Chapter Five

*** ROLLAND POV***

I slam my locker shut and sling my now heavy backpack onto my shoulder. As I make my way to where Oliver had said his locker was I spot a dreadful head in the sea of students trying to leave the school. Lucas. He spots me and gives me his evil Cheshire cat smile before heading to the buses. I swallow the bile in my throat and take a few deep breaths, trying to keep myself from tearing after him and beating his smug face into the cement sidewalk. But of course if I do that then Allen and I would be separated, and he knew it. Some how that little Satan spawn had figured out my situation. I take a few more deep breaths as I feel my anger rise. Finally after about ten minutes I know I can move again without doing anything violent and I push my way through the thinning crowd to Oliver's locker. He was already there leaning against it, one leg up with his foot to the locker, a book in his hand. Kenna was sitting down leaning against his leg listening to music, her head bobbing to the beat. Her eyes meet with mine and suspicion enters them as she elbows Oliver to get his attention. He marks his page with a bookmark before looking up to give me his toothy grin.

"There you are, I thought you had lost your way or something!" He says cheerfully. I blush.

"Sorry, I saw Lucas and waited until he left the building before heading over." I say trying to keep anger out of my voice. Kenna gets up, that suspicion still in her eyes. Anger swirls inside of me. Why did she keep giving me those looks? What have I done to make her so suspicion? The chick didn't even know me. Oliver's face pales at the mention of Lucas but he tries to cover up his obvious dislike by giving me another toothy grin.

"Good thinking. Come on, lets swing by your place." he says bending down to grab his bag and stuff his book in there. Before the book disappears into the bag I catch the title. Can't get there from here by Todd Strasser. One of my favorite books. He jerks his thumb toward the student parking lot and the three of us head over. We make our way over to a beautiful car and I stop dead in my tracks. There sitting in front of me was the sexiest car I had ever seen, my jaw couldn't help but drop to the ground below. I hear a snicker from beside me and painfully tear my eyes away from the car to see Kenna laughing. I glare at her and quickly turn my eyes back to the little slice of heaven in front of me. A Black nineteen ninety-Five Mazda Rx7 sat in the parking lot, making all the other cars look dull and dingy.

"This is your car?" I squeak out as Oliver heads over to it, unlocking it. He turns to me and gives me a proud smile, puffing out his chest. "How did you afford this?" I say in awe as I slowly go over to it. I place a hesitant hand on the hood. He laughs.

"I've been saving up for this beauty since I was about eight years old, Kept any and all money I could get my hands on in a small manila envelope and kept it on me at all times. I saved up over two thousand dollars, It helped that one of the families I lived with would give me and Jeremi part of the money the government gave them. Jeremi would give me her part so I could save up. For my sixteenth my mom and dad gave me the rest and Voilà Here it is." He explained, and again jealously shot through me. Why couldn't Allen and I have a foster family like that? "Here get in." He says and I snap out of my thoughts, pushing away the jealousy. Oliver was holding down the driver seat so I could get into the back, a apologetic look on his face. "The back seat is extremely tiny, sorry in advance." He says. I shrug, toss my bag on the floor and crawl in, now understanding what he meant. My tall frame was squeezed into the smallest space in car History.

"Holy S**t this is tight." I say as I draw my legs up to get some more room. Kenna snickers.

"That's what he said." She says before bursting into laughter. Oliver and I share a look in the rear-view mirror and shake our heads.

"What are we in middle school?" Oliver asks and Kenna whacks him on the arm. "OUCH! Stop hitting me!" He whines as he turns the car on, the humming of the engine vibrating through me. "For being so Rude to me you do not get to select the music. Here Rolland you can." he says unlocking his phone and tossing it to me. I scroll through his music. Black Sabbath, In this Moment, Icon for Hire, Kansas, N.W.A.

"Dude your music style is all over the place." I shake my head and continue scrolling. I raise my eyebrow and look at him in the mirror. "Really? Bebier?" He gives me a guilty smile.

"Guilty pleasure." He says and drives out of the parking lot. I shake my head and finally find something worth listening to "Don't question my heart Don't question the fire That burns inside Don't question my heart Don't question my heart Prepare to fight" Don't Question My Heart by Saliva sings to me. The song was my theme, it was like the band had written it just for me.

"Hey were do you live?" Kenna asks turning in her seat to peak at me over the head rest. I rattle off my address and Oliver makes an illegal U turn and heads to my place, my anxiety rising with every passing second. Finally, the Morganstien's house looms in front of us and Oliver parks the car in their driveway. He gets out and folds the seat down for me. I spring out, glad to be out of the backseat if only for a few minutes. "Kenna you stay here I'll be right back." Oliver says. I shake my head quickly.

