know what hit them," I said laughing. "No, i'm kidding. But I really do think I am going to have the best time here. It's definitely going to be a change, but I already feel comfortable so things should be okay."

"Are you trying to convince me of that or yourself," Callan asked with a serious tone in his voice.

I glanced at him to see him studying my face. I let out a breath as I looked back to the road.

"I don't know, Cal. Even though I really want this, I...," I look over to Callan to see he is as rigid as a board. Uh oh. I only met him again a few hours ago and now i'm already messing things up. Way to go Rory.

"Did I say something wrong," I ask Callan, nervously biting my lip.

"Uh..well..," he stammered, then finally looking at me, he said, "my dad used to call me Cal, before he, you know, and no one has called me that since then."

Oh. That makes sense. Callan's dad, my uncle Trip, died in a plane crash when Callan was 10. My parents went to the funeral, but I had to stay home with Martha. I never found out why they didn't take me.

"Callan, I'm really sorry. I didn't realize what I had said," I apologized.

"No. It's fine. You just took me by surprise. I used to be really sensitive to the nickname, but now the name just makes me remember all the great times I had with my dad," Cal said with a sad smile.

"From what my parents told me, he seemed like a good guy. I'm sorry I never had a chance to get to know him."

"You know, I thought you would be stuck up and a snob, but your not. Since you are famous and your family is famous, i just assumed that you would have a big head and stuff, but you seem pretty cool.

I laughed at his remark. I definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Well thanks. I guess," I said still laughing.

The rest of the ride went smoothly, I guess you could say. We carried on with easy conversation and got to know each other really well.

At least I know I'll be comfortable at home, now I just have to worry about school.

****

You got to meet the family. Yay! Anyway, I am now two chapters ahead, so as I finish writing the chapter that is two ahead, I will upload the one that is two behind (if that makes any sense). Hope you're having a great day!

The picture is Dylan O'Brien who plays Callan Wesley.

xx