Chapter 1 - A few Ruels

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I sat glumly in the backseat of my parents car, staring out the window. The late afternoon sun was shining down on my face, giving a golden tint to my already tanned skin. I usually quite enjoyed this time of day, but when I had been sitting in a car for 10 hours straight with my family non-stop talking, it was anything but enjoyable.

My family had just moved from Melbourne to Sydney, and my dad had the 'brilliant idea' to do a family road-trip from Melbourne to Sydney, which was a 9 and a half hour drive. It was his idea of 'family bonding time', but it was more like some weird method of torture. I was stuck in a car for nearly an entire day with my 13-year-old sister Neveah whining about who knows what the whole way, my mum going mad at her for whining, and my dad getting mad because he kept taking wrong turns. Thankfully, I'd remembered to bring my headphones, so I could plug them in, play some Harry Styles and forget I was even there. Harry Styles could fix almost every problem. Except when it came to my mum's lectures of course.

"Sunday, take out your headphones, we need to talk to you," my mum said seriously. I grumbled a fine and tugged on the wires, watching the earplugs fall onto my lap. "We intended to tell you this earlier, but we didn't have enough time to," she started, swallowing seemingly nervously. I narrowed my eyes. What was so important that we had to stop Harry Styles? "We aren't moving straight into our house, because it's not quite ready yet. But your dad's friends, who also happen to be our neighbours, have offered for us to stay there while we get everything sorted. But I wanted to let you two know to be on your absolute best behaviour, or the consequences will be terrible."

I just sat numbly. This wasn't really new. Our parents didn't trust me and Neveah with anything, no matter how big an impact it had on our lives. Sure it was annoying they didn't tell us we were moving into a randoms' house, but we were used to it.

"Do they have any kids?" I heard Neveah ask. I listened in, because I wanted to know the answer to this question too.

"In fact they do. They have 3. The two girls are a lot older. 21 and 24 I believe, I'm not 100% sure. And I think the boy is about Sunday's age, maybe a little older," mum replied, earning a grumble from Neveah. I was happy to hear this. Maybe he'd want to be friends with me? That would mean I'd already have a friend before school started. Would he go to the same school as me? Well I guess we were neighbours, so it would make sense. I put back in my headphones, feeling a little more excited to be here than earlier. I was happy to hear the sound of Two Ghosts by Harry Styles start to play softly. I hummed along to the tune, soaking up the warmth of the sun on my face as I listened.




*



When I awoke, the car was stopped, and there was no sign of sunlight whatsoever. Instead, the moonlight was dimly showering my features. I yawned, taking out the wires of my headphones and looking around the car to realise I was alone. Seriously? They had left me alone in the car?

I flipped over my phone to see if my parents had texted me, and I saw one notification from mum. Oh great, you texted me instead of waking me up. Thanks a bunch mum.

Mum
Hey Honey,
we didn't want to wake you, so we went inside. You can come in when you're ready. We put your things in your temporary room already. See you soon xx

I drowsily rubbed my eyes and picked up my handbag from the floor below me. I opened the door quietly, sliding out of the car slowly. It felt weird to have the ground beneath my feet after so long of sitting down. I gazed up to the house we were parked in front of and nearly fell over. It was stunning to say the least. The front of the house had a huge balcony with a table placed in the middle. It undoubtedly had a fantastic view of the city. And behind the balcony, was a window that covered the entire wall, allowing the sun or moonlight (depending on the time) shine into what I assumed to be the lounge room.

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