"No, Just stay here Please! I'll be right back!" I say quickly. But before I can pick up my backpack he is already hauling it out and walking toward the house. S**t s**t s**t S**T! I run after him and stop him from knocking on the door. "Fine, if you insist on coming in, stay next to me and don't say a word." I mutter under my breath before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

"ROLLAND IS THAT YOU?" Comes the nasally voice of my Foster mother Karen. I cringe and motion Oliver to follow me down the stairs to the basement where mine and Allen's room was.

"Yes Karen It's me, I'll Be right there." I shout back and practically shove Oliver down the stairs. We jog down them and I fling open the door to the spare room. Allen Jumps in his desk chair and turns around, his pale grey eyes looking at me like a deer in the headlights. I drop my bag and stride over to him gathering him up in a hug. "Hey Bud How was school?" I ask letting go. He shrugs and his eyes slide over to Oliver, widening. He tugs on my shirt and brings me down to his level so he can whisper in my ear.

"Is that Oliver?" He asks, his voice timid. I grin and nod making him Grin. I look over at Oliver to see h is face is bright red and I laugh motioning him over.

"Oliver this is Allen, Allen, Oliver." I say and Oliver flashes my brother his toothy grin, my blush not going un noticed by Allen. Oliver sticks his hand out.

"Nice to meet you Allen, you have an amazing brother right here." He says Making Allen giggle and shake his hand.

" I like you you're funny!" He giggles making me smile. My brother Rarely ever liked people. He was painfully shy and scared to get close to anyone. We had been in to many homes to make friends.

"ROLLAND!" A woman screeches from upstairs making all three of us Flinch. I gulp.

"Be right back." And I leave the room bounding upstairs. "Yes Karen?" I ask entering the kitchen where she was cooking dinner. She looks over at me with distain.

"I'm making dinner, does your brother like Lasagna?" She asks her voice shrill. I shake my head. Lasagna Yuck! She makes a grunting nose. "Well he will just have to deal with it." She snaps and turns back to making the food. I flip her off behind her back before pushing down my anger.

"Um Karen I was wondering, could Allen and I go to my friend Oliver's house? For dinner." I ask Crossing my fingers hoping she would say yes. She sighs in frustration but nods.

"Fine fine get out of here, at least now I don't have to hear him whine about the food. GO." She snaps. I grin before thanking her and running back down stairs. As I get to the door I hear Allen giggling happily. I stop at the door, pressing my ear to it to see if I can hear anything. I hear Oliver Making a weird noise that was making Allen laugh so hard he snorted. I grin and open the door to see Oliver sprawled out on the floor, rubbing his head. I laugh

"What did you do?" I ask he just looks at me and pouts.

" I did nothing, your backpack decided it was going to trip me and I fell hitting my head." He whines and stands up. "Oh Allen found your phone." He says handing it to me. I take the simple flip phone and push it into my pocket. "Can you come over?" He asks. I nod and point to Allen. Oliver gets the hint and nods again turning to him "Hey Allen want to come to my house with us? I have a pet Parrot that would love to just chill on your shoulder." Allen's eyes widen and he nods furiously. "Alright lets go!" Oliver cries and marches out of the room like a solider. Allen and I look at each other and shrug before following him out. Allen takes my hand and I look at him.

" I like him, I can see why you're crushing on him." He says and runs to catch up to him. I stare after my little brother. Crushing? That was impossible! I just met the guy!!!!

*** OLIVER POV***

The four of us pull into my drive way and we get out, Kenna letting Allen out and me letting Rolland. We make our way to the front door and I quickly unlock it, dropping my bag in the coat closet.

"Mom? Dad? You guys home?" I call out. I knew Jeremi was at Lewis's house and wouldn't be home till later tonight. A voice from the living room has me motioning the others in there to find my mom and dad curled up on the couch watching a movie. Today was Tuesday and the one day they both had off, they always made it a priority to have date day and spend the whole day together while we were at school. I found it just romantic. Mom looks over and her eyes flicker with surprise when they land on Rolland and Allen.

"Oh my I didnt know you were having friends over!" She says getting up. Kenna scoffs.

"What am I chopped liver?" She mutters and my mother sticks her tongue out.

