The House that I Grew up In

It was overcast and grey outside when Annabelle woke up on Monday, but she didn’t care. She was in far too good a mood after the previous weekend to let the weather bother her. “Anyway,” she grinned to herself in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth. “After the other night with Quinn, I will never complain about clouds or rain again.”

Dressing simply, as usual, Annabelle went downstairs and fixed herself some breakfast. She had no plans that day, as Quinn was spending the day with Forest, who had complained about not seeing his friend all summer. After some intensive teasing, Annabelle encouraged Quinn to spend time with Forest. “We will survive one day apart,” she had grinned up at him the night before on the front porch.

“It’s not the one day I’m worried about,” Quinn looked uncharacteristically sad as he brushed an auburn piece of hair from Annabelle’s face gently. “It’s how little time we have left that bothers me.”

Annabelle bit her lip to stop herself from tearing up. She hated thinking about leaving Quinn, but she wasn’t going to cut off her nose to spite her face; in other words, she had no intention of letting herself or Quinn dwell on the short time left instead of enjoying it. “Wow,” she wrapped her arms around his neck and did her best to give him a smirk. “I thought I’d be the one all sentimental and girly after a roll in the hay, not you.”

Although he knew Annabelle was just trying to make him laugh, Quinn couldn’t muster a smile. “As wonderful as that was,” he leaned his forehead against hers. “You know it’s not about that.”

Unable to keep up the charade, Annabelle rested her head on Quinn’s shoulder. “It’s not entirely about that,” her voice sounded a bit muffled as she pressed closer to his chest. “But this is the first time you’ve really said much about my leaving. Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t have-”

There was no way for Annabelle to finish what she was saying as Quinn pulled back from her far enough to press his mouth to hers. She crumpled against him as he kissed her warmly, holding her close to him again. “I’m sorry,” he finally whispered in her hair as he finished kissing her. “Please, the last thing I want is for you to regret the other night, for any reason.” Looking down into her eyes, he gave her a serious expression. “I just got stupid for a minute. I do that. You should know that by now.”

Laughing, Annabelle felt her shoulders relax as Quinn grinned. “Ok, that’s true,” she teased, smiling wider as he gave her a mock scowl. Stepping back but still holding his hands, she tilted her head. “So, in that case, you are going to hang out with Forest tomorrow, right? Have a guy day with your friend that you’ve been basically ignoring since I arrived in town?”

“Yes, I will,” Quinn nodded, amazed once again by Annabelle. She could make everything right with just a few words. Or a smile. Or a kiss…

At that thought, Quinn pulled Annabelle back to him for one last long, deep goodnight kiss. “I’ll go out tomorrow, and hang out with Forest,” he said as he reluctantly released her. “And then, on Tuesday, you and I will spend the day together.”

“Sounds perfect,” Annabelle agreed, a sincere smile on her face. “Oh, and Quinn?” she added, turning around just as she had entered the front door.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I-” Quinn rolled his eyes at the closed door. “Love you, too,” he said sarcastically, but couldn’t help grin. For such a sweet girl, Annabelle sure liked getting the last word.

“Morning,” Christy’s voice brought Annabelle out of her memory of the night before. “Mmm, that smells good. Is that an omelet? Will you make me one with cheddar?”

Laughing, Annabelle pulled two more eggs from the carton. “If you grab the cheese and orange juice out of the fridge, I will,” she told her friend. “So how was your night last night? Big party, right?”

Making a face as she reached into the stainless steel fridge, Christy nudged the door shut with her knee and put the cheese and juice on the counter. “It was fine, I guess,” she shrugged, reaching for two glasses from the cupboard. “There was someone- I mean, there were some people that I didn’t really want to see there.”

Annabelle flipped Christy’s omelet in the pan and looked curiously at her friend, who seemed to be avoiding eye contact. “Someone?” she asked gently.

“No, I meant some people,” Christy turned, suddenly sounding cold.

Annabelle was getting used to this defensive reaction, though she didn’t know the reason for it, and stopped Christy before she could storm away claiming to no longer be hungry. “But Josh was there, right?” she put forward Christy’s boyfriend’s name, as the thought of him usually calmed her down.

