I said this wasn't gonna be up on Christmas, which is half true, since it's Boxing Day where I am but I believe it's still Christmas in America, so I posted it at the right time. Yay!
Ok, so it's extremely pointless and unlogical to move out on Christmas but I wanted the first chapter to take place on the same date I posted it. Everything in this story is fiction and not all of it will be realistic. Not the magic and fantasy type of unrealistic, I mean the type when characters make stupid choices or do things that wouldn't be done in real life. It's all for one reason: Plot. If they don't do these things the plot would fall to pieces.
But anyway, hope you enjoy Chapter 1, even though it is a little boring.
[JULY 2014: THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN IN 2012 AND IS UNEDITED AND BAD. I promise it gets better, but theres a lot of grammatical mistakes and weird plot holes at the start so just be warned. It will be edited when I finish writing the whole book, so really soon]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28th of December 2009, Jessica's POV
The quiet, peaceful serenity of my room was soon replaced with the sound of a spluttering truck, parking on the curb of our street.
“Jess!” my mother called from downstairs
The moving crew had arrived. Great. I placed my worn copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in one of the many cardboard boxes scattered all over my wooden floor before pacing down the stairs and into the kitchen. My mother had positioned herself by the counter, sorting out all her pastel coated cooking utensils. Just as she placed a baby pink spatula in one of the plastic containers she spoke.
"The movers have arrived," Obviously “I need you to carry all your boxes down the stairs"
I nodded before returning to my bedroom. I was still unsure as to why we had to move. I knew that mum received a promotion and was now head of the marketing team, but she didn't have to relocate from the large head office in Manchester to the small, junior office in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. She was given a choice after all. She could've easily decided to stay, and yet here we are moving houses without me knowing the purpose.
But the worst part was the fact that I didn't get a say in it all. Just yesterday morning I met up with the gang; Leigh, Jade and Avery. We reminisced, shared inside jokes, consumed Jade's legendary mini pizzas and shed a few tears before I left.
Outside it was currently snowing lightly. It gave me a little sympathy for the moving crew. They were the only movers that could agree to help on Christmas break. So not only were they standing in the freezing cold, they' were giving up their holidays for us. But Christmas past three days ago, so luckily they weren’t sacrificing any family time.
Another crazy thing mum had done was decide the worst possible time to move; the aftermath of all our Christmas festivities, when both of us were knackered beyond belief from all the organising and socialising. But she kept insisting that we move during the break so I could start at my new school fresh at the begging of term. And I guess that was a logical enough reason to shut me up.
I got a firm grip on the first cardboard box, which happened to be full of all my paperbacks. On top I spied the Harry Potter series, along with 'Qudditch through the Ages'. One of my favourite pastimes is reading. The turning of the pages and the sight of the fine black print is almost enough to inspire me to write my own novel, but I’ve always feared it would turn out rubbish. I fished out 'Pride and Prejudice', the novel I was currently re-reading and slipped it under my arm. I would probably finish it in the one and a half hours I was on the road, as I only had 80 pages left.
I walked down the stairs carrying my heavy load. I placed it by the front door and took the same route upstairs to fetch another box, hopefully not quite as heavy.
By the fifth box I was just about ready to fall to the ground and pant like a dog that's just fetched a tennis ball from miles away. Physical activity is not my cup of tea. I really should invest in a personal assistant to carry my belongings around, tidy my room, lay my fresh new outfit on my bed each morning and pour my juice , but as a 17 year old from a middleclass family I couldn’t afford it. Shame, really.
I placed a box of clothing on the floor. The movers had already started to load all my possessions into the truck. There was only one more box left for me to carry, and fortunately it was light and compact. I retrieved it from my bed-side table before returning to the loading dock. Waiting was a bald middle aged man.
"Here, be careful with this one." I said as I tapped the text on the top of the container that read: Fragile. He took the box and disappeared with it out the door, my earlier instruction probably fleeing his mind. My mum suddenly came into view with a small pot plant in her hands.
"Was that the last one?" she asked
I nodded. While I had been unloading my room, my mum and the movers had been clearing out the furniture. I glanced at the now empty lounge room. I was certainly going to miss this house. It was the house I had spent all my life in. I had been living here as long as I could remember. It's strange that whenever you empty out a room, it suddenly looks twice as big as it did before. It suddenly felt as though the room that had once been the lounge could have previously served as a hall.
My mum disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me alone in the hollow room. I took in the fact that this could be the last time I ever view these walls. Mum came back seconds after with a tray of lemonade and sandwiches. She held the tray in front of me, gesturing me to help myself to a snack before we depart. Mum was always like this, putting everyone else first and going out of her way to make everyone else happy. I grabbed a glass of the fizzy yellow liquid and a cream cheese filled sandwich. Mum vanished off to serve the movers while I consumed my brunch.
Everyone, including my mum, had eaten and was equipped to take off. I headed upstairs to make myself suitable to the cold weather. I grabbed my scarf, beanie, gloves and coat that I had laid out earlier. I dressed myself in the garments and grabbed my novel, then went downstairs and set foot outside my now old house.
