INTERVIEWER: I must ask how this will affect your upcoming tour?
HAYES: It won’t affect it at all. The tour starts next month and will be over well before the baby arrives.
ARDEN: Their fans have nothing to worry about, I promise.
INTERVIEWER: There has been a rumor going around that you’re adopting your wife’s daughter from her previous marriage, is there any validity in that, Hayes?
HAYES: Mia is already my daughter in all the ways that count, so yes, I’m adopting her.
INTERVIEWER: Any other big plans?
ARDEN:
HAYES:
ARDEN:
HAYES:
ARDEN: Or if you’re talking to Maddox, then you need a hedgehog.
HAYES: Well, Maddox is weird.
ARDEN: So…I guess we’re getting a dog.
HAYES: A Siberian Husky named Wolfe, because…why not?
ARDEN:
HAYES: But you love me.
ARDEN:
INTERVIEWER: That’s all we have time for today.
HAYES:
INTERVIEWER: Ahem.
HAYES:
INTERVIEWER:
Today we have the privilege of sitting down with all of the guys from Willow Creek answering YOUR fan submitted questions.
INTERVIEWER: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to sit down with us and answer some fan questions.
MADDOX:
MATHIAS: I’m only here because I’m getting paid.
MADDOX:
MATHIAS: And because I love our fans.
EZRA & HAYES:
INTERVIEWER: Okay then…let’s just jump right in. The first fan submitted question we have is…If you weren’t in the band, what would your job be?
MADDOX: I’d be a hedgehog breeder, obviously…ooh, or a professional knitter.
MATHIAS:
MADDOX: Aw, look at you being all sweet and talking about helping kids.
MATHIAS: Shut up.
EZRA:
HAYES: I’d be an ice cream truck driver. Who doesn’t want to eat ice cream all day?
INTERVIEWER: Next question. What’s your favorite song?
MADDOX: The first song Emma and I ever wrote together. Not that I’m biased or anything.
MATHIAS: #Ican’teven by The Neighborhood.
EZRA: Anything by Hozier. The guy is a genius.
HAYES: The only song I’ve heard recently that isn’t one of ours is the My Little Pony theme song since Mia is on a My Little Pony kick, but I have to agree with the lyrics. Friendship is magic.
MADDOX:
HAYES:
INTERVIEWER: Next question. If you had a choice between being Batman, a Ninja Turtle, or Bananaman, who would you be?
MADDOX: Batman.
MATHIAS: Batman.
EZRA: Ninja Turtle
HAYES: Bananaman. I like bananas.
INTERVIEWER: What’s been the hardest adjustment with fame?
MADDOX: Having people monitor your every move.
MATHIAS: The paparazzi, and they’ve only gotten worse now that we have kids. They always want a picture of them and that’s not cool. Let them be kids.
EZRA: I’d say for me the hardest adjustment has been the fact that you always have to be on. You know what I mean? Everybody has bad days, but when you’re in the public eye it’s like you can’t have them or everyone labels you as an asshole.
MADDOX: Ezzie-poo, no one could ever think you were an asshole.
EZRA:
HAYES: Being in the public eye is just hard. People always want something from you and it can be exhausting. I’m not saying I don’t love it, because I do, but it has its drawbacks. It’s just part of the territory though, and if you can’t accept it then you shouldn’t have pursued fame.
INTERVIEWER: What’s a food or object you can’t live without?
MADDOX: Besides my wife and child? I’d say Sonic, my knitting supplies, and my drumsticks.
MATHIAS: You were supposed to pick one.
MADDOX: I’m feeling rebellious today.
MATHIAS:
MADDOX:
MATHIAS:
EZRA: I’ll be different and choose a food…hmmm, I can’t live without…
MADDOX: You sound like Emma. If I were any less wonderful she’d love pizza more than she loves me.
HAYES:
MADDOX: Sad, but true. It’s hard to compete with the cheesy deliciousness of pizza, but so far I’ve held my own.
HAYES:
MATHIAS: Does it make you feel like a man, Hayes?
HAYES: It sure does. I bet you can’t say the same thing about your sports car.
MATHIAS: I’m already man enough. I don’t need to compensate.
HAYES: I should’ve known you’d say that.
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s all the time we have for questions. Thanks so much for answering them. I’m sure your fans appreciate it and we can’t wait to see what’s next for you guys.
