Never Any Less

Chapter 1

I have always dreamt of living in Vancouver. One of the closest things to my personal opinion on paradise that I can find. A big city, with lots of noise, yet places to escape from it all. I've always kinda thought of myself as poetic, but my friends never have.

As I look around the crowded city from my place way in the back of our van, I smile slightly to myself. It's perfect. Almost too perfect... I shiver and turn back into the car. My older brother, Jacob is sitting next to me, his earbuds in playing some really loud music. J-Cole maybe? I can't tell from here.

I pull out my phone and put my earbuds in and start playing music too. I start playing Footsteps by Pop Evil. Ah, my go-to song for when I feel stressed. When I put it on it calms me right down. It has become second nature to click this song when I feel stressed, even if I don't notice it. So I must be stressed right now.

Lovely.

I place my feet on the chair in front of me and lean my head on my knees. I have been in this car for a while now. Especially since my parents are the sightseeing kind, so we end up stopping like, 10000 times. It can get really annoying. I go to change my song and notice my phone is at 20%. Great. iPhone batteries really do suck.

"Lacey! Lacey, look, there is our apartment!" Jacob had yanked the earbud out of my ear so I could listen to my mom.

"That's great, Mom." I mumble and glare at Jacob. He shrugs.

"Lacey, I'm in no mood to deal with your attitude right now, so cut it. But I think you will like the apartment." My mom says to me with a warning glance to my seat in the back. I roll my eyes and grudgingly look at the apartment complex my mom is pointing at. It's... An absolutely average apartment building.

"It looks pretty nice." I try to show enthusiasm, but I miserably failed. Especially since I shrugged in indifference.

"God, Lacey. With how much you talked about this stupid city, I woulda thought you wanted to live here." My younger sister by one year, Katie, snaps at me. She acts so superior. She really wanted to move to a farm and like, raise horses or something, and honestly, I despise that living.

"God, Katie, with how much you respect Jacob I woulda thought you would respect me too." I mock her. Yep, I act like a child. Whatever, I don't have any real comebacks so something is better than nothing I guess.

"Lacey! I've had enough!" My mom yells. Wait, no, roars at me. The whole car goes silent. It even seems like the engine is going silent. I shrink back in my seat and look down, hiding my face with my hair.

"Sorry, Mom." I grumble. Seems like everything I do in this car ride is wrong. Like, why not yell at Katie too! She actually started it. Again, me acting like a child. I hear my dad muttering to my mom, probably to calm her down or something. I look up and see Katie looking at me. She smirks and turns so she is facing forward again.

My dad pulls us into a parking lot and pulls out his phone. As we all get out of the car, he starts dialing a number. I step out of the car and stretch. I inhale the air. Salt-water air mixed with exhaust. Call me crazy, but I love it. I smile and breath in deeper. I glance at Katie who has stepped up beside me. She's way taller than me. I notice the twisted look on her face.

"This air is disgusting. It's so polluted and stuff, like, ew, can we go get some fresh air?" She complains loudly. Here we go again, another 'farms-are-are-so-much-better' talk. I glance at my mom in hopes she will yell at Katie for being so rude to me but, nope, she's on the phone with my dad too.

"The air is polluted like the air around the factory that makes your stupid designer clothes, bags, whatever the heck you waste you money on." I practically snarl at her. She turns to me, an expression of shock and anger on her face.

"H-how dare you! You can't say that when all you spend your money on is stupid music and like... Ugh!" She stomps her feet dramatically.

"At least I have an emotional connection to music. And really, are you saying you don't spend money on music? Keep believing Katie." I laugh. Jacob comes up and high-fives me. Well, at least him and I agree on something, that was a strong-ish comeback. Katie just crosses her arms and turns away. Mom and Dad come back to us.

"Hey, the guy with the keys will be here any minute, so get your bags out of the van, what you can carry at least, and start going towards the doors." My mom kindly informs us.

"Let's do this!" My little brother, Brandon says. I place my hand fondly on the top of his head. He's only 9 and he's so adorable. It's when they turn 10 that they turn... ugh, I guess. At least that's when Katie became so self-absorbed, and Jacob said I was like that too. Brandon runs towards the car to grab his Spider-Man suitcase and his iPad. I grab my white suitcase with a purple cherry blossom tree design on it out (I'm in love with this bag, to be honest). Katie has her freaking Eco-Friendly ugly greenish brownish coloured bag that she pulls out, and Jacob grabs his black suitcase.

"He's here!" I hear my dad call to my mom, and she rushes around the van to see the guy in this car that pulls up. He gets out and he is really tall, and wearing sunglasses and a suit.

"Mr. and Mrs. Mourey, nice to finally meet you in person." The man shakes my parents hands.

"Now to meet you too, Tom." They respond at the same time. The man, Tom, then turns to us. I don't like it when people look at me. It means I might have to interact with them. Oh god, help me out here. Give me social skills or something.

"And these must be your lovely children. Eh, what are their names again?" Tom examines us. I don't like this guy. Something feels... Off. He's too enthusiastic.

"Ah yes! That is Jacob," Mom indicates my brother who waves slightly, looking just as awkward as me.

"Katie," They indicate my obnoxious sister who waves and smiles so... So... Obnoxiously.

"Lacey," They practically sigh my name. What did I ever do? I half-heartedly smile.

"And Brandon." They point at my little brother who is rambling about minecraft. He always does. Tom comes up and starts analyzing us. Not kidding, it's creepy. While he asks Jacob and Katie some questions, I do ignore it, but once I glanced up and looked at my parents. They looked pretty weary. Tom crouches in front of me and looks up at me. He's oddly close to me.

"Lacey Mourey, hm? That's a pretty nice name." He smiles. I slowly shift away from him and just nod in agreement. "You're pretty you know. Gotta be careful in a city like this." Tom is giving me the creeps. He said that last line... odd too. I step away.

"Y-yeah. But I really gotta get my.. phone charger from the car. Yeah. Yeah? Okay uh bye." I get out of there fast. He's just so... creepy. I shiver and look at myself in my phone screen. I look pale as a ghost. I make sure he is gone before I come back.

"What was that all about, Lacey? He was a really nice guy. It couldn't have been that important to get your stupid phone charger, there is no outlets around." Katie goes off on me. Did she not notice how weirdly creepy that guy was? I guess not... I look at Jacob and he looks just as disturbed as me. Mom come up and stands beside me.

"Katie.." She sigh and rubs her temple. "It's okay, it's Lacey's decision, and she doesn't really like people like that." My mom and I glance up at my dad. He nods in agreement. Aaaaaand Katie stomps off again.

"Thank you, mom." I say. I truly mean it. Sometimes I get frustrated with her, but she truly is amazing. She nods and goes and gets her bag from the van.

"We will get the rest later, but first let's go see our room." My mom says and goes towards the door.

"Yaaaaaaaaayyyyy lets goooooo!" Brandon yells then sprints off, Katie right on his heels. Jacob and I look at each other, then shrug and take off after them as my mom and dad start running too. Maybe it will be okay, maybe I was just feeling nervous from the whole experience. Who knows.

Who's ever gonna know?