Fresh Starts

Chapter One

All anyone in this tiny town cares about are their dirty, square-toed boots and other people's business. Everyone I've come across so far has been talking in hushed tones about how Axel and I are back in town, just like they do every time we visit. We have been back here one day, and I kid you not; everyone was wearing either boots or Romeos. Not just any boots, they are always square-toed.

I got curious and asked my dad about them, and he ended up going on a rant about the pros of boots; they keep the mud and horse poop out, and most of the time, your feet don't hurt if you get stepped on.

This town differs from the cities I've grown used to. Even after spending most of my early childhood here, I don't remember it being like this.

"How are you feeling being back here?" My dad asked from the driver's seat, reaching a callused hand to turn down the country music on the radio so he could hear us.

"Not sure yet. It almost feels like everything has slowed down here." Axel was too young to remember a lot from growing up here, but I think he will enjoy being back here a lot more than I do.

"I don't know either. It feels so strange to be back, like nothing and everything has changed." It's strange as in not being in the center of one of the overcrowded cities mom drug us to.

"A change can be good and just what you need. Almost like a fresh start."

A fresh start would have been perfect six months ago, but not at the end of my junior year.

"We will see, I guess." I still don't know how to feel. It is all bittersweet.

"You might not want to be here, but I thought it would be best for you. It might be hard to see now but there are some great things about living here."

"I don't hate it, it is calmer," Axel said, leaning his head forward, resting on the front seat I'm sitting in.

"It's the longest part of the year, so it is calmer. There's more daylight to get stuff done, so it's less trying to beat the sunset. The nights are warm and perfect for bonfires, and all the animals are out. Nowhere has summers like we do here."

"Bonfires?" Axel looked up, raising his eyebrows curiously.

"We can do both campfires and bonfires. Mostly the bonfires are burning fallen branches or pallets the teens get from local businesses to go up and have parties."

"We should do a fire sometime soon. I don't think we have even had a barbeque since being here last summer."

He's not wrong. Living in apartments, you don't have a yard or any space to do that kind of thing.

"If you want to, just let me know when and I can buy everything for s'mores and our fire."

"Really?" Axel asked, his eyes lighting up, bright with excitement. I can already see he is loving being back here, and finally with dad.

"We could do it this weekend? Then you get some time to settle in and get used to it. If you make friends and want to invite them, you can or we can just keep it to our family."

"Hopefully, I'll have new friends by then. It could be too soon. I'm fine with either, so it's Izzy's choice." he always makes friends before me, and he knows it.

"Depends on how this week goes, and if anyone remembers me." It has been way too long since to jump back into old friendships, most of which I don't even remember.

"I hardly remember anything, most are just insignificant memories from the summers visiting," which is not surprising, since we left here when he was about seven.

"Do you still have the horses?" I asked, remembering a long-forgotten memory of the horse Rain. Dad bought her right before the divorce and I never had the chance or the skill to ride her.

We started visiting for a few weekends in the summer, starting a few years after the divorce. It was never enough time to do all the things we wanted, and we never left the house hoping to stop the rumor mill.

"Rain and Spirit are still at the barn. If you are interested, we could get you riding." Since I'm here, I might as well try. We were both in riding lessons as kids.

"I'd like to ride sometime. Maybe we could do some trail rides in the future?"

"I need to finish the tack room remodel, and then we can start getting you comfortable around them in a few weeks?" We both just nodded in response.

After a few more minutes of driving, we arrived at the one and only grocery store in town.

We still have to get a few more things for school, and dad wanted to buy some groceries. I shoved the truck door open and was startled by a wave of hot air. I didn't expect it to be as hot here as it has been. All the locals are wearing the weird combination of boots with shorts, which they don't seem to notice or mind that it is odd.

"Let's split up, then you won't be questioned too much. I will get the groceries and you two worry about your school things. We can meet in the front in twenty minutes?"

The town's old ladies keep stopping us to talk, trying to get more things to gossip about. After they finally get us cornered, they tell us about how they watched our parents grow up, and how much we have grown since we were kids. Spoiler alert, that's what growing up is, you grow.

"Do you mind grabbing some snacks we can take to school?" Whatever he picks won't be healthy, but it will at least be food.

"And popsicles, please, the banana ones?" Axel added, putting his favorite snack on the list.

"Yeah, of course," he said before we split up, heading to different sides of the store.

"What else do you think we need for school?"

"Basic things, I'd say just notebooks and pencils. At the start of the year, teachers normally give out a supplies list with the syllabus, but it's too far in the year for any of them to care."

"Okay, that's easy. How about you get your pens, and grab me some pencils, and then I will grab the notebooks from this aisle? Then we can get out of here quickly, just like dad said."

"Deal, get one for each class," I said before we split in our own ways.

They split the office supplies into three sections here. The first was filled with notebooks, binders, and folders, then the other one was filled with Crayola and art supplies, and then the third is an edge shelf filled with pens and writing utensils. I've been to a lot of schools, most of which have differed from each other, but I have one really strange constant. I always get the same type of pen. It's one of the few constant things that I get, and I lost my last ones during the move.

After a few seconds of skimming over the shelves, I finally found them sitting on the very top shelf, way out of my reach. I'll have to do what every short person does and climb for them because it's a lot easier than just finding somebody tall to get them.

I planted my feet on the bottom shelf and reached up off of my tiptoes, and grabbed the shelf with one hand to hold me up while reaching my other hand up so it was brushing the package before I started to lose balance and fall back towards the ground.