Chp. 1 : Surprise surprise

134 5 2
                                    

"You seriously are the worst people I have ever been damned to meet in my entire life!"

The door slammed, and I sunk to my knees behind the barrier. I could hear my dad comforting my mom on the other side, telling her how I didn't mean any of the things I'd said, and that I'd soon warm up to the idea.

I was sentenced. Sentenced to be the new kid, one of many as dad had put it, in high school. I could handle the last move--the summer after sixth grade, but I refused to go to ninth grade as a nobody without friends. This was worse than the move between fourth and fifth grade, when I'd gone from probably the most popular kid in my class, to someone who wasn't even approached.

I did nothing to deserve this, nothing!

I heard Mom and Dad walking away from my slammed door, probably feeling as though they'd failed a parents, and they had!

When your daughter has been moved 5 times between kindergarten and eighth grade, you have failed. When your daughter says you're the worst people she's ever met, you've failed.

I slumped over, resting my forehead on my knees, feeling like someone had just punched me. I don't want to move! Life is great here! I have a boyfriend. I have friends. I'm simi-popular, and I'm "checked out" by guys at school all the time!

And then there's Drew. It's not that middle school "I love you but only on text messaging" shit, he's the literal love of my life. I have no idea how I'm going to tell him I have to leave him.

I sat on my bedroom floor with my forehead against my knee for several more minutes after my parent left. I knew I couldn't just sit there avoiding subjects forever, so I picked up my iPhone, balancing it in one hand an dialing an all too familiar number with my thumb.

The phone rang only once before the other line picked up.

"Blake?"

"Hey Shelley," I said. "It's me."

I could almost hear Shelley smile through the phone. "Hey! I was hoping you'd call. I have so much to tell you-" Shelley must've sensed something through my silence, as she quickly paused. "What's wrong? And I'm not taking "nothing" for an answer. Did Drew do something?" Shelley stumbled over words, talking nonsense about how she knew Drew was a jerk.

I quickly stopped her. "No, Shell, it isn't Drew." I sighed, playing with a loose thread on my blue jeans. "Dad's moving the family. Again."

Shelley was silent on the other line, clearly taking in the news I'd just forced on her. "Blake..." she said, her voice unreadable. "I'll be the first to tell Drew!"

I laughed a sad, weak voiced laugh, but Shelley had achieved her goal of cheering me up. "Should it bother me that you hate my boyfriend so immensely?"

Shelley sighed, dismissing her gleeful mood. "For real though?" I could here her voice dry and strained, as though she was swallowing the lump in her throat that I shared. "Where are you moving?"

I tried to keep my voice from breaking as I spoke, "Kansas. Like, who lives there?"

Unexpected (UNFINISHED)Where stories live. Discover now