Changed Pt 01

I'm trying something a bit different with this one. Normally I do 10-30 page chapters, but I've noticed that there's always a huge drop-off after chapter 1, and usually a big drop-off with each subsequent chapter. Chapter 1's are rarely my best chapter of a story. I usually just introduce the characters and setting in chapter 1, and then try to create a narrative and figure out the characters as the story moves on. I also usually have much better 'scenes' in later chapters. This means that many of what I think are my best chapters have barely any views.

So this time I decided to draw it out, and make the first installment 95 pages. There are several scenes, so it's basically the first few chapters done as one. I'm hoping this will get more people to read deeper into the story, and actually get to read the good stuff. And hopefully reading deeper will make you want to continue more. I'm also kind of playing with different genres here. I tried to get this out for Halloween, but that didn't happen. Anyway, enough from me. I hope you all enjoy the first installment of this new story.

Changed: part 1

I'm not really sure what's special about me. Maybe nothing. I'm eighteen, I just graduated high school, and I have no idea what's next for me. My two best friends both got into colleges out of state, so they'll be leaving at the end of summer. Which means I'll be stuck here, with the other leftovers who aren't leaving for bigger and better things. I've already seen what that looks like. My sister Michelle didn't go to college, and now she works at the hooters two towns over. My other two sisters, Anna and Erin both went to college, and they certainly don't work at hooters, although they do meet the requirements.

I'm the youngest, and like I said before, I'm not really sure what I have going for me. My teachers have always said I have below average intelligence. I never excelled in sports; I was on the JV baseball and basketball teams as a senior, which isn't even supposed to be allowed. I don't think I'm attractive like my sisters. I'm not as ugly as some people I know, but I'm not attractive. I don't even have any real skills. I've tried learning instruments, and none of them ever stuck. My uncle tried to teach me how to work on cars, but I never got the hang of it. I can't draw, I'm not a good writer, I'm not a good speaker. I'm not even good at being social.

I don't think any of this ever really bothered me before. Now that I'm done with school though, with no prospects of continuing or having any sort of career, I'm realizing just how much I don't have going for me. I'm probably going to end up working construction and living in the same town I was born in. I'll watch my friends and sisters all go on to bigger and better things and leave me behind in the dust. If I'm lucky, I'll find a girl in town to marry and have kids with. But the way my luck is, I'll just get a girl knocked up, she'll leave my ass, and I'll end up giving half my dismal pay to a kid I won't get to see more than every other weekend.

Suffice it to say, I was not in a very good headspace as I rode my bike home on the Saturday after graduation. There was supposed to be a big party at Ella Granger's house that night, and I had been given a very half-hearted secondhand invitation. I didn't have anything better to do, and I knew I wasn't going to see many of the people I had gone to school with for the past twelve years moving forward. I let my bike drop to the dirt-covered, unkempt lawn, and walked up the steps to the house feeling sullen and downtrodden.

As I walked in, I could hear mom in the kitchen, probably fixing something for dinner. With Erin home for the summer mom cooked a lot more. Since dad died, mom doesn't do as much as she used to. Anna lives in Detroit with her husband, and Erin is at school most of the year. Michelle still lives at home, but she's out most nights, either working or out having fun. She has a lot of the same flaws I do, only she was lucky enough to be a girl. And not just any girl, but an attractive one.

Michelle isn't as strikingly attractive as Erin or Anna, but she's still hot, and she knows what she has going for her, and uses it. Her face may not be the angelic work of art that Erin's is, but she's made her body into an actual money-making attribute. Every once in a while I'll hear Michelle bragging to Erin about how much she makes in tips, and it makes me wish I was a girl. Michelle didn't even start off being hot. She was just as much of a loser in high school as me. Back then she had bad acne, and a pudgy gut, and she had never had boyfriends in those days.

When she graduated six years ago, she got a job as a waitress. She must have learned a thing or two, because she started working out a lot. As she got in better shape, she became much more attractive. She had always had large breasts, and they looked good, but normal on her pudgy frame. But as her stomach shrank, her tits only seemed to get bigger. By the time she had abs to show off, her tits looked massive. I remember my fourteen-year-old self observing her transformation with a keen interest. And then she got her job at hooters. she seemed to like both the attention and the money, and she hasn't looked back since.

