Let's Pretend My Tears Are Raindrops

Chapter 3--Let's Pretend My Tears Are Raindrops

After looking at the dining room for like two seconds I was dragged up the stairs by Cassie. We'd never had an upstairs before and going up it all the time was something I'd have to get used to. Immediately to the right there was a bathroom which neither one of cared about. We skipped over it and raced to choose the best room. Besides the master bedroom, there were three other rooms that we had to choose from. In our old house we'd shared a room, but this time we both got our own room. The leftover room was going to be dad's office. His new job was at an office managing the inventory of a large trucking company. Basically he'd been promoted from his other job to being a manager. His paycheck went up about a thousand a month.

The master bedroom was at the end of the hall and had a walk-in closet. We didn't take the time to look at it since we wanted to see our rooms. On the left I found a door and opened it. It was a crammed little room with no closet at all. I slammed the door and found another room across from it. This time it was bigger and the closet was decent. The window was huge and I didn't like that because the sun wouldn't let me sleep in during the summer.

My sister was in a room down the hall. I ran over to her and looked in the room. It had a smaller window, but the room was smaller, too. I ran back over to my room.

"I call this one!" I yelled.

She pranced over to me. "That's not even fair!"

"Is now. This is my room. I called it." Then Mom and Dad came up the stairs with smiles on their faces. "You two got it sorted out now?" Mom asked.

"Yup." I said. "This one's mine and that one's hers."

"But mom-" My sister started to say.

"That room is already bigger than you're old one and this time you don't have to share it. Your sister picked her room first."

And that was the end of it. Mom and Dad started unloading the heavy furniture and Cassie and I got stuck sorting silverware and folding laundry to put in the dressers. By the end of the day we weren't done unloading stuff, but had the beds and couches and computer all set up.

By that time it was almost eleven o'clock and it was time to go to sleep. I kept thinking about how in two days I was going to have my first day of school here in Hicks Ville. Was I scared? Maybe a little.

Six o'clock: the doorbell rings.

Six o'clock.

A.M.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with that?

I got out of bed and went downstairs to answer the door. Nobody else had heard it. I was the only light sleeper in the family. I was focusing on trying to be quiet, but all the boards were creaking under my feet. When I finally got to the door I undid the lock and opened it. There in my fluffy pajama pants and oversized t-shirt I stared back at a whole family of people who looked wide awake and super-hicky. There was two older people who I guess were the parents. They stared at me expectantly and I wasn't sure what exactly I was supposed to do. When I said nothing the old guy spoke.

"Well, hey there! Welcome to this neck-a-the-woods! What brings ya here anyway, eh?"

Lord knows I tried not to laugh.

Lord also knows that it didn't work.

I released an exasperated laugh. "What?" I asked.

"Ya folks new ta here, eh?"

"Yup."

"Where ya from?"

"Utah."