Bradford High

I stared out the window at the hills and farms in the distance. A frown found its way to my face. "Where the hell are we?" I muttered. My mother's sharp tone came from my left.

"Hey, watch your mouth young lady. And I'm not so sure now; I think we missed our turn."

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes. I can't believe my mother is making me move to God knows where; she never told any of us. My dad and three younger siblings were fast asleep in the back, the sound of snoring rose from them.

She looked over at me, arching and eyebrow, "Grumpy much?"

"Gee I wonder what gave it away."

"Dani you know I had to take this job-"

"You could've taken the one back home too."

"But honey I get more money at this one."

"Not everything is about money. You're the one who told me that life is just about friends and family and as long as you're happy-"

"Then money isn't an issue. Yeah I know," My mom sighs and the creases by her eyes and mouth deepen, and the streaks of grey that ran through her black hair brightened making her look older than she is, "But what if I wasn't happy honey? Everyone else is happy except me and I thought by taking this job then maybe I could be happy too. And we'll always visit Sedona in the summer, I won't keep you away from your friends, that would be cruel."

"Cruel?" I scoffed, "Ten months away from them and only two months with them."

"Dani stop it you're making me feel guilty-"

"Well you should. You should feel guilty and shellfish just like you always been." Silence followed my words but I didn't care, I was burning holes into every passing car heading the way we come, wishing I was in one of those cars heading back to the lazy hot Arizona lands. Wishing I could go home so I can walk to the local Starbucks with Lexi and stalk my long term crush Justin.

I groaned softly at the feeling of being home sick. Wherever we were going will never be home. Home will always be Sedona, Arizona.

We turn off the interstate under a sign that read 'Rockland County, New York'. As we drove under it my blood boiled, "New. York." I barely got the words out.

"Dani please don't fuss about it."

"New. York. You drove us halfway across the country. How long have we been on the road? What time is it?" I raised my voice stirring the three slumbering in the back.

"Honey, everything is okay right?" My Dad asked.

"No! Mom drove us halfway across the country in two days. She was never getting lost, we were never going to Alabama in the first place!"

She gasped, "Daniella Premo how dare you go through my stuff!"

"Well I had to know where the hell we were going! You can't just up and move a family and not tell a god damned soul about it!"

"So we're not going to Alabama? We won't have a farm with horsies and piggies like The Barnyard?" My brother JJ eyes started to swell up so did his twin AJ.

"Guys don't cry! I'm pretty sure there's a zoo around-" My mom was cut off by the wailing coming from the twins. Dad whispered sweet nothings to them as if everything was okay. Mom tried talking to me for the rest of the way but I ignored her by plugging in my head blasting Fall Out Boy.

We turned down a few streets and during that time the cries stopped and now it was a dead silence hanging in the air until we were parked in front of a brick house that looked like it could've came out of the 1800s, "Umm. . ." My younger brother began.

"Are we at the right house or. . .?" His twin brother concluded. They were always doing that, one of them starting a sentence and the other finishing, sometimes it would creep me out at how 'connected' they really were.

"Yes. . . I think this is it boys." My Father claps them on the back and grimly looks up at the house.

I laugh harshly and turned to my mother with a smirk, "This is the best you can do? You moved us out to God knows where and you buy, a dump. Lovely."

"Hey now that's enough Dani, you don't have to be rude about this," He looks to my mother and forces a smile, "It's lovely sweetheart."

My mother's face was stony and I knew she trying her best to not cry but a small smile still manages to pull through. A pang of guilt and worriedness tugs at my heart but I don't care, she deserves every bit of my hatred right now, and besides, she'll never do what I was thinking, she told us she quit.

"Well let's see our new home shall we?" My Dad ask, taking a key from his pocket and turns the lock.





Several hours later after riding my room of roach infested corners and canopies of spider webs from my room it looked pretty decent. The anger to my mother from early on in the morning faded into a underline current feeling. We haven't spoken ever since I yelled at her. We would pass each other in the halls with not making eye contact. "This place isn't so bad I suppose." I murmur to myself heading back out to get my last box of junk.

"Dani! I could use your help in here !" My mom calls from the house. I stifle a groan and turn back to the house until something catches my eyes. A black sedan SUV rolls around the corner and onto my street. It slowly passes by the house.

"That was weird." I say as I head back into the house setting the box down on the floor.

"What was?"

"This black sedan just rides slowly by the house. You know anyone in the area already?"

Mom shook her head, "Well help me out with the china please?" We go into the other room to get to work. Later, we hear a crash and I rush to the kitchen to see the box I took out the car on the floor with milk flowing from the counter into it.