Girls can do that, if they have the nerve for it. They'll get called a slut, and worse. But they can just work out, make their body attractive, and then have a pretty good paying job just serving people chicken wings. No matter how much I work out, I could never have a career as a waiter. The only career I could have in the food industry would be as a cook, but I suck at cooking too. Honestly, I seem to suck at everything, which is the problem. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with myself moving forward, and it's starting to actually scare me.

"What's got you looking so blue?" Erin said in amusement as I walked into the living room and slumped down into dad's beat up old chair.

"Nothing," I sighed. Even I could hear in my voice how much that wasn't true. Erin just laughed.

"Ok," she smirked. "Well maybe you should tell that to the raincloud above your head. Because you look like you're about ready to jump off a cliff."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "It's really great to have you home for the summer."

"This is still my home too, Jake," she said, giving me a slight sneer. "Just because I was able to get into college doesn't mean I don't still live here."

"Yeah, yeah. You got into college. Good for you," I huffed. All anyone had been talking about for the last three months was what college they would be going to, and what it would be like. My friends, everyone I went to school with, now even my sister. I was sick and tired of hearing about fucking college.

"It is good for me," Erin said, shooting me a nasty look. "It's not my fault you couldn't get in anywhere. Maybe if you had tried a little harder in school you could go to some shitty school somewhere. But you didn't even try. You just spent your entire four years jerking off and playing stupid video games."

"Can you give it a rest, please," I sighed. "I'm really not in the mood for your shit today, Erin."

"When are you ever in the mood for anything constructive?" Erin pushed. "You don't give a shit about anything, which is why you are where you are. And when anyone tries to help you, you snap at them and tell them you're not in the mood."

"Is that what you're doing?" I asked angrily, trying to keep my voice even. "Trying to help me?"

"I don't need to try to help you," she said. "I don't like wasting my time. Unlike you. In fact, I have better things to do than sit around with someone who is actually depressed to be finished with high school. It's the Saturday after your graduation, and I bet you're not even going to go anywhere tonight. You'll probably just sit in your room and jerk off thinking about Michelle's friends."

"I'm going to a party tonight, for your information," I shot back, even though I hadn't even made my mind up about that yet. But now I would have to go. If Erin caught me sitting around later she would just give it to me even worse than she was now.

"Oh really?" Erin laughed. "Who's party?"

"Ella Granger," I said. "Most of the class of '98 will be there."

"Bobby Granger's little sister?" Erin asked, actually looking impressed for a moment. "Well, that actually might be a good party then. Which means you'll probably chicken out and not go."

"I'm not going to chicken out," I said, feeling myself getting angrier with her as she chided me. "I'm going to go over to Ryan's house and we'll go over together, so I don't have to drive."

"Drive what?" Erin laughed. "Driving requires an engine. Riding your bike isn't driving, Jake."

"Yeah, well, you can still get a DUI riding your bike drunk on the highway," I said, trying to stop my face from turning red. Erin just burst into louder laughter.

"You would get arrested riding your bike," she laughed at me. "You better let Ryan's mom drive you."

"His sister is going to drive us," I corrected, and then turned away in embarrassment as Erin laughed even harder.

"You are such a fucking loser, you know that?" She said as her laughter subsided. "But at least you're going to a party on a Saturday night. That's a step in the right direction. Now you just have to learn how to talk to girls."

"I'm talking to you," I pointed out.

"Not by choice," she sneered. "And I don't count. Neither does Michelle. How many girls do you talk to that you aren't related to?"

"Shannon," I answered easily. We had been friends since grade school. She wasn't the most feminine girl around, but she was a girl, and one of my best friends.

"Shannon the mannon?" Erin laughed. "The dike? Yeah, she doesn't count either."

"Why not?" I asked, and gave Erin an offended look on Shannon's behalf.

"Because she's a dike," Erin said as if it were obvious.

"No she's not. She's just a tomboy," I said.

"Oh yeah? Have you ever seen her with a guy before?" Erin asked smugly.

"Sure," I nodded. "She dated a guy last year. And she goes on dates every once in a while. She's just not a girly girl. But she's straight."

