His Best Friend's Sister

Chapter 1

8 Months Earlier

"Anastasia!" My older brother's resonating voice bellowed through the walls of our house, stirring me right awake. Even in completely different rooms and with the doors closed, I heard it loud and clear.

"What?" I shouted back, immediately offended at his tone. I rubbed my eyes with my hands. No need for an alarm today, I thought.

I heard footsteps fast approaching my bedroom. The door burst open and there stood Alexander with sopping wet hair, holding his towel up with one hand and his hairbrush in the other.

"Ew!" I covered my eyes dramatically. "Put some clothes on before you barge in here!"

"Who said you could use my hairbrush? All of your long, brown, dangly hairs are tangled in it! Everywhere I go in this house, I see hair. On the kitchen table, on the sofa and now, in my hairbrush!"

"Well, you do live with only girls, in case you haven't noticed," I reminded him unhelpfully. Plus, we share a bathroom. It was bound to happen. 

"Just clean it out, alright?" he ordered. With that, he tossed the brush toward me, narrowly avoiding my head.

"You could've hit me!" I yelled indignantly. I then wondered if that had been his intention. 

He barely heard me as he was already out the door, muttering something about how sisters are a pain in the ass. 

Having an older brother can be a pain in the ass, too, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't have its perks. Because as much as Alexander can drive me crazy, like he was doing this morning, he's also been looking out for me my entire life. The one thing about siblings is that you will always have each other's backs - no matter what.

When Alexander had found that Martin Scoville had taken my chocolate chip cookie at lunch in the third grade, not only did he get the cookie back, but he also managed to get Martin to surrender a bag of Ketchup-chips. In my honour. In the seventh grade, Tricia Lyons spread a nasty rumour that I stuffed my bra. I came home crying every day for a week. While Alexander would never threaten or fight a girl, Tricia did have an older brother. I never found out exactly what Alexander said to him, but let's just say Tricia left me alone after that.

Although sometimes, Alexander can take things too far.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had my first real crush: William Page. William and I began passing notes in class, which quickly developed into holding hands at recess. What made this all the better was that Alexander was now in high school. He couldn't intervene, because he had no idea it was going on. It was time for me to experience a relationship with a boy. However, William Page made a fatal mistake on Valentine's Day that year. He showed up to my house.

Alexander, who has always been quite large for his age and a very threatening hockey player, might I add, unfortunately had the advantage of opening the front door to find William standing awkwardly with a single rose.

"I, uh, I'm here for, uh, Anna..." William stumbled.

"Who are you?" Alexander demanded. Without giving William a chance to answer, he added "and what are your intentions with my sister?"

"I've never been to detention!" replied poor William Page, not one known for his academic achievements.

Alexander quickly determined I was too smart for William and promptly closed the door on him. Only after, of course, threatening that if he ever showed up to our house again that Alexander and the entire Davenport Devils hockey team would be the ones to answer next time. Safe to say, William Page didn't talk to me much after that. I appreciate having a brother who looks out for my best interests but, scaring guys off completely wasn't exactly what I had in mind either.