The Year That Changed Everything

New Beginnings?

        "Felicia! Wake up! We just got to Maple Heights!" Yelled my older sister Liana. I didn't want to get up. I mean, I could hear her yelling at me loud and clear, but I knew I was going to miss Ivywood. All of my friends, my teachers, everything. "Felicia! If you don't wake up, mom said that she's going to leave you in the car!" Her voice was starting to get annoying now. "Whatever" I responded as I woke up, and got out of the car. I looked up at my new house, which looked very different from my old house. Well, then again, Grimsborough is very different from Pacific Bay. I grabbed a few bags from the car and brought the, inside the house. The new house already had furniture in it because my mom asked the movers to bring the packages early. For a different house, the interior was beautiful. "So, how do you like it? Does the house seem welcoming?" Said my mom. I know she expected me to say yes, but deep down inside, I felt like everything was falling apart.

    The next day when I woke up, I heard my mom talking to people. I assumed that they were the neighbors, but I wasn't too sure. I crept outside of my room, so the people wouldn't see me, but it was too late. I heard my mom call from downstairs "Felicia come here to meet your new neighbors! They would like to meet you!" "Hello. You must be Felicia!" Said who I assumed to be the mother. "I'm Mrs. McAlister, and this is Harper." The daughter looked like she was around my age, except she was taller than me. "Hi! I heard so much about you!" Said Harper, a little too enthusiastically. She looked like she was nice, so I responded. "Oh... Hi! I'm Felicia." I wondered if she was going to be in the same grade as me. "What grade are you going into at the high school?" I asked "I'm a sophomore. I'm really excited for what this year has in store for me. Are you doing any sports this year? I'm doing Field Hockey for the first sport season." I felt like I just got hit by a ball of questions. "I'm a sophomore too, and I might be doing soccer." I responded, hoping that I didn't sound like a complete idiot. "That's so cool! I know some of the girls that do soccer, such as Lindsay Bannister and Jennifer Carter, but I'm pretty sure that Jennifer is doing cheerleading instead." Said Harper. At least I'll now know who to hang out with if I do soccer. "Hey do you want my number? Maybe we can hang out later, and you can meet my idiot brother." Said Harper, laughing. "Ok, thank you." I said as I have her my number.

   "See, it's not that hard to make friends!" Said my mom. "Yeah, sure I guess" I responded, sounding unenthusiastic. "Liana is lucky, she's a senior, she's pretty, and popular, so making friends must be very easy for her." I said. "That's not true, I'm sure you will make friends. Maybe you will even have a boyfriend!" She responded. I cringed at the word boyfriend.  Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.

Later that night, I got a call from Harper. "Hey Felicia! Do you want to come over now?" "Yeah I'll be over in a bit." I said. "Ok, see you later!" She said. I got changed into an outfit, did my makeup, and started walking to her house. My mom told me her house was around the corner from mine. As I was walking, I bumped into someone. "Oof! Ouch that hurt!" I said. "I am so sorry...I should really watch out for where I'm going." The voice belonged to a guy who looked like he was my age. "I haven't seen you before. Are you new to Maple Heights?" He said. "Um...yeah I'm new here...I'm Felicia by the way." This was so awkward, I needed a way to escape this conversation. "I'm Adam..." He said. His face flushed red. "I'm very sorry if I'm bothering you...I'm just looking for my friend's house. Her name is Harper. Harper McAlister." I responded. "Oh, she lives right around the corner from here. When you turn the corner just go across the street and that's her house." He replied. He looked embarrassed. I felt awkward. "Thank you so much!" I said as I walked away.

    Ding dong.
"Hey Felicia! I'm so glad you could make it!" Said Harper. "Thank you for inviting me over!" I said. "My mom told me I have to introduce you to my brother, Tyler. His friends are here so just ignore them. Said Harper. Oh great. I thought to myself. More boys to embarrass myself around. Way to go Felicia. Harper brought me up the stairs, and into the room where her brother was. Well to be exact, where her brother and three of his friends was. "Felicia, that's Tyler, my idiot brother." Said Harper, sounding annoyed. "Hi Felicia, I'm Harper's 'idiot brother' according to her." He said, laughing. Harper rolled her eyes. "Hey just one question, what planet are you from?" Said one of Tyler's friends. "Oh that's Harry, just ignore him, he pretty much flirts with every girl he meets." Said Harper with an exaggerating tone in her voice. "Hey! I do not!" Responded Harry. "Whatever" said Harper, blushing. "Let's just leave these idiots alone".

