Worm into You

Natalie beamed as she ran down the stairs. It was her twelfth birthday and she was super excited to have her celebration here in her hometown. Her sister, Rebecca, promised that it would be the best birthday she was going to have. She even helped with buying the dress for the party. Her mother, Constance, got livid when she found out how much the dress and the party preparations cost, but her sister laughed it off. "What a waste of money, Becky." She had murmured, her eyes glued to the ruined nail polish that she had. Natalie looked at her sister and smirked behind her hand. Their mother was a regular customer of the local salon. She wouldn't waste any of her time on parties if the money could be used to make herself beautiful. "You"ll get your pedicure later, mom." Rebecca rolled her eyes. She looked at Natalie in her pink pinafore dress and smiled. "You look so pretty, little girl. Come here." Natalie grinned. She ran forward and hugged her sister. She relished the hugs that she got from her older sister. She would rarely see her as she was always busy working and rarely had time to visit. Since it was her twelfth birthday, Rebecca made it a point to visit her family and shower them with attention. She just wished that this moment would last forever. "Ready?" Thomas called out to the three as he fixed his cufflinks. "The guests will be here soon." Natalie grinned. "I'm ready, daddy." ............................................... Natalie lost count of the number of people who had greeted her. She was sitting on one of the high stools near the buffet, her family mingling somewhere in the crowd. The candle had been blown and well-wishers had joined in singing the birthday song. She thanked them gracefully for coming to the party and joining in the celebration, but she did not linger too long. It was very clear to her that she was the only one who was a child here. Most of the guests were adults or teens like her sister. She loved her sister dearly but she could never understand most of the things that she would do, let alone say. So she remained silent in her corner drinking her third glass of lemonade. "Hey, Nat. Look what I found." Her sister suddenly called out to her. She turned at her sister's call and gulped down her drink quickly. Standing beside her were three young boys, each dressed in miniature dark suits that would have been laughable if they weren't awesome looking in it. The one standing by her sister's left was dark-haired with a pair of stunning blue eyes. He looked somber as he was walking but stopped short when he spotted Natalie. He was looking at her intently, which made Natalie straighten her dress more. The one standing beside him looked very relaxed. He was so busy talking to the other boy that he was not looking at where he was walking. Once he straightened, his gray eyes landed on Natalie's and his smile petered out. He immediately brushed his blond hair and pulled his suit down before flashing an engaging smile. But Natalie's eyes were glued to the copper-haired boy standing by her sister's right. He looked very irritated at the moment, his green eyes flashing at someone behind him. He looked tall for his age, almost looking like a basketball player. Natalie was immediately drawn to his cold beauty as, with a resigned sigh, he lowered his gaze before facing forward and looking Natalie straight in the eye. Natalie held her gasp. Oh dear, he looked like that Teen Wolf character she had watched unintentionally when her mother left the television on. It would seem that this staring contest between the four had taken hours, but it was only for a moment. Rebecca hid her smirk as she cleared her throat before gesturing to her left. "Natalie, these are Bryce Latimer and Malcolm Smith. And this is Kyle McCulley. They are my friends' brothers and they will be your classmates soon. This, my dear boys, is the birthday girl and my younger sister, Natalie Rose." "Uhm, hi?" Natalie held out her hand tentatively. It took almost a minute before anyone made a move, each eyeing the other. "Nice meeting you, little rose." Malcolm, the blond-haired boy, said before taking her hand and shaking it vigorously. "You can call me anything you want." "Manners, Mal. You're scaring her." the dark-haired one lightly back-handed his friend in rebuke before taking Natalie's hand from his clutches. "A pleasure to meet you." Bryce grinned at her but held her hand tightly. Natalie started to blush at the attention she was receiving from the two. "Hi." Natalie stiffened when the deep voice spoke. Her head whipped to the side and was immediately mesmerized by those dark green eyes. Her hand drifted from Bryce and slowly she held it out towards Kyle, who took it in his warm callused hand. After a moment, Rebecca clapped her hands together. "So, I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Holler if you need anything." Rebecca managed to say before backing away slowly, her lips stretched wide with a smile. Good thing that those boys were here. Her sister sure needed to have a friend right now. If only she knew what kind of s**t storm she had made, then she wouldn't have left her sister alone.