Aquarina(mermaid graphic done by Jihan B. Jackson)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When my parents told me and my sister we were moving, it was like time had frozen. My parents' expression held a meek smile with anxiety written over their faces to see what our response would be. My sister, well you could say that she had mixed feelings. At first she was excited. Then less than 30 seconds later, realization set in. Cue the groaning and complaining. "But then I have to leave all my friends! It's not fair!" That sort of rant. My parents looked to me, but my face was stone. Expressionless. Blank. Bare. Void to any emotion.  

But inside my head, a tsunami of thoughts rushed through the forefront of my mind, swishing to a new thought every second. The thoughts were coming by storm. 'How would I make new friends?(even though I barely have any; I've always been a loner. It's literally pretty sad) How would I handle the new school?' Almost all negative thoughts and very few positive thoughts. 'What kind of house would we live in? What are the people like? At least being near the ocean or water in public won't be such a problem as much, right? There isn't an ocean in Dallas.' Yet as the thoughts swirled around in my head like a tornado sweeping through my brain, my face remained the same. 

After almost a full minute of my silence, I finally spoke, the negative side of my inner turmoil taking over me, "Considering we don't have as much as a choice, does it matter?" My eyes narrowed in angry slits, the fury burning bright and sparking with a furious fire. I turned and stomped into my room, slamming the door behind with no one stopping me. The bed made a loud noise as the springs under my bed retracted my body's weight. I flipped over on my back, angry eyes staring at the ceiling. I never lost my hard gaze, though my eyes betrayed me as a river of cool tears rolled down the sides of my face. I sighed, "What will happen to me now?" I wondered almost aloud.  

But now, after I had gotten over the whole upset-at-my-parents stage and softened up a bit, the move looked to be almost better entirely.

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I looked out the car window only to face the cloudless sky with one single sun above. As I tuned out to my music, our black Escape pulled to a stop in front of a two story blue house. With white shutters on the windows, a grand porch, and somewhat burnt grass, my sister, Pearl, and I examined our "new" house. Our parents turned to us and exclaimed, "This is our new house girls! Aren't you excited?" A nod was our only response. "Great. I just hope the grass doesn't turn completely brown by the end of the year." I thought bitterly, my irritation spiking.  

The sun's heat could make people think it was still the middle of summer, yet my sister and I start school in a week, on August 26th. Then again, my family and I are used to humidity, not 100 degree heat, being from Florida and all. The worst part about this move is that we don't have any friends or family here. So it's pretty much a foreign country to us. We are used to being able to drive to the beach in 10 minutes to go for a relaxing swim. Here, there isn't any ocean. We are landlocked. To me, the worst feeling is being locked in and right now, I'm living the nightmare. At least I'm not alone. "In a way, I am" I thought, "The only person who I can talk to about all my problems is Sofia and she is in Miami probably sitting outside savoring the last few days of summer, while I haul boxes into our new house in this 100 degree weather." 

I picked up the box name "Aqua's clothing" and went inside to find my new room. Inside, my mom was busy placing the kitchen supplies in the cabinets, while my dad focused on putting all his books, magazines, and CDs in the shelves in the living room. I climbed the two flights of stairs to find a hall with my twelve-year-old sister, Pearl, playing with her LPS(Littlest Pet Shop) and half her stuff on the floor. "Pearl, have you picked out your room yet?" I asked my twelve year old sister. "My room is right here" she gestured to the door on her right, "And Mommy and Daddy's room is down there." she pointed to the door at the end of the hall. " Those two rooms are still open." she nodded her head over to two different doors on either side of the hall. "Thanks Pearl" I walked over to the the door on the right side. Switching the cardboard box to my other side, I opened the door.