It worked, but not quite as Annabelle had hoped. Instead of smiling at Josh’s name, Christy frowned and her eyes glassed over. “Yeah, but he was hanging out with-” she caught herself, “with THE PEOPLE I don’t really like, and then we kind of got in a fight because he said I wasn’t being nice to his friend-friends.”

Giving Christy a moment to collect herself, Annabelle slid the perfectly browned omelet onto a plate and handed it over. “Well, I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding,” she said cautiously, inwardly wishing Christy would open up to her about what was truly bothering her. “Josh is crazy about you. He’s probably forgotten all about it already.”

Pulling a fork from the drawer and offering one to Annabelle for her own eggs, Christy looked shyly at her friend for a moment. In all the world, there wasn’t anyone Christy trusted more than Annabelle, but she still didn’t want to talk to her about this. “You’re probably right,” she forced a small smile. “And I’ll just be especially nice to him tonight when we hang out.”

“You’re not hanging out with Josh today?” Annabelle asked as she and Christy each took a seat at the marble breakfast nook.

“Oh God, this is good,” Christy closed her eyes and savored her first bite of egg before responding. “No, the team is doing pre-season tryouts this week. And as captain,” she looked proud as she said the word, “he has to be there for all of it.”

“Well, then,” Annabelle smiled to see Christy seeming to come out of her funk. “In that case, do you have plans? We could hang out.”

“No Quinn today?” Christy teased, banging her shoulder against Annabelle’s. “I thought once he finally saw you naked, he wouldn’t let you out of his sight after that.”

Blushing, Annabelle took a big bite of her own omelet. “Quinn’s hanging out with Forest today,” she said, trying to ignore Christy’s suggestive comment. “They haven’t really spent any time together since I got in town.”

“Katy’s boyfriend?” Christy’s voice got nervous again. “I forgot that they’re good friends. Have you seen much of Katy?”

Annabelle knew that the high-pitched edge to her friend’s voice was a warning sign that she was upset, but it was hard for Annabelle to keep ignoring or sidestepping Christy when she had no idea what was bothering her. “I haven’t gotten to hang out with Katy too much, no,” she said gently, putting down her fork. “And when I have, she doesn’t have anything bad to say about you. I swear. I just wish…” Seeing the defensive look back on Christy’s face, Annabelle changed her last statement from what she originally meant to say. “I wish you guys hadn’t grown apart.”

Letting out a little sigh, Christy pushed the rest of her omelet around the plate, but didn’t eat anymore. “Sometimes, people know too much about you, you know?” she said in a small voice, surprising Annabelle. “After you left, Katy was my closest friend in junior high. And then… stuff happened. And we both changed. That’s all.”

Knowing that Christy had been about to say more, Annabelle felt her annoyance rising. She wanted so badly to understand what was bothering Christy so much – what had happened that caused her to change from the sweet, open, fun girl she had known into the defensive person in front of her. “What stuff happened? What could have happened to end your friendship with not just Katy, but everyone?”

Looking like she was struggling for a moment, Christy just sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Like I told you before,” her voice was monotone and she wouldn’t meet Annabelle’s eyes. “I just, like, decided I wanted to be popular. And that wasn’t what our old friends were into. So, I did it myself.”

Frustration was taking over Annabelle, but she forced it back. She was just lucky Christy hadn’t yelled at her for asking anything. “Well, at least you and I are still friends,” she patted the blond’s shoulder and elicited a small smile. “So you didn’t answer. Do you want to hang out?”

Nodding, Christy seemed to transform almost immediately, as if she forced the sadness that had just been written all over her face to somewhere deep inside her. “Totally,” she suddenly bounced out of her seat, putting her dish in the sink. The easy, smiley, happy-go-lucky, confident girl that had picked Annabelle up at the airport earlier that summer was back. “We should hit the mall,” her blue eyes sparkled. “And we can stop by the school, so I can say hi to Josh and apologize. Then maybe grab lunch somewhere nice?”

