This Is Not Your Playground, It's My Heart

I grew up in one of those neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone else by their first names. The houses were all over-sized and over-priced. Not to mention the fact that the only difference between them were the color of the shutters. It probably makes me sound like a spoiled little rich girl when I say that this place is the only place in the world that feels like home to me.

My parents split a little over a year ago, and by doing so I was forced by the courts to go live with my mother. At first, I was excited about the dramatic change. She made me promises that we were going to go live somewhere even better than our nice home in California, but when it actually came time to pack our bags and go, we ended up in Iaeger, West Virginia.

Now, before you assume such things, we didn't have family there. And, no, the people there do not sleep with their family members. It's sick to even assume such a thing. Shame on you! However, instead of moving us to the nice part of that tiny, run down town, my mom moved us the a crappy broken home. She said the nice part of town was filled with drug dealers, and it was much too dangerous for people like us. However, she didn't realize that by moving to the broken side of town that we were moving in with the drug addicts.

I made the mistake of telling my father what kind of place we were living. I told him that every other day someone from my new school was dying in some freak accident, and the drugs around here were so bad that my mom had even started to join in on the fun. It was decided after that. My mother was forced to pack our bags again, but because it was on such short notice, she had two months to find somewhere else for us to go. In those two months I would be sent back to California to spend the Summer with my father. Naturally, I would miss my mother, but it would be so nice to go home and see my dad again.

When I arrived back in California, my father met me at the airport with a large smile on his face. He welcomed me with open arms, a large smile, and a huge surprise. The girl hanging off his arm was the complete opposite of my mother. Her hair was long and flowing, with a glowing blonde shine. Her eyes were sky-blue, and her tan was so fake I thought I was staring at a leather couch. She clearly bleached her teeth, and her smile wasn't very pretty. Yes, I was bitter. But I had every right to be.

"You must be Jennifer."

I pulled back from my father's warm hug and twitched when she spoke. She had one of those annoying, high pitched, squeaky voices. Honestly, she reminded me of a fake, blonde rat. The only difference being that rats are cute.

"Dad. You didn't tell me you became a pimp to keep the house when mom left."

The woman cleared her thoat and my dad let out an awkward laugh. I stared at them with a blank face to prove that I was not joking, and I had no intentions of saying so.

"Jenny!" My father let out a deep, manly sort of laugh as he picked up my bags. "She's funny, isn't she, Judith?"

"Yes. Funny."

"Judith, huh?" I stared at her with as nice of a grin as I could manage. We had started walking to the car, and it was scary how she was hanging off my father. "That's my grandmother's name. On my mom's side."

"Then it's like we're already family, huh?"

"Not really. She's in real close with the Mafia. I was never allowed to see her. Anyways, dad, can I have some money to take my own cab?"

"We drove here, baby."

"Exactly."

Judith gave my father a stern smile. It was the same smile my mother used to give him when she came home from a long night of drinking. I wonder how I ended up with her.

My dad dropped my bags and pulled out his wallet. He handed me a hundred and gave me a small hug. I told you that you would think of me as nothing but a rich kid, but I just didn't want to go home. Besides, I hadn't stepped foot in California for a year and a half, I wanted to see all the things I used to love. And I wanted to see them without her.

I told my father that I loved him and we parted ways. He took Judith off to his nice car and I went straight for a cab. The ride to my part of town was about forty minutes because of traffic, but before we turned onto the road my father's house was on, I stopped the driver.

"Right here is fine. Thank you."

"You sure? The address you gave me is just up the road."

"I'm sure. Do you have change for a hundred?"

"I sure do."

We exchanged our money and I climbed out of the car. The heat hit me like a brick. Back in Iaeger, I was lucky to see June day reach 90 degrees. Here, though, it seemed like I was walking on the sun. It was amazing. I smiled to myself and pushed my purse farther up on my arm and began walking. Nothing had changed about this place. Everything still looked the same, there was still a small dog trapped in every other yard. I could only hope that the people here had stayed the same, too.

I considered stopping at some of my old friends houses, but since I had traveld across most of the states without a shower, I decided against it. I wanted it to be perfect when I saw them all again. These were the kids I grew up with. I went through Hell with them. Well, I suppose it's more like I went through Hell with him.

I finally made it to my old house. It was still bright white and freakishly large, but the roof wasn't gray anymore. It was black. There was now a fence around our yard, and the shutters had gone from gray to pink. When I saw the pink car in the yard, I instantly understood the changes. Judith had terrible taste.

In a time like this a year ago, there's only one place I would have gone, and that's the house right across the street. Sean had always been my very best friend, ever since we were kids. I was hoping that he would recognize me. My once strawberry blonde hair was now dyed dark, and my once pink-colored lips now had snake-bites. Leaving California changed me a lot; Mentally and physically.

I marched up the walkway to his front door, but I stopped myself when I heard a familiar squeaking. Sean and I used to play on his rusty old swing set when we were little, and when we grew older, he just couldn't throw away the memories. I smiled to myself as I rounded the corner of the house, but the smile faded from my lips when I saw a girl on the swing. My first thought what that he had a girlfriend. She did look to be about our age, her hair was a light shade of brown, and when she lifted her head to see me standing there, I could see that her eyes were bright green.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah." I glanced around the backyard. I was hoping that I would see Sean somewhere, but when he didn't come out of hiding, I felt stupid. "Is Sean around?"

"I'm sorry." She stood up from the swing. I could tell by how slow she was walking and how she avoided my eyes that she was a very shy girl. "He doesn't live here anymore."

My heart sank. Sean and I tried to keep in touch, but when my mom got our phone cut off, I had no way of reaching him. He promised me that the day I came back he'd be here waiting, and now I have to find out that he's not the boy across the street anymore. It took everything in me not to cry.

"Oh. I'll just-" I let out a deep breath. "Bye."

"No, no! Wait!" The girl chased after me, and once she caught me before I stepped on the road, I could see how pink her face was turning. "He's three houses down. Are you Jennifer?"

I smiled when I saw her point to the right. I didn't understand why he had left, but then again, I hadn't talked to him in months. Part of me wanted to hug her, but I think she might have had a heart attack.

"Yeah. He told you about me? You two must be close friends, huh? Why'd he move?"

"No, actually." She finally lifted her eyes to meet mine. "Before he moved, he asked me to keep the swings. Took a while, but I got my parents to agree. He told me that some day a girl named Jennifer would come looking for him, told me to point you in the right direction, and said he'd explain everything when he saw you."

"And you're actually giving me the message?" I laughed. "You haven't been in Cali long, have you?"

"I've been here for about six months."

"So why don't you talk to Sean more? He's a really good guy."

"I'm not like all the other kids around here, and because of that, they don't like me."

"I like you." I offered her a smile to make her feel a little better. "What's your name?"

"Shana. But you can call me Shay."

"Okay then, Shay." I turned to leave. "Maybe I'll see you around."