You’d think that people would have better things to do than gossip wouldn’t you? So what if there was a new family moving to the town and five of the kids were going to be coming here? They were just normal guys like us, it’s not like they were vampires or something, right?

Those were my thoughts on the morning of October 20th , the day they were due to start, as I dragged myself to my next lecture, which was actually becoming my least favourite. Investigative study in geographical research. I didn’t mind the majority of the work, but who actually needs Spearman’s rank and Chi Squared anyway? I had the equations written down on every page of my book, but the damn things just refused to stay in my head, and it drove me completely insane!

I took my usual seat in the middle of the room, and dumped my bags in the empty seat next to me. Once we were all settled down and had our books out, I threw myself into my work, not even noticing halfway through the class that someone had come into the room and was standing in front of the group while our lecturer tried, and failed to gain our attention, which meant he reverted to making a loud bang by slapping a ruler onto his desk to shock us all into silence. I had my headphones in, but luckily, Josh leant forward to nudge me and as I looked at him, he nodded towards the front, so I quickly turned my music off to hear what the lecturer had to say.

“Everyone, as you know we have a family of five people starting here today. This is Shayne Skylar and he will be in this group from now on.”

I took a minute to look at him, and I had to admit that even though all the gossip had driven me crazy, especially about how hot they were all going to be, I wasn’t expecting what I saw. A tall and muscular guy stood there, his very well toned arms folded across his broad chest. A serious expression across his chiselled features, his mouth in a firm set line, his eyes scanning the room, as if he was analysing every single person in it. His eyes caught mine and I immediately felt as though he could see into my soul from the intensity of his golden irises that were unlike anything I had ever seen before. His eyes actually reminded me of a wolf, with the fierce beauty that caused you to be unable to look away, just as his eyes were doing to me now. The lecturer said something to him, and he turned away, breaking eye contact with me, his black hair skimming his shoulders.

Now that I had seen what he looked like, I put my headphones back in and un-paused my music, slightly bobbing my head in time with the beat. A minute later, I realised that someone was standing next to me, and I looked up to see it was the new guy. I pulled one of the earphones.

“Can I help you?”

“I was told to sit here.” he said, pointing to the seat next to me.

I groaned slightly, and moved my arm to pick my bag up. Unfortunately, I ended up actually knocking it off the desk, and I wasn’t quick enough to catch it. He was though. He caught it just as it skimmed the floor and handed it back to me.

“Thanks. You’ve got really good reflexes!” I commented.

He said nothing, just sat down and pulled out a notebook and copied down the two equations off the board. I rolled my eyes.

“Suit yourself” I muttered.

I saw him glance towards me at that, and I quickly put my earphone back in and turned back to my work, frowning as yet another question involving spearman’s rank appeared. I groaned and put my head down on the table in defeat. I felt another nudge and turned to look at Josh.

“How’re you enjoying today’s work?” he teased.

I didn’t answer, just flicked my eraser at him, grinning triumphantly as it made a satisfying smacking noise against his forehead.

“Hey!” he moaned.

I noticed that the stoic guy sitting next to me actually looked amused at that, which surprised me as he hadn't shown any interest in anything so far. When the lecture was over and I packed my stuff away, I turned to face the new guy to offer to let him borrow my notes to catch up, only to find that he had already left. I shrugged my shoulders and followed Josh, who was still complaining about the eraser throw. I had to laugh at that, he was such a baby at times.

I didn’t see any more of the newcomers until my last lecture of the day, which was Creative Writing. As I walked in, there was someone already in the room. Another of the new people, another male. He was similar to Shayne in the sense that he was well built, but his facial features were much softer and he wasn’t as tall or muscular. He had dark brown hair and his eyes were a strange shade of green, almost like a patch of moss that goes a murky colour when you put water on it. Josh, being Josh, decided to be the first one to talk to the guy. He moved over and held his hand out, a wide, cheek-splitting grin spreading across his face.

“Hey there, you must be one of the Skylar’s. I’m Josh Kealer, and this is my best friend Bethany Barton.”

I gave him a friendly wave before moving to the back of the room to grab my folder. I kept an eye on Josh though, ready to step in and drag him out if he started acting too much like a prat, which was extremely likely. The new guy didn’t move, he just stared at josh’s hand as if it was about to jump up and bite him or something. Josh’s face dropped a bit and he pulled his hand away.

“Hey, whatever man” he said.

The new guy growled at that, and his lip rose in a snarl. I quickly stepped forward and pulled josh away, before the new guy hit him or something. Janet, our lecturer walked in at that minute.

“Oh, so you’ve already introduced yourselves to Dylan, have you?”

So, his name was Dylan then. Dylan coolly gazed at us all before taking a seat as far away from us as possible. I frowned slightly. Did we smell or something? Wow, he was going to be a real pleasure to have in the group. I sat down and Janet stepped forward.

"Okay, so there aren't many weeks left now before I leave, so let's make the next few projects something really special, okay?"

For once, there were no protests from anyone begging her to stay. I think everyone finally got the message; she was leaving and there was no stopping her. The rest of the hour went by too quickly for my liking. I had just started to really get into my writing when Janet told us we had to pack up. I put my folder back, and as I did, I noticed Dylan was standing next to me, looking at the shelves with a blank expression on his face.

“Hey, the folders go on this shelf, and if you have anything else you want to leave, just put them in this cupboard”

I indicated which cupboard by nudging it with my knee. Dylan didn’t say anything, just thrust his folder next to mine before turning and slinking off out of the room.

“Geesh. What is it with this family? So far the two I’ve met are miserable sods.” I muttered, and then pushed josh gently as he started laughing after hearing my comment.

