Young Hearts (Book 2) COMPLETED

Chapter 1: Landon

August 1998

"Booyah, beeotch!" Connor says as he finishes me with Guile's special attack. We've been in my room playing Street Fighter on my Nintendo 64 most of the day.

"Damn," I groan. "Come on. Another roun--" my door flies open before I can finish my thought. "What the hell?" I look over to find my girlfriend standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and lips turned down into a frown.

"I've been calling you for hours, why didn't you pick up?" she demands.

"Samantha, you can't just barge into my room."

"Have you been playing these stupid games all day? Is that why you were ignoring me?"

Connor laughs, "See, told you."

"What did you tell him?" asks a displeased Samantha.

"I told him to call you back because you were going to come over if he didn't."

"I was going to call you after we were finished," I reply.

She walks over and turns off the Nintendo 64. "You're finished playing now. BYE Connor."

"What the hell! Why would you do that?" I yell.

"Don't raise your voice at me!"

Connor stands up, "Dude." He gives me a sympathetic look, "I'll catch you tomorrow. See you later Sam," he says to pester her as he leaves out the room.

"It's SAMANTHA! Sam is a boy's name."

I learned early that she hated nicknames, but Connor likes to mess with her and call her Sam or Sammy just to annoy her. I let out a frustrated sigh and go to lay on my bed and turn the TV to The Real World on MTV. "You know, you can't just chase my friends away like that."

Samantha comes and sits beside me, "WELL if you had answered my call, I wouldn't have to chase your little buddy away. I just wanted to spend some time with you. You never want to spend time with me."

"That's not true, I spend time with you, but I also need time to hang with my friends."

Samantha snatches the remote from my hand. "We're not watching this." She changes the channel and puts on Sweet Valley High. There's a knock on the door. "Come in," Samantha calls out.

What the fuck? Did she really just do that?

Rosita, our housekeeper, comes in with a plate in hand. "Ms. Samantha here's the salad you requested." Rosita brings the plate over to Samantha.

"Eww, I wanted the dressing on the side. I'm on a diet. Take it back and make another," she demands condescendingly.

"Yes of course."

I roll my eyes. She has a lot of nerve coming to my house ordering everybody around. Why didn't she eat at her house before she came over. Demanding food, cutting off my game console, sending Connor away, changing the channel. Who does she think she is?

I continue to quietly stew on the bed. Soon, Rosita returns with a freshly made salad with the dressing on the side. Without saying a word to Rosita, Samantha yanks the plate from her and turns her attention back to me.

"Are you excited about Amber's party on Saturday?" she asks as she picks at her lettuce.

"Not really. I don't particularly care for parties. I'd rather stay home."

"Landon don't be so lame. It will be fun."

"Yeah, whatever you say," I mumble.

"You know what else will be fun?" She gets up and locks the door before climbing on top of me.