Love Always, From Mayberry

Chapter one

August 2009
I had no idea what to expect from Mayberry high school and truthfully, I didn't want much. I just needed to graduate and hopefully get a scholarship and put my "visit" to this small town behind me. I could already tell there was nothing for me in Mayberry.

It would be nice to make a few friends so I wouldn't have to sit alone at lunch or maybe even get invited to prom. I've never really had boys interested in me too much.

Even though I wasn't entirely ecstatic about this move, maybe this could be Whitney's chance at being somebody. Maybe, I could actually be popular, have a friend that's my own age, maybe I would even finally kiss a boy. I know I said I wanted to be left alone, and in many ways, I did. However, maybe, I felt that way because my lack of male friendship. I was rather shy when it came to the male species, maybe that would change in a new environment.

I'd had a few friends back home but only one I even thought was worth keeping in touch with. We actually never went to school together. She was my neighbor and was three grades ahead of me. She ended up dropping out of school her junior year. I just never cared much for people my own age, plus it was always interesting to be around Madison. I guess she didn't have too many friends either because we were always together. The only friends she ever talked about with me were her men friends. "Whitney, please have a back bone.", was Madison's final attempt at trying to convince me that I could stay. "Your parents could sign over rights to me and we could get an apartment."

The thought was amusing. Sure my family liked Madison because they knew her family but they weren't into the whole punk rock look, or the high school drop out situation.

"It's not my choice to make." I explained. "I'm sixteen."

"You'll visit?"

"Of course."

"I didn't write a goodbye speech or anything. All I can come up with is bye. So bye."

There wasn't much of a reply I could come up with to give her. We were never the emotional type anyway. Neither one of us had ever had a serious conversation with the other. It was always fun and games with Madison. I think that's why I was so drawn to her to be honest. Emotions made me nervous. I feel like they're best kept within a person. I would miss Madison. I knew I'd visit a few times and then we'd drift apart, not that I wanted us to but that was reality and like Mom, I don't sugar coat reality. I wasn't sure what would happen to Madison.

Madison had a great childhood as far as I knew. I remember being jealous of her as a child because she always seemed to have more than me, the best of everything. For her sweet sixteen she got a brand new Lexus. I got my grandmother's old Camry. I was thankful to have a car though; there were several sixteen year olds at school who had to ride the bus. My old town was sort of a poor town. I wondered if my new peers would have shiny Lexus's like Madison's.

Madison never cared too much about her car though. She never really cared too much about anything. She was very much, a live in the moment person. She had boyfriend after boyfriend all of whom were way older than her. She skipped out on a polished life, dropped out of high school and moved out of her parent's house so she could be "free". Her parents loved her and didn't kick her out. She moved out by her own choice and now struggles to pay rent, but she got to keep the Lexus. I wonder if she'll find a new teenie-bopper to hang around now.

My family's move was somewhat of a spontaneous one. The mountains were majestic. I'd grown up surrounded by these mountains and couldn't imagine my life without their solitude, but there wasn't many jobs or opportunities for my parents, or me really. Both of my parents had a college education. My mom was a registered nurse and my dad had always been in banking. Another factor, with me being the only child, I guess they felt I'd have more opportunities in Mayberry. Mayberry, in their opinion, still had "the small town feel" but opportunities of a city. Both my parents were born and raised in the confines of Mayberry and you could tell. They believed and taught the same moral standards as Mayberry was portrayed as having. They were just as closed minded as this town.