My Life Next Door Short Story

“Is Jase already gonna marry you?”

I start coughing again. “Uh, No. No, George. I’m only seventeen.” As if that’s the only reason we’re not engaged.

“I’m this many.” George holds up four, slightly grubby fingers. “But Jase is seventeen and a half. You could. Then you could live in here with him. And have a big family.”

Jase strides back into the room, of course, midway through this proposition. “George. Beat it. Discovery Channel is on.”

George backs out of the room but not before saying, “His bed’s really comfortable. And he never pees in it.”

When I found this book I had to read it, and it was for one simple fact. I had never seen a book where the main character's name was Samantha - and when I stumbled across this, not only was the

. . but then it surprises you. I thought this book would be very cliche, but it proved me wrong. A little rich girl falls for the boy next door, gets a whole new perspective on life through the eyes of a financially-strained, but very happy — unlike her own — family, and learns something big about herself over the course of one short summer. In a lot of ways, that is what this book is about. But, in truth, it is about so much more. The bulk of this novel is about Samantha getting to know — and fall for — both Jase and his family. But towards the end, as the publisher-provided synopsis says, there is a big obstacle that is dropped on Sam's and the Garrett's heads, an obstacle that is not overcome

They're life was so opposite from the one she led. Sam has the perfect trust-fund mother who currently is a congresswoman, and the beautiful older sister always out with her latest conquest. It's just the three of them, as Sam's dad left while her mother was pregnant with her. The Garrett's always had a lot going on with eight children: five boys and three girls. They were the type that always had the toys lying about in the front yard, comings and goings at all times, loud pool antics and sports playing in the front drive. In contrast, Sam's family has nothing out of place. Her mother even makes sure to vacuum any trace of footprints out of the carpet before they leave. It was an unspoken command to stay away from the Garrett's. But day after day, Sam found herself drawn to watching them until one day one of the sons, Jase, climbs up and talks to her. From then on Sam is tied inextricably to the Garrett's, but most of all to