“Sure,” Annabelle tried to sound enthusiastic, although it was tough. Because the easy, smiley, happy-go-lucky, confident Christy wasn’t the real thing, and Annabelle could see that now. But until Christy was ready to open up to her, all Annabelle could do was try to win her friend’s trust. “That sounds great. Let’s get out of here.”

“Are you kidding me?” Christy gave a dazzling smile to Annabelle. “I have to do my hair and makeup first. I have to look totally hot, so Josh has no choice but to forgive me for being a bitch last night.”
As Annabelle watched Christy dash upstairs, she wondered again what the real reason – who the PERSON was – that had put her in such a bad mood in the first place.


Although Annabelle wasn’t into fashion, she had found shopping with Christy to be a lot of fun. They had tried on all sorts of clothes, from formal dresses to business suits to outrageous outfits in zebra and leopard prints. Annabelle had also picked up a pair of earrings that caught her eye from the same vendor that had sold Quinn his mother’s necklace. “For Julia,” Annabelle explained to Christy, giving her a sad smile.

“Oh, you really miss her, huh?” Christy sympathetically put her arm over Annabelle’s shoulder as they walked towards the parking lot. “It’s hard for me to imagine, because I’d love nothing more than to have two months away from my mom. But Julia and my mom are nothing alike, of course.”

“They used to be,” Annabelle said, and then bit her lip nervously as they approached the car. She hoped she wasn’t insulting Christy. “I mean, they used to be such good friends…”

As Christy slid into the driver’s seat, she shrugged at Annabelle. “I know,” she said sadly. “She changed so much… almost as much as I did.”

Looking over at her friend, Annabelle could tell that Christy’s thoughts were far away – and not in a good place. “You okay?” she asked gently.

Jumping as if she had forgotten Annabelle was there, Christy suddenly threw on her biggest grin. “Sure,” she said, her voice sounding chipper – and false. “It’s just depressing to think about what a mega-bitch my mom has turned into sometimes. So ready to head to the school? How do I look? Is my lipstick ok? I want to look perfect for Josh.”

“You do look perfect,” Annabelle said honestly, trying to smile at her friend.

It is just too bad that it is obviously a façade, Annabelle thought silently to herself.


Josh had tried to pout a bit about their fight when Christy arrived in the gym, but whatever she was whispering in his ear made a smile break across his face. Annabelle turned her eyes as Josh pulled Christy close for a deep kiss – just in time to see a row of wide-eyed freshman boys staring with a combination of lust and envy at the basketball team captain and his gorgeous girlfriend. Their faces were filled with both admiration for Josh and extreme hope that they were seeing a glimpse of what the next four years of high school would be like for them.

“Dream on, losers,” a deep voice called from the back of the gym as if reading Annabelle’s mind. “J is one of the lucky few to nail the cheerleading squad captain. Most of you will remain virgins until graduation, sadly.”

Annabelle rolled her eyes at the look of distress and embarrassment that crossed over the faces of most of the boys in front of her, before looking over with annoyance at whoever had just made such a crass comment about Christy. For some reason, she was not shocked to see The Wiz standing there, bouncing a basketball he had just stolen from one of the boys and tossing a conceited smile at her. “Annabelle, such a pleasure to see you again. And may I say, you look lovely, as usual.”

“Wiz, what are you doing here?” Josh called out, causing Annabelle to look over. She immediately saw a look of… what was that? Disgust? Fear? Loathing? on Christy’s face. She immediately took a step towards her friend as Josh walked over to greet The Wiz. “I told you I’m not done with today’s tryouts until 2.”

Looking over the line of boys, The Wiz shook his head in disgust, and then turned to Josh. “Come on, J. Not one of these KIDS,” he emphasized the word by looking at the scrawniest boy in line, who immediately turned red all the way to the tips of his ears. “None of them is good enough to play for our school. Let’s head out.”

It was obvious to Annabelle that Josh was torn between wanting to be a good captain and wanting to impress The Wiz. “I wouldn’t say that,” he mumbled. “After all, I was pretty skinny when I started.”

“True,” The Wiz shrugged, his eyes suddenly locked on Christy for a moment. Josh didn’t seem to notice, but Annabelle definitely could not ignore his condescending smirk and the way Christy seemed to shrink when he looked at her. “Anyway, it’s almost one. Let the kids go home early today and think about what an embarrassment they made of themselves so far. Maybe it’ll get them up for actually putting forward some effort tomorrow.”

