The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

7. News

"How about this one?" My mom said while pointing at the screen of my laptop. "Go to the photo's?" I asked. She went through the photo's and it looked really nice. "Yea, it's nice. It's not far away from Norwest Christian College right?" My mom looked at me with a pointed look. "What? Just making sure..." I murmured. I asked that the last few houses. I was just making sure okay?! "Okay then." My mom saved the link of the house. Yeah. We were looking for houses in Sydney right now. We've had 3 houses we've liked already, and we were going to choose 5, just to make sure. The last time I've talked to Anna was 4 days ago. My mom had a lot to do, like getting a visa, passports ready and all that stuff. My mom scrolled further through the long list of houses in Sydney. "Oehh, that one's fancy." I said while pointing at a photo of a white mansion. "What a good idea Skyler! Let's live in a castle with only the two of us! So cozy!" My mom said sarcastically and I shrugged. She shook her head and scrolled further. "Wait, is that Dingle Street?!" I said excitedly. "Um.. yes?" My mom said. "Click on it!" I said. "Okay, okay. Calm down." My mom said while clicking on it. It was a nice house, and the inside looked a lot like Anna's house. Maybe that's because it was in the same street. Why I knew how Anna's house looks like from the inside? She gave me a tour through her house once, over Skype. "Anna lives in that street..." I said. "Hm, it's a nice house." My mom said and I nodded. I quickly searched the address on google maps and saw that the house was at the end of the street, and Anna's house is at the beginning. Whatever, it was good enough for me.

I haven't told Anna all of this yet. I don't want to get her (and my) hopes up, and then my mom will be like: Nevermind, it's too far away. That will suck. A lot. So I'll wait and tell her when we're sure. "Mom, you know a 100% we'll be living in Sydney? 100%?" My mom looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yea, I think we both need a new start and get as far away from that man as possible. I think a new environment will really help us moving on with our lives." I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Thanks mom." I said while grabbing my phone and walking out of the hotel room. I'm gonna tell Anna.

I wandered through the hotel while dialing Anna's number over Skype. "Yooo, my main bitch!" She yelled when she picked up. An elderly couple who was just walking past me gasped and looked at me in horror. "I'm so so sorry, that was my friend. She's crazy. I'm so so so sorry." They frowned before walking past me really fast. Anna began laughing. "You dipshit! They were scared shitless!" I whisper-yelled and she only began laughing harder. Suddenly she was serious and asked: "So, is there a reason you're calling me or did you just want to see my pretty face?" With a wink. I rolled my eyes and sat down in the empty dining room. "I have pretty big news. "Oh?!" She said with a knowing look. "No, there are no boys involved." She began chuckling and smiled innocently in the camera. "Whadup then?" She asked. How was I gonna tell her this. "So... My mom was just saying things like: What if we get out of LA? And I was like: I wouldn't care. And then she was like: What if we get out the state? And I was like: I wouldn't care. And then she was like: What if we move to another continent..." Anna narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm suspecting something. Tell more." She said. "And then she was like: I always wanted to live in Australia, but I couldn't because of your father business, blablabla. And I was like: YES." Anna's eyes widened. "Australia." She was silent for a while. "Sydney?" She asked and I nodded. And then she began screaming. "OHMYGAWD, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'LL FINALLY MEET YOU IN REAL PERSON. LIKE, FOR REAL. WAIT. TELL YOUR MOM NORWEST CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IS A REALLY GOOD SCHOOL, LIKE, THE BEST IN WHOLE AUSTRALIA. AND THEN WE CAN GO TO SCHOOL TOGETHER AND OMG. OMGOMGOMG YES." She was totally freaking out and I lowