Season

[alexandria edeline st. laurent]

"Oh yes. Alot quieter." Alexa had grown used to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. She didn't even notice the car horns and construction noises. And all the people, well, that was what Alexa loved most about New York. New faces everyday. Not all were nice, but you grew used to the grumpy, annoyed people that also lived in the city. Of course, there were the tourists, too. It was hysterical to see them attempting to find their way around the large city. Many times her and her friends would go out people watching. And you could tell which ones were tourists: not dressed for the weather, cameras, t-shirts, just wandering around. Everyone in New York City always had some place to be and were rarely found just walking the streets and enjoying the sights. New Yorkers had seen all the sites and were well adjusted to it all. Tourists seemed to be suprised if they were forcefully pushed while standing on the sidewalk and such. It was quite funny to watch.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't let me win," Alexa assured him. She would have thought less of him if he did let her win. She liked doing things for herself, and not always having things handed to her. Sure, she could get by just on her last name alone. Because of her parents and their jobs, her family had gained alot of respect from high society, so she automaticaly gained that same respect. But, she also liked to make a name for herself, and she usually did a pretty good job at it. Luckily, she didn't have any older siblings to live up to. Or younger siblings to watch after. Alexa loved being her own person.

Five or six sounded good. She could deal with that. Plus, that would give her more time in the morning to get ready for school or to spend with her parents if they weren't away for business. "Senior. My dad's law firm opened a new branch here, so we all had to move," she answered Brenden. Her dad was a lawyer to the rich and famous, hired by many actors, models, and musicians. That combined with her mom's fashion corperation got them invited to the hottest Hollywood parties that took place alll over the world.

[*brenden michael erickson]

Brenden did have to admit that letting a girl win on purpose did sound a lot like something that Jake would do. But he wouldn't do it very often, he'd seen him do that only once and that was only because he'd ran out of ideas on how to impress a girl. How Jake had thought that letting her win would impress her he didn't know. Maybe he'd thought that it would prove that he wasn't completely obsessed with winning or something. Brenden knew for himself that his older brother wasn't a sore loser and that he would admit defeat, most of the time anyway. If there was a competition between them then things were a little different at times. Although Jake had congratulated him last year when he'd found out that he'd broken one of the records that he'd held in track. Sure all he had gotten was a "at least it was broken by you and not some idiot who just got lucky, nice job" but that counted. After all, Jake wasn't one to freely give complements like that to everybody that he met. They basically had to be earned. "I don't think that I could ever let anybody win on purpose." He said and then looked up at the sky, it appeared as if the slight chance of rain today wouldn't happen. That was good though, it meant that he could spend the whole day outside without worrying about getting rained on. Now was he afraid of the rain? No, but he knew that his mother wouldn't exactly like it if she knew he was out in the rain.

He couldn't imagine what it would be like to pack up and move away from everything that you'd ever known. After all, he'd lived here all of his life and basically knew the city like he knew that back of his own hand. Not to mention, he knew of some places that the tourists would never find on their little maps of the city. Like the fact that after seven o'clock at night the wild activity of the boardwalk died down a bit and you could actually walk around on it without getting bumped into every five seconds. Or the fact that there was a lake out in the middle of the woods that didn't have a name where you could sit and watch the sun go down. Now that would seem like a thing one could do anywhere, but at that lake it was always quiet since nobody went out there. It was one of the many places where he liked to just spend a couple of hours relaxing and thinking about the currently things that were bothering him. In fact, he'd just spend a couple of hours out there a few days ago thinking about things. When he came back everything just seemed a little bit better and not to mention sometimes he actually found solutions to his problems. It was like being out there opened up a new path to his mind where he could really think. Some people got their best ideas when they were in the shower, he did when he was out at that lake.

"I can't imagine what it was like to leave everything. But you know what, I'm glad that you're here because it means that I've got another person to run with. Sometimes we'll have another person to run with but he's a sophomore. He's alright though and he wouldn't slow us down." He said and then looked over at her knowing that she probably didn't like to be slowed down by somebody either. It was part of the reason why he'd never had a running buddy full time before. Brenden knew that he might have been a little hasty with asking her to be a running partner. It just was that something had told him that this girl wasn't about to slow him up any and that they could end up having some nice conversations. "When my puppy gets a little bigger he'd probably join us at times. Oh, which reminds me I hope that you're not afraid of wildlife or dogs for that matter. Because you're probably going to be seeing a lot of them. You see, we've got five dogs and sometimes I'll take one of them out with me in the morning." He said and knew that she probably wouldn't mind the dogs..but hopefully she wasn't afraid of wildlife.

