California Girl

Good News, Bad News

I plopped my bag down in the hall of my house and went to the kitchen and snatched up an apple. I looked around for my helper, but unable to see her shrugged and went into the living room. I saw my younger brother, Alex, who had been sick today, sitting on the cream coloured sofa eating a chocolate cupcake and staring wide eyed at the TV.

"You really shouldn't be eating chocolate you know? It's really bad for you." I said to him. He just smiled and said:

"Does it look like I'm getting any fatter to you?" I had to roll my eyes. The kid may only be nine but he had a serious tongue on him. He had a point though. My brother could never be fat. He's like the dream kid. He has big brown eyes and sandy blonde hair with a few freckles over his nose and cheeks. Everyone loves my brother, which is one thing he and I share in common I guess. Other than that we are totally different. While I prefer solitary sports such as running and swimming, he is a rugby fanatic and also plays soccer, cricket, basketball and touch. He loves to act and sing and dance, while I couldn't get up on a stage in front of people to save my life. I ace all my tests and have one of the highest overall averages in my grade and he is dyslexic and can't read for shit. Even in our looks we are almost polar opposites; his hair is light, mine is dark, his eyes are brown, mine are blue, his skin is lightly tanned, while my skin is more an olive-y color. We often ask our parents if we were adopted, but they just laugh and shake their heads. I plop down onto the couch next to him.

"What did you do today?" I ask.

" Nothing, except lay in bed feeling awful and watching Spongebob." he tells me

"Do you know what time mum and dad are coming home tonight?" I inquire and Alex squirms a little. I scrunch my eyebrows together.

"Whats with the face Lex?"

"Well... um... you see there's something... I can't tell you yet... mum and dad are coming home earlier to tell you" I feel panic rising within me. Has Gran died? Did Daddy lose his job? Did mum have a miscarriage? Are they getting divorced because of the miscarriage? 

Alex must have noticed the look on my face because he blurts out "It's good news, don't worry" and I sigh with relief. I get up and ruffle his hair, something that he hates, and tell him I'm going upstairs to do my homework. Alex nods and goes back to staring entranced at the TV and I shake my head. Kids these days.

I race through the maths and science and am just about to start on my english when I hear the doorbell ring. Mum and dad! I run downstairs to see my father and pregnant mother walking through our door.

"Hi mum, hi dad" I say. My mum pulls me into a hug and plants a kiss on my cheek.

"Hey sweetie, how was school today?" she asks.

"Boring" I reply and my mum giggles. My dad laughs and hugs me quickly before going in and checking up on Alex.

"Alex said you had something to tell me" I blurt out and my mum looks at me.

"Yeah, we do," she says in a soft voice, "something big."

I feel anticipation rising in my stomach. What could it be? I have an awful feeling that despite what Alex said about it being good news, I am not going to like it. Not one little bit.

Mum and dad go upstairs to change into something more comfortable and I sit once again next to Alex on the couch. Alex turns the TV off and chews his lip. Finally we see dad coming back down and mum right behind him.

"Tally," my father says once he has sat down, "We have some really good news, and some really bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

"The good news" I respond quickly and the corner of my dad's mouth turns up a little at the edges.

"Well, you know how a few months back your brother auditioned for a small scale role in a movie?" I think back. Yes I do remember. Alex had been so excited and was practically bouncing off the walls. We were all sure that Alex had nailed the part, he had been fantastic. If he had won it, he would have gone to L.A for a month to shoot his scene for the movie. But the months dragged on and there was still no phone call. After awhile we gave up. Alex was crushed, but as my mother so rightly put it "Thats show business."

"Well the people from the movie called. They want Alex for a lead role." My eyes widened and I grabbed Alex in a bone crushing hug.

"OMIGOSH LEX!!! YOUR GONNA BE A MOVIE STAR!!" and he smiled his adorable little smile and laughed. I unwrapped my arms from him, a beaming smile on my face. Then I remembered that there was still bad news coming. I braced myself.

"And for the bad news..." my dad trailed off, I guess he was afraid to say it. He looked at my mum for help and she bit her lip and looked sad.

"What? What is it?" I ask tentatively. My mother takes a deep breath.

"Honey, we're going to have to move to California." she says. My heart begins to pound and my hearing and eyesight become a little blurred. I can't think, speak, move. I'm paralysed. My whole life. Everything I've built. I have to go and give it up? I can only say one word:

"When?"

"Two weeks" Everything goes black after that.

i know this is an insy bit boring at the moment, but i promise that itll get better (: haha so watch this space okie?? :P xx