Brand New
One
“Amelie Juliet Lucas!”
Not again, not again, not again. I could hear her voice through the door to my room as clear as the sun on a summer’s day. Jesus Christ, was it annoying. Everything she did was annoying.
“I expect you down here with your bags packed in five minutes!” She was shipping me off to live with my cousin for the next two years before I could get away from my family and go to college. She also told me it would probably be better if I got away from the bad vibes that were floating around for a while. Things happened, and I needed to get away from it.
I threw the covers off of my face and sat up. Too quickly I guess because when I was upright, the blood rushed to my head and I couldn’t see for a second or two. And then my head started to hurt. Advil. I needed Advil. Most of my stuff was packed, but I left the small bottle out, knowing I would need some at some point.
I took the next couple of minutes to stuff the rest of my clothes and shoes into the last duffle bag. My room was almost completely cleared out. All that was left were the frame of my bed, other small pieces of furniture, and two lamps. I’d been packing for weeks, just waiting to get away from the tiny house I had to grow up in. 16 years of life with my mom and her ugly boyfriend who smelled like pot. I walked out with my bags all slung over my shoulders and rolled behind me. I wanted to close my eyes as I walked past the last room on the right before the stairs. I really couldn’t think about that for a while.
I was down in the kitchen soon enough with my bags stuffed into the backseat of my mom’s beat up Corolla. “Bye, Jake,” I said, without any real emotion other than joy.
“I’m gonna miss you, kid.” I was convinced he didn’t know my name. He only called me kid. He moved in for a hug, and my mom pushed me forward so I couldn’t get away. I half-assed it, but he practically squeezed all of the air out of me.
“Come on mom, I need to get to the airport.”
-
“Hey, hun, I haven’t seen you since you were this small.” My cousin held her hand about three feet above the floor. Her toothy smile stretched across her face, and she looked like she couldn’t have been happier to see me.
“Yeah, I guess. By the way, thanks for letting me stay with you.” I would rather have stayed in a tent in the woods of Russia than be stuck in the hellhole I called home for 2 more years. I needed a big change in my surroundings.
“Anytime, girlie, I’m glad you can take a break from the stuff that went on,” she replied, giving me a sympathetic look and grabbing two of my five bags and walking ahead of me toward her car. “I should tell you, though; you won’t really be staying with me.” I must have given her a confused look because she continued, “I’ve got a business trip to California for the next three months at least, so you have the house to yourself. After that, I’ll probably come back and forth between Baltimore and LA periodically.”
“How’s that going to work?”
“I’ll give you some money and you’re set up with a credit card, so you can buy food and school supplies and gas, and I’ll pay all of the bills, you just won’t see me at all because I’ll be in California.”
I nodded like I understood completely. I did, mostly, but I wasn’t used to being by myself.
Katherine, my cousin, and I loaded my suitcases into the back of her SUV and got in the car. After about ten minutes she pulled off of the freeway and maneuvered her way through the streets of a suburban neighborhood.
“So,” I said, dragging out the word, “Where are we?”
“We, my little cousin friend, are in a suburb of Baltimore, Lutherville. Towson is really close to here, too.” We didn’t talk for a few minutes until she came to a stop in front of a high school. “This is where you’re going to go. Dulaney High is your new school.”
“Joy,” I muttered, sarcastically. I hated school, but mainly that was because it—and everyone in it—hated me. One friend throughout elementary and middle school and then she grew up and became a cheerleader and didn’t talk to me again. High school was basically a bust.
We pulled up to a nice but small two story home in the middle of two other nice but small two story homes. “This is my house.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. We got my bags and she unlocked the front door. She showed me around the bottom floor and then took me upstairs where the largest (not by much) of the three rooms was empty except for some furniture. “This is your room. The bathroom is through that door. The room to the left of the stairs is mine and the room to the right is an office with a computer and printer and such for schoolwork.”
“Thanks, Katherine.”
