I'm Only Me When I'm With You (Raura) *EXTREME EDITING*

one; nightmare

"Vanessa!" I screamed as my alarm went off waking me from my nightmare only to remind me that I'm now living one. 

I touched my fingertips to my forehead. I was drenched in sweat from trying to outrun my bad dream. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my glasses, slipping them onto my face. I groaned as I threw back the covers and swung my feet to the side of the bed. 

I took a long look at the family picture next to my bed, one of the last ones of us all together.

My older sister, Vanessa, was kidnapped years ago and the few memories I still have of her are slowly waning away. I always appreciated family nights after that. My parents tried their hardest to make me feel like everything wasn't completely falling apart, even though I knew deep down it was. And now, without them here, I can no longer keep the pieces together on my own. 

I'm still just a teenager, so I can't just live on my own. In the event of my parents' death, they had a will drawn up just after we were born so that their lawyers would know where to place me. I had never met these people, but I had no choice. Who was I to deny my parents' final request and I had no place else to go.

I breathed deeply as I brushed my hair. The lawyers arranged to have my cousin, Aubrey, drop me off at the new house and let me get settled. I quickly showered, got dressed, and put my contacts in. 

I heard the familiar sound of my ringtone as she texted.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be... be out in 5."

I hit send and slipped on my shoes.

In just a few short minutes, we were there. She reassuringly squeezed my hand. "Everything will be fine and if not you can always come to stay in my apartment with me and we won't tell." I only smiled back in response. "Thank you, Bree."

"Here goes nothing," I whispered as I shut the car door.

I rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds.

"You must be Laura. It's great to finally meet you," She greeted me with a smile. "Although, I am sorry we're meeting under these circumstances." She opened the door wider and ushered me inside. "Yes, and you must be Mrs. Lynch." She giggled, "Oh honey, please call me Stormie."

"This is my husband, Mark." I smiled politely, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

I heard a loud noise upstairs.

"Oh my stars!" She walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Boys, what did you break this time?" She turned back to me. "I am so sorry."

"Boys will be boys, right?" She smiled. "Boys! Come down and meet our new guest!" After some time, they stumbled loudly down the stairs. "This is Laura, she's your age, Ross. You can show her around school on Monday." His mouth dropped and he slowly nodded. "Hello," I spoke up.

"This is Riker," She pointed to the first boy, a tall blonde with glasses falling off his nose. He quickly pushed them up. It took a second to snap out of his trance but he replied, "Uh, hi."

"This is Rocky," She gestured to an even taller brunette as he shook his hair out and flipped it to the side. He only nodded his head slightly in response.

"This is Ross. We've arranged for your class schedule to be as similar as possible and he can show you around," She put her hand on his shoulder.

His eyes stared intently into mine. And I know what your thinking, it's like all the stories where they meet for the first time, fall in love. No, this was not one of those stories. And I definitely do not love him.

"Here's Ryland, my youngest," She pointed at the smaller boy struggling to compete with the other boys. He glanced back and forth between Ross and me, finally giving up trying to gain my eye contact.

"Boys, where's Rydel?" They finally snapped out of each of their trances and looked around. "Delly! Come on down, our guest is here." I heard a squeal and then soft footsteps running down the stairs. She jumped down off the last step and landed almost right in front of me.

"This is Ry-" She turned around and held up her hand. "Mom, I got this." She turned back to me and smiled. "I'm Rydel, but you can call me Delly, Del, or Dells." I smiled, "It's very nice to meet you," I glanced around, "All of you. Thank you for letting me stay with you."

Stormie smiled, "Your parents were some of my best friends."

"I actually wanted to ask you about that. Were you guys friends during high school or something? I just find it weird that I never met you."

"We were on vacation. Colorado was freezing and our heating system broke. Rocky was just a baby, he needed the warm weather. Instead of moving all of the kids over to my mother's, Mark and I decided it was best to get away from the cold. We took a little trip to Los Angeles and it extended a lot longer than we expected. Mark was working from home, taking trips back and forth to Colorado. We were all exhausted, I was pregnant with Ross, Rocky was only a few months old, Rydel was a year old, Riker was 3. I ran into your mother on the way out of the apartment a few days after we moved in. We got a six-month lease and your mother graciously helped out with the kids. She was pregnant with you at the time and would come over all of the time to help me and let Vanessa play with the children. When we moved back to Colorado, we kept in contact, but eventually, we grew apart. I had five kids to run after and your mother was always making trips out to see us. As time went on, the visits just stopped. We kept in contact over the phone, but you girls were off making your dreams come true in LA. I hope that explains everything. We'll have to catch up when you have time, your mother always kept us up to date with your life."

"Yes, it does, thank you, Stormie."

"No problem sweetie, ask me anything about them. Rydel?"

Rydel linked her arm through mine, "C'mon, I'll show you our room."