“He didn’t even see them practice,” Annabelle whispered with annoyance to Christy, but when she glanced at her friend, she could tell she hadn’t even heard her. Instead, her eyes were now locked on the floor of the gym. “Christy, you ok?”

Jerking her head up, Christy looked at Annabelle with wide eyes. She didn’t say anything for a moment, and it was almost as if Annabelle could see something change inside her. Christy pulled her shoulders back and BAM! – there was the dazzling smile. “I’m great, Annabelle,” she replied with enthusiasm. “He’s right, honey,” she took a few steps forward and wrapped herself up against Josh. “You’ve been working hard all morning. You deserve to knock off a little early. Why don’t you let the boys go, and you two can join me and Annabelle for lunch?”

Looking a bit confused – not that his normal expression didn’t generally convey confusion – Josh suddenly smiled. “Oh, ok,” he said, nodding. “You’re trying to make up with The Wiz for being such a bitch last night,” he whispered fairly low, but from where she was standing, Annabelle could just about hear him. “Thanks, babe. You really are great.” Turning towards the line of boys who were still standing there awkwardly, Josh smiled. “You guys get to knock off a little early today, but I expect you to come back with twice as much attitude tomorrow. Got it?”

As the younger boys nodded and filed out of the gym, Josh threw his arm over Christy’s shoulder. “I guess we’re all going to lunch,” he grinned. “Sound ok with you two?”

Looking with a smirk at Christy that caused her to tuck herself slightly further against Josh, The Wiz then turned his eyes on Annabelle. “Any chance I get to know Annabelle a little better,” he said, his voice suggestive. “I’ll take it.”

“Food’s fine,” Annabelle said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. She hated seeing Christy this uncomfortable, and it was now obvious that The Wiz was the reason for her discomfort. “My plan is to hang with Christy today, so whatever she wants to do…”

“Thanks,” Christy whispered in Annabelle’s ear as the four people exited the gym. “I… I’m just glad you’re coming.”


Josh, Christy, Annabelle and The Wiz ate lunch at a local cheese steak restaurant – Josh’s choice. There was no doubt, in Annabelle’s eyes, that Christy was uncomfortable around The Wiz, although she was trying to play it off. Still, whenever he spoke directly to her, she gave him a big smile but responded with a tight voice. Annabelle couldn’t blame her, either. As hard as she tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, something about The Wiz made her uncomfortable – something aside from the blatant come-ons.

When Christy’s cell phone went off just as everyone was finishing eating, she jumped. “Babe, you ok?” Josh’s eyebrows crinkled together in confusion.

“Sorry, too much caffeine!” Christy quipped, and then looked at her phone. “Hi Quinn! So nice to hear from you… Yes, this is Christy… No, it’s fine to call my phone, since Annabelle doesn’t have one… Sure, she’s right here. One sec!”

Looking at Christy, Annabelle took the phone. “I, um,” she saw the complete bewilderment on Josh’s face at Christy’s reaction to Quinn’s call, but couldn’t think of anything to say. “I’m going to step outside for a second, if you guys don’t mind,” she finally said, rising from the booth.

As Annabelle walked away, The Wiz stared at her retreating figure with a grin on his face. “So who’s Quinn?” he looked directly at Josh. “Have I got some competition? I thought you said she didn’t have a boyfriend?”

“She does now,” Christy said, a bit too loudly. “I mean, I guess he’s her boyfriend. They seem pretty serious. I don’t know. I have to go to the bathroom.” Jumping up from the table, she hurried to the back of the restaurant.

“Your girlfriend’s weird,” The Wiz said to Josh, leaning back in the booth.

Normally, Josh agreed with everything The Wiz said. After all, he had idolized the guy during his freshman year of high school. But his loyalties still lay with Christy. “She’s not weird,” he replied a bit defensively. “She’s awesome.”

