More than a game

CHAPTER 1

"Hey kiddo wanna stop at Starbucks before we get there? You can get an iced latte." Said Dad. As much as Starbucks is tempting i just didn't feel like it. "No thanks dad, not today" i said while staring outside the window at the bright skies. "Your choice." He said. We were on the drive to Arizona from Washington where i had lived my whole life. Thats about an 23h drive so we stopped to a motel the night before and now it's day 2 of driving. We moved because my dad got a new job but the main reason is because my parents divorced and my mom wanted us out, but thats okay because she was mostly out the whole time working while my dad was a stay at home dad. "This is our new house BumbleBea" he said. Thats his nickname for me BumbleBea. I dont really like it but i have grown used to it. I looked at the house and mumbled something under my breath. The house was a beige coloured house with a long driveway and green bright grass that almost looked fake. I grabbed all my stuff and walked inside. "Choose any room just not the biggest one" chuckled dad. I smiled and started walking inside and i saw this nice room with a window to view the patio in the back. The patio was a large one, bigger than our older one, with a built in egg chair that you can swing on. A view of the Arizona sky also. The room came with a built in bed the old owner left so all i needed to do was add a mattress. I started unravelling the mattress that was all rolled up. "Hey sweetie come check this out!" Dad yelled from across the room. "Yeah?" I said while walking to him. "Look we've got a fireplace now!" Said dad while looking at it not even taking a glance at me. "Does it actually work this time." I asked. When my parents first bought our old house back in Washington the realtor said the fireplace was in great condition and worked, but i guess he lied about that.  "Yes thankfully it does" he said. I chuckled and so did he. I went back to my room and laid down to check my texts. 1 missed call from Mom. Oh she called, I wasn't expecting that I thought. Including to the call there was a text it read. "Hey sweetie it's mom i was just checking on how you are. Im going out with a coworker tonight at 7 so if you would like to call, call me before that. Love you! Mom." I checked my watch the clock said 5:24pm. I decided to give her a call to get it over with. I never really liked my mom its not that i despised her its just i preferred my dad more. That's why i was surprised she wanted to call. My dad was my hero. I called my mom on FaceTime. "Hey sweetie how are you, how's Arizona." My mom said. "Hey" i said shuffling around my blankets to get cozy. "Im good i guess. Arizonas fine speaking as i just got here. I miss all my friends though." I answered. "Yeah I understand." She said. In my head I thought, no she doesn't understand  shes never had this big of a move or a move in general , shes lived in Washington for her whole life and she never had much friends. "So have you thought about joining club volleyball yet?" Mom said. "Oh I totally forgot all about that. Everything with the move and all. But yeah when school starts in a couple days i will do tryouts." I responded. "Oh that's wonderful!" She said. I hadn't really thought about volleyball recently after everything. I have mostly been thinking about the move and never seeing Veronica again. (My best friend.) "remind me again you're in 10th grade?" Mom said while giggling. "No mom" i said while smiling. "Im in the 11th grade." I said with a bit of a stern voice while laughing. "Who are you talking to." Yelled dad from the kitchen still unpacking. "Mom" i yelled back. "Oh i see John is there. I just expected him to be at the store picking up dinner." Said mom with a look. "Yeah dad's here." I responded. "Anyways sweetie i have to get ready to go for dinner." She replied. I checked my watch the time was only 5:47pm. I thought wow she has to get ready early or theres something else. "Okay mom thats fine have fun at dinner." I said a bit disappointed. Even if i didn't like her i know i wouldn't see her in a while so i was hoping to call longer. "I love you." She said. "Yeah love you too." I said quietly. She hung up first. As expected. I put on my AirPods and opened Spotify to put on Frank Ocean. He is my favourite artist in the world. After singing a bit to a couple songs i decided to start unpacking. By the time i finished setting up my room as much as i could i headed over to the kitchen. I hadn't noticed that we had an island table but i thought that was really cool. I sat down. "Hey dad whatcha doing" i said in a funny mood to lighten up the fact that i was in freaking Arizona and not out somewhere in Washington with Veronica laughing,shopping, drinking Starbucks. I stared down at the ground and zoned out until realizing dad was talking to me. "Earth to BumbleBea you there?" He said. "Oh yeah sorry. So whats for dinner."i said while my stomach started grumbling. "Well if you were listening to what i was saying you would've listened that we can get takeout? Maybe sushi? Up to you." Just the thought of sushi made me lick my lips. "Mhmm yum!"I responded. "Remind me how many days till you start ridgeway high?" He said confused. "I believe 4 days." I replied. "Wow so soon so maybe tomorrow if you're not too tired we can stop at Walmart and pick up school supplies. Maybe there will be some nice back to school outfits." He said with a wink at the end. "Yeah maybe..." i said in a bit of a disappointed voice. My family has never been poor but never rich. Let me explain i have no Aritzia outfits, no clothes from Hollister. But I did have clothes from Walmart and Target and hand me down dirty beat up Air Force 1s from my old neighbour. While my dad was talking to our DoorDash driver i checked my texts again. 5 New texts from Veronica reading "hey i miss you how is Arizona. I hope you're doing well." I scrolled down to see the next message. "Why aren't you responding i miss you so much please respond." "I just went to the mall with Sarah"-  (to clarify shes my second best friend) "and we saw the cutest jacket ever it would definitely compliment your eyes." I had hazel-ish green eyes and long brown hair up to my waist area. "Sarah says Hi and that she misses you by the way." Sarah got her phone taken away a couple weeks ago so she couldn't text. "Hi sorry I wasn't replying before i was busy unpacking my things. Tell Sarah that i say hi and that i miss you both so much." And send. The sushi was delicious if you wanted to know. I unpacked some more and found my box of volleyball stuff. It had all my medals,pictures signed with my friend's signatures from last summer. A hoodie saying "girls volleyball tournaments summer'24" with our signatures on them. I told my dad i was tired so i would go to bed now even though it was only 8:42pm. I doom scrolled on TikTok for about an hour before I fell asleep.