Chapter I

"You must be Chloe." Ihear Simon say to the new blonde girl as I lean against the kitchen doorway. I see her throw a carrot at Simon and smirk on the inside. That's not usually the reaction he gets from girls.

"I-I-"She stutters, even though she has her back turned, I can hear the mortification in her voice. Not that I was really shocked. No sane girl in her right mind would throw anything at Simon. Oh yeah, I almost forgot where we are…not. Lyle House isn't exactly the place for normal girls. All you have to do to realize this is look at Queen Victoria of Medication Land.

Simon signal to her to quiet down and walks to the pantry. He knows Mrs. Talbot is in the dining room.

"The other one's already open," she whispers to Simon and directs his attention to a half empty sleeve of crackers. Probably thinking she's being helpful.

"Thanks, but he'll want the whole thing. Right, bro?" Simon said over his shoulder to me.

Chloe found where Simon was looking and let out the girliest yelp I have ever heard. As she takes my appearance in, I evaluate hers without interest, not like I haven't seen her type before. They all end up being the same. She was short, about five feet, with big, innocent baby blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair with red streaks that were probably put in to make her seem older. Oh yeah, she was Simon's type. In fact, any girl was Simon's type. Well, except Millicent. I still cringe inwardly at the thought of that girl. Pretty sure Simon still does too.

"I-I-I-I didn't see you there." She said.

I chose to ignore her…like everyone else. I mean it was obvious she was creeped out by me. No surprise there. No need for special treatment for someone who there is no need knowing, caring about or being nice to. She's just a girl. But apparently Simon didn't share my opinion.

"We're still teaching him manners," Simon said, grabbing the back of my t-shirt. "Derek, Chloe. Chloe, my brother, Derek."

"Brother?" she inquired. I mentally rolled my eyes. Not only was she blonde, but she acts like it too. Girls like her are a waste of breathing space.

"Yeah," I rumbled, "Identical twins." Simon threw me a dirty look when Chloe wasn't looking. What? I thought it was funny.

"He's my foster brother." Simon explained. "So I was just telling Chloe-"

"We done here?" I ask although I already knew the answer.

I had enough. I don't do small talk. If you have something important to say, spit it out. I have better things to do than hear people ramble on about nothing. Just get to the point.

The other reason I wanted to leave was our own Queen Victoria was clomping her way to the kitchen. She obviously wanted to grace Simon with her regal presence. Or stalk him.

Simon waved me away and I walked away toward the boy's staircase. Even though I was a decent length away, I could hear what happened next.

"Sorry. Anyway, I was going to say welcome-"

"Simon?" Tori asked. "I thought I heard you," I heard the pantry door open. "You and Derek, always raiding the-"

I heard Tori cut off. I'm not one for mental imaging, but I could picture the scene. Simon standing there with a deer in the headlights look, Chloe looking slightly confused, and Tori, with dark, narrowed eyes. I could practically feel the jealousy and suspicion radiating off her.

"Tori?" Simon said.

You could hear the change in her voice.

"Yes?"

"Shhh." Simon hushed

I smirked as I quietly open the door to Simon and my room. I could still hear Tori babble apologies. If Tori kept up her constant interest in Simon and her petty jealousy over Simon's interest in Chloe, this could turn into quite the…interesting stay.