Something About Country Boys

1- I'm Movin' On

I never thought that my love story would start out like this.

I never thought I would ever have to leave Manhattan and move to some dirt-road town right in the middle of nowhere in Louisiana.

I never thought I'd adjust, let alone go through all the things I had to in order to get to where I am now.

But no one ever really expects anything that life throws at them.

Especially me.

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I sat crying in the backseat of my dad's Cadillac as we drove down the highway, farther and farther away from everything I'd ever known. I had wanted nothing more than to throw myself from the vehicle the moment we drove away from our now-empty little apartment. But, since that obviously wasn't a very rational choice, I was the only other thing I could: I huddled, jammed against the door, and allowed the raging teenage hormones to seep out of me. I stuffed some of the candy my friends had given me as a going-away present into my mouth and twirled my new bracelet, also given to me by my friends, around my wrist as if it were my only lifeline.

Luke groaned from beside me. "Can anyone please just make her shut up?" My older brother, who should've at least understood, or even better, taken a little pity, seemingly wasn't in the mood to be brotherly. He rolled his eyes and edged away from the sobbing mess that was me and toward my younger brother, Kyle, who began to whine:

"Get off me, dude! It's too hot in here! Mom!" My mom turned around in her seat, looking back at us with tired eyes. I felt no sympathy for her. After all, my parents were the ones making us move in the first place. Well, I mean, technically it was Anderson and Co, the company my dad worked for. But that just pointed back to my dad. And he hadn't done or said anything to make the company change their minds. And my mom hadn't said anything to my dad to argue it. And here we were. I hated them at the moment.

"Luke, get off your brother. Kyle, stop whining. And Kenzie... just stop, okay?"

I peered at her in bewilderment. Stop? Stop? Was she serious? What did she think this was, some little game or something? Making me leave all my friends, all my popularity, everything, to go live in some hicktown? I sighed and decided to just ignore her. That always seemed to get to her. And , oh, I was going to get to her now. No way I was letting up.

So I sobbed for a little longer. Mostly just to prove my point, I guess, but also because it felt good to let out my anger. I was sick of everyone. I was sick of what was happening to my life. Or what was left of it, anyway.

After awhile, I began to get sleepy, my heavy eyes red and puffy. I closed them and thought back to the first time I'd found out I was moving. That was just a month ago.

I'd come home from shopping with my three friends, Opal, Cassie and Sandra. I'd been really annoyed, because I really needed some new dresses and I hadn't been able to find any that looked right on me. Even though the three of them had insisted I looked great in almost every one, I just couldn't bring myself to buy them. So I walked into the house with nothing more than one pair of jeans I'd found on clearance. My dad was talking on the phone with someone.

"Yeah, whatever you think looks right," my dad had been saying. "No... I don't care what dealer, Chrysler, Dodge, Toyota, whatever... just get me something more durable than my Cadillac." He seemed to be annoyed. And he leaned away from me, as if trying to muffle his words. I couldn't figure out why he was being so secretive.