" Oh Kenna you are like another daughter to me, I don't consider you a guest I consider you family." She says hugging her. Kenna just beams making us boys roll our eyes. "now Who are these Handsome boys?" Mom asks smiling. Allen shrinks back gripping onto Rolland's shirt. My heart thuds in sympathy. I knew what it was like to be shy of new people, especially people as nice as my mom. When you're in the system, overly friendly people tended to be mean once the Social workers were gone. I point to Allen

"This cool guy right here is Allen, He's my new best friend Sorry Kenna. And this." I swallow and blush. "This is Rolland, Allen's older brother. Rolland goes to school with us, He's new." At the mention of Rolland's name Dad's head shoots up and he looks at him, a look of weariness creeping into his eyes. What was THAT for? I shake it off. "Is it alright if they stay for dinner? Oh and Kenna's mom is out of town for a few days can she crash here?" I ask.

"Of course to both things. I hope you two like Tacos!" She says and I cant help grinning when I see Allen's deer like eyes light up and a smile stretch's across his face.

"YES!" He shouts and gives me a high five. I mentally fist bump. HELL YEAH the Hot guys brother likes me BROWNIE POINTS!!! He peers up at me and gives me a small smile. "Can I see your parrot now?" He asks. Kenna snorts and me, Rolland AND my mom all shoot her a look making her swallow down the remark we all knew she was about to say. I give Allen my toothy grin and giggle when I see Rolland's blush.

"Yeah Allen she's actually right over there" I point to the left corner of my living room where a Large floor to ceiling cage sat opened. Allen's eyes light up and he goes to run over but stops, looking at me for permission. I c**k my head and together we walk over to her. Holding up my arm Beauty Makes a high pitched squawk before spreading her wings and flying off her cage to land on my arm. Walking sideways up my arm she butt her head under my chin as a sign of affection. I whistle softly and she squawks again.

"OLLY HOME OLLY HOME!" She cries butting her head under my chin again. I look down at Allen as he stares up at me with wonder. Rolland walks over and whistles in awe.

"Wow Oliver she's beautiful" He says reaching out to pet her. I hold out my arm and she surprises us all by flying off me to land on Allen's head making him yelp in surprise. I laugh.

"It's ok Allen she wont bite, just hold your arm out like this." I show him and she hops off his head onto his arm.

"Nice boy!" She cries and walks up his arm to his shoulder, proceeding to pick at his hair.

"Wow! That's a good thing Allen that means she likes you!" I say making Allen giggle. " Her name is Beauty she's a blue and gold Macaw and she is about 7 years old. She was mine and Jeremi's adoption present. She liked me better though." I shrug. "Allen you can sit on the floor near her cage if you want. She likes to be petted and talked to and here" I bend down and open the small drawer under her cage, revealing some treats. She hears the bag and Cries again

"Snacks!" She shouts and flaps her wings. I look at her.

"What do you Say Beauty?" I ask holding out the treat. She flaps her wings again and whistles the theme to charmed while she thinks.

"PLEASE!" She finally squawks. I give her the treat.

"Mom can you get Allen some treats for Beauty?" I ask as I grab Rolland And Kenna's wrists. "I think there are some Apples." I turn to Allen. "You can stay here and feed her apples, they're her favorites. If you want to come to my room just tell Her Olly's room and she will fly to my room." I say, proud that I taught her that trick. I tug my friends to the stairs and the three of us jog up them and all the way to my room which was the last door in the hallway. I push them in and close the door. Rolland looks around my room again, his stormy eyes missing nothing. He looks at all the posters hanging on my walls and I blush. I was a weird kid and I knew it

"Charmed, Supernatural, Merlin, and-" He raises an eyebrow and points to the poster on my closet door. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is." HE says trying not to laugh. I cross my arms and frown at him. He looks at Kenna. "Please tell me your best friend does NOT have a poster of the Pretty Little Liars on his closet door." He says unable to hold in his laughter any longer. I flip him off.

"Hey That Caleb guy and Toby are Hot as hell! that's the ONLY reason I watch." I say defensively. He shakes his head. I go over and sit on my bed patting it for Kenna who just plops on it, kicking her shoes off and laying down so her head was in my lap and her socked feet were on my pillows. Rolland stands in the middle of my room looking nervous. I point to my beanbag chair. " Drag it over." He gives me a smile and drags it over, folding his tall frame into it gracefully.

"Olly I'm bored, entertain me!" Kenna demands. I look down at her and stick my tongue out. There was really nothing in my house to do. There never was. I didn't have a dog to play with, I was horrible at video games and Kenna loathed them. I didn't have a hot tub or swimming pool. The only cool thing about my house was the RV that my parents had turned into a kids hang out for Jeremi, Kenna and I when I was around twelve. Kenna looks up at me with her sparkling blue eyes and grins, jumping up. "Lets go to the Magic school bus!" She cries and grabs my wrist. I sigh. I knew that was going to happen. Rolland bursts out laughing.

