Anchor Grind (H.S. / A.U.)

Chapter 1

ALANIS

"Domino, come boy, hurry up!" I scream as I come running through the front door of the new house.

"Alanis Felicity Meredith Carson! You better take off those muddy shoes before you track it all in the house. I am not telling you twice!" I hear mom yell at me as Domino and I come crashing through the house.

Being an army brat? Annoying.

Being a 19 year old army brat that is still living at home? Even worse.

Mom and dad still think of me as a child since I 'am under their roof' but like... ease up a little please. I am an adult. I just am an adult who doesn't know what I want to do with my life so I kinda' struggle at making college choices okay!

I did the exact opposite of Levi and my parents were super not stoked about it. Levi was about ten years old when he already knew what he wanted to do with his life. That sounds great, but it really just made things harder for me. 'Alanis why aren't you more like your big brother?' or 'Alanis you know how great Levi is doing... why don't you strive to be more like that?'. Thanks mom and dad. You really don't play favorites.

Okay I guess it is easy to pick favorites though when one of your kids is Levi Kenneth Carson the boy wonder who played a billion sports, was head of all the school clubs, and had a constant case of the 'kiss ass'ery. Levi and I only have a six year age gap, but it feels like a century when he was already in college by the time I started high school. Everyone knew me as 'Levi's little sister' and it was annoying as hell.

Levi went on to go to a state college, study finances, and is some big bad accountant in the rising for some computer company that is supposed to be all the craze. He swears that in the next ten years everyone will have a computer in their home and be obsessed with it. I agree that the internet is kinda' cool, but there is no way I could see myself just sitting inside on a computer all day and not out in the world doing something.

When dad told me that he and mom were moving to California and leaving Maryland I knew I had to come with. The opportunity to be out on the beach every day? Soaking up rays? Exploring the vibes? Count me in. I heard Cali has a great music scene as well. Even though my favorite band is out of the picture these days, I still want nothing more than to live in the music scene.

I was a big Nirvana junkie, and it took EVERY kind of convincing to let me go to the In Utero tour to see them live before everything happened. RIP Kurt, we miss you. I was 14 years old at the time and if mom wasn't such a pushover I honestly would have never gotten to see them, dad practically had a heart attack when I asked if my best friend Christina and I could go. 

"Alanis! Did you hear me young lady? I asked you to come help me with these boxes in the kitchen!" Mom yelled again from the van out front, snapping me back into reality. I let out an audible groan before shoveling my body back outside to help her.

"It's bright as hell out here." I remark while taking the sunglasses out of the tangle that is my blue hair and bringing to rest on my face. "Language!" mom pretended to sound full of authority while handing me a box. 

"Kitchen?" I asked her while turning to head back inside the house. I heard her yell a confirmation as I shuffled through the front door. Mom and dad had movers help set up most of the house already, so the actuality of moving was super easy. Mostly it was our personal stuff and the last little bits that we had in Maryland was all we needed to put away. 

Less could be said about my room though. Mom and dad had visited the house three times before we officially moved this week, meanwhile today was my first time setting foot in the house. It was a neat little Mediterranean style home with two stories. Mom and dad had a bedroom on the second floor, along with a guest room. Meanwhile they let me have the room on the first floor with sliding glass doors that led into the giant fenced backyard. If it wasn't for Domino, dad would have never agreed to that.