MADDOX: I think I speak for all of us when I say; the best is yet to come.
COMING OCTOBER 27th 2015
THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO US
A BRAND NEW SERIES FROM MICALEA SMELTZER
PREORDER NOW FOR AN EXCLUSIVE SALE PRICE
OF ONLY .99 CENTS
Wow, I can’t believe the time has come where I’m writing my acknowledgements for the final book in the Willow Creek series. It doesn’t seem like it should be over yet, but it is. I can’t thank you enough for embracing my rock stars and loving them as much as I do. This series received far more love than I ever dreamed of and all of your comments and messages have made me so happy. I hope you all feel that the final book lives up to the others. I know it’s hard to say goodbye, but all of these characters have been through enough and I feel this is a good place to end it. Remember, these characters will always be there when you need them. All you have to do is re-read one of their books and they’ll all welcome you back with open arms.
A big thank you goes out to my amazing beta readers Haley, Becca, Kendall, and Stefanie. I value all of your honest opinions so much and I can’t thank you enough for helping to make me a stronger writer.
Thank you Regina Wamba for the amazeballs cover. Everything that could go wrong, did with this one, but you pulled it off and I owe you a massive hug for that.
Thank you Kyle and Abbie for bringing Hayes and Arden to life. You both did a truly spectacular job.
Thank you Wendi for the awesome formatting job. I honestly don�
��t know what I did before you.
Thank you to my Minions! All of you ladies in my fan club are fantastic and you bring a smile to my face every day. I love you lots!
The last thing I have to say is…
Willow Creek Forever.
PULLED UNDER
(The Kill Devil Hills Series)
Sarah Darlington
CHAPTER 1
Two and a half years ago
SYDNEY
Today was officially the worst day of my life. Call me melodramatic, but I think I was going to die. Was it possible to die of heartbreak? I think maybe it was because the pain in my chest was insurmountable—like a giant boulder sitting on my heart, smashing it into a flat pancake.
Ironic too…because John had made me pancakes for breakfast this morning. I’d woken up hopeful and excited, given that today was my sixteenth birthday. Today I was a woman…um, or at least that was what I’d always thought my Sweet Sixteen was supposed to feel like. John, my big brother and my guardian, had surprised me with breakfast. Homemade pancakes with blueberries—exactly the way our Nanny Kristen used to make for us when we were young. They were wonderful pancakes, surprisingly, since John was a horrible cook. Then I’d gone off to school.
And it all started off as a regular enough day—complete with Honors classes that were admittedly over my head, lunch with my favorite teacher, Ms. Whittle, and kids who didn’t know nor care what my name was. Needless to say, I was about as irrelevant at my school as irrelevant comes. But life was good. Because there was Ben.
Ben was that boy at our high school. Arguably the most handsome, most athletic, and most popular guy among a sea of frogs. The one girls like me dreamed about and the one other boys wished they could be. And…he knew my name.
Just last Friday in our chemistry class he asked me, and I quote, “Hey, Sydney, what did you get for number three?”
Oh swoon. Be still my beating heart.
Ben had amazing, sparkling blue eyes that were framed by long, dark lashes. He had brownish-blackish hair that was a little wavy and always perfectly disheveled—like a young, American, Hugh Grant. Sigh. I could stare at him for hours. On my first day at Kill Devil Hills High School, two years ago, I’d fallen instantly in love with him. There was something about him. Somehow I knew, knew with every ounce of my being that he was the guy for me. This wasn’t some made-up infatuation in my mind. There were moments—small moments where I think he felt it too. Like this past March, for example.
Sam Butler had bumped into me on the walk between English and Art. I’d been carrying a giant case of colored pencils, and Sam didn’t even notice me. I tripped, and I’ll never forget the sound of those pencils rolling in a million different directions. Not a single student in that hallway helped me. Everyone brushed past, stepping over the pencils, while shooting me snarky looks. It was beyond embarrassing. People laughed. My cheeks blazed red hot. Only one person did something. Ben. He quickly bent down to help me collect all the pencils. And afterward he said, “I’m Ben.”
And I said, “I know.”
It felt like a moment out of a Meg Ryan movie. He reached out to hand me my case of colored pencils, our fingers brushing slightly, and it was like ‘magic.’ My heart skipped and I swear Ben had to feel it too.
