Taking the Plunge
taking the plunge
"I clearly remember the day before I moved to London, in fact I think I might remember that day better than the day I actually moved, it went by so fast it was hard to capture the details. I remember the day after I moved well not quite as well as the day before I moved, but well enough." my older cousin Angie says to me, I myself am thinking of moving to a larger town, so I have come to her, because I have never lived on my own before and the very thought of it frightens me. Angie carries on with her story as she pours the coffee:
"I woke up to the sound of my mothers’ high voice: "Angie! Get up! We have to hurry!" her voice was so high it made my ears ring a little, I could hear that something was bothering her. "ANGELA!" my mother was yelling now, "fine! I'm up, I'm up" I mumbled as I pulled myself together to get out of bed, I looked at the clock on the dresser next to my bed, the time was only half past seven, the graduation ceremony wasn't till ten o'clock. I got out of bed and got dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror, I was wearing my old army boots, a black tight fitting long sleeved shirt and my favourite jeans, they were red and tight. I looked down on the floor, clothes were spread all over my room, I started throwing them around me looking for a belt and my leatherjacket, when I had found it I turned to the mirror, my short rose red hair had fallen down on my left cheek during the night, so I had to straighten it, but I couldn't find my straightening iron. I looked towards the corner of my room where five large boxes stood, of course I had packed the straightening iron down, I had to face that my packing skills weren't exactly good, I had packed all the wrong things down, such as underwear, underwear was the first thing I started packing, underwear and CD's. I started throwing clothes around again till I found a hat, my red hat which my father had bought me when he was in Jamaica last summer, I liked the hat and it was almost the same colour as the jeans I wore, so I put it on. I went back to the mirror in order to put some make-up on, my grey eyes looked quite bare without make-up, I put a little eyeliner on, it was a dark shade of grey, and then some black mascara, I looked so much better now, freer, more like myself.
The time was five minutes to eight and I could hear my mother in the kitchen as I walked down the stairs. "Morning" I said when I entered the kitchen, my father looked up from his breakfast, "good morning my blessed offspring" he smiled at me, my mother turned away from the dishwasher, and gave me a judging glare as I got the milk out of the fridge, "what?" I asked her, "well surely your not wearing that today?" she asked me, "but I like it" I said, "oh no you don't, your only wearing that to annoy me" she said, her voice was getting high again, "no I'm not! I generally like it" I said, and sat down next to my father, "fine! You know what, wear whatever you like, I'll just have to pretend as if I don't know you" my mother said and turned to the dishwasher again, my father rolled his eyes at me.
The graduation ceremony was quite boring, the teachers pet held a speech about how we all would miss the school, however now it was time for us to move, as if anyone but her would actually miss the school. When I got back home it was two o'clock, I started packing again, I still had a bunch of empty boxes in my room which needed to be filled by the next morning. I sat down on the floor and started to sort out the clothes on my floor, my floor, I wouldn't be able to call it that for much longer. The boxes were filling up at the same rate as I emptied my room; it felt a little peculiar to me packing my entire existence into boxes. When it was seven o'clock in the evening, my room was completely empty, with the exception of my bed and all of the boxes with all of my stuff in them. I decided to call my friend Leah before I went to sleep, she was after all going to be my new roommate and I was a little worried that she had not finished packing yet. "Hey there, Leah speaking mate" Leah said in a friendly voice when she picked up, "hay Leah, it's me, Angie" I said, "oh hey Angie, God I saw the funniest thing at the park today, I mean there was this bloke right, and he had this like really big puddle, and, nope I've changed my mind, it wasn't that funny, I guess it was one of those moments where you actually had to be there" she said, "okay, well I was just wondering if you were done packing yet? You know, because we're moving tomorrow and all that" I said, "oh yea totally, I'm just marking all the boxes now, God this moving to London thing is going to be so awesome, right? I mean I know that we have like two months till school starts, but that should only give us time to get after school jobs right?" she said, she sounded very excited, "right, totally right Leah, but ehh I have to go grab a bit to eat with my parents, sooo I'll just talk to you later then" I said, "okay bye bye Angie, see you tomorrow" Leah said, "yea see you tomorrow" I said, then I hung up the phone.