"AJ what the fuck?!" I scream. I rush to the box and open it and stared at the soaked objects. AJ laughed on the counter. I whipped toward him, hot angry tears streamed down my face, "You think this is funny you piece of-"

"Daniella Premo enough! I can't believe you would even dare say that in my presence and then cuss at your younger brother you should be ashamed of yourself! And they're just journals you can get more!" My mother roared, rushing to the aid of my now crying little brother. I reached down and tried to see how many of my journals weren't wrecked from the milk. Already the ink on the pages were fading.

I screamed in fury, "None of this would've ever happened if we didn't have to move and AJ wouldn't have to be so damn clumsy and nosy! I hate all of you!" With that I grabbed the keys from the counter and race to the front door.

With the engine cranking on in no time I was away from the house, it becoming a speck in the rear view mirror. Hot tears were pouring out of my eyes, blurring my vision, causing me to swerve twice to avoid pedestrians crossing the street. My mother would never understand that they weren't just journals. I cried harder when looking at the journal I managed to grab during my rampage. I hopped out of the car once I saw a park and ran for the farthest tree from the road. I sunk down and broke into choked sobs. Already some of the pages in the journal were just smeared blue and black scribbles. My memories, my precious memories were now forever gone.

"You alright?" A voice came from in front of me.

"Going away would help." I said not looking up.

"Why be rude to someone that's trying to help you?"

"Maybe because I don't want help? And normally when a person is rude they would leave that person alone."

Whoever the person was sat next to me in the grass. Their brown hand pointed at my milk soaked journal, "What happened?"

I sighed, realizing she isn't going to go away, "My annoying little brother decided to be clumsy today and split milk all over my damn journals. And my mother didn't give a damn that my memories are destroyed by milk and that she just ruined my life by moving me into this place." Tears welled up in my eyes again and I gestured at the surrounding places.

"Why aren't you at home crying about it? In fact, where is home for you cause you certainly don't look familiar."

I wiped my eyes and finally looked at the girl. She had bouncy curly hair and dimples when she smiled, " Because at the moment I can't stand my mother and the name's Daniella, but you can call me Dani."

"Well Dani," She got up and brushed dead leaves and grass, "My name is Jessi and how would you like to come to a local pizza joint with me and a couple of my friends; mom-free zone too."

A timid smile creeps to my face, "Alright."



The pizzeria she takes me to isn't that far from the park so I trail her in the car. Hoping out the car we both head into the noisy restaurant and into the back part of the place where a booth was occupied by a group of people.

A boy with blond hair and brilliant blue eyes looked up and glanced me over, "And who's this?"

"Dani." Jessi says looking back at me and sitting in an empty chair, "She's new here, I'm guessing she just moved here cause none of us have seen her right?"

They all agreed. I was introduced to a sweet guy with short brown hair and sparkling brown eyes named Liam. A gorgeous boy with cool blue eyes called Louis. A group of girls; Izzi, Vicki, and unfortunately Louis's gorgeous girlfriend Eleanor.





I bent over in laughter, my sides burning. Louis had the whole group laughing for the past hour about his time in a rivals school locker room.

"Speaking of schools," Liam chokes out, "Are you attending Bradford High this year?"

"Brad who?" I asked, leaning back in my chair.

"Bradford High. It's the local high school in this area. We all attend it, we're Juniors this year." Louis says.

"I don't know, my mother never told me we were moving." My face darkened, "Mom. . . oh shit mom!" I grab my phone from my back pocket and dreadfully look at the 37 missed phone calls. Frantically I looked out the dark windows, stifling a groan.

"What's wrong Dani?" Niall asked, concern etched on his face.

"My mom," I began, "My mom. . .my mom." Words wouldn't form in my mouth. I felt myself go dead inside. Before dad went to sleep he told all of us he would be off to work around 10.

"Dani?" Izzi grabs my shoulder, immediately I stop shaking.

"What time is it?" My voice barely audible.

"10 o'clock, why?" I jump from the table and ran to the door, ignoring the calls coming from behind me. On the way out I bump into a guy with black ray bans on.

"Sorry, so very sorry." I mumble.

"No you're quite fine love." His accent stops me dead in my tracks, my insides screamed for me to run to the car but my eyes couldn't help but follow the dark figure into the room. He stood in line and had a leather jacket on. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbow showing a half sleeve of tattoos. His quiff was gorgeous with his all black hair. I felt the air in my lungs get sucked out and a tightening in my chest begins.

I forced myself to look away before he could look back to see me staring. I ran to the car and swerved into the street zooming back down familiar streets, praying for the best at home when reality I was prepared for the worst.