Never What It Seems

Chapter 1:

"No. Absolutely not. You guys can't be doing this to me again. This is my senior year. I can't switch schools now, I have made plans for this year, plans for my future." With hands on my hips I looked at my parents, my anger seething.

My mother looked at me with such kindness in her eyes as she wraped me in a hug. "I'm so sorry Belle,  I know we have moved around a lot, but you know we have to go where your father's job sends us. I agree that it is horrible timing but you and Aurora will be just fine. You are so wonderful at making friends, I just know that everything will work out."

"This is going to affect my scholarship Mom. I can't leave now, I still have to finish my core classes, not to mention the community service that I signed up for. You guys can't do this to me now. I can't even begin to tell you how much this year means to me."

My mother's sympathetic gaze set me off even more. Her hand on my shoulder betrayed the depths of my anger. I shook, I could see my dreams were falling away before my eyes. Every step I had taken in the past three years was falling away from me. I know now that it sounds dramatic, but I had worked so hard for my future.

I hugged her back before I walked up the stairs and sat on my bed to cry. I could see that there was no way to get out of the move, no way to salvage the future that I had planned. My name is Aurabella or Belle for short and who ever said that life is a fairytale,  well they definitely didn't have my senior year of high school. I am not saying my life is horrible, in fact I really can't complain, but starting your senior year of high school in a new place is never fun for anyone. Not to mention that I went to an elite private school on top of that. The twists and turns my life took that year nearly broke me in two, or at least at eighteen that is what I thought would happen. Looking back on it now I see that I learned more than I lost even though I lost something oh so very precious to me that year, something I still dream about to this day.

As I drearily packed up my belongings for the move I thought about the three years I had spent in the small quiet town in North Carolina and all of the friends I had made, the fun times we had and all of the things I had gotten to experience.  I would miss our home and the feeling of closeness, but I knew when we moved here it was just a stop along the way.

I guess that the only saving grace in my book was that we weren't moving mid school year. It was hard enough going from public to private school, I was glad I didn't have the curriculum change mid year.

It only took us a week to get everything packed and ready for the move to Massachusetts,  Charlemont was in my future.

A week before school and I was unpacking in a new home that I wouldn't be in for very long. A temporary home that would be in my rear view mirror come next summer. I felt so out of place in the four bedroom monstrosity that was our new home. I felt like such an outsider, someone that was looking in on a happy family I no longer belong to.

As I prepared for my new school, I went over my mental check list. Uniforms were new to me, but they weren't totally atrocious, the books were brand new and mine to keep. Four binders to start the new year along with a tablet and a laptop, all a requirement for class. A couple of spiral notebooks for other random things that might come up along the way.

As I packed everything into my messenger bag, I wondered just what the new school year would bring. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have shielded myself better. Not from the physical, but the emotional assault that really took its toll on me.

Each day for a week I would look over the email that the school sent me with my classes, locker assignment and the map, just to make sure I had it all down before I walked into the unknown. The unknown was really more than I could have bargained for.