"M-Magic sch-school bus?" He says between giggles. I rolls my eyes. Kenna grabs the front of his shirt and yanks him up. Kenna was strong, even if she was only five foot tall. Rolland's eyes widen at her strength and I snicker. She drags us out of the room, only stopping to grab the Neon pink Key that was hanging from a nail near my door. She pulls us down stairs and toward the sliding back doors. "Hey Allen want to go outside?" Rolland calls. Allen looks up from feeding Beauty, a torn look on his face. I laugh and hold out my arm. Beauty Flaps off the ground and onto my arm butting her head under my chin. Allen's eyes dim and I shake my head.

"She can come outside. But she has to stay with me until we get out to her cage or she will fly off. Kenna here found that out the hard way." I look to Kenna who just glares at me.

"Hey we found her later that night!" She says defensively. I push her gently. Allen gets off the floor and hurries over to Rolland, slipping his hand in his. The four of us head outside and Allen's and Rolland eyes practically pop out of their skulls as they take in my back yard. In the middle of the fairly large space was in outdoor enclosure for Beauty, one that was eight feet tall and five feet wide. there was a small tree inside, it's top leaves sticking out of the holes in the top. " This way she can still fly around like the bird she is and not stuck in the house all day. Allen you can go inside and actually climb the tree if you want, or sit on the bench that's in there." I explain. Beauty spots her enclosure and squawks happily, flapping her wings and taking off towards it. My heart thuds in panic for a moment like it always does, calming down when she lands on the perch outside the space, waiting for me to open it. I unlock the simple latch and she flies in, heading straight for the tallest branch. I step aside and let Allen rush in, already starting to climb. "If you need us we will be in there." I point to the large RV that is tucked away in the corner. He looks at it and nods before continuing his climb.

"Please be careful Allen you remember the last time you climbed a tree!" Rolland shouts, making the young boy calm his mad scramble. Rolland looks at me and smiles. " He fell from a weak branch and broke his arm." He shrugs. "Little kids." I jerk my chin to the RV, loop my arm through Kenna's and the two of us skip over to it Happily Rolland tagging along behind. When we get there Kenna unlocks the door and throws it opening making us step aside for Rolland to go first. He gives a suspicious look before going up the two small steps. His gasps makes me grin as I follow behind. the outside of the RV looked dingy and creepy. But inside Jeremi and I with Kenna's help had decked it out to look like a stereo-typical 70's blast. "it looks like a 70's party threw up in here." he says. I flash him my toothy grin.

"That was the Idea!" all the normal things in an RV like the seats attached to the walls, the Fridge and kitchenette had all been ripped out, even the drivers seat and passenger side seat had been ripped out. The rug had been replaces with a neon green shag rug and the walls had been painted a pale neon like blue. Jeremi had been obsessed with the Mystery van from Scooby-Doo so there were red flowers painting onto the walls to give the mystery van vibe. Instead of the couches there were yellow, orange and pink beanbag chairs. Instead of a large fridge there was a mini one that ran on the generator and only really ever held soda. the cabinets were still there and held a mountain of junk food. Two floor to almost ceiling lava lamps stood where the driver and passenger seat once were. Their colors blue and red. I flipped the switch for the generator and the lamps turned on, the noise of the fridge hummed quietly in the background. Kenna flopped in a bean bag chair and opened the fridge grabbing an orange soda. I motioned for Rolland to sit next to her and go over to the small TV and Blu-ray DVD player. "What do you guys want to watch? I have the complete works of Charmed, Angel, Buffy, Game of Thrones, Pretty little liars, Merlin, Once upon a time, Haven"

"HAVEN!" Kenna and Rolland shout at once. I look over at them and flash my toothy grin. Rolland blushes.

"What? I like Duke, He's a badass" He mutters. I snicker

" It all started when I was five years old." Both Kenna and him look at me

" My Unicorn got run over by a tractor" WE all finish together and burst into laughter.

"Oh man that was the best quote in the entire series!" Kenna says wiping tears from her eyes. Rolland nods in agreement.

"Episode 3 season 4 is the Best episode in my opinion." Rolland says and my mouth drops open. He gives me a look "What?" I grin

"Well Duh its the best. Duke all hero like with that pool of blood, All groaning and s**t!" I say. Kenna just rolls her eyes and shakes her

"No Way Episode 8 season 4 is the best! The one where Duke is struggling to deal with the death of Wade and the loss of his trouble!" She says. Rolland and I shurg.