The next morning I could feel a stream of mixed emotions flow through me, on one hand I was very excited to go to the new school, but on the other hand I was going to miss my parents, especially my father, I know that you are not supposed to like one of your parents better than the other, but my father had always been my favourite. I heard a loud engine purr outside my window; I looked out and saw that the moving wan was already at the house, so I went down stairs to greet the men who were driving it. The wan got filled up as went into the kitchen to say goodbye to my parents. My parents were sitting at the kitchen table having tea, they both looked up when I entered the kitchen, "ahh" my father said "well little bit, have you stopped by for one last cup of tea before you're leaving?" he smiled at as he reached across the table to get a biscuit, "naah I'm not really in the mood for tea" I said and sat down as well, "are you ready to go sweetheart?" my mother asked me, she looked worried and I could feel a lump form itself in my throat, "ohh yea I'm all set" I said "just waiting for Leah now" I felt uneasy and pretended to see something interesting through the window, "now now dear, London is only a three hour drive away you know" my father said, I knew he was right, this lump in my throat was stupid and silly. My parents came out to wave goodbye, as Leah and I drove away in Leah's old noisy car.
When we got to London I could feel the lump in my throat disintegrate, and I felt as free and happy as the expression on Leah's face looked. Our new flat was rather small, but it was ours to do with as we pleased. The Flat had a bathroom, a living room with a kitchen in one corner, it only had one bedroom so Leah and I had come up with a solution before we moved, we were going to share the bedroom, Leah would have the bedroom the first two weeks and I would sleep on the sofa in the living room, then after two weeks we would switch. "Sooo this is us then huh?" Leah said when we started unpacking, she was hanging a hideous picture of some pretty-boy-pop-singer on the wall behind the sofa, I guessed I'd just have to live with that, I guess everyone must make sacrifices, and Leah loved that pretty-boy so this would have to be one of mine. We started work the next morning, we had both gotten a job at a café, though it was not the same café, the one were Leah worked was large and airy, it was a ten minute walk from were we lived. The café where I worked was small and cosy; it had one wall filled with old posters of bands from the seventies. The job was harder then I had imagined it would be, I had thought that I would only have to know how to make coffee, and that I had to be nice to the costumers, but it was so much more than that, there were a ton of different kinds of coffee, the costumers were peckish and assumed that my job was not that hard, the fact that I am not all that good at math did not help me when I had to work the cash register. In the End everything worked out quite fine though, you learn the job, you spend Christmas at your parents house, you make new friends, and you find it hard to keep your old friends, but you have to remember that in the end, the old friends are worth more that all the gold in the world. Then you move on, and before you know it, you are all grownup and life moves on."
Angie sipped her coffee and then looks at me, I guess she sees the fear of the unknown in my eyes, to be honest I had thought that talking to her would make it go away. "Take the plunge kiddo, or forever wish you had" Angie suddenly said. After that we sit quietly and drink our coffee, and I am thinking about the thought of growing up, am I really ready yet?
"I woke up to the sound of my mothers’ high voice: "Angie! Get up! We have to hurry!" her voice was so high it made my ears ring a little, I could hear that something was bothering her. "ANGELA!" my mother was yelling now, "fine! I'm up, I'm up" I mumbled as I pulled myself together to get out of bed, I looked at the clock on the dresser next to my bed, the time was only half past seven, the graduation ceremony wasn't till ten o'clock. I got out of bed and got dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror, I was wearing my old army boots, a black tight fitting long sleeved shirt and my favourite jeans, they were red and tight. I looked down on the floor, clothes were spread all over my room, I started throwing them around me looking for a belt and my leatherjacket, when I had found it I turned to the mirror, my short rose red hair had fallen down on my left cheek during the night, so I had to straighten it, but I couldn't find my straightening iron. I looked towards the corner of my room where five large boxes stood, of course I had packed the straightening iron down, I had to face that my packing skills weren't exactly good, I had packed all the wrong things down, such as underwear, underwear was the first thing I started packing, underwear and CD's. I started throwing clothes around again till I found a hat, my red hat which my father had bought me when he was in Jamaica last summer, I liked the hat and it was almost the same colour as the jeans I wore, so I put it on. I went back to the mirror in order to put some make-up on, my grey eyes looked quite bare without make-up, I put a little eyeliner on, it was a dark shade of grey, and then some black mascara, I looked so much better now, freer, more like myself.
The time was five minutes to eight and I could hear my mother in the kitchen as I walked down the stairs. "Morning" I said when I entered the kitchen, my father looked up from his breakfast, "good morning my blessed offspring" he smiled at me, my mother turned away from the dishwasher, and gave me a judging glare as I got the milk out of the fridge, "what?" I asked her, "well surely your not wearing that today?" she asked me, "but I like it" I said, "oh no you don't, your only wearing that to annoy me" she said, her voice was getting high again, "no I'm not! I generally like it" I said, and sat down next to my father, "fine! You know what, wear whatever you like, I'll just have to pretend as if I don't know you" my mother said and turned to the dishwasher again, my father rolled his eyes at me.