A slow grin spread over The Wiz’s face. “Whatever, J,” he shook his head as if he knew better.
“Anyway, I’m more interested in the weird one that went out front. In fact, I might go check on her.”
Unsure if The Wiz had insulted Christy again or not, Josh didn’t say anything as he watched him slide out of the booth smoothly and saunter out the front door. “Christy isn’t weird,” he said to nobody. “She’s awesome,” he finally mumbled defensively.

“I don’t know, Quinn,” Annabelle leaned against the brick building and sighed into the phone. “I don’t know if Christy will want me to hang out tonight. Besides, you don’t know if Forest has to work or not yet. Why don’t you just call later and we’ll figure it out from there?” She paused and blushed into the phone. “I know we haven’t gotten another chance yet,” her voice got soft in reply. She turned around and jumped when she saw The Wiz standing close behind her. She also knew that her face was beet red. “Quinn, I’m going to go. Call me later? Yeah, everything’s fine. I love you, too. Bye.”

Raising his eyebrows just a bit, The Wiz smirked. “I love you?” he asked, his voice teasing as he brushed some blond hair out of his eyes and crinkled his eyes a bit in doubt. “A few weeks ago, J said you didn’t have a boyfriend. Now it’s ‘I love you’?”

“Not really your business, is it?” Annabelle replied, surprised by the tone of her voice. Normally, she wouldn’t be so short, but she couldn’t help it this time. First of all, she got a bad feeling about The Wiz, despite her mind’s intention to give everybody a fair shake. Secondly, and more importantly, her relationship with Quinn was private and special, and nobody had the right to judge it – least of all someone that didn’t know either of them at all.

“I’m sorry,” The Wiz immediately frowned when he saw Annabelle’s defensive reaction. “You’re right. It wasn’t my business, and I was a dick for saying anything. I guess, honestly, I was just a little disappointed. I didn’t even get a chance to know you before you got in a serious relationship. But I guess that’s my fault; I kind of act like an ass when I’m around pretty girls.”

While Annabelle was aware most of Christy’s new friends would easily fall for the compliment/apology from the attractive guy, she wasn’t most girls. Still, she had that gnawing voice in the back of her head that told her she should give people the benefit of the doubt. As she had given Quinn, and even Josh. And she had been right both of those times to do so, so maybe…

“Well, I do have a boyfriend now,” Annabelle said cautiously, trying to read the now blank expression on the Wiz’s face. “It was friendship at first, which is why the feelings were able to grow so quickly. But he’s very important to me, and I just need to make that perfectly clear.”

“Fair enough,” The Wiz shrugged and put out his hands in defeat. “I guess I missed my shot to ask you on a date; I’m man enough to admit that. But I would like to still try being friends. I get the feeling that you don’t like me very much, though…”

Annabelle could feel heat rising in her cheeks as she realized it would have been difficult for The Wiz NOT to notice how cold she had been towards him. “I’m sorry,” her good nature immediately replied. “I guess it’s just… Christy doesn’t seem too comfortable around you. And she’s my best friend.”

Nodding, The Wiz looked like he understood. “Christy… Christine… Whatever, she has a right not to like me,” he looked almost sheepish. “See, the beginning her freshman year, I guess she kind of had a crush on me. And I wasn’t a very nice guy back then, so I might have been sort of mean to her… I feel really badly about it now, I swear. And I promise, I’m not the asshole I used to be – or that I guess I still seem to be sometimes. Old habits die hard, you know, all that shit.”

“I don’t know,” Annabelle shook her head, still uncomfortable in her gut.

“Come on, I just owed up to being a douche in high school,” The Wiz laughed. “And I know you have a boyfriend – and I respect that. I’m just asking that you give me a chance as a friend. I mean, Josh said you were the type of girl who was nice to everyone, gave everyone second chances…”

Flattered that Josh had said that about her, Annabelle softened a little. “Well, that was nice of Josh,” she said with a small smile. “And sure, of course we can try to be friends. Or at least, you know, I can try to not be hostile towards you.”

“Good,” The Wiz smiled, opening the restaurant door for her. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Despite his words, Annabelle still felt uncomfortable about The Wiz. And, for some reason, she got the distinct feeling that he was watching her ass as the reentered the restaurant.


THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO NESL247. THANK YOU!