It wasn't James' fault that everything was boring. No, that blame could be pointed in the direction of Sarah and Emily. Stupid Sarah, thinking that a move out of state would be 'good for the family'. And annoying Emily, for backing her up. Their whole family had gotten significantly smaller over the summer- Grampa Joe had passed away, Auntie Michelle had packed up her bags and flown to California, and the divorce had finally gone through. Dad was to keep the big house in Ithaca, with the trees and the fenced in back yard, and Russell, the old golden retriever. James felt like he was getting the short end of the bargain. While his dad got the whole house empty, just James Carter senior and Russell the aged dog, James junior had to pack up all his things, say good-bye to his friends, and move far away from the only place he had ever known, just to live with his four sisters and depressed mom.

This was in no way, shape or form, the way James had imagined spending his twelfth birthday. Promises from both his mother and his father, fighting for his affection, he had imagined a party in the backyard of the three-story house in New York, with one of those blow-up child jumping buildings. With hot dogs and hamburgers to eat, ice cream and cake for dessert, and presents for the lucky birthday boy. He had expected to spend time with all his friends, laughing and just having fun. He had expected to spend time with Lucy Aberforth, behind the shed where the adults couldn't see. But none of those things were happening. Instead, he was home with Emily, Katie, and Colleen, while Sarah and their mother were off checking out a college. James was stuck at home, babysitting, on his birthday. He had to change diapers, on his birthday. He was getting bossed around by Emily, on his birthday! This wasn't fair.

"This place sucks. This house sucks, mom sucks, Emily sucks, I hate this place!" he groaned, kicking a deflated ball. "There's nothing to do out in McHicksville." he complained, shoving his hands into the pockets of the over sized blue sweatshirt he was wearing. Nothing for him, at least. No, the girls had things to do. There was a farming family only ten minutes from the small house the members of the Carter-Smith family resided in. Like the Carter's, they seemed to mostly be filled with girls. Eight girls, ranging in ages from six to twenty-two. The only boy in the family was too old to talk to James, being sixteen. And there were only a few more families in the area, and they still seemed to be overrun with girls. There was one boy, but he was seven, and just got on James' nerves. A little red-headed, freckled freak. Now, that was not the annoying child, but the way the little boy had described James. James had just retorted with a just-as-childish response; 'I'd rather have red hair than buck teeth, loser.'. For being twelve years old, James was a common boy. Interested in video games, and not much else, with a loud and snippy personality, he couldn't see how he had gotten into this mess. "Happy birthday to me,"


Junk list:
Over-used words: Blush, embarrass, shudder, shiver, just, softly, gently, pouted, grinned, smiled
Miss-spellings: 'Have', turning out to be 'hate', and the other way around. 'Okay' ending up 'play' and the other way around.