Chapter 1 - Tim, The Annoying

I unpacked my last box labeled 'SARAH'S JUNKS' and fell onto my new queen-sized bed with exhaustion. I had been unpacking since the last two hours. Thank God it was over. There was a knock on the door and my mom popped her head around.

"Hi, mom. I just finished unpacking," I said to her, breathlessly.

I waved my hand around my room - or shall I call it my new Backstreet Boys shrine. The wall was covered with the Backstreet Boys posters at any size - small or big, there was a framed-picture of them and a special one for the blonde babe-a-licious Nick Carter and my clear-holder file is kept in the drawers, which is covered with BSB snapshots and a invicible glass over it. My CD player was surrounded with all Backstreet Boys releases whether it's imported or local. Everything was a complete Backstreet Boyish.

"What time's dinner?" I asked my mom.
"We're going out for dinner," my mom replied as she sat down beside me.
"But, mom! We just moved in and we're going out??!?" I protested.
"Oh, please try, honey. You know about my American pen pal?" she asked me.
"I think so," I answered grumpily, while crossing my arm across my chest.
"Well, she lives at the next town, and she invited us for dinner and a night stay," my mom told me.
I went ballistic. "But mom! Should we like, rest first?" I asked.
"Please.... do it for me.." my mom begged.
I sighed. Do I have any choice? "Alright," I finally agreed.
I walked over to my wardrobe. "Okay, what should I wear?" I asked for her opinion.
My mom smiled at my action of agreement. "How about the new black dress you've bought that day?" she suggested.
"Cool. I'll be downstairs in an hour, okay?" I exclaimed.

As mom went out of the room, I locked the door and took my towel. Then I had my long, nice bath to release my tiredness.

I decided to let go of my long brunette hair. Mom always said I look older if I did that to my hair. Thin strains and fringes fell out at the front but it looked good so I left it like that. I put on my outfit and headed for downstairs. As I passed the mirror, I could hardly recognized myself. I looked three years older than I did.

"Oh, don't we look grown up?" teased my brother, Tim, sneering.
I laughed at him when I saw that he made no effort to dress up. All he had done is changed his T-shirt.
"Don't laugh at your brother, Sarah. It upsets him," dad teased.
"Ha, ha, dad," Tim spatted sarcastically. "Anyway, it's allowed at my age."
"Since when?" I asked him.
"Since my birthday last week," he answered.

That's what he's always going on about. 'Look, I'm eighteen!' But he was still the old, annoying Tim.

"Anyway, I heard mom's so-called penpal had a daughter who was a little older than me," I told him.
"And?" Tim asked me, looking confused.
"And.. You know.. You could get to know her 'cause you need a new girlfriend! Katie was never coming back!" I yelled at him.

Katie was Tim's ex-girlfriend back at home. She was over wit him a month ago and ever since, Tim had been moping around the house like an idiot. Duh!

"That was bad, Sarah. Katie still likes me," Tim said, looking hurt.

I felt guilty of bringing that topic out. I know how much Tim loved and cared about Katie. I knew he was trying to convince me - and himself but it was not working. We all knew that Katie left him for someone else, namely Jason, the most popular bad-boy of Manchester's High School.

"So," I said, trying to change the subject of Katie, "did you think mom's penpal got any other kids?" I asked him.
"I think she's got a 11-year-old son. Hey, maybe you could get to know him!" he said, laughing.
I laughed with him.
"And maybe we could play Ninja Turtles dolls together!" I cracked up.
We both laughed again.

Tim turned to mom and yelled," has your friend got any other kids?"
"She has a daughter aged like Sarah, a son aged like Judy, a little girl aged 11 and 13 and a son aged near to you, Tim," my mom explained.
Tim smiled. "Excellent! I thought I was gonna hang around with a bunch of itsy-weeny girls talking about periods!" he cracked one of his stupid jokes.
My mom playfully hit his arm. "Not all girls talk about that," she reminded him.

"Mom's right. We talk about music groups," I said.
"Don't tell me. That crap bands like BSB and Hanson!" He stared laughing, trying to do the dance to 'Everybody.' "Look at me, gals. I'm gay like the rest of the band," Tim teased.

I whacked him on his arm as the BSB are really far apart from gay stuff. I don't know why my jerk brother hates all the boy groups except for OASIS. OASIS is really his God in his eyes. Tim's real name is Johnny, but he begged us to call him with middle name, Tim, and that name seems to stuck on our mind.

"Oh, c'mon Sarah! We all know that all the boy bands can't sing except for OASIS!" He bragged.
"OASIS? I don't think so! Remember when we saw the BSB, live in concert? You told me it was a cool gig!" I exclaimed.
"Okay it was a cool concert but -"
"But what?" I cut his sentence angrily.
"They don't write their own stuff -"
"Yes they do! They're all fair share!" I yelled angrily again, cutting his line.
"Okay then, who's that blonde guy? What's his name?" Tim asked.
"Nick Carter?" I asked, rolling my brown eyes.
"Yeah, him. I mean, he's so stupid!" he teased. "He can't dance, he can't act and man, he sure can't sing! He sounds just as bad as his li'l bro!"
"He can sing, act and dance! Did you see him dancing last week? How good can you get?" I yelled again.
"Better than that! I can't dance better!" he exclaimed.

He stopped talking and started showing off his dance routines. They weren't that bad, but of course, I'll never tell him that - no way! Though he couldn't get any more big-headed, he was ready.

"Tim, get up and stop looking like an idiot. We're going anyway," I saw dad get his car keys.
"Dad can I drive?" Tim asked.
"No," dad replied.
"Please, dad!" Tim begged, in high, pathetic voice.
"Hey Tim! You sounded like Nick!" i joked.

Tim threw me a dirty look and follows my dad out of the door. Judy, my younger sister, ran and jumped on him. Mum and I followed, not jumping on Tim’s back, though I was tempting to slap him around the head. We all climbed into dad’s new car an and headed for my mom’s penpal house.