"Then why haven't you ever asked her out?" Erin asked, looking at me incredulously. "If she made even a small effort to look like a girl, and not a dike, she would actually be pretty hot. It's not like she's ugly. If she really isn't gay then why haven't you ever asked her out?"

"Because we're friends," I said. "We've known each other since we were little kids. If I asked her out it would just make it weird, and then we wouldn't be friends anymore."

"You're hopeless, Jake," Erin said with a sad shake of her head. "I can't even help you."

"I don't remember ever asking for your help," I frowned. "As a matter of fact, I would really appreciate if you never tried to help me again."

"Whatever," Erin laughed, and stood up. "Just do me a favor and at least try to talk to a girl tonight. A real girl I mean, not Shannon." I rolled my eyes, and Erin walked away laughing. I watched her go for a moment, admiring the way her hips moved as she walked. I sat there a while longer, trying not to let Erin's words get to me, and failing. She had always been the meanest of my sisters, by far, though we are the closest in age. She's only a year and a half older than me, which means we went to school together. Michelle and Anna are both old enough that we're basically a different generation. But Erin was always two grades above me, so she knows how much of a loser I've been.

I decided to didn't even want to see my mom. I went to my room, changed into something more appropriate for a party, and then got back on my bike and rode off to Ryan's place. His house is nicer than mine, and I try to spend as much time there as I can. We've been best friends since we were five, and I feel as comfortable at his house as mine, maybe even more so. At his house I don't have to get yelled at and teased by my sister.

The very best thing about Ryan's house though, is his older sister, Brooke. She doesn't really talk to me much, nice or otherwise. Sometimes I think she doesn't even notice I'm there. But I don't mind. I don't want to talk to her. I'm happy just to get to see her. She worked at the hooters with Michelle for a about a month, but she quit because she's just too pretty to work there. She's done some modelling work, and we all know it's only a matter of time before she finds a rich guy to marry and take care of her. But in the meantime, I still get to stare at her when she isn't looking.

I rode my bike up to Ryan's house and was pleased to see Brooke's car in the driveway. I set my bike carefully against the fence and walked up. I didn't need to knock or ring the bell. I simply walked in the front door, and found Ryan and Shannon both sitting on the couch watching a football game. They both gave me simple head nods in greeting, and I slumped down onto the couch beside Shannon.

"So, are we going to that party tonight?" I asked. We normally didn't, but this was likely going to be one of the last events for our class before everyone left for good.

"Fuck that," Ryan said. "Let's go to the tracks and get drunk by ourselves."

"Yeah, I don't really want to go to a party," Shannon said in her somewhat raspy voice. She wore a green flannel over an Iron Maiden t shirt and beat up old jeans, and an old tigers hat that hid her dirty blonde hair. "Especially one at Ella Granger's house."

"Why not? She's super hot," I said.

"Which is probably why she's such a bitch," Shannon said. "And despite popular opinion, I don't actually find girls attractive."

"Really?" I said with a smirk. "You don't think Ella is attractive? Not at all?"

"Ok, fine, she's attractive," Shannon rolled her eyes at me. "For a girl, I guess. But it's not like either of you stand a chance with her. I don't know why you would want to go to a party at her parents' house."

"Because we just graduated," I said. "And we won't see any of those people anymore."

"Good," Ryan scoffed. "Why would I want to see any of them? They're a bunch of assholes. And since when do you care about parties?"

"I don't," I said. "But this might be one of the last chances we get. We should go and see what happens. Plus, I already told my sister I was going."

"Ah, there it is," Shannan said, and Ryan snorted laughter. "Erin is home and she teased you about not going out on a Saturday night. And so you lied and told her you're going to a party at Bobby Granger's sister's house. And now you want us to go with you, so you don't look like a total dork standing alone at the party. How much of that did I get right?"

"Some of it," I frowned. She had gotten it all surprisingly right. She knew me better than I cared for.

"More like every word," Ryan laughed. "That sounds like exactly what happened."

"Ok, whatever," I sighed. "Will you guys come to the party with me or not?"

"You really want to go to a fucking house party?" Shannon sighed in resignation. "At Ella's house?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Come on. It will be fun."

"No it won't," Shannon corrected me instantly.

