Rosemary

Chapter 1

Parker Storm May 23rd 3:45 PM

"Will someone please open a goddamn window? I am going to die of a heat stroke." I wiped the sweat off of my forehead with my equally sweaty hand.

"Maybe if you didn't wear black in eighty degree weather you could help your situation. And don't curse in front of your sister," my mom scolded me. The windows in our "new" car only opened halfway through, and it did nothing to help the suffocating Florida air.

"Why couldn't I just stay with Grant? His parents told me I could stay with them for the summer. I'm already going to move to St. Louis in the fall. I really don't see why you need me." After my father managed to gamble away all of our money, which happened to be a lot of money, my mother decided to leave him, bringing my sister and I along back to her hometown.

"Parker, please don't start with me right now. Mrs. Sousa was nice enough to let us stay in her house for free for the rest of the summer to get us back on our feet. I need you to help me with your sister. You should probably look for a job too, because although your father didn't touch your college fund, we are going to need help around the house. So please, don't make this any harder for me," I could see the tears threatening to spill from my mom's eyes.

I knew I was being immature, and I was already feeling the pang of guilt in my chest, but I was too stubborn to apologize.

I was angry. I was angry at everyone. I was angry at my dad for spending all of our money. I was angry at my mom for not working a day in her life, and for not leaving him sooner. I was angry at both of them for taking away the last summer I had with my friends. And I was angry at myself for being so selfish and not being able to accept that my mom needed me.

~

"We are here!" My mom exclaimed.

"It's so pwetty mommy!" My four year old sister yelled with her cheeks against the car window.

"Don't you like it honey?" My mom asked me.

"It's fine," I mumbled and walked past her. The house was actually really nice. It was directly on the beach, and it had a nice, tranquil feel to it. It was small and it looked like the perfect beach house. But I was never going to admit that. All that I knew was that it wasn't Chigaco, and my friends weren't here waiting by the back door.

I walked around the house, looking around. Everything was neatly in its place, and it made me a little nauseated. Everything looked clean and smelled like the beach, a harsh reminder that it wasn't where I belonged.

I walked up the stairs and saw that it lead to one room, "I call the room upstairs," I said loudly. The room was spacious and it had a window that faced the beach. It was the only thing that reminded me of home, because my room used to have a similar window.

I drop my backpack on the bed. I noticed that the light blue sheets had tiny white sea shells all over it. I made a mental note to get myself new sheets. I walked back downstairs to see my mom carrying two heavy boxes.

"Here I got them," I decided I should refrain from being a total asshole.

"Thanks sweetie, just put them over there," I put the boxes where she asked me to, "How about you take Gracie out on a walk?"

"Sure," the last thing I wanted was to go on a walk with my four year old sister that walks two miles an hour, but I guess I could use clearing up my head. And as much as I was angry at the world, I could never be angry at Gracie.

"Let's go P!" She squealed and grabbed two of my fingers dragging me away.

I walked on to the sidewalk next to my little human, as I called her. All kinds of different people walked around on the street. A group of middle schoolers walked around giggling with their friends. An old couple walked slowly, holding hands. Everyone seemed happy, without a worry in the world. I soon realized that I looked extremely out of place with my black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and black vans. I looked like death itself. It also didn't help that I looked like I hadn't caught a ray of sunshine in years.

"P, can I get some ice cweam?" She whined, tugging my hand.

"Sure, Gracie," If there was one thing I knew for sure, was that I could never tell her no.

We walked around until we found a place called The Sugar Shak and Gracies eyes almost bulged out of her head. She started squealing and giggling.

"So much ice cweam!" She said as she out her little hands on her head.

"You can have whatever you want," I told her, "I promise I won't tell mom."

Her little eyes got wide, as if she couldn't believe I wasn't gonna tell on her.

"I want cotton candy flavor, with gummy bears, marshmellows, and spwinkles," She told the worker with a slight lisp.

After Gracie finished her ice cream, half of itending up around her mouth, we walked towards a little playground where other children were playing.

"Can I please go play?" Gracie tugged on my hand.

"Sure, but don't go far," I sat down on a bench close enough to where I could see her if anything happened.

It was definitely way too hot, and I could feel the sweat soak through my t-shirt. I looked around the little center of town, trying to accept that this was my home for the summer. This placed seemed to be filled with happiness. It was weird. I was probably the only person with a scowl on my face. Although I wanted nothing more than to blend in, I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I almost missed the bike that was coming straight towards me. The rider seemed to be looking back, and too late noticed she had no control of the bike. She tried to swerve out of the way, but ended up landing herself on the grass instead.

"Ugh," She groaned. I figured I should have probably gotten up to see if she needed help, but it was her own fault she fell. She should have been looking.

"Can you please help me up?" I heard her say. After a few seconds I get up and lift the bike off of half of her body, extensing my right hand to help her up. Bright green eyes met my own.

"You should really watch where you are going," My voice taking its usual monotone.

"I am so sorry!" The girl said breathlessly, completely oblivious to my lack of interest. When I didn't respond, she eyed me for a few seconds and said, "You are not from around here."

"That obvious?" I asked.

"Nah, just a bit," She shrugged her shoulders. Her face was serious at first, but then she broke out in laughter. I found that I really liked her laugh, "Rose."

She extended her hand for me to shake. I stared at it for a while as if it were a foreign object. When I remembered my manners I said, "Parker," and shook her hand. She had a surprisingly strong grip. I looked her over. Don't get me wrong, the girl was hot. Grant would have been drooling had he been here. All she was wearing was a swimsuit top and jean shorts that left little to the imagination. Her hair was the color of honey, with a few streaks that seemed to have gotten lighter from the amount of sun exposure. I noticed her nose was peeling, but her golden skin still looked amazing. She was definitely quite the sight.

But Chicago had equally hot girls. A lot of them who were very much all over me.

"Rose, what's taking you so long? Let's go!" I saw a guy yell a little ahead of us. He was definitely more muscular than me, but I beat him by a couple of inches height wise. I was not even sure why I felt the need to compare myself to him. I guess it was a guy thing, fight for control. He reminded me of those beach volleyball players, tan, blonde, muscular, no brains.

"Well, I guess I will see you around Parker," She winked at me and gave me a flirty smile. Part of me wanted to smile back, but that required me actually being in a good mood. I didn't feel the need to respond, so I sat back down and refocused my attention on my sister. I breathed a sight of relief when I realized she was playing with another little girl on the slide.

The reality of it was that as hard as I could try to fit in here, this wasn't my place. It wasn't where I belonged. I missed the city streets, the secondhand smoke, the cars honking left and right, people walking around in their business suits. I have never hated my father more than in this moment. I hated him for taking that away from me. I hated him for doing this to my mom. I hated him.