Josh still had one more lecture before he could head home, so after giving him a farewell hug, he disappeared down the halls. I moved over to my locker and threw most of my books in it. I only kept two books in my bag and that was just so that I could do some work later on. I slammed the door shut after grabbing my jacket, then threw my jacket on before putting my bag back on and setting off.

I reached the motorcycle lot, and gazed longingly at the bikes. One I didn’t recognise was parked at the end, and I found I almost couldn’t tear my gaze off it. A bright green Kawasaki ninja stood proudly away from the other bikes, outshining them in every way. I had to force myself to not go over to it and touch it, instead, forcing myself over to my car, a blue Hyundai Coupe. It wasn’t as flashy as some of the cars dotted about, but it was right for me. I unlocked the door and threw my bag in the back, and as I shut the door, someone brushed past me.

I looked up to see Dylan moving to the car parked next to mine, and he was with two other people, another male that looked identical to him only with lighter green eyes and longer and lighter hair. A female was with them too. She was very short, but her hair was so long, even in a ponytail, it reached the base of her back. I had a feeling that if she were to let her hair down she could probably sit on it. I think she must’ve sensed me looking at her then as her eyes suddenly snapped up to look at me, a soft, gentle brown, and as her eyes caught mine, she sent a friendly smile and a wave. The guy that I suspect must be Dylan’s twin also smiled and wave. I shyly waved back and turned back to my car, but a few seconds later, a hand tapped my shoulder. I turned round to see it was the girl. She gave me a dazzling smile.

“Hey there! I just saw your car and wondered how you kept it in such good condition?”

I didn’t quite know what to say. Her voice was very soft and cheerful, reminding me of the sound of tinkling wind chimes.

“Umm, well basically I just give it a clean once a week, and me and my brother go over the mechanics once a month to make sure everything’s in working order”

Dylan walked off back towards the campus then, a very annoyed expression crossing his face. I saw the other guy roll his eyes before also turning to meet us.

“Hey Star, I think you just made Dylan angry.” he joked, winking at me in a friendly gesture as he did.

I laughed slightly at that, and he grinned.

“Callum, he’s like Hunter. It’s so easy to rile him up, even over the most simplest of things.”

“True, true. It’s hard to believe we’re twins with the personality difference, isn’t it?”

The whole time they spoke, they were looking at my car, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they had chosen my car out of all the others in the lot. In fact, I was starting to get suspicious that maybe it wasn't the car they were interested in at all, but I pushed my thoughts to the side as the girl turned to look at me, and held her hand out.

“How rude of me! My name’s Star Skylar. My parents decided to be ironic and give me a first name that related to my surname, but I find it funny. This pain in the butt is my adopted brother, Callum, and the broody guy that stormed off is Callum’s twin Dylan.”

“Hey , it’s nice to meet you. I hope you guys are settled in ok here. Oh, my names Bethany Barton by the way. I met Dylan earlier, is he always like that?”

The pair of them looked at each other briefly before simultaneously breaking out into grins. Callum put his arm casually round my shoulder, acting as though he had known me for years. The way they were, I felt as if I HAD known them years.

“Trust me, my brother is ALWAYS like that, always has been. He isn’t as bad as Hunter though”I felt him shudder slightly at that name, and I couldn’t help but turn my confused expression to Star, silently asking her to fill me in.

“Hunter is the eldest out of us, and believe me, that guy doesn’t have a kind bone in his body for anybody.”

I nodded in understanding, and Callum pulled his arm away from me, as Star started waving and threw herself at someone as they moved over to us. Once she calmed down enough to detach herself from them, she revealed the newcomer to be none other than Shayne.

“Hey dude” Callum said.

“Hey cal.” he responded with his deep, smooth voice.He turned to look at me, and my stomach flipped once again at the beauty of his eyes. Out in the open when the sun was shining on them they looked just like liquid gold, and I couldn’t help but find them absolutely beautiful. He didn’t say anything to me, which was no surprise really. He just stared at me for a few more seconds before nodding at his siblings and moving over to the motorbike section. Before he even reached it I knew exactly which bike was his, and I watched enviously as he flung himself onto the Ninja and zoomed off out of the grounds without even pausing to put a helmet on.

“Shouldn’t he wear a helmet?” I asked.

Callum laughed and Star gave me a smile.

“He doesn’t believe in them to be honest. Don’t worry though, he’s tough.”

“Oh, right. I can’t believe he owns a Kawasaki Ninja though! My mum used to own one, and I‘ve wanted one for years.”

My voice faded as I said that, and I felt the usual tears try to build up as I swallowed the lump in my throat that appeared every time I mentioned my mum. The pair of them obviously saw the fact that I was fighting tears, as they both gave me worried glances.

“Hey, are you ok?” Star asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. My mum passed away last month, and I’m not really over the shock yet.”

They both gave me a hug then, before offering to give me a lift home. I motioned back to my car.

“I’m fine, honestly. Plus, if I get home without my car, my step dad will probably blow his stack.”

The three of us laughed then, and I opened the door and slid in. just before I pulled away, I wound my window down as stuck my head out of it.

“By the way, it was nice meeting you. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?”

I noticed that Callum wasn't really paying much attention, and saw that he was looking over at a man on the other side of the parking lot. I glanced at Star questioningly.

"Is he...?"

"Gay? Yep."

"Oh."

I wasn't bothered, in fact it would probably be quite nice to have a gay friend, after all, I'd been told that they made the best shopping partners. Callum turned his attention back to us and I said farewell again. They both nodded and waved as I pulled away.

On the way home, I went over the four Skylar’s that I had met. So far there was a funny one, a kind one, a silent one, a stand-offish one, and from what I had been told the last one was just plain hostile. All in all, most of them seemed really nice, and I could see already that I was going to be good friends with Star and Callum. Maybe even Shayne, if I could break through that exterior of his.