[alexandria edeline st. laurent]

The one nice thing about living in a town and not a big city was the fact that she got a chance to drive her brand new red 2008 CLK63 AMG Mercedes Benz convertible. Back in New York, rarely anyone drove. She always used either a taxi or a chauffer. It all depended on where she was going or who she was with. This car was on of the bribes her parents gave her to make it easier to move away from New York. They also promised her that their house would be bigger, she could buy herself a new wardrobe, brand new furniture, a new computer along with a new laptop, all of which she got. But she would much rather have stayed in Manhattan than get all tese things. Nothing could replace the memories she had there. Like sneaking into their high school to throw a party at the school's heated pool during the winter. The numerous clubs they had gotten into, just by dropping a name. And, of course, the annual 'Kiss On The Lips' party thrown by Alexa and her best friend Ashten. It was invitation only and lasted until everyone decided to leave (which usually wasn't until around 3 in the morning). There were proffesional dancers, a bar complete with servers in Armani tuxes, and everyone who was anyone was there. Sometimes even a few celebrities would show up. It was the highlight of everyone's year and it was a great way to kick-off the new school year. Alexa wasn't ready to let that tradition die just yet. She was just going to need to find a place big enough.

"Well, it's fine with me as long as he can keep up," Alexa replied and sat down in the freshly cut, extremely green grass. She opened her water bottle and took a long sip before putting the cap back on. It really was a beautiful day. She leaned back on the palms of her hands and turned her head up towards the sky. She wondered what the sky would look like at night here. In New York, it was too bright for anyone to see any of the stars. She had goen star-gazing a few times when they went to their cabin in North Carolina. Once, when she was younger, she had even fallen asleep under the stars. Her father had to go outside and carry her back to her bed. She remembered that vacation pretty vividly. It was one of the trips where she and her family really connected. They actually seemed like a family, and not a bunch of people living under the same roof, like they were a bunch of roommates.

When he mentioned his dogs, Alexa's face brightened a little more. She loved dogs. "I have a puppy too. He's only a few months old, so he's not quite old enough to join us yet. He was kind of a bribe from my parents so that I wouldn't feel as upset about moving. Or building back in New York didn't allow animals," she spoke up. "What type of dogs do you have?" she asked him. Hers was a Siberian Husky, and they had to cut his hair often so that he didn't get too over-heated. Kavik was the most adorable puppy she had ever seen, and she liked how active Siberian Huskies were. That was part of the reason she had choosen him. Kavik wouldn't have coped well in NYC; no room to run around whenever he liked.

[*brenden michael erickson]

So she had a dog too, perhaps their dogs were around the same age then. After all, Brownie wouldn't be able to join them for a few months either. His little legs were just too short to keep up and he didn't have the stamina to go on long runs. But before Brenden even knew it Brownie would be big enough to go on runs with them. His parents had never bribed him with animals before, they'd bribed him with money though. Usually that was what got him to go visit his great grandparents in the nursing home. Sure they didn't go there very often but when they did they would have to bribe Jake and him into going. Holly would willingly go, but apparently she didn't share any of his(and probably Jake's too) reasons for not wanting to go there. It wasn't that he didn't like his great grandparents it just was that the nursing home seemed so..sterile. With it's blank white walls with the occasional picture hanging here and there. Not to mention it had a slightly odd smell to it that always hit him right when he walked in. That smell was cleaning agents mixed in with the smell of whatever was on the menu that day. There also was another reason why he didn't like to go there, nursing homes always reminded him of death and being in that place gave him goose bumps. Every time he was in there or was told that the family was going there he would think about just how many people had died there for some reason and that was the kicker. He had noticed that Jake seemed not like going there either so at least he wasn't the only one that had to suffer though being there.

"Well, my puppy Brownie is only eight weeks old. He came with that name and he comes to it when he's called so I really can't change it. The other dogs we have are an Irish Setter named Matilda, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever who's name is Duke, a Golden Retriever called Oliver and our older dog is a Black Labrador who's name is Emma." He said and knew that she probably would have figured out that all of those dogs were his father's hunting dogs. Well, Brownie didn't go out with the bunch yet but he was a potential hunting dog anyway. Four of those dogs had came from his grandfather's place. He bred, competed in hunting competitions with and sometimes showed dogs. The other dog was a rescue from the SPCA. Each one of the dogs had their own personalities and his favorite dogs where probably his own, for obvious reasons and Emma just because she was the sweetest dog. Last year it had been really cold out and he'd been sick so he'd stayed in bed. His father had let Emma in and the dog had stayed on his bed the whole day. In fact, if he remembered right Emma hadn't wanted to leave his sight.

He checked his watch and knew that he would need to be getting back soon. But that didn't mean that he couldn't talk with her for a little while longer. His parents were used to him slipping into the house a short while before breakfast was ready. "So, you said that you did cheerleading are you thinking about trying out for the team here? The try outs are in a week if I remember right." He asked, wondering if she would go out for the team. He figured that she was good at cheerleading, after all she did seem to have decent coordination. She actually had the potential to become captain and he really wouldn't be surprised if that did happen.