Disclaimer: I do not own The Host or it's characters. They belong to Stephenie Meyer

Summary: Sequel to Change. Aiden and Alice are now sixteen and life in the caves hasn't changed much. Love is in the air though! How will Ian react to his little girl being in love?

Growing Up

Growing Up

AlPOV:

Another boring day in the caves. I was helping Aiden and my mom plant seeds in the main plaza. Jeb wanted us to plant tomatoes and cucumbers this time. As I was planting seeds, in one of the corners of the field, I hear footsteps approach me. I look up to find Isaiah and Freedom standing above me covered in dust from working in a different field.

"Hey Allie," says Isaiah cheerfully. "Want some help?" I look away blushing and nod.

"That'd be great, Isaiah," I say sheepishly. Isaiah had become very handsome over the years. He was five years older than me, but down in the caves age didn't mean a whole lot. Freedom was also handsome and closer to my age, but he didn't appeal to me the way Isaiah did.

Both Isaiah and Freedom had tan skin from working in the sunny areas of the caves all day. Their hair was dark with highlights from the sun and messy from not being properly cut and brushed daily—which was their choice, we had brushes, but most of the guys chose not to use them. Isaiah had hazel eyes that always shone with mischief and happiness. Freedom's eyes were brown, but a pretty brown that was deep and looked like chocolate.

Isaiah was taller than Freedom by a few inches and his build was that of a man who worked hard everyday of his life for a long time. Freedom was also lean and muscular, but because he was younger his muscles were stringy. Their facial features were similar and according to their mother they looked just like their father. Isaiah had an older looking face than Freedom did, but they both had big, expressive eyes. They both had strong features though, that were perfect. They each had a perfect nose, perfect lips that were full—and in Isaiah's case, very kissable—and almost always smiling. Their jaws were strong and lead to lean necks and broad shoulders. Isaiah's shoulders and chest were broader than Freedom's though.

As Isaiah and Freedom got to work planting seeds I couldn't help but notice that Isaiah had a nice butt. Freedom did too, but Isaiah's was much better to look at. Then Aiden walks over carrying a bag of seeds. "Enjoying the view sis?" asks Aiden causing me to blush.

"Shut-up Aiden, what do you want?" I grumble going back to planting seeds.

"Came to check on you, wanted to see if you needed help, but it looks like you have enough," says Aiden with a huge 'shit-eatin' grin', as Jeb would call it. I resist the urge to pelt dirt at Aiden and resort to glaring at him instead.

Aiden was handsome—even though he's my brother and I don't like him like that—with black hair and ice-blue eyes like our dad. He was also built like my dad was at our age. He was the same height as Isaiah and could easily kick his butt in a fight—trust me it's happened before. Aiden's hair was well kept and cut nicely—he believed in looking nice all of the time, mainly to impress Mae. He looked almost identical to our dad—Jared said the O'Shea's had strong genes, especially the men—but he had a little of our mom in him too. He had her kindness and 'bubbliness' as Melanie calls it—Aiden hated that word when used to describe his personality, said it wasn't manly or something, but I had that bubbliness too and I didn't see what the big deal was.

He had a square jaw and his facial features were expressive, but strong as well. His neck was taught and his shoulders and chest broad for a sixteen year old. Over all he had the body of a boy you would find in a Seventeen magazine—at least that was what Melanie had told me once. Apparently the magazine was banned because it gave teens a certain image that they should live up to and put down everyone else. Souls felt that everyone was beautiful no matter what so the magazine wasn't being fair or something, but that's not the point.

"Well I don't need your help, maybe Mae does; I heard she was in the kitchen today. They were getting ready to make potato soup for lunch," I say as I wipe my forehead with the back of my arm, which was covered in dirt from digging all morning. Aiden blushes and looks away.

"It's not like that with us Alice," insists Aiden.

"Not yet, but you want it to be," I say with a smirk. Mae was Melanie and Jared's daughter, born after Mel's birth control failed to work properly. They were proud parents though. Mae was a beautiful girl with brown hair and dark eyes exactly like Jared's, and were flecked with lighter shades of brown just like Jared. She looked like Melanie though and her build was like Melanie's as well. It was partially from working in the caves with the rest of us and partially because she had Melanie's genetics, according to Jamie. Jamie said that the women had athletic builds, but in a good way. They weren't scrawny or wiry like some athletes; Mae actually had curves and a body that would be found in a fashion magazine for swimsuits.

Once again, this was according to Melanie. She had decided to tell me about some of the magazines she liked to read before the end of the world—her words, not mine—and when I was confused about what models looked like she told me that some of the people in the caves could have easily become models because of their good looks and body structures. She went on to tell me that Aiden, Mae, and I would have easily become models had we grown up in a different time.

