“Are we there yet?!”

                “Kory! You’ve asked me that twelve times already!”

                “Well, I’ll stop asking when we get there! Duh!”

                My mom groaned in annoyance. “Kory, we are NOT there yet,” she grumbled. “And if you ask me one more time, I’m kicking you out of the car and you can hitchhike.”

                I pouted and shrank down in my seat, crossing my arms childishly as I glared out the window as the world sped by.

                “Where’s your iPod? Why don’t you listen to that?” mom asked, glancing at me.

                I dug around in the backseat until I produced my iPod. I stuck my headphones in and turned it up as Let’s Get It played their song Maps.

                I leaned back against the seat and turned to look out the window again, wondering how close we were but not daring to ask. I didn’t feel like hitchhiking. With my luck, I’d get some creepy fat pedo bear truck driver named Joe Bob who would take my poor virginity! Ew. No thank you!

                You see, my mom had married her boyfriend of five years, and was now moving to live with him today. He was a nice guy named Brandon, and I could tell he really loved my mom. That got him a gold star in my book.

                Brandon had a son, but I had never met him before. Isn’t that wonderful? My mom’s been with this guy for five years, and I’ve never met his kid before. Hell, I didn’t even know how old his kid was!

                I had been at the wedding, but Brandon’s son hadn’t been. He had been home sick with the flu. Too exhausted to come and not wanting to spread the disease around, he had missed the wedding.

                Mom always talked about us meeting over the summer, but I always went to summer camp with a group of my friends, so that never happened. She would talk about us meeting over school breaks, but I went away with friends during those, too.

                I felt really bad about having never met Brandon’s son, but that was going to change today! I was finally going to meet this kid now that we were stepbrothers.

                I began to wonder what Brandon’s son was like. My mom had met him a few times, but she didn’t say much about him. Then again, I always asked about Brandon and she loved to talk about him. I probably should’ve asked her about his son.

                I really hoped that Brandon’s son was as cool as Brandon himself. Brandon was really, really funny and nice. He and my mom got along great and they were perfect for each other. I would say they were ying and yang, but that would make me think dirty thoughts. And when those thoughts concerned my mom and her new husband…yuck. Just yuck. Uh-uh, no way, no thank you!

                Feeling tired, I stretched a little, banging my knee on the dashboard and glaring at it. I pointed a threatening finger at it.

                “Don’t mess with me. I have a license to kill!” I threatened.

                “Kory, when you start threatening the dashboard, I think that means you need a nap,” mom said with a sigh, shaking her head at me.

                “Eyes on the road woman!” I cried and she sighed again and turned her attention back to the road as she drove. I made myself as comfortable as possible in the car seat, careful of my knee this time, and closed my eyes. The exhaustion from the past week of packing finally hit me like a train, and I fell into an uncomfortable sleep quickly.

                                                                                                ***

                “Kory! Kory, wake up!”

                Someone was shaking me and calling my name. I groaned and rolled over, smacking not only my knee, but my face as well.

                “Ah!” I cried, jumping up and smacking my head too. Three different body parts in pain and only two hands was not fair!

                I groaned and decided to use my hands to rub my throbbing knee and aching face. I glared at the car door, to the dashboard, to the ceiling of the car.

                “I hate all of you! You for ruining my walking, you for ruining my beautiful face, and you for killing my brain cells!” I said angrily, pointing to each part of the car that had injured me as I spoke.

                “Kory, make sure you get a good sleep tonight. I’m beginning to wonder how good you would look in a straightjacket. Anyways, we’re here,” mom said, gathering her purse and pulling the keys out of the ignition.

                “Hey! I would look fabulous modeling a straightjac- YA HOO WE’RE HERE!” I cheered, trying to fist pump and ending up with injured knuckles instead.

                “OW! Dammit mom; I hate this car!” I cried in frustration as I gently sucked on my knuckles to ease the pain a little.

                Mom rolled her eyes and motioned for me to follow her out of the car. I got out and shut the door, never wanting to get back in that stupid car again. That thing hated me and was turning to violence because of it! That was so not nice!

                “Janine! Kory!”

                I smiled and turned as Brandon came out the front door with a huge smile on his face. He went over to my mom, hugging her tightly and kissing her.

