My Best Friend's Brother

"So have you heard the news?" My best friend of ten years, Emma, asked me as she continuously spun around her fork on her plate. We both sat at our usual table during lunch, by ourselves.   I took a big bite of my green apple before responding. "Heard what?"   Today was the first day of our Senior year. Emma has been there with me through all of it. Even though we're complete opposites, we made great friends of each other. How we met, you may be asking? Both of our mothers happen to be friends, so when they had us I guess we just kicked it off.   She's a cheerleader who is not that great in school and seems to have a boyfriend every week. She is well-known all through the school too.   Then there's me, a complete geek who would probably have no friends if it wasn't for Emma.   "My brother's coming back into town." She rolls her eyes irritated, dropping her fork on her plate and leaning back in her chair as she crossed her arms.   I began choking on a piece of my apple. "He is?!"    You see, you may be asking yourselves, what's the big deal? Well, I'll tell you. Hunter, her brother, and I never really got along. He always played pranks on me and found every way possible to ruin my life, until he got sent away to Military school last year by his parents. He's a complete jock, douche-bag, and also attracts all the ladies.   All but me.   And since Emma and Hunter live next door to me, it made pranks such an easy thing to do to oh-so gullible Ryleigh.   "So." She sighs.   "Does that mean he'll be back at school?" I question, not wanting to hear the answer.    "By tomorrow." She says.    "Great," I say, throwing my apple onto my tray.   "C'mon, I'm sure it won't be that bad." Emma tries to cheer me up by smiling.   This blows my plans of keeping my head low for the year...   "Let's hope so," I reply. Who knows, maybe he's changed over the years...   "So, are we still on for a movie and pizza at my place?" She questions.   "What if he's there?" I question.   "He won't be, trust me."   ***   "So The Notebook or Titanic?" Emma questions holding up both CD boxes in both hands for me to see.   "Hmm, how about a movie that we haven't seen a million times?" I suggested.   She laughed. "Good choice." She turned around and continued digging through more movies.   "I'll go make the popcorn!" I said, springing up from the sofa as I ran into the kitchen. I grabbed a popcorn packet from the shelf and placed it in the microwave.    As I dialed two minutes into the machine, I waited for the sound of each kernel to pop. That was until I heard a different sound coming from a different room...   "Emma?" I questioned aloud. Her parents were out for dinner tonight, so there was no way it was them. Maybe it was her cat?   If only she had a cat...   I mean, what else could it be?   I approached the door slowly, as it was cracked open a little bit already. Here I am, about to open a door and possibly get eaten alive by whatever monster there could be behind the door.   "Emma?..." I questioned again, this time in a lower voice. I placed my hand on the door and slowly pushed it open.   Nothing. The room was empty.   So then what was making all that noise?--   And that's when a bucket of ice-cold water was dumped over my head. The bucket fell to the ground whilst all the water fell on me.   Who could've possibly set me up like this?!   The only person I would know of is to be...   "Oh, how I've missed pranking you." A familiar burst of laughter came from the corner of the room.   Hunter.   The lights flipped on, and just like I imagined, a smirk filled his face. Something was different about him though, he was much stronger, obviously, but he also was hotter.   Jesus, pull yourself together Ryleigh.   "Hunter." I groaned through my teeth, not moving one inch. If anything's colder than the ice that's falling off my headpiece by piece is him.   "You should've seen your face. Have you lost weight?" He continued to laugh.    And that's when footsteps bombarded the room.   "Ryleigh?! Ryleigh, are you okay?” Emma shouted running through the house into the room.   She looked at me, then at Hunter and formed and 'o' shape with her mouth.   "Hunter! What did I say about doing things like this!" She scolded him.   He simply crossed his arms. "You don't control me."   "I'll tell mom and dad." She raises his eyebrows at him.   "And what are they going to do? Send me back to military school? I'm 18, which means it's my choice." He explains with a stupid smirk still across his face.   She doesn't reply to him, instead, she turns to me. "C'mon, Ryleigh. Let's get you some towels." She says before walking out of the room.   Before I could follow her out, Hunter steps in front of me.    "It's nice to be back." He winks before picking up the bucket and jogging out of the room, and as mad as I was, I couldn't help but notice how attractive he was...   This year isn't going to go by easy, is it?