She had an infectious personality and was always smiling, just like Jared. She loved to laugh and smile and be happy. She hated to see others unhappy or hurt and always tried to make them feel better. Jared insisted that she got that from him and when he'd said it Melanie had smacked him, which I thought had proved his point, but I wasn't going to voice my opinion on that one. She wasn't very tall though, but she was also 14 years old, which could have something to do with it. She usually got the fairly easy chores, because she got tired easily doing the harder stuff, but when I was fourteen I had received the same sort of chores.

Aiden always insisted that he was nothing more than friends with Mae, but come on, he's my twin, I can hear the longing in his voice whenever he tells me that and I know he wants her, but he also knows that if he tried anything Jared would get Jeb's shot gun. Just like Isaiah knows that our dad keeps a metal baseball bat behind the mattress in his room. Kyle also has a wooden bat in his room and warned Isaiah that he was on our dad's side if he tried anything with me. What was it with dads and threatening guys who liked their daughters anyway?

Anyway, Mae and Aiden were meant to be together, I just knew it, and I was going to help them out one of these days. Besides, Mae was my best friend and had told me more than once that she was in love with Aiden, but made me promise not to tell anyone, and just as Aiden had made me do the same. So they were both unaware of the attraction they held for each other and I wasn't allowed to tell. It wasn't like other people didn't know; I mean you had to be blind to not notice they way they looked at each other.

"Whatever, I'm going to go see if dad needs help," grumbles Aiden. I giggle and go back to work.

APOV:

As I approach Alice to ask her if she needed help I noticed Isaiah and Freedom had beat me to it. Alice was staring at Isaiah with a faraway look in her eyes as he worked with his back to her. Then I notice that she was staring at his butt. "Enjoying the view sis?" I ask with a grin causing Alice to scowl at me.

"Shut-up Aiden, what do you want?" she asks. Alice was a beautiful girl, she really was. She had black hair like mine, but it was curly and went down to her waist. She also had mom's silver glow about her. She was smaller than me at 5' 2" compared to my 5' 10", but she had a nice body. Her eyes were vivid blue and expressive, while her nose was small, and her lips were full, but not too full. Over all she had an Elvin face—according to Jamie. Her jaw line was soft yet strong and her neck was slender.

I'd seen Isaiah staring at her body with appreciation. But so did Freedom and most of the other guys our age. Dad had made an attempt at hiding her body under baggy clothes once, but discovered that it didn't take away from her appearances. Speaking as a guy, Alice had a nice bust size and good curves. She had an athletic build from working in the caves, but it was still somewhat soft because she didn't work as hard as everyone else. Because of her small size she got worn out easily, but insisted on working in the fields just like everyone else. She wanted to do her part.

"Came to check on you, wanted to see if you needed help, but it looks like you have enough," I say with a grin. Of course Alice wasn't going to take my crap today and decided to turn the tables.

"Well I don't need your help, maybe Mae does; I heard she was in the kitchen today. They were getting ready to make potato soup for lunch," she says with a grin of her own, causing me to blush.

"It's not like that with us Alice," I insist with a scowl, that I don't think Alice took notice of. Mae was a beautiful girl and of course Alice was right, but I wasn't going to admit to it. Jared already threatened me with Jeb's shot gun, and I had a feeling that he wasn't kidding.

"Not yet, but you want it to be," says Alice cheekily. That wasn't really the point though. I had feelings for Mae, but I knew for a fact that she didn't share those feelings for me.

"Whatever, I'm going to go see if dad needs help," I mumble before walking away. Dad was helping Kyle and Jared plow the other field for corn and onions. Even though my mom could get all the produce we needed Jeb still liked the taste of fresh organic produce better. Jared complained that Jeb just liked making everyone work.

Either way everyone in the caves worked together to get all of Jeb's chores done. We tended to get most of the chores done in the morning and had the rest of the day to ourselves. Unless you was a teenager and had school like Alice, Mae, Freedom, and I, along with five others. Freedom was on his last year of school, but Alice and I were stuck in school until we were 18 so we had a little over a year and a half while Mae had almost four years.

We all complained about it, but Jeb always told us that a good education was important and if we ever made it out of these caves we'd be glad we got what we were given. We all disagreed, but we were smart enough not to tell Jeb that. He was a crazy old man that was for sure. Melanie would say that he was eccentric and not crazy though, but everyone disagreed with her and said he was crazy.

Overall, life in the caves wasn't so bad even if life above ground was better. We had everything we needed down here and everyone worked together well. I couldn't ask for a better family and friends.

End Chapter

A/N: Thanks for reading chapter one of the sequel to Change. Sorry about the title, but those aren't my specialty at all. If you can think of a better one let me know and I'll change it. I decided to put a lot of descriptions into this chapter so you got a feel for the characters. Umm…with Isaiah and Freedom I guessed as to what they would look like. The book doesn't really give descriptions of them. As for Aiden, Alice, and Mae, I went by what their parents looked like and described these three characters accordingly. I hope you liked this chapter and I apologize for taking so long to start the sequel. Please review and feel free to ask questions and give me your opinions on stuff. Sayonara! =]