Chapter One Buddy Can you come down and set the table please Buddy He was really starting to hate being called Buddy His real name was Benjamin Ben A name that described someone who had lots of friends Who
was good at sports Who was brave and exciting and not afraid of anything But Buddy Buddy was forgettable Buddy was clumsy and afraid of the dark When it came down to it Buddy was pretty sure he wasn't very interesting at all But his brother had started calling him Buddy when he was a baby It stuck No one called him anything else Buddy Yeah I'm coming Buddy stumbled down the hall toward the kitchen and nearly crashed into his brother Careful there Buddy His brother had just come out of his room rubbing his eyes and pushing his hair out of his face Buddy grinned The nickname didn't sound as bad coming from his Ryan It sounded more like he was calling him pal
Sorry Buddy mumbled happily He always happy to see his brother Ryan was five years older and five times cooler than he'd ever be Buddy glanced into his brother's room which was crammed with a drum kit and several guitars There was a motorcycle jacket thrown on the floor and a pair of boots that were about twice the size of Buddy's own sneakers Everything about his brother was cool As far as Buddy was concerned Ryan was a rock star And he wanted to be just like him Ryan grabbed him and pulled him in for a hug Want to throw the ball after breakfast he asked Yeah Definitely He knew he was lucky to have such a great brother His friend Jimmy had an older brother who rarely said a word to him unless it was Get out of the way or Stop bothering me And his
friend Stephanie's older sister was no better Jimmy and Steph thought Ryan was cool too Buddy grabbed plates for himself Ryan and his mom and set the table On weekends when his mom was home she liked to make big breakfasts of bacon and eggs Or pancakes Today it was waffles with fruit salad you could scoop onto the waffle Buddy didn't He liked his waffles drowning in syrup What do you have planned today his mom asked sitting down and sipping her tea We're going to play some catch Buddy said Right Ry Yep Right after I've loaded up on waffles I love how close you two are his mom said smiling Yeah yeah We secretly can't stand each other Mom We just keep it well hidden Right Ryan winked at Buddy