I entered mum's small sedan and sat in the front seat. I expected my mum to do the same, however she stood outside, continuously thanking the movers for coming today, especially on such short notice. She rambled on for minutes before she finally decided it was about time to get on the road. She started the engine and I opened up my book to the page I was on last and began reading.
It was one o'clock when we officially entered the township of Doncaster. It was almost like Manchester except smaller. There wasn’t really anything special about it, and it appeared vaguely boring. ‘A standard British town’, I labelled it. We travelled along the main road in the commercial part of town until we reached the residential area.
"I think it's this one." my mum said as she nodded her head towards a brick house labelled '54'.
The house was two stories tall, with a lush hedge surrounding the property. It had a large square concreted area out the front, which would suffice as a driveway. There were four grand windows and a cream door on the left. Mum slowly pulled up into the driveway and I slipped my bookmark onto page 394 of my book before slamming it shut.
The movers were trailing right behind us the whole trip, so it was only seconds later that the truck pulled up. My mum scanned her bag in search of something small. She eventually retrieved a single silver key from her leather bag. I walked towards the cream door and stood directly in front of it, waiting for my mum to successfully close the zip on her bag so she could unlock our new home. Her bag was finally shut securely and in one simple turn to the right, the door was unlocked, revealing a small entrance foyer with a spiral staircase on the right, leading to the second floor.
I paced slowly through the room as various floorboards creaked each time I put my weight on them. To the right was a dining room, containing a four seater table and a dresser filled with a collection of antique plates. To the left was a lounge, filled with only a burnt orange rug. I guessed that this would be where we were placing our couch and LCD television.
I walked through the dining room to discover a kitchen connected to it. The kitchen was rustic, with wooden benches, cupboards and a low breakfast table to the side, covered in a blue and white checked table cloth. Next to the kitchen was a laundrette, a storage cupboard and a toilet. I decided my next destination to explore would be the second floor.
I returned to the foyer, where the movers have already started pouring in boxes, and trailed up the set of stairs. There were three rooms up stairs. I took a peek inside the first one, which had a queen sized bed and a wardrobe. I guessed it be mum's. The next one was a bathroom equipped with a toilet, sink and a bath and shower in one. The last one had to be my room.
I turned the knob on the plain white door and came to the sight of a single bed, covered in a white duvet with a chest of drawers to the right. But the thing that caught my attention the most was the window on the left. I removed the patterned curtains that were blocking my view and inspected my field of vision. Past the endless amount of roof tops appeared a sight of breath taking rolling green hills. I must've spent a good few minutes staring before a mover barged through the door and interrupted my state of serenity. He quickly placed a box near the entrance and shuffled out of the room. I returned my gaze back to the view and decided I needed a wave of fresh air. I opened the window and rested my elbows on the sill. I cupped my cheeks in both hands and breathed in the scent of freshly mown grass.
I think I could get used to this.
* * *
It was now six in the evening. The movers had left two hours ago, leaving my mum and I as the only occupants of the house. I had already started un-packing things into my room, occasionally glancing out my bedroom window to calm myself, to remind myself that this whole moving houses thing wasn’t all too tragic and I did have a spectacular view to wake up to each morning. I changed my duvet from plain and boring white to a mint green and covered my pillow with a pink and white polka dot designed case. The movers had already placed my bookshelf next to my chest of drawers, so I decided to unload all my novels and guides.
Just as I placed the last book on the third shelf, which happened to be 'The Catcher In The Rye’, my mum called out from the kitchen.
"Jessica, time for dinner!"
She’d just come back from the local fish and chip shop, since it was Friday and Fridays were, first night in a new house or not, always fish and chip night.
I entered the dining room to find two plates opposite each other, filled with a fillet of battered fish, crispy looking potato chips and other greasy little sides. I sat at the chair closest to the door and began eating while my mum returned from the kitchen and began eating her dinner as well.
"So do you like it here?" she asked.
I swallowed my chip before replying. "I love it already" I said, smiling.
"That wasn't your attitude this morning. You hated the fact that we had to move." she pointed out.
"That was before I saw this place."
"So you’re not going to be miserable the whole time, complaining about missing your old friends?" she asked.
"Nope, I'll be able to keep in touch with my old friends, plus I'll make new ones here." I said with ease.
"Speaking of friends, we're going to meet an old friend of mine for New Year's Eve. She has a son your age, maybe he could be your first friend."
"Maybe." I said, even though I doubted it. I'd never been good with boys. In fact I’d only ever had one boyfriend in my lifetime, but he’d dumped my after a few weeks because I hardly ever talked to him and I would shy away every time he attempted to touch me. I silently betted that when I met this guy in a week’s time I wouldn’t even have the confidence to say hello, let alone strike up a conversation.
Let's just pray that this guy isn't hot.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The picture was of Jessica's view
Did you like it? I enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed reading it
I have no idea when I'll be updating next. It could be soon, or it could be for a while. I might be able to post Chapter 2 on New Years Eve, since yet again, thath's when the Chapter takes place. But if I can't, It'll be in January
Comment/Vote/Fan