We Have That Forever Kind Of Love

I walked to the car and grabbed the last box out of the back, then presumed to walk into the house. I sat the box down in the kitchen and looked at my mom. I pretended not to notice the way she was looking around the kitchen, mentally comparing it to our old one back in Marshall.

“Need any help?” I asked, but already knowing what she would say.

“No, I’m just finishing up.” She said nonchalantly, but I knew she was missing home, our old home.

“Alright, I’ll be up in my room putting stuff away.” I took the stairs two at a time, anxious to get started clearing out the boxes. I finally reached the top and couldn’t suppress the sigh when
I took one look at all the boxes scattered about and stacked on top of each other in my room.

I found my iPod and plugged it in to my speakers on my desk, then put it on shuffle. I took one look at my bed and it took everything it had to pry myself away from it and start unpacking.

About an hour into it, and I hadn’t even made a dent in it. I hadn’t realized how much stuff I had before now. I plopped onto my bed and took a deep breath trying to stop the tears that I knew were coming. But there was no stopping them. I hated this, more than I could have imagined. I thought a new start would be good for us, but now I doubted it. I knew things were bad there so I thought leaving would be better for us, not having to deal with all the memories. It took two months, two months after my dad died, to convince ourselves to leave. We would say we were going to, and then we just wouldn’t.

My dad and I weren’t very close; in fact it was rare when we would talk. He was never home; he would rather work 24/7. He worked hard to provide for us, even though he was never there for us. I respected him, I really did, but I felt like he didn’t want to be there for us, like he didn’t want to be with us at all. Never the less, I loved him simply because he was my father. He died the night he told us things would change. My parents got into it that night and it was the worst fight yet; I thought for sure he would leave us. But then my mother and I sat down and told him how we felt, that’s when he promised he would change, work less and be home more. He was driving to work to talk to his boss about his hours when he was hit by a drunk driver.

Things really did change. My mother was never home after that, always with some guy or working. I would be home all the time by myself, cleaning and trying not to fail school.
The next thing I knew I was asleep.

We were so young, just 6 years old in fact, but I knew I was in love. We were best friends, always had been, and vowed we would always be. I had known Jesse my entire life, we had grown up together. His crooked smile and big brown eyes made everything perfect.
We promised we would get married as soon as we turned 18, but I never saw him again after that horrible night.

I didn’t know how long I had slept but before I knew it the alarm on my phone went off. I groaned and reluctantly got up. School today, my first day...

I maneuvered my way around boxes in the dark, tripping over pretty much everything before finally reaching the light. I quickly grabbed some clothes I managed to get put up last night and took a long, hot shower.

About a half hour later, I was putting on makeup and brushing my long blonde hair. With one last look in the mirror, I left and grabbed my bag from my room. It was dark downstairs so I figured my mom was still asleep. I decided to check on her so I tiptoed to her room and peeked on her. Before leaving I kissed her on the cheek then left. I grabbed the keys off the counter, and headed off to my new school.

A new start, a new day, what would it bring?

I retrieved my schedule from the office and stopped at my locker. With only my notebook and my phone in my pocket, I quickly walked to class. My first class was Advanced biology, an easy class. The teacher seemed nice, and sat me in the front row and handed me a book and work for the day. Before I knew it, it was time for English- my favorite class.

The first half of the day passed with ease, I met a few people and befriended them fast. At lunch I sat at Chloe’s table, my first new friend. Everyone kept staring at me, the new girl. I wondered if they could see the pain in my eyes, but it seemed they were fooled by my fake smile.

Chloe’s friends were impressionable and very friendly. I actually found myself enjoying their company, which surprised me. I liked this place, and most of the people here.
The day passed quickly and finally the last period of the day was here- U.S.History.

I walked into class and sat in the vacant seat in the back of the class. I removed my pencil from my notebook and began doodling on my desk anxiously awaiting the start of class when a tall, skinny dark haired boy looked at me with wondering eyes. His voice spoke my name as if he’d known me his whole life, “Annabel?”

It took me a minute, then I suddenly remembered where I’d known this boy from, but it was impossible, it couldn’t be, could it?