The bad boy next door

Maki

I watch as the rain flooded down the side of the car,  washing away all precious memories from my time in Brookview. The day had finally come. The day I had been dreading for what seems like an eternity. Ever since my father had declared we were moving, i've had a twinge in my stomach, and now moving day, also known as d-day, had arrived, that twinge was worse than it had ever been. You see, us Petersons, we are too fond of change. We are routine kind of people, the same summer holiday destination every year kind of people. The same take-out every Friday night kind of people. We are not move five hours up the coast kind of people. 

Yet here we were, packing up our whole lives and moving to where no one knew who we were. 

As my father eased off the break and set the car in motion, I did not dare turn to see the house disappear behind us. The house we were born in, raised in, the house my parents first moved in together in, the house they were married in. The house my mother died in. 

It had been two years. Two years of missing her, two years of pretending we were all okay. My father couldn't take it any longer, so when the opportunity within his company came, to relocate, he had jumped at the opportunity. It was closer to my mother's parents, a great school district, in fact the town had everything he had wanted. It was a small town, along the coast, warmer than Brookview. It had everything, it seems, except mum. 

Not that any of us were brave enough to visit her gravesite more than once a year, only on her birthday, but it still seemed wrong to leave her. 

My father caught my eye in the rear vision mirror, he opened his mouth to say something but ultimately decided against it. There was nothing he could've said that would've made this any easier. 

Not only were we leaving mum but we were leaving the support system that we had been surrounded by. Particularly my best friend Tori who had stuck by me through losing mum. We had never been apart more than a month since we had met in primary school, and now we were hours apart, for who knows how long. 

A stray tear slipped from my eye and ventured down the side of my cheek. I looked to my right to see my younger sister in no better mood than I was. Billie and I could pass as twins if it wasn't for the fact that I was two years older than her. We both had the same dirty blonde hair, the same bright blue eyes. Though I was slightly taller, I think she will soon tower over me, she never stops growing. My hair was also longer, falling to just under my rib cage. Hers sat just past her shoulders. Both the spitting image of our dear mother. 

I settled into the back seat, both of us still mad at our dad so opted to seat together in the back seat. The drive would take five hours and it was quite cramped in dad's black Mercedes, I almost regret not sitting in the front. Most of our belongings had been sent yesterday in a large moving truck in an effort to beat us there. I have no doubt it would considering my father drives like an old man, carefully and very, very slowly. 

I pulled my phone from my pocket and found a message from Tori. 

TORI: I MISS YOU ALREADY.

I smiled and typed out a response,

CLEO: ME TOO. 

TORI: It's only been half an hour and I am already not coping! How am I supposed to cope?

CLEO: you will be fine, at least you don't have to make new friends. 

TORI: they are going to love you so much, you better not forget about me!

As if i could forget about her! 

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the seat. You'd think with all the travelling we've done across the years, we would be used to long car drives. Wrong. 

It was one of mum's goals, to travel to e very country before she passed. A goal she often dragged us on to complete. She never made it. 

That last year we were in and out of hospital, she would tell Billie and I that she never minded not being able to see everything, she would say to us, "you girls are my world." It just made every trip we did get to take, that more special. We travelled to Europe, done stint in Africa, and a few places in Asia. Considering we never missed more than a weeks of school, i'd say thats a pretty good achievement. Mum always stressed the importance of our education. "There are young girls who are denied education all around the world, and you two are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so. We will not waste this opportunity." 

About an hour into the drive my stomach began to get hungry and I all but begged dad to stop at the next town. The scenery outside had changed from a sprawling city to green coated pastures and farmlands. I knew there would not be much choice as to what we would find to eat but I was too emotional when we were packing to remember to bring snacks. 

Billie was a health freak and she thrusted a nutty protein bar in my direction. 

I scrunched up my nose, "no thanks."

She shrugged and turned back to the book she was reading on her kindle. How she managed to read in a moving car without getting sick is beyond me. Both of us were active readers and fast ones at that. We could get through a series in a week. It was a good thing dad had invested in Kindle's for our birthdays last year, he was spending that much money on paper back books and Kindle books are much cheaper. 

Dad turned off at the next town and my stomach grumbled again. I peered out the window at the small country town and only hoped our new place was bigger than this. We drove down the main street consisting of a pub, petrol station and....

"McDonalds," I cried. 

Dad obeyed my command and headed for the drive through. Even healthy Billie seemed pleased. We ordered and collected out food,  we didn't bother dinning in as dad turned back onto the highway. Dad balancing his burger in his hands and his fries that he had placed in the car's cup holder. 

Billie munched on her McChicken and I savoured my quarter pounder and medium fries. My favourite comfort meal. 

Billie and I were due to start school the following week. The term had already started but thankfully dad was able to negotiate our starting day to be the next week. We needed time to settle into our new place and get organised. Which I am thankful for. Starting any new year at school was nerve wracking, let alone a whole new school. I didn't know anybody and I was starting to get rather nervous. Back home I had Tori and a small group of friends, but we had been friend's since we first started school and had just all grown up together. I have never been good at making friends as I got older so this was going to be tricky. 

Billie would had no problem, she could look a shark straight in the face and convince it to go surfing with her. She could be kidnapped and make friends with her kidnappers. She thrived in social environments and she sure would thrive at the new school. 

I wonder how cringe it would be if I hung out with my younger sister?

She would probably be way too cool for me anyway. 

I sighed as my eyelids grew heavy. With any luck by the time I woke up, we would be already there....