The Cellar (The Cellar #1)

She smiled, her eyes lit up, and she seemed genuinely interested. I wondered what her story was. “Where did you meet?”


“He’s friends with my brother, they met when they joined the same football team. At first he thought I was just Henry’s annoying little sister but as we both grew older he started seeing me differently. Thankfully.”

“I hope you get back to him,” she said sincerely and then walked away. So do I.

Sunday, January 4th (2009)

I walked into Henry’s room to grab a movie for me, Kerri, and Rachel. He was playing PlayStation with Lewis, as usual. I rolled my eyes. They looked so into it, shooting at something. Zombies? Bloody losers!

“Hey, Sum,” Lewis said, smiling at me as he looked up. Butterflies flitted around in my stomach. I bit my lip.

Don’t say anything stupid. “Hey,” I replied, trying to stay casual when I was happy dancing in my head. I’d liked Lewis for forever, and recently he had been looking at me differently. Well, he seemed to be anyway. I just hoped it wasn’t all in my head—which I was almost 100 percent sure it was.

His light green eyes sparkled and I melted. They really stood out against his dark, almost black, hair. He cocked his head to the side. “What can we do for you?” You could kiss me.

“Lewis, you just got us killed,” Henry yelled, scowling at him. You’d think he had actually been killed by his over-the-top reaction.

“Huh?” Lewis looked back to the screen where it said “Game Over.” Oh my God, he just got killed looking at me. Okay, chill and stop smiling like a creeper. I forced my lips to stay down as they tried to pull up into the biggest smile. How could I not smile when this was officially the best day of my entire life?

“Sorry,” Lewis muttered and chucked the controller down on the bed.

“What do you want, Summer?” Henry snapped, obviously still angry over his stupid game. Whatever.

I walked over to his DVDs and started scanning the titles. “Need a scary movie,” I replied, turning my nose up.

“You don’t like scary movies,” Lewis said. “You being forced into it?”

“Yep. Kerri and Rachel want to spend the evening hiding behind cushions. Idiots.” Scary movies were the worst.

Lewis grinned. His perfect white teeth stood out against his natural tan. Why was he so good-looking? It wasn’t fair. “Why don’t you watch it in here?” he said.

Henry’s head snapped up and he frowned. Oh, big bro was not going to like that. “What are you doing?”

I tried to keep the silly grin off my face, but there was no stopping it this time. He wanted us to watch it with him, and I couldn’t have been happier.

“This game sucks now anyway,” Lewis said and shrugged his shoulders casually. Wait, was he just bored or did he want to spend time with me? Boys say girls were confusing when they’re the ones that are total head fucks.

“Fine! I’ll go tell them to come in here, and I’m picking the movie,” Henry said, sighing in defeat. He walked out of his messy room, muttering something colorful under his breath. Loser.

Lewis patted the bed next to him and smiled. My tummy flipped. Okay, maybe he did want to spend time with me. I walked over slowly and got on the bed, trying not to seem too eager. Kerri and Rachel came bouncing into the room. They seemed happy we were watching in Henry’s room. They constantly went on about how Lewis liked me too. I wanted them to be right so badly.

I shuffled over, closer to Lewis so they could all fit on the king-size bed Henry absolutely had to have. We were still crammed together but since I was squished against Lewis’s side, I didn’t mind at all. In fact I wished my parents weren’t such softies and had made Henry get a double instead.

“Oh, come on,” I exclaimed. My heart sunk as the title for the movie appeared. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Much worse than I thought it would be. Now I was going to be all scared and make a complete fool out of myself in front of Lewis. Just great. I didn’t even have a pillow to hide behind. I pulled my legs up and rested my head on my knees.

“Er, Sum, he hasn’t even pressed play yet,” Lewis joked, bumping his shoulder against mine. I elbowed him in the side playfully, making him laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kerri raise her eyebrow at me. Oh crap, if she says anything, I will actually die!

The film started and that was my cue to hide away and pretend it wasn’t happening. Of all the movies my idiot brother could have picked, he chose this one. I needed to man up, but every time some crazy jumped out from behind a door I freaked.