Too bad he had a girlfriend. But I didn’t care. I loved him still. Maybe one day he would grow to love me too. He’d realized she was all wrong for him and that I was right. A girl could dream. There was no harm in dreaming. I’d watched enough movies to know that dreams sometimes came true. Sometimes the nerdy, shy girl won the heart of the popular boy. It could happen. I had hope.
Until today…when my dream and my hope had been smashed. Or, more accurately, pounded.
I’d forgotten my gym clothes in my PE locker. I always brought them home to be washed on Fridays and I never forgot—because who wanted smelly gym clothes? Not me. So after my final class, I’d hurried across the school to go get them. But Ms. Whittle had stopped me on my way—she’d brought another one of her favorite romantic comedies from home to let me borrow. We’d started talking about movies, and I lost track of time.
By the time I reached the locker room, it was deserted but, luckily, not locked. I tiptoed my way through the empty, musty smelling room. It freaked me out being in there alone—it was too quiet without the usual sounds of gossip and giggles. Then I heard a moan! Like a sex moan! Not sure what I was doing or why I felt compelled to look, but I peeked around the corner, searching for the source of the moan. I found it when my eyes saw the most horrific sight imaginable.
Sonya Fletcher. God, she was beautiful. Everything I wished I could be. Soft blonde hair, tiny frame, button nose, and perfectly perky breasts. Half the boys at our school worshiped her. Worst still, she was Ben’s girlfriend. And I saw her cry out in pleasure as a toned white butt pumped against her naked form. Her tan, lean legs were spread wide and locked around the waist of…Ben.
Unfortunately, it was Ben’s white naked butt and his penis that filled her vagina.
And it was my heart that hit the floor.
“God, I love you,” he grunted and pounded into her harder, both of them oblivious to the fact that I was watching. Then Ben pulled out, flipped her around, pushed her stomach against the white tile sink, and slid inside her from behind.
Oh my goodness!
A squeal left my lips, my virgin eyes bugging out of my head, and then I ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could, tears streaking down my cheeks, the entire world around me suddenly duller than it had been before. What had I just seen? I texted John and told him a ‘friend’ was driving me home. I’d long since missed the bus. Lamely, Ms. Whittle ended up driving me home.
Reality was a bitch and today she’d slapped me across the face.
Somehow in my mind, I’d never realized Ben and Sonya might be intimate like that. Especially like that. And now the image was burned onto my brain. Meanwhile, I’d never even been kissed before. How lame was I? How could I ever compare to Sonya? I’m not sure I even wanted to anymore.
So…that had been earlier, and now here I sat at Chancy’s Claw. Birthday dinner time, woo-freaking-hoo. I didn’t know how I was going to get through this meal without barfing all over the table. The image of Ben and Sonya was still fresh in my mind, eating my brain like a starved, rabid zombie.
“Sydney,” John said, rapping his knuckles on the table so I’d stop staring off into space. “Just say the word and we’ll cancel this. Mom and Dad are still thirty minutes out. We can go home and order takeout. They’ll bitch but whatever.”
Leaning my head on the back of my plastic lawn-chair seat, I groaned. “They’re already going to bitch because we came here instead of somewhere nicer. Might as well suck it up and get this over with.”
“Is something else wrong?” Leave it to John to be perspective right about now.
“Just the fact that high school sucks.”
A pained expression filled his face. And I instantly regretted saying that. John and I had a good thing going. He was my guardian, my parent, and my brother. He was ten years older than me and he took care of me, thus preventing me from having to live with our real parents. I hated making him worry. He didn’t have to take care of me and it was wrong of me to burden him with my problems. Being forced to raise a teenager—that had to be hard enough.
Two years ago, when John had simply asked, my parents had given me over like they were loaning someone a sweater. They were really just children themselves. Rich, impulsive, spoiled, children. They partied, vacationed, and never took a moment of life seriously. They were fun people, but sucky parents. Neither worked. Instead they lived off the fruits of my grandfather’s labor. It wasn’t an ideal lifestyle for a child. So when I turned fourteen, John, more mature than both of them combined, suggested that I come live with him. They’d jumped at his offer.
So that was how I ended up living with John in our family’s beach house in North Carolina. My parents visited us often enough, but in a
ctuality he was my real parent. And I didn’t need to worry him with my silly teenage heartache and drama. He gave up so much for me, and I appreciated that more than anything. Living with him was so much better than living with our parents.
Take A Chance Page 26
