Big Family, Big Problems

“Dad! Julia pulled my hair and called me a booger!” Theresa shouted as she ran down the stairs to tattle on her twin sister.

She ran past Ashton who was walking down the hallway with his hockey gear to go to his room. She ran into one of his sticks and almost knocked him over, “Hey, watch it!”

“Would you quiet down?! I’m trying to watch the National Geographic channel!” Joseph (aka Joe) shouted from the living room.

“I did not call her a booger!” Theresa yelled as she began to run down the hallway and down the stairs almost knocking over Holly who was coming out of the bathroom.

You could hear Dustin in his room playing his mind numbing video games; it was funny because he was Joe’s twin.

Daniel was the oldest sibling and he had just come in through the front door loudly announcing, “I’m home!” from going to check out his new job.

My name is Bonnie. I’m 15 and have 7 siblings.

Julia and Theresa are twins and they are the youngest of us all at the age of 5.

Joe and Dustin are also twins and only second youngest at the age of 11.

Then there’s me at 15.

Then the closest in age to me at 16 is my brother Ashton.

At 17 is Holly.

And at 19 is Daniel.

We have just moved in to our new house in Atlanta, Georgia, from Anchorage, Alaska.

We are all a little frazzled, most of us just came off our first plane ride (including me) and we are scrambling to claim our new rooms.

We live with a single parent. My dad; my mom died a little less than five years ago after Julia and Theresa were born. She was badly sick and there was nothing anyone could do.

That shook us pretty hard; especially Dad. So our aunt Jackie (mom’s sister) is living with us now here in Atlanta because she already lived here in an apartment.

Dad decided to move down here for three reasons, Aunt Jackie being here was one, the house in Anchorage was officially too small, and his job let him move down here and he got promoted.

So now we live in a 12 bedroom house with, 13 and a half baths, a full kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a finished basement.

I personally was stoked to be moving here.

Honestly I didn’t have many friends in Anchorage and I also had to share my bedroom with Julia and Theresa, and boy was that annoying.

So maybe moving would give me a new chance at teenage life.

I slowly made my way out of my room, which was at the end of the hallway. I loved my room because it was actually supposed to be more of the attic but the family before us made it a bedroom and added windows to it so the room was huge and the ceilings were actually quite high and you had to walk up some stairs to get to it, but out the windows you could see the perfect view of downtown Atlanta because our house was located in Oakley Square; the neighborhood that was up on a hill above Atlanta. I was psyched to see it tonight when the city was lit.

So I carefully maneuvered my way around the kids in the hallways, dragging boxes and personal belongings out of the moving truck outside and into their new rooms.

Dustin had already gotten his TV and gaming systems set up and was playing them.

Ashton was getting his stuff into his room still, Holly was primping her bathroom and hanging posters, Daniel had already gone and came back to check out his job. He had the most amazing job; Starbucks.

Joe was in the living room watching National Geographic. I glanced at the TV; it was a show about migrations. He had already finished his room it barely had anything in it except his fish tanks, and his frog tank.

Later me, Ashton, and Daniel were gonna go pick up our pets from the local SPCA because we had chosen not to make them go on an airline; instead they took a road trip with the SPCA truck who had already been shipping some other animals down here.

I was so worried about my kitten and my puppy. Starley was my kitten and Aka is my puppy and she is a sheltie pup.

They were the reason I didn’t want to put them on a plane, who knew what high altitudes would do to them.

So, Ashton put his dog, Buddy who was a Papillion and Daniel put his dog, Sam who was a Golden Retriever, on the trip too.

But anyways back to the point, I headed back downstairs through the foyer and out the front door and over to the pile of boxes in our front yard.

The house reminded me of the one from Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin in it. It was very similar, with the wraparound porch.

As I walked outside I looked across the street and saw a boy. He looked around mine and Ashton’s age and had this really amazing looking shaggy brown hair that he flicked out of his face with grace. His clothes were very stylish and I knew I was interesting in him in some way when I saw he was wearing converse.

He was getting into a black SUV with a woman who looked old enough to be his mom because I could see the similarities between them. He was taller than her and a big black guy followed and climbed into the driver’s seat.

He climbed in the car also and they soon backed out of the driveway and drove away.

I shook my hair out of my face as I turned to go back to what I was doing, retrieving the rest of my boxes. I only had two left and would come back downstairs for the second one.

Once I had put that one in my room and was coming back downstairs for the second one my dad noticed me and said, “Bonnie! You want to go out later and choose a color to paint your room before we unpack everything?” He and Aunt Jackie were putting some groceries in the pantry and refrigerator.

