1. The A Team - Ed Sheeran
2. Yellow Flicker Beat - Lorde
3. True Love - Coldplay
4. With or Without You - U2
5. Under Control - Parachute
6. Wait - M83
7. Warriors - Imagine Dragons
8. Who We Are - Imagine Dragons
9. Thief - Imagine Dragons
10. Monster - Imagine Dragons
11. The Mess I Made - Parachute
12. Photograph - Ed Sheeran
13. Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran
14. One - Ed Sheeran
15. Don't - Ed Sheeran
16. Ink - Coldplay
17. Dream - Imagine Dragons
18. Gold - Imagine Dragons
19. Place For Us - Mikky Ekko
20. Silhouettes - Of Monsters and Men
These are the songs that make up the playlist I am listening to when I climb into my Dad's car and settle down for the roughly 40 minute drive to Trevor's house. I've perfectly formulated the playlist so that I can listen to half there and half back, but of course this only works if there's no or minimal traffic. Luckily, today is one of those days and we cruise down the A27 towards Brighton. Trevor doesn't actually live in Brighton, but he might as well. He lives in Woodingdean, a suburb just 16 minutes North-East of Brighton's city centre. I remember we once googled (or binged, as that's his default browser) Woodingdean and looked at the images page. There were some really odd photos on there, like a criminal's mugshot, lots of primary school football teams, and a torn up sheep carcass. Trevor actually goes to school in Brighton and tries to be in the city as much as possible because he finds his town boring. He much prefers cities; which I do not. I am very much a country gal. But other than that, we're very similar.
We're bringing Fido with us too, because Trevor's Jack Russell's, Jack and Russell, like to hang off his ears (Fido's not Trevor's) and Fido likes to boss them around. Oh, actually that's something I hadn't thought about. When I move to America with Dad I have to leave Fido behind. Sure, Dad already said earlier on the journey that when we move we're gonna get goats, ducks, 2 or 3 dogs and if his career kicks off I may even get a horse (!!!!!!!!!!!!OMG SO MANY ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!), but none of them will be the same as Fido. He wasn't our first dog, but to me he could have been because I can't really remember our last dog, a mix-breed called Tigger (named for his stripes and tendency to bounce around instead of walk). I reach my hand over to the back seat and just about manage to pat Fido's nose awkwardly, as he's lying down and panting and makes no effort to move towards my hand.
"I'm gonna miss you buddy," I say a little too loudly to him, causing my father to stop singing along to his phone's music (his music is so bad, I mean, he has a song on his phone called 'I touch myself'. I don't even wanna know, to be honest...) and say, "Hmmmm?"
"Oh, nothing," I practically shout over the cranked up Bee Gees song (what is he, an 18-year-old disco freak caught in the 70's?), "I was just telling Fido how much I was gonna miss him when we move,"
Dad nods and then says, "Oh yeah, we're gonna miss you buddy!" He looks affectionately at his rear-view mirror, I hope at Fido and not himself or/and the actual mirror.
"I'm gonna miss England," I mumble, "I don't wanna move."
"Sorry, what was that honey?" Dad asked, distracted.
"Nothing," I reply, "It doesn't matter."
"OK."
And we continue in silence.
YOU ARE READING
New Kid in America
Teen Fiction'Looking at the school from afar, it looks exactly like all the films and TV programmes. Even the people seem to act the same. Something tells me that the cool kids back home wouldn't stand a chance here, which means only one thing; I'll be eaten al...
