hit me baby one more time // jenzie

somewhere out there is a yellow umbrella for everyone

She hated the rain.

It was depressing, really. The dark clouds, the rumbling thunder, the steady stream of water falling from the sky that messed up her carefully done hair—it made her feel really shitty. That was why she loved living in California, where, for the most part, it didn't rain too often. And when it did, she just stayed inside. It was simple. It worked. She enjoyed it.

So it was really too bad when, right in the beginning of her senior year, her father was offered a promotion to run the Canadian branch of the tech company he worked for. Before she knew it, her entire family was being forced to move to the rainiest city in Canada—Vancouver.

It's not as bad as you think it is, people would always tell her. Sure, it's really cold in the winter and there really isn't much of a summer, but don't worry, they'd say. You'll be surrounded by the sea and it'll be a good excuse to buy some cute rain boots.

But she didn't want to buy rain boots, even if they were cute. She wanted to stay in California, with her friends and her school and her warm, dry weather.

Unfortunately, she didn't get much of a say in the matter.

-

"Kenzie, you're going to be late." Her mother, Melissa, warned. "Quit sulking and get moving."

The eighteen-year-old sighed heavily. It was the day that would forever be remembered as The First Day of Hell—also known as day one at her new school.

It wasn't fair. It was her senior year; she wasn't supposed to be uprooted. She was supposed to be spending the last seven months of high school with her best friends before they all went off to college, not miles away sucking up to Canadian kids. It just sucked.

"Alright," Kenzie whined. She was not looking forward to her first day. She looked out the window and saw the heavy skies and the puddles of water on the ground and the raindrops running down the windowpane and groaned. It was so gross here.

She braced herself for the walk to the bus stop, which was right down the street from her house and a mere twenty yards away. But to Mackenzie Ziegler, it didn't matter how long (or short) of a distance it was, she would still have to walk through the sticky rain to get there.

And that wasn't even the worst part—she had to ride the city bus. As great as the promotion was, the company was starting from essentially nothing so her father wouldn't get his full salary until the new branch showed enough potential. This meant that the Ziegler's were living a very modest life and could not afford more than one car at the moment. Kenzie's father drove their only vehicle to work. Her mom was a housewife, which probably contributed to their lack of money, so that left Kenzie to take the bus to school.

Sighing, she grabbed her backpack, opened the door, and sprinted to the bus stop.

Seconds later, the bus arrived. She clambered onto it, took a seat in the corner, pulled out her cell phone so she could text her friends in L.A., and grumbled to herself until she had arrived at North Pacific High School.

And thus began the worst day of her life.

-

It wasn't really all that bad, thinking back on it. By the time a few weeks had passed, Kenzie was used to her new classes. She had even grown accustomed to her new humble life. She had made a few acquaintances, but nobody she could really call a "friend."

It hadn't rained so much as just the air getting really humid, but it still sucked. She had thought that on the rare occasion that they received warmth and sunshine she would be happy. But if anything, it was worse—humidity came and ruined everything. Kenzie didn't see the point in humidity at all. If it was going to be sunny, then why did it have to feel like the air was suffocating her at the same time? It made no sense.