Commute - Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015

Chapter Fifteen - Thing Two

Tell us about your life. There's not really anything to tell. I expect Kendall's told you everything already. But hey. My name's Kara. I was born in California, USA, and for eight years I had a mom and dad who loved me. Then they split, and our whole world came crashing down. We moved to the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as Coxbury), and so started my three years of hell. Bullying sounds kind of tame when it's written about in books, unless it's really serious, but honestly, it's the worst thing. Imagine waking up every morning and wishing you hadn't. Wishing you'd never have to. Then, of course, Kendall finally told the headteacher, who ruined everything by splitting us up. It was like the end of the world for me. At the end of primary, we moved schools to London, but stayed living in Coxbury. There. That's the condensed story of my life. Hope you enjoyed it.

What was your occupation before you started commuting? Honestly, if all the questions are like this, I don't see why you want me to do it as well as Kendall. She'll just answer exactly like I did. Well, anyway, I'll tell you. We lived in California, all together, one happy family. There weren't any problems. Mom and Dad both had good jobs, but were back in time to see us home from school. We went out for meals every Friday and when we had something to celebrate, and they came to every concert, every school play, every prize-giving. Kendall and I were totally oblivious. We didn't realize there were any problems. Right up until The End we thought that there were no problems at all. We were living in a happy bubble, and it popped that one night when we packed our bags with Mom and caught the 2 a.m. plane to London Heathrow. We hired a car and drove until we got to Coxbury, the most lonely, secluded village she could find. The next week we were enrolled in Coxbury Primary, and - I'm going to stop there. I've already told you what it was like. I don't want to go through the details again.

Why are you based in London? Because they don't have any other schools in Coxbury, of course. London Park Secondary was basically the only option that was cheap enough and close enough to the train station. It doesn't matter though. I'm happy there, and I'm guessing Kendall is too. She never says otherwise, but then, she barely ever says anything to me anyway, so I couldn't know. I've got friends there, so that's definitely an improvement.

Why don't you just move to London? I guess because of Mom's job, and also she doesn't want to live in London. Mom loves quiet places, where you can just sit and think about, oh, I don't know, life in general. She didn't like it in San Francisco, she told us, but we had to live there because that's where Dad works. Mom's boss of the Greenway Store in Coxbury, which is literally the only supermarket around. She could probably get a good job in London too, but it's up to her. And she chose Coxbury. I can't really argue with that, can I?

Lastly, tell us an interesting fact about you, or your family. You know what? I lie in bed, awake every night, wishing I was Kendall. Wishing I was the more dominant sister. Wishing I had her confidence, her aura of self-belief. Wishing I was always able to come up with clever comebacks, wishing more people liked me. When we are together, all everyone ever focuses on is Kendall. I'm left in the background, like an ornament. Kendall thinks I'm fine with it, but I hate it. More than anything. Maybe she'd know if she ever talked to me.

Thank you for your time. Goodbye.