I smiled and immediately thought ‘blue’.

“Sure dad!” I said as I walked back outside to grab the last box and set it in my room.

I put the last box down next to the rest of them and stood there with my hands on my hips.

I looked around the room and contemplated on what color I wanted. Blue was definitely my choice but what shade?

My room was long and at the end were two double windows where the view of Atlanta was.

I imagined a light blue and decided against it. A dark blue? No. Bright blue! Nah. I decided that a kind of not too bright light blue would be great since my theme was nautical. The ocean was just a natural wonder of mine.

That was another great thing about moving to Atlanta. The beach wasn’t too far away and this beach wasn’t too cold to swim in!

So I smiled to myself and took my iPod and cell phone out of my bag and headed back into the hallway.

“Hey Danny,” I said as I walked into his room, “Is Starbucks within walking distance from here?”

“Oh yeah, you can just walk down the sidewalk out of the neighborhood and its pretty much right there,” he told me, as he unpacked some of his stuff.

“Ok, thanks, I’m gonna go get something, let dad know ok? I know he’s real busy and all,” I told him.

“Can do baby sister,” he said smiling at me.

I was the lovable sibling apparently because I never did anything to anyone else.

So I skipped down the stairs and went around the kids running everywhere and headed out the door.

I stuck my headphones in my ears and before I knew it I was at Starbucks waiting in line.

I had one headphone in my ear playing a Michael Bublé song and my eyes were glued to the Starbucks menu. What was I going to get today? A frap, a coffee, oh, maybe a hot chocolate. Even though it was like 94 degrees outside I was never too hot to drink hot chocolate.

Then I was almost pushed over by someone bumping into me. I turned to come face to face with the boy from across the street.

“Sorry!” he apologized, “My friends over their think it’s funny to push people into others.”

I glanced around him and fount two other teenage boys around mine and Ash’s age, snickering.

I just rolled my eyes, “Well next time can try to resist them please?” I asked.

“Whoa, you have an accent, where are you from?” the boy asked.

“Anchorage,” I stated simply. Might as well play hard to get.

“Like Alaska?” he asked, he chuckled, “That’s a long way from Atlanta.”

“I’m glad you know where it is,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, I’m from Canada myself,” he said smoothly.

“Really? What part?” I asked slightly interested.

“Ontario,” he smiled.

“Well it’s nice to meet you…?” I trailed off implying that he never gave me his name.

“Wait, you don’t know who I am?”

Oh sweet Jesus, he’s cocky.

“Am I supposed to?” I asked as I walked up to the counter and ordered my hot chocolate.

The boy stood there looking baffled, “First of all, it’s like 95 degrees outside and you’re getting hot chocolate? And second did you live in an igloo or something? Most everyone on the planet knows who I am.”

“Well, I don’t. But if you don’t wanna tell me who you are and let me on this info then so be it. It was nice to speak to you Mr. I-can’t-believe-you-don’t-know-who-I-am!” I took my hot chocolate and handed over the money and began to leave the building clearly annoyed at this guy. Maybe he wasn’t going to be who I expected.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I was already outside and walking back down the sidewalk when I heard his voice come running after me.

“I’m sorry I was so mean,” he jogged to catch up to me, “My name is Justin.”

I sighed, “Nice to meet you Justin, I’m Bonnie.”

“Bonnie, eh? That’s a pretty name,” he smiled, I watched him out of the corner of my eye, “A pretty name for a beautiful girl.”

Oh no, here comes the flirting.

“I appreciate the compliment,” I chuckled, “but I’d rather you get to know me before you try to woo me with your ‘excellent’ flirting skills.”

I sipped my hot chocolate as he laughed. His laugh was cute and I wasn’t gonna deny it. And his smile was brilliant.

“Well, then, I think I can manage that. How about we hang out sometime?” he said stopping and turning to me. I did the same.

I eyed him before I decided, “Eh, what the heck? Sure,” I smiled at him.

“May a please have your number so I may let you in on future events?” he asked trying to be suave.

“Yes you may,” I giggled, taking my phone out of my pocket and handing it to him he handed me his fancy iPhone touch and I added in my number. He handed me back my phone and smiled and waved as he backed away down the sidewalk again.

I flirtatiously waved back and turned to keep walking swaying my hips in the process.
I glanced back again to catch him staring at me with his jaw hanging wide. I laughed.

What a great start to this new day, in a new city, in a new home.