                He came over to me and ruffled my hair. “How was the car ride?” he asked cheerfully. Mom glanced at me as I pouted and glared at the car.

                “The car beat me up,” I grumbled.

                Brandon stared at me like I had just given birth to a peacock out of my nose or something. “Right, Kory…” he mumbled and shook his head.

                He went over to the car and opened the trunk. He grabbed as many bags as he could hold before smiling at me and my mom again.

                “I’m really glad you guys are here,” he said sincerely. “Now, let’s get your stuff inside and then I can introduce Kory to my son!”

                Eager at the thought of meeting my new stepbrother, I helped my mom gather the stuff out of the trunk of the evil car. Man, I couldn’t wait until this stupid thing ended up in a junkyard somewhere, infested with rats and bugs. That would teach it to beat me up!

                “Kory, stop thinking about bad things that could happen to the car and bring that stuff inside!” mom said, somewhat impatiently.

                “How do you always know what I’m thinking? Are you telekinetic?” I asked in panic. Aw man, then she would know all my thoughts about ying and yang and my fantasies of Cameron Leahy with no clothes on…yum…

                “Don’t ask questions! Now hurry up. I’m tired too,” she said, and I could easily see the truth of that statement. She had dark marks under her eyes and looked like a wreck. She had been driving us here for the past couple of hours, so of course she was tired from that and all the packing.

                I hurried over to her, my arms full of our stuff. I entered the house and looked around in awe. The house was huge! Holy snap crackle pop rice crispies!

                “Kory? Come on,” Brandon called. I nodded and followed him out of the entry way and into the kitchen. Brandon led us through the kitchen and the dining room to a set of stairs.

                I looked up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling before following Brandon and my mom up the neatly polished stairs.

                “Okay, Kory, your bedroom is going to be the last door on the right down there,” Brandon instructed. I walked down the fairly short hall and glared at the doorknob, willing the door to open. I kind of didn’t have any free hands at the moment. Come on door, open…

                “Kory, the door won’t open unless you turn the handle,” mom said, giving me “the look”. I pouted. How did she always know what I was thinking?!

                Brandon chuckled and came over. I stepped back and he ever so kindly opened the door for me. I stepped into my room and nearly fainted.

                “Aw dip, Brandon! It’s huge!” I cried in wonder. My old bedroom had been incredibly tiny and cramped but this…well hell, this was beautiful! Someone needed to give Brandon a medal and a cookie for this bedroom!

                Brandon laughed and helped me set the stuff down. “Is there more in the car?” he asked and I nodded, still staring at my room. I went over to the windows and looked out, having a nice view of the large, well kept front yard, the road, and the field across the street from the house.

                “You see Kory, we call this a window. W-I-N-D-O-W,” Brandon said slowly. I turned to him and pouted.

                “Don’t be mean to me! I’m busy being awe struck,” I whined. He grinned and ruffled my hair, placing a hand on my shoulder and glancing out the window.

                We heard the sound of a door opening and shutting and someone going down the stairs. Brandon smiled widely and looked down at me.

                “Ready to meet my son?” he asked and I grinned and nodded. “Of course!” I said and he smiled even wider.

                We left my new room together and Brandon took my mom’s hand in his. He led the two of us down the stairs and into the living room.

                A godly, impossibly sexy boy was sitting on one of the couches watching TV. He didn’t look up at us as we entered the room.

                When I say damn, I mean damn! This boy was no doubt the single hottest person I had ever had the joy of seeing in my entire life. And yes, even sexier than the sexy beast I saw when I looked in a mirror.

                “Trace, this is your new stepbrother Kory!” Brandon introduced, giving me a gentle shove forward.

                The godly thing on the couch, Trace, glanced at me uninterestedly. He gave a nod so slight that I nearly missed it before turning his attention back to the TV.

                “Hi Trace!” I said brightly. “I’m Kory and it’s really nice to finally meet you!”

                “It hasn’t even been two minutes and you’re already annoying me!” Trace snapped. He turned the TV off, jumped off the couch, and stormed away and back up the stairs. His bedroom door slammed a few seconds later and I winced a little as it did so. Great. I guess my mom’s car wasn’t the only thing that hated me…

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A.N.- Okay, so this is my new story! I know it's a little random, but I got the idea for it last night and wanted to give it a try. Comment and let me know what you think of it so far!! :)