"Rachel are you ready to go?" I called through the halls of the apartment.

"Yeah! I just have to look perfect!" she yelled back.

I walk over to her and hugged her. "You always looks perfect Rachel." I smiled.

ever since Rachel started school, people judged her. they  made fun of her mom, who was arrested for murder. And they made fun of her not having a dad. He left them before Rachel was born. And as we grew older people called her ugly and a slut. So instead of making the insults stop she decided to make them true. So I've always introduced my friends to Rachel and if they don't like her or they are mean to her, I stop being their friend. Cause if you don't like Rachel, you don't like me either.

she smiled and grabbed the car keys. "Can I drive?"

"Sure, but if you scratch my baby, your going to have to find a new place to live." we laughed, but the thing is, we both new I was serious. I got a Lamborghini  for my twentieth birthday, and Rachel is a horrible driver. How do you think this is going to end?

~*~

Dylan and Myah were sitting in front of the house in their swimsuits. They were tanning out on their lawn chairs.

"Hey." they said in unison 

"Hey, Dylan this is Rachel.  Rachel this is Dylan. She's Ryan's sister."

they shook hand while the two got off of the lawn chairs and put them away in a shed by the side of the house. "So the boys are out back swimming if you guys want to come back. You remembered to where your swimsuits right?" We both nodded.

"Okay well Ryan, Andrew, and Miles will be here in an hour they just had to take care of something." She explained, looking mostly to Rachel than me.

the four of us went out back through the gate. we walked through a garten before we came to the pool area. When we walked up to the pool Myah immediately jumped in and splashed all the boys.

"Come on Rachel! Get in!" Myah called.

Rachel laughed and slipped her cover up off. All the boys in the pool stared at her as she jumped in next to Myah.

"Guys, that's Rachel, my best friend. Dylan said we could swim with our guys for a bit."

Tyler, of course, was the first one to go up to Rachel. He was wearing a smirk and looking her up and down. Rachel looked uncomfortable but smiled at him.

"Hey babe. I'm Tyler. Also known as you future booty call. Cause I'm assuming you already have a boyfriend?"

Rachel was t smiling anymore. She just looked uncomfortable. She may like to have sec but there are some guys that just creeped her out. "Yeah sure."

Dylan pulled me aside closer to the house and farther away from the pool. "Ryan told you about, the thing, right?"

"Yeah he told me this morning when we were texting."

She nodded her head. "Ok. And if you don't already you should probably know that the rest of the boys are also apart of the thing." Her voice turned to a whisper at the end of her sentence.

"Ok." Is all I said.

She gave me an uncertain look. "And your not scared or nervous in front of us? Cause usually people are."

"No. You guys wouldn't do anything to hurt me. And if you guys did, Ryan would probably kill all of you." I joked.

We chuckled before Dylan continued. "Ryan and the others will be back in 5 minutes." She told me.

I smiled at her. "You want to tan until they get here?"

"Sure, but first we should get Tyler away from Rachel." Dylan laughed, motioning to the two in the pool.

I looked over and saw Tyler flirting with Rachel. She caught my eye and signaled for me to help.

Dylan and I walked back to our pool chairs. "Tyler stop flirting with her. She's not into douche bags." Dylan said to him.

He glared at her before swimming back over to the other boys who were watching him amusingly.

I took off my over cover and stood next to Dylan. Just like they were to Rachel, they were staring at me like I just came out of a spaceship.

Rolling our eyes, Dylan and I laid down on the pool chairs while Myah and Rachel continued swimming with the boys.

After a few minutes of laying there tanning, we all heard a howling like screech. It's sounded like Tarzan.. All the sudden three shirtless guys ran past us and jumped in the pool.

"That would be the guys." Dylan laughed, shifting her sunglasses onto her head.

I laughed along with her and shook my head as three heads slashed out of the water.

Ryan swam up to the end up the pool and looked at me. "Hey Autumn! Why don't you jump in."

I shrugged. "Eh. I'm just not in the mood to swim."

I closed my eyes to begin tanning again when I felt myself being lifted off of the chair. I opened my eyes and saw Ryan. Of course it was. Who else did I think it would be?

He threw me into the pool then jumped in besides me. He pulled me into a hug. "How ya doing Autumn?" He smiled at me.

Rachel came up from behind me. "Did he just call you Autumn?"

I smiled remembering that Ryan and Rachel haven't met yet. Aw. When you think about it, their names sound so cute next to each others'.

"Oh yeah! Rachel this is Ryan. Ryan this is Rachel. She's my best friend." I introduced them.

They shook hands before all the boys dog piled on Ryan making him go under. Myah, Rachel, and I paddled away from the splashing and walked towards Dylan who began to swim.

~*~

Everyone gathered around the island in the kitchen wrapped in towels. Logan handed everyone a fork and a bowl full of watermelon.

"So what's everyone doing for thanks giving?" Miles asked.

"Well I'm probably gonna spend my night at bar in hopes of getting laid." Tyler smirk scooting closer to Rachel. Rachel scooted farther way and closer to Andrew who hasn't said a thing since he got here.

"Miles, Logan, Ryan and I are going to Denver, Colorado to visit some old friends." Dylan smiled hugging Miles.

"Myah and I are going to Portland, Oregon to visit her family for the week." Dean commented.

"Rachel and I are going to Chicago, Illinois to visit my family. I haven't seen them since we moved to South Carolina." I said next.

Everyone looked at Andrew since he hadn't mentioned what he was doing for Thanksgiving this year.

He shrugged. "I got no family to go to and no friends to go with so.." He trailed off.

Logan smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can come with us to see Henry." He offered.

Andrew shrugged again. "Henry and I hate each other."

"Would you like to come with Dean and I?" Myah asked.

He smiled at them. "Nah. I would if you two weren't dating but if I go I'm just gonna be a third wheel."

I raised my gaze from my bowl of watermelon and looked at Andrew. "You could come with Rachel and I. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind setting out an extra plate."

He looked at Rachel who smiled at him. He stared at her for a few more seconds before looking back at me. "If I wouldn't cause to much trouble. That'd be nice. Thanks Autie."

"Well we leave two days before Thanksgiving so be ready." Rachel told him while picking at her food.

"Is there room for me?" Tyler smirk.

Rolling my eyes I said, "sorry everyone there is either going to be married or under the age of eighteen. Your weekend of banging might be Interrupted."

Everyone chuckled while Tyler lead against the counter. "Your not taken are you?"

I stiffened at the comment and didn't have the chance to answer before Ryan did it for me. "No. She isn't with him anymore." He glared.

People were taken aback by his reaction. I wasn't though. He cared about me that's all. He was just angry that Alec hurt me.

I shoved a piece of watermelon into my mouth before anyone could ask me a question. Instead everyone remained looking at Ryan.

"You okay buddy?" Logan asked.

"Yeah is something going on here?" Myah asked pointing her fork to Ryan and I.

I choked slightly and Ryan took a step away from my side. "N-No. I just don't like what he did to her and it makes me angry to think anyone would hurt her."

"Aww!" Cooed Myah when the boys smirked at him in a knowing way.

Dylan rolled her eyes and slight smile. "No feelings my ass." She muttered.

~~
Hey everyone! Please check out my new book Alyssa's Journey! It is guaranteed to be my best book yet but is also a work in progress :) i hope you find the time to read the prologue. I'm really proud of this one!