The graduation ceremony was quite boring, the teachers pet held a speech about how we all would miss the school, however now it was time for us to move, as if anyone but her would actually miss the school. When I got back home it was two o'clock, I started packing again, I still had a bunch of empty boxes in my room which needed to be filled by the next morning. I sat down on the floor and started to sort out the clothes on my floor, my floor, I wouldn't be able to call it that for much longer. The boxes were filling up at the same rate as I emptied my room; it felt a little peculiar to me packing my entire existence into boxes. When it was seven o'clock in the evening, my room was completely empty, with the exception of my bed and all of the boxes with all of my stuff in them. I decided to call my friend Leah before I went to sleep, she was after all going to be my new roommate and I was a little worried that she had not finished packing yet. "Hey there, Leah speaking mate" Leah said in a friendly voice when she picked up, "hay Leah, it's me, Angie" I said, "oh hey Angie, God I saw the funniest thing at the park today, I mean there was this bloke right, and he had this like really big puddle, and, nope I've changed my mind, it wasn't that funny, I guess it was one of those moments where you actually had to be there" she said, "okay, well I was just wondering if you were done packing yet? You know, because we're moving tomorrow and all that" I said, "oh yea totally, I'm just marking all the boxes now, God this moving to London thing is going to be so awesome, right? I mean I know that we have like two months till school starts, but that should only give us time to get after school jobs right?" she said, she sounded very excited, "right, totally right Leah, but ehh I have to go grab a bit to eat with my parents, sooo I'll just talk to you later then" I said, "okay bye bye Angie, see you tomorrow" Leah said, "yea see you tomorrow" I said, then I hung up the phone.
The next morning I could feel a stream of mixed emotions flow through me, on one hand I was very excited to go to the new school, but on the other hand I was going to miss my parents, especially my father, I know that you are not supposed to like one of your parents better than the other, but my father had always been my favourite. I heard a loud engine purr outside my window; I looked out and saw that the moving wan was already at the house, so I went down stairs to greet the men who were driving it. The wan got filled up as went into the kitchen to say goodbye to my parents. My parents were sitting at the kitchen table having tea, they both looked up when I entered the kitchen, "ahh" my father said "well little bit, have you stopped by for one last cup of tea before you're leaving?" he smiled at as he reached across the table to get a biscuit, "naah I'm not really in the mood for tea" I said and sat down as well, "are you ready to go sweetheart?" my mother asked me, she looked worried and I could feel a lump form itself in my throat, "ohh yea I'm all set" I said "just waiting for Leah now" I felt uneasy and pretended to see something interesting through the window, "now now dear, London is only a three hour drive away you know" my father said, I knew he was right, this lump in my throat was stupid and silly. My parents came out to wave goodbye, as Leah and I drove away in Leah's old noisy car.
When we got to London I could feel the lump in my throat disintegrate, and I felt as free and happy as the expression on Leah's face looked. Our new flat was rather small, but it was ours to do with as we pleased. The Flat had a bathroom, a living room with a kitchen in one corner, it only had one bedroom so Leah and I had come up with a solution before we moved, we were going to share the bedroom, Leah would have the bedroom the first two weeks and I would sleep on the sofa in the living room, then after two weeks we would switch. "Sooo this is us then huh?" Leah said when we started unpacking, she was hanging a hideous picture of some pretty-boy-pop-singer on the wall behind the sofa, I guessed I'd just have to live with that, I guess everyone must make sacrifices, and Leah loved that pretty-boy so this would have to be one of mine. We started work the next morning, we had both gotten a job at a café, though it was not the same café, the one were Leah worked was large and airy, it was a ten minute walk from were we lived. The café where I worked was small and cosy; it had one wall filled with old posters of bands from the seventies. The job was harder then I had imagined it would be, I had thought that I would only have to know how to make coffee, and that I had to be nice to the costumers, but it was so much more than that, there were a ton of different kinds of coffee, the costumers were peckish and assumed that my job was not that hard, the fact that I am not all that good at math did not help me when I had to work the cash register. In the End everything worked out quite fine though, you learn the job, you spend Christmas at your parents house, you make new friends, and you find it hard to keep your old friends, but you have to remember that in the end, the old friends are worth more that all the gold in the world. Then you move on, and before you know it, you are all grownup and life moves on."
Angie sipped her coffee and then looks at me, I guess she sees the fear of the unknown in my eyes, to be honest I had thought that talking to her would make it go away. "Take the plunge kiddo, or forever wish you had" Angie suddenly said. After that we sit quietly and drink our coffee, and I am thinking about the thought of growing up, am I really ready yet?