"I know you're not going to make me go alone," I said. Neither of them argued. "And I'm going. We don't have to stay long. We can just stop in for a while."

"Fine," Shannon sighed. "We'll go. Does that mean I have to wear, like, nice clothes or something?"

"No," Ryan said casually. "Everyone thinks you're gay, so you can wear whatever you want."

"Gee, thanks," Shannan said sarcastically. "At least I've actually gotten some before. Unlike you losers."

"Tonight's the night that all changes," I said. "I have a good feeling about this."

"You're so full of shit," Ryan laughed. "You just want to go so your sister doesn't make fun of you."

"No, I mean it," I insisted. "Tonight, my luck changes. I don't care how many times I get rejected. I'm going to hook up with a girl tonight."

"That's the spirit, Jake," Brooke said as she walked into the room. We all turned and stared as she walked past us to the kitchen. Her long tan legs were on full display in the short skirt she had on, and her tight top hugged her awesome body perfectly. I ogled her blatantly as she walked past, and I could see Shannon doing the same. Ryan kept his eyes on the TV, as if he was making a concerted effort not to stare at his sister. "That's exactly the attitude you should have at your age," Brooke went on. "You just be yourself, and have a little confidence, and you'll get a girl. You could have a little more confidence too you know," she added to Ryan.

"Jake's full of shit," Ryan said. "He's not going to do any of that."

"Well at least he's trying," Brooke said, and gave me a warm smile. I felt my stomach flutter as she flashed her stunning white smile at me. "And that's how it all starts. So, am I driving you then?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Ryan nodded. "What time does the party start?"

"I'll drop you off a little after ten," Brooke said without waiting for an answer. "Trust me." With that she turned and walked into the kitchen, with me and Shannon both bending forward to get a look at her ass as she walked away. I turned to Shannon, who blushed and quickly sat back and turned to the football game.

"You sure you're not a lesbian?" I asked with a sly smirk.

"I'm sure," Shannon said with a frown. "But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a nice ass. And Brooke has about as nice an ass as there is."

"Agreed," I nodded.

"Can we not, guys?" Ryan said, sounding annoyed.

"What, we're just admiring the view," I smirked.

"Ok, well, she's my sister," Ryan frowned. "I don't stare at your sisters in front of you."

"Yes you do," I said, and Shannon let out a snort of laughter. "You got a full-on boner staring at Michelle that one time. Remember?"

"Ok, alright," Ryan said angrily. "Can we just leave the sisters out of it. Please?"

"Fine," I chuckled along with Shannon. "How're the Lions doing today anyway?" We all turned our attention to the game, and spent the next few hours watching the Lions get their asses handed to them by the Favre and the Packers, again. When eight o'clock came around, Shannon said she had to go home and change if we were really going to go to the party. Ryan and I went up to his room and played video games for the next hour and half, and then finally started getting ready for the party.

As we were getting ready to leave, around ten, Shannon came back. She had let her hair down, and it looked surprisingly good. She also had on makeup, which I had only seen her in a few times. My sister's words came back to me, and I had to agree. Shannon actually looked really good when she tried to. She also had on a sexy shirt than showed off the toned bottom of her stomach, as well as the nice curves of her tits. She normally wore clothes that hid her body, so I didn't notice or think about it often. But now I had to actually struggle to not just stare down at her tits.

"Jesus, guys, relax," she said as she walked in. I looked over at Ryan, and realized we had both been staring. "Guys really can't not stare at tits, can they?"

"No they cannot," Brooke said as she walked in. She was dressed much sexier than any of us, and looked like she was going on a date with some lucky bastard. "But it's a compliment. It means you look good, which you do," she walked over and looked Shannon up and down, while she blushed and looked away from all of us. "You'll definitely be hooking up with some lucky guy tonight. Maybe even one of these two if they have any balls."

"Ugh, don't even joke about that," Shannon said. Brooke laughed, and Ryan and I both frowned. "Do we really have to do this? I so do not want to get hit on by the dumbasses in our grade all night."

"Of course you do," Brooke said, and began pushing Shannon out the door. "You're all dressed up. Jake is right. This is your night! You're all going to go flirt with people, and mingle, and then hopefully you'll get a nice kiss from someone at the end of the night."