Broken

prologue

"Aria, please listen to me. This is what's best for all the family."

"No. It isn't."

My mother sighed, frustrated by my stubbornness. I already knew this was a fight I wouldn't win. However, when she spoke, her voice was unexpectedly gentle.

"I understand you and Mike aren't fond of this move, and I understand that more than you think. My parents moved me away from the town where I grew up, away from everything I knew. It was hard, but this will be different, I promise. We'll be moving to something better, not something worse."

"You've never told me that before."

"I never needed to before now." She smiles.

"How can you expect us to be okay with something you weren't okay with?"

"What happened with your father will never go away, but this might make it a bit easier on all of us."

"California is big enough for the both of us. Why does dad get to stay and we have to move?"

She sighs. "What do you want me to do, Aria? I can't tell your father where to live. We're moving and that's final. Now, please go and pack some of your things up, okay? Once you start thinking about it properly, you might find that you're excited about this move."

"Fine," I snap, "but this doesn't change anything. I'm still angry."

My mom had brought numerous cardboard boxes home for me over a week ago from our local grocery store, and she'd made a point of stacking them at the foot of my bed. Every morning, I saw them waiting impatiently for me to pack.

I look around my room; at the shelf of books next to my desk, the plants on my windowsill soaking up the pools of golden light, the unnecessary amount of pillows on my bed. I didn't know how I was supposed to pack up my entire room, my entire life, into a few cardboard boxes.

I inhale deeply, thinking about how to safely pack my books without damaging the spines or creasing the pages. But my attention-span falters halfway through filling the second box. From my window I could see a triangle of ocean through a gap between the houses and the sun dipping low behind the horizon to start a new day elsewhere. The warm citrusy tones soon watered down into a pale yellow-white, and the deep purple of dusk crept along the sky. I snapped a low-quality photo with my camera and wondered how it would look on the wall of my new bedroom; something told me I wouldn't be seeing many sunsets from the windows of our new house.

I imagine that the new town will have rustic and vintage stores exactly like here in California, except they'll be more at home. After a night of research on google, homesick already at the sight of Rosewood on my internet browser. Rosewood High resembled the high school I currently attended, but I knew there'd be so much that distinguished the two from each other. This town wasn't going to be like California.

I'm not sure why I'm still grasping so hard onto my Californian roots; I have nothing left here. My dad's gone. My mom's not happy here. My brother is at that age where he'll settle anywhere as long as there's a sport's program and promises of a scholarship when he's old enough. I'm no longer confined to the oceanic views and movie star towns; I have an opportunity here, and I'm inclined to take it.

When my dad left, my life slipped from out of my reach. My mom and dad signed the divorce papers shortly afterwards, which was something my father had prepared for a long time. What came afterwards was a year of therapy, a year of medication, a year of talking to a stranger about feelings that I had no idea how to explain to myself. Her name was Jane and despite my earlier, persistent protests, I grew as a person more in that time than I ever thought possible. I may not have agreed with my dad's life choice but I began to accept it. That first step was the hardest, but once I'd started delving into a past I'd longed to forget, I was walking through things that had once been too difficult to even look at.

Rosewood was the perfect opportunity in my mom's eyes; it offered her a chance to pursue her teaching career, and Mike and I could finish our education in a real high-school environment.

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A/N - hi guys! So I've decided to try editing this fanfic (again). A lot has changed in the past few years including my writing style (hopefully)! I'm currently finishing my second year of university and I need a project separate from those I'm working on for classes, to focus on. And I thought this fanfic would be perfect. There may be more scenes added and lots of things changed as I go along, so I'll make sure to add regular updates. I hope you're all doing well under the circumstances and I hope you all have a lovely week! It's great to be back :) 

- Emma <3