𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛

1. 𝘈𝘪𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵

"Cora come down for breakfast" my mom called, for me from down stairs.

I sighed and got up from from my bed, i got ready not so long time ago and just laid down on my bed scrolling through social media I replied to my mom shouting "coming".

I have a flight in 2 hours, since I convinced my parents into letting me spend my last year of Highschool being an exchange student, in Los Angeles.
"Hey mom" i said, when I reached the bottom of the stairs. My mom greeted me with a big hug, I don't really like hugs, but I wasn't gonna tell her that.

"Good morning to you to mom" I said, with a chuckle. I love my mom, but i can't help being excited to leave, i could use some time away from my family.

I followed my mom into the dining room/kitchen, where my step father was sitting at the end of the table, he looked up at me with a slight grin, not a welcoming one but an excited one, I forced a smile back at him.

My mom sat down, as I sat down suit next to her.

"So are you excited for LA?" my sweet mother asked

"Yea i can't wait to meet my host family, I'm just kinda nervous." What if they're not nice, or like maybe they're old creeps. I hope I'm just over thinking it all, I should focus on what's happening now, and not what's happening in a few hours.

My step father didn't say anything, as expected. I don't like my step father, and he doesn't like me, he's the reason for my trauma.

I don't really eat breakfast, so I just ended up talking to my Mom.

15 minutes passed quickly, while me and my mom we're talking. I excuse my self from the table, to go get my things from my room.

-

I hug my beautiful mom goodbye at the airport, while wiping her tears. She gets emotional when it comes to goodbyes, she gave me one last kiss on the cheek "good luck baby, I love you."She Said.
I told them both goodbye, and made my way to my gate.
I can't help but thinking about how LA is gonna be, how my host family is gonna be, if I'll make friends, or even fit in,

I finally find my gate with 45 minutes to kill, I pull out my book and my AirPods, shuffling my playlist. Les by Childish Gambino started playing, this is gonna be an adventure for sure.

-

We finally land in LA after a 9 hour flight, butterflies swarming my stomach. My mom had told me the host family sounded like a sweet family, and that they were called the O'Connells.

It cant be that bad, right?

When I get off of the plane I spot my name, that has been written with bold letters on a piece of paper. I walk up to the lady holding the paper, she looks very sweet, she has ginger hair and blue eyes.

"Hello you must be Cora" the lady pulled me into a warm hug, "it's nice to finally meet you." She pulled away. that's a pretty good first impression, to make to someone like me tbh.

"Hi and you must be Mrs. O'Connell I'm really glad you could have me" my mom told me that her name is Maggie, some weeks back.

"Dont worry darling just call me Maggie or mom, I don't mind what you call me" I liked her already. "My son Finneas is waiting outside, lets go find your bags.

We find my bags, and make our way to The parking lot. Maggie walks up to a matte Black Dodge Challenger. Holy fuck, They must be Rich.

A tall guy steps out, he comes over and sticks his hand out for me to shake "hello it's nice to meet you, im Finneas but call me whatever." Why are people so nice these days days, damn. I shake his hand

"Hey im Cora, It's nice to meet you too"

"Lets get going" Maggie says.

I get in the left back seat, since Maggie was sitting in the Passengers seat. Maggie told me she had a daughter my age, named Billie. Who names their daughters name Billie?

After some time of talking, we were all doing our own things. Finneas was focusing on the road, while Maggie scrolled around on instagram. I've never met a mom so obsessed with instagram, like Maggie was.

I was just sitting there leaning my head onto the window, admiring the scenery. I'm very tired at the moment, I didn't really sleep on the flight since I wasn't tired, but when I arrived it was apparently still morning for them. Fuck. I forgot about time zones and jet lag, but i had to get used to it.