"Hey, do you want me to tell you about the people in the school?" Said Harper. "Sure." I responded. Harper pulled out a yearbook from under her bed. "I'll show you all the nice people...and the bitches." She said as she was laughing. "What do you want to see first?" "Hmm, I'll see the nice people first" I replied. "The first person I'll show you is Rose Field" she said as she pointed to a picture of a tall girl with a blonde braid in her hair. "Rose is really sweet, and she's really good at lacrosse and volleyball. She also is in the ecologist club in school. And one more thing to add, she's the only one in my group of friends, besides Rylee, with a boyfriend." Harper said. "His name is Rupert Snow, and you will probably meet him soon because he is friends with Tyler." "The next people that I'll show you are Jennifer Carter and Lindsay Bannister. Lindsay just became my friend last year, after her friends ditched her. She's really nice and likes to meet new people. Jennifer has been my brothers crush since forever-but don't tell him I said that." Said Harper. It wasn't like I was going to tell him anyway. "Well anyway, Jennifer is the kind of person that would binge watch Netflix with you. She's really caring towards people, and doesn't care about what anyone thinks of her." Harper then told me about Rylee, and her boyfriend Cal. "Rylee is really nice, and me and her have been best friends since forever. Cal moved here from Rhine Canyon last year, and he's a really nice person." She said. "I'll tell you about Tyler's friends now. The ones you met downstairs are Harry Krane, Scott Greene, and Jack Ryan. Scott is like my brother, he's really nice and trustworthy. Jack is sweet, but annoying at times. A lot of girls in our school think that he's cute, I don't understand why. Harry is the annoying one, but can I tell you something?" Asked Harper. "Sure!" I replied. I really wanted to know what she had to tell me. "Well, you are the first one I've said this to, but I kind of like Harry, but I don't think that he will ever like me." Harper looked sad now. No wonder she was blushing around him. "Cheer up, because you never know what he might think of you. He might think that you are an amazing person, but he might be too shy to admit it!" I said, trying to make her feel better. "I guess you are right." She said

Now that Harper seemed happier, she started to introduce me to the "bitchy mean people", as she called them. "The first person I'll rant about is Jamie Buxton. She's a spoiled rotten person, who gets whatever she wants. She already has a car, and she can't even drive yet!" Wow I thought to myself. That's someone I don't want to be friends with. "The next person is Abbi Absinthe. She's not as mean as the others, but she's very gossipy." "Who are the other mean people?" I asked. "The next bitch is Veronica Johnson. She is one of the rudest girls that I have ever met. She used to make fun of Jennifer, but Jennifer didn't care at all. She brushed it off because she's really confident in herself." She added. "Ok now I'm about to tell you about one of the bitchiest bitches ever. Her name is Madison Springer, and she thinks that she's the 'Queen Bee' of the whole school. She practically dated every guy in the whole school." Harper sounded furious describing this girl. "I practically have a list of her boyfriends. Her first one was Jack Ryan, and that lasted for a month until she dumped him. He hates her now. Her next boyfriend was Harry." Harper sounded sad now. "I mean, at least they broke up...but they lasted for 4 months." Harper continued to tell me about all the guys that Madison dated. There was one guy's name that caught my eye. "Last year, Madison dated Adam Bentley. They lasted for a while, until she dumped him. On Valentine's Day. I mean come on, you can break up, but on Valentine's Day? That's sad." Harper showed me the picture of Adam and told me that he was friends with Tyler too, and I'll probably meet him soon. "Um...well...uh I actually met him on the way here..." I said. "Really? When?" Replied Harper. "Earlier...he seemed nice..." I said. All of a sudden, my phone rang. It was Liana telling me that I needed to come home.