A Dozen Reasons

Chapter 3- Leaving

I closed the door leaning my back on it. I stared at the envelope. Why had he given this to me? It wasn't like him. He always told me what was on his mind.

"Mija, puedes ayudarme limpiar*?"

"Yeah, Papi, I'm coming."

That's right. My dad spoke Spanish. My mom forced him to learn the language. She hoped to go back to her land, and she wanted my dad to be prepared. Even though they spoke Spanish, the only phrase I knew was, "Tengo hambre**".

I walked into the kitchen and started washing the dishes.

"The movers are coming in 30 minutes. I'm going to start bringing down the boxes from upstairs." He took off the apron, dusted it off, and packed it into the box labeled "Kitchen".

"Okay, I'll just finish cleaning the kitchen." He nodded in my direction and climbed the stairs.

I dried off the cups and placed them in the packing box.

Not a few minutes later, the door bell rang. I opened the door.

There were three mover guys, and they all had name tags. Mark was about 5'8'', early 20's, wavy dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and he had a medium build.

Tom was like 6'2", in his early 30's, light brown shaggy hair, brown eyes, and he was bigger than Mark but it was all muscle.

And Josh was approximately 6'0'', in his late teens, dirty blond hair swept to the side, dark green eyes, and he was slim.

Tom spoke first, "We're here for the Alva family."

"That's us. Come in." I smiled at them.

My dad came down and took over the situation. I ran upstairs, took a shower, and finished packing my suitcase.

*******2 Hours Later*******

Most of our stuff was in the truck, the big pieces of furniture would arrive to the new house a little later.

My dad and I packed our suitcases in the trunk of our black Audi S5.

I was already sitting in the car waiting to go. I sat in the back seat, just in case I fell asleep, I could lie down. Dad was still talking business with the movers. I glanced over my shoulder and caught Josh looking at me. Immediately, he turned away and I noticed his cheeks turned pink. "Aw...he blushed." I thought. I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Dad got in, and brought the car to life.

 I looked up at my house. This was probably going to be the last time I see it. I couldn't help the wave of emotion that gripped me. This was my house for the last 17 years. It was more than just a house. It was my home. It was where I held my memories. It was where my mom had been.

I felt my eyes burn with the tears that wanted to be released, but I held back.

I can't do this. I can't cry. If I did, my dad would know how much the move hurt, and he would have to turn the job down.

I had no choice. I had to be brave.

My dad set the GPS for Chicago, and we pulled out of the driveway.

I remembered the time when my parents and I took our last road trip. I was nine; it was my dad's only vacation time, so they took me to Disney World, I guess that's the advantage of living in Florida. We stayed at the Disney Resort, and had dinner in the castle. We all had a blast.

Then I remembered later that year, my mom died. I was in school when I was called to the office. The assistant principle told me that my father was going to pick me up, and it was a family emergency. I didn't find out till a few minutes later that my mom had been in an accident.

My mom was headed to the grocery store when a pickup truck ran a red light and slammed her car into a nearby light post. The car was totaled, and it took 2 hours to get her out. She fought to stay alive, but died in the ER. It wasn't until later that  I found out the driver of the truck had been drunk and had died as well.

"What do you think Jay?" I was so deep in thought that I hadn't heard his previous question.

"Think what?"

My dad looked at me through the rearview mirror. "Do you want to stop by Michael's one last time?"

Michael's was an Italian restaurant where my parents and I use to go to all the time. After my mom died, we hardly had time to go.

"Sure." I stared out the window. "Besides, I've been craving their cannolis." I looked at my dad and he smiled at me. I smiled back.

After we left Michael's, we hit the road.

"So...how's Kevin taking the move? He looked depressed this morning."

I glanced up from my book, I was reading Eclipse (don't hate me hehe).

"Yeah, that's Kevin, depressed one minute and enthusiastic the next." I grinned. "He'll be fine."

"I don't know Jay." He had a playful smirk.

"What do you mean?" I was curious.

"I think he's pretty upset that you're gone."

I was about to ask him why was he saying that, but then, his phone rang.

It was Bob, his boss. I quietly laughed. Bob was his real name, it wasn't short for anything. His mom must've been really creative.

I peered out of the window trying to ignore their conversation. I watched as buildings passed by. McDonald's, Chili's, Gas station, Post office...post office. Letters. The envelope.

I rummaged through my purse and finally found it.

In the front it said,

           "To: Jasmine Alva, the most awesomeist girl in the world.

             From: Kevin Smith, her handsome, caring, & intelligent best friend.

               P.S. 'Awesomeist' CAN be a word. Ok? So don't shoot it down, Jay.

               P.P.S. 'To: & From:' is not elementary!"

I laughed. He knew me.

I flipped it over and saw the embossing of a rose.

I opened it and pulled out a letter.

     "Dear Jasmine, ..."

**************************************************

* "Puedes ayudarme limpiar"= Can you help me clean.

** "Tengo hambre"= I'm hungry

A/N: Okay, I apologize this chapter is a lil boring. The next one will be better. I promise. =D

 Please comment! I want to know what you think of my writing so far. I want to improve, so help me out. Plleeeeaasseee! =)

Oh! And vote!

                                                                   Much <3

                                                                      Sara