"Its a close second." We say at once and burst out laughing. The three of us then agree to just skip seasons one through three and went straight to season four. Which we finally had all agreed was the best season in the entire series. Something about Duke finally finding love made it all the more amazing. We watch about three episodes until we hear a small knock on the door. Kenna calls that its open and Allen appears a few minutes later.

"Oliver your mom said it was time for dinner." He says. Rolland opens his arms and his twelve year old brother comes over and sits in his lap and they wait as I quickly put away the DVDs. Allen giggles when he sees the case. "Rolland you are obsessed with Haven." He says "And the Avengers." He quickly adds before Rolland can slap a hand over his mouth. I laugh.

"Hey I get the Avengers, Hawkeye and Loki are sexy beasts." I say. Rolland blushes but nods. Kenna smacks me upside the head.

"Get it right Thor is a sexy beast. Loki is just an evil a*****e." She slaps a hand over her mouth and looks at Allen. "Sorry I shouldn't swear. " Allen shrugs and gets up.

"I've heard worse out of his mouth." He says jerking a thumb at his big brother. Rolland blushes and mumbles a sorry before following his brother out of the RV. Kenna and I finish shutting things down, turning the generator off and locking up the club house. " Beauty refuses to leave the tree. I tried to get her out." He says giving me an apologetic look. I shrug and wave him off dismissively.

"She's fine. There's bird seed in there if she gest hungry and I'll put some fruit in there after dinner. she can sleep in there tonight" I say. " Now come on I want tacos my mother makes home made salsa." The four of us race to the back doors, playfully pushing each other trying to get in first. Kenna of course wins and skips on in ahead of us all smug like. Us boys just shrug and following after her like peasants following their queen. We wash our hands and gather around the Breakfast bar where all the ingredients for Tacos were. I look around and frown. "Mama Where's Jeremi?" I ask thinking she would have been home by now.

"At Janet's house for the night." She says naming Jeremi's best friend after me. My dad comes in and the six of us crowd around the dinner table to eat, none of us talking as we stuff our faces. We talk a little and after dinner help my parents clean up, putting away the extra things in tuber were and storing them in the fridge for later. My mom hands me a plate an Apple, orange, and pear cut up and the four of us head outside to the cage. While inside Rolland and Kenna sit on the bench. Rolland takes his phone out of his pocket and answers it.

"Hello?" His body goes rigid and Allen's face pales. "Hank, Allen and I are at my friend Oliver's house. I told Karen before we left. What?" His eyes narrow and his hands ball into fists. " No! She gave us permission! Fine Fine Yes We're on our way. be there Shortly." He snaps and slams the phone shut. He looks at me and I see the quiet rage simmering in his eyes. But he pushes it down and gives me an apologetic smile. "Can you bring Allen and I home? Foster dad wants us back." He says. Allen goes to his brother and slips a hand in his. I nod.

"Sure let me just put these in here and We'll go." I say and go over to the small metal cage where we put the fruit. I quickly dump them in there "Be good Beauty I'll check on you later." I shout into the tree hearing a happy squawk in return. We leave the cage and Kenna heads to the RV.

"I'll be here when you get back just wake me up most likely." She calls over her shoulder and slips in, five minutes later the Lava lamps turn on. We head back in and I call to My parents letting them know I was bringing them home. They call goodbye and be safe and return to their movie date. Grabbing my keys we head outside to my car. Rolland goes to the back.

"Allen you can have the front." He says and the boy Beams jumping into the front as I let Rolland in the back. I turn the car on, unlock my iPod and hand it to Allen. Who grabs it greedily and thanks me profusely. We drive the fifteen minutes home listening to Linkin Park and Seether, a strange but cool combination. We pull into their drive way and Allen gives Rolland a knowing look before heading to the front porch to wait for him. I look back at Rolland. He was looking down at his feet, his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for today, It was really fun. And I know Allen is in love with that bird. He's always loved birds." He rambles a blush creeping on his face. I stare at him. This hot sexy guy was rambling and blushing in front of me? How adorable! I clear my throat.

"No problem you guys are welcome over any time. Maybe this weekend we can have a sleepover and crash in the RV, Beauty can stay in there with us." I say casually. Rolland looks up with disbelieving eyes.

"Wait you would want to have a sleepover with me? And Allen?" He asks. I laugh.

"You're brother is cool, and I like you. You're cool too." I stutter. my heart being wildly. Rolland just looks at me. While we had been talking we had somehow moved closer. We were now almost touching our faces just inches from one another. I look at his lips then quickly look back into his storm colored eyes, a blush spreading across my face.

And like that before I knew what was happening he leaned in, closing the small space between us and pressed his soft lips to mine.

Author's Note

OOOOH A KISS!!!!!!!!!!