The Carepelli Summer

Chapter 4: They Live on the Rich People Street

Rain drops were stuck to the car's windows after the soft rain shower. The weather must have affected my mood since I was feeling really gloomy. Either that or I was so gloomy I had affected the weather. I wonder if I had super powers.

"Here's your stop," the taxi driver said. "Richard Grove Dr."

I had a lot in my mind and even after a plane's long ride, its stops at random states, and the taxi ride, I still couldn't get the facts straight.

I'm really here, in West Virginia? I left without my Mom? Is Aunt Miranda really going to take care of her? Am I really having... a change in life for once?

I couldn't decide whether to be happy or disappointed.

"House number 4, right?" the taxi driver made sure.

"Yeah. Thanks." I stepped out the taxi cab, breathing in the moist air. It had recently rained.

He collected my money which was a mix of some of my money from my savings my allowance and my Mom's good bye gift. "Would you like me to help you with your luggage?"

"No thanks. I only got a back pack and a small luggage bag anyways. Thanks for the offer."

He nodded. "Bye."

I watched the cab drive away.

I turned around to face one side of the long row of only 4 gigantic houses; 7 houses in all in you count the houses behind me. Between each house was a whole lot of empty space. I turned again, to face the house that lived at the end or corner of the street.

All the houses were big, like mansions. But house 4 was smaller than the rest. It was understandable since it had a much bigger front yard. It took the most space but the house itself was smaller. House 4 was also slightly separated from the other houses since it lived at the end of the street making it go at the spot where the road curved. It was a dead end.

I walked straight on the long pathway, towards the house. It was dark, lights only coming from the streetlamps. It felt eerie but it wasn't exactly horror movie material. It was like peaceful darkness instead of the evil one. I'm probably the only person who'd say that... Ugh, I'm weird.

The wind blew the willow tree's branches, droplets making a bell-like sound. The wind chimes above the door jingled. I rang the doorbell. Even from outside, I heard the ding-dong.

The door gently swung open. Nobody stood to greet me so first thing that came to my mind was that the door opened by itself.

But then a little girl came from behind the door and adorably asked, "Are you August? August Lewin? Mommy says you might be August Lewin." She was slightly chubby in a cute way and had dark hair in a pixie haircut.

"No. I am August Llewellyn."

"Um... Not August Lewin? I don't know who Lelewin is.." She smothered her smile behind her hand, thinking she was funny.

"No it's pronounced--"

"August! Nice to finally meet you," a much older woman around her forties welcomed. She shared the same hair style as her daughter. She was shorter than me by a couple inches and she was skinny like my mom. "Two days ago, Miri called saying you might come." She fixed her glasses as she extended her other hand to shake mine. "Sorry to hear about your grandfather. And about Ramona."

I shrugged the pain off. "Yeah... You're Mrs. Carepelli?" I guessed.

"Oh please, call me Aviva or even Avi. Come in, come in."

I dragged my luggage in.

The little girl pulled on my pant's leg. "Hi, August Lelewin."

"You can call me August."

She repeated "Auggie" over and over, giddily.

Mrs. Carepelli laughed. "Oh, that's Abriella. We call her Abby."

"Hi, Abby. I'll be staying with you guys for a while." She seemed excited about this. At least someone's happy, I thought.

Another girl came, running past us until she ran back. She was about 10 years old. "Who..?"

"Casey, meet Ace. Remember? I told you this during breakfast yesterday."

She nodded. "Okay. Nice to see you." She awkwardly smiled as she walked away backwards.

Then she tried to run off but another girl came in and caught her arm. She looked about 13 or 14. She seemed pretty strong to have a grip on hyper Casey. "Whoa there." She looked up. "You must be..." She thought hard about it as if my name were on the tip off of her tongue.

"August."

"Right. Sorry. Knew that." She twisted her body as she tried to get a good hold on Casey. "I'm Adelpha. But friends... Ugh, what are you doing Case? Friends call me Daphne." She tried to drag Addy away. "Please don't call me Daph."

"Daphne, please help Ace with his bags," Mrs. Carepelli (or Avi) said. "Bring it to our guest room."

"Oh, it's alright, Avi. I could hold on to it."

Avi nodded. "Okay, then Daphne should bring you to your room. Daphne, please."

Daphne seemed nice. "Okay, come, Aug."

Avi went to the living room with Casey who refused to cooperate until Avi promised to buy ice cream for tomorrow.

Daphne told me she was actually 14 and that Casey was 12. Abby had recently turned 5 years old. "Your bedroom is upstairs beside mine."

"Upstairs?" I looked at my luggage. "Um, can you do me a favor and carry my back pack so I can carry my luggage?"

She shrugged. "Sure." She took my heavy bag from her but she carried it with ease.

"You're pretty strong. I wouldn't have thought you could carry that thing."

She smiled warmly. "I love sports and you have to keep active and all so I guess I've had my share of exercise and stuff. I'll be going to sports camp for a month before school starts again," she said, excited and proud.

"That's cool. I'm good at playing basketball and soccer and other stuff."

Her eyes glowed. "I play baseball! And soccer and basketball, but I love baseball!"

"At school, I used play on my school teams. Stopped though."

Her face fell. "That's too bad. Why?"

"Oh I moved to that school for a year and moved back," I laughed pitifully at myself. "Leaving the school meant quitting the team when I got back home and then after that I didn't really have the drive to play anymore. It was just something to pass time."

"Oh..." She led me to a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, I guessed that was the master's bedroom. Daphne opened the door to the right wall of the master's.

"My room?"

"Yep. Lucky you, guest room got a bathroom in your bedroom. We have to share the 2 upstairs bathroom. Ugh."

I didn't unpack my clothes. I just took out my toothbrush and some toothpaste and some pj's. I changed, brushed and got ready to sleep.

The room was almost completely white: walls, tables, cabinets, closets, bed sheets, etc. The only difference was the very light brown wooden floor.

I sank in the fluffy white bed. My back felt so good. I hadn't realized how I missed sleeping in a neat room. I pulled up the white covers and just thought about everything. I don't know when, but I finally fell asleep.
I wonder what it's going to be like this summer.