Shrek's Place In The World

Chapter 1: "The Beginning"

I sighed as we pulled up to our new house, the 10 hour road trip had been beyond exhausting and I was starving; the last time we had stopped for a bite had been in Nebraska and I couldn't wait to eat a large pepperoni pizza.

'Kenzeigh, come on! We have to get out and start unpacking out stuff.' I groaned and rolled my eyes as my little brother Parker started ushering me out of the car. Our Dad was already waiting outside with two heavy looking bags, and Parker and I proceeded to take our own and bring them inside our new house.

'Come on guys, you'll love this place! This new change of airs is exactly what we need now, especially after your mother's passing.' The mood instantly became somber with the mention of mom's passing.

'Whatever you say, Dad' I mumbled, not wanting to ruin the mood even more.

I carried my bags up the stairs into my new room and stood there trying to take in the new surroundings. The first thing I noticed was that it was smaller than my previous room, I frowned and stomped my way down the stairs where my father was.

'I can't believe you would to this to me! First you make us move across the country and now I my room isn't even big, ugh, are you trying to ruin my life or something?!' I screamed in despair.

Dad just shook his head, completely ignoring me. I climbed up the stairs once more and slammed my door shut, sliding down to the floor as I began to let out heart-wrenching sobs; my world had completely turned upside down in the past couple of months: Mom had died suddenly in a horrible car accident and Dad had decided that the best way to deal with it was moving from San Francisco to a small town in Ohio of all places because he had found a better job, I just couldn't believe...

My thoughts were interrupted by Parker knocking on my door.

'Not now, dumbass!' I shouted, hoping he would leave. He completely ignored me and said:

'Dad says you gotta come downstairs to greet our new neighbors.' Great, just great. I groaned as I got up and went to the en-suite bathroom (I noted that it was significantly smaller that the one back in California) to make sure I looked presentable. After that, Parker and I made our way to the entrance area. There, I saw Dad greeting a small donkey, who was probably around my age. As soon as we made our presence known, Dad turned around and presented us.

'Kenzeigh, this is our next door neighbor, Dönkæ. He is also a student at the Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, the school that you'll be attending, isn't this great?'

'Yeah, great.' I muttered.

'Hi Kenzeigh, I'm Dönkæ! I'm so excited to meet you! You'll love Roosevelt High!'

Dönkæ seemed a bit too hyper, but I let it slide.

'Pleasure, Dönkæ.' I said as politely as I could muster.

'By the way, Dönkæ, do you happen to go to school by bus? Kenzeigh here will have to take it every morning since I will not be able to take her by car'

Are you kidding? Dad hadn't told me any of this, and now, I would have to take the stinky, smelly and musty school bus every day? I couldn't believe this! However I didn't say anything since I wanted to remain polite.

'Oh, you bet I do! We can meet outside every morning, and I can introduce her to my bestest friends!' Said Dönkæ enthusiastically.

'Then it's settled!' Said Dad as he clapped his hands. Ugh, I wanted to throw myself out the window and scream, how did this even happen? My life was in shambles.

'Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Kenzeigh! I can't wait!'

'Yeah, bye Dönkæ.'

Dönkæ left and Dad closed the door, clasping his hands as he looked at me excitedly.

'Wasn't he nice, Kenzeigh? It's so great that after being here for just a couple of hours you've already made a new friend.'

'Ugh, I guess.' I didn't say any of the things that were roaming through my head at the moment, because that would get me in so much trouble. And without speaking any other word, I walked back to my room.

After unpacking all of my stuff and making my room look at least halfway decent, Dad called us for dinner. We had ordered a large pepperoni pizza earlier, so that's what we ate. Dad's not the best cook around, his only decent 'creation' being grilled cheese sandwiches.

Dinner went on with Dad talking about the great time I was gonna spend at Roosevelt High, and how this new town was going to provide us with so many amazing opportunities nonstop. As soon as I got the chance, I went back to my room and buried myself between my fluffy blankets and my expensive Egyptian cotton sheets, and went to sleep since it had been a very long day.

I woke up to the annoying beeping sound of my alarm clock, and for a second thought I was back at home, where everything was easier for everyone. To my dismay, I was in the tiny room of my new house.

Dad came in bursting and woke me up (again) in an unnecessarily exciting manner.

'McKenzeigh Marie! It's your first day of school and you can't be late under any circumstances! I left breakfast at the table since I have to leave right now for my first day at the office.' He said fastly, as he left my room and went to wake up Parker.

I groaned and got up, pulling my brown locks out of the messy bun I would usually put my hair in to sleep. I walked up to the closet, stared at my school uniform disapprovingly, took it and walked into the bathroom to take a shower and do my morning skin care routine.

After that, I ran down the stairs and sat at the breakfast counter, where there was a layout of different breakfast foods. I grabbed an apple and a granola bar and headed outside as fast as I could, waving my brother goodbye.

When I arrived at the bus stop I saw Dönkæ already waiting there and I resisted the urge to groan, seriously, as nice as he had been the day before, I really couldn't deal with his super hyper energetic-self first thing on a Monday morning . Dönkæ quickly noticed me and gave me a huge smile. I smiled back at him as I waved.

'Hi, Kenzeigh! How have you been doing? I am so excited to show you around Roosevelt Highl! I'll make sure to introduce you to other people so you can make tons of friends-'

Luckily, the bus arrived, so Dönkæ had to shut up and go inside. We both paid for our tickets and proceeded to take a seat together at the back of the bus.

'So, Kenzeigh, before we get to class I thought I could talk to you about my dearest and absolute bestest friend, Shrek! He's the most popular guy in school and the school's resident bad boy: he's the captain of the football team and all the girls swoon at him.' He explained.

'Hmm... sounds great, Dönkæ, I can't wait to meet him.' I suddenly felt interested towards this guy, how mysterious...

I was so enthralled just thinking about the description of this enchanting stranger, Shrek, that the trip to the school flew by and, as soon as I knew it, we were already walking up to the entrance of the Franklin D. Roosevelt High School. I felt my legs shaking and my heart racing, what, or who was awaiting me there?