Not again, not again, not again. I could hear her voice through the door to my room as clear as the sun on a summer’s day. Jesus Christ, was it annoying. Everything she did was annoying.
“I expect you down here with your bags packed in five minutes!” She was shipping me off to live with my cousin for the next two years before I could get away from my family and go to college. She also told me it would probably be better if I got away from the bad vibes that were floating around for a while. Things happened, and I needed to get away from it.
I threw the covers off of my face and sat up. Too quickly I guess because when I was upright, the blood rushed to my head and I couldn’t see for a second or two. And then my head started to hurt. Advil. I needed Advil. Most of my stuff was packed, but I left the small bottle out, knowing I would need some at some point.
I took the next couple of minutes to stuff the rest of my clothes and shoes into the last duffle bag. My room was almost completely cleared out. All that was left were the frame of my bed, other small pieces of furniture, and two lamps. I’d been packing for weeks, just waiting to get away from the tiny house I had to grow up in. 16 years of life with my mom and her ugly boyfriend who smelled like pot. I walked out with my bags all slung over my shoulders and rolled behind me. I wanted to close my eyes as I walked past the last room on the right before the stairs. I really couldn’t think about that for a while.
I was down in the kitchen soon enough with my bags stuffed into the backseat of my mom’s beat up Corolla. “Bye, Jake,” I said, without any real emotion other than joy.
“I’m gonna miss you, kid.” I was convinced he didn’t know my name. He only called me kid. He moved in for a hug, and my mom pushed me forward so I couldn’t get away. I half-assed it, but he practically squeezed all of the air out of me.
“Come on mom, I need to get to the airport.”
-
“Hey, hun, I haven’t seen you since you were this small.” My cousin held her hand about three feet above the floor. Her toothy smile stretched across her face, and she looked like she couldn’t have been happier to see me.
“Yeah, I guess. By the way, thanks for letting me stay with you.” I would rather have stayed in a tent in the woods of Russia than be stuck in the hellhole I called home for 2 more years. I needed a big change in my surroundings.
“Anytime, girlie, I’m glad you can take a break from the stuff that went on,” she replied, giving me a sympathetic look and grabbing two of my five bags and walking ahead of me toward her car. “I should tell you, though; you won’t really be staying with me.” I must have given her a confused look because she continued, “I’ve got a business trip to California for the next three months at least, so you have the house to yourself. After that, I’ll probably come back and forth between Baltimore and LA periodically.”
“How’s that going to work?”
“I’ll give you some money and you’re set up with a credit card, so you can buy food and school supplies and gas, and I’ll pay all of the bills, you just won’t see me at all because I’ll be in California.”
I nodded like I understood completely. I did, mostly, but I wasn’t used to being by myself.
Katherine, my cousin, and I loaded my suitcases into the back of her SUV and got in the car. After about ten minutes she pulled off of the freeway and maneuvered her way through the streets of a suburban neighborhood.
“So,” I said, dragging out the word, “Where are we?”
“We, my little cousin friend, are in a suburb of Baltimore, Lutherville. Towson is really close to here, too.” We didn’t talk for a few minutes until she came to a stop in front of a high school. “This is where you’re going to go. Dulaney High is your new school.”
“Joy,” I muttered, sarcastically. I hated school, but mainly that was because it—and everyone in it—hated me. One friend throughout elementary and middle school and then she grew up and became a cheerleader and didn’t talk to me again. High school was basically a bust.
We pulled up to a nice but small two story home in the middle of two other nice but small two story homes. “This is my house.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. We got my bags and she unlocked the front door. She showed me around the bottom floor and then took me upstairs where the largest (not by much) of the three rooms was empty except for some furniture. “This is your room. The bathroom is through that door. The room to the left of the stairs is mine and the room to the right is an office with a computer and printer and such for schoolwork.”
“Thanks, Katherine.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Please don't make fun of my terrible writing. Also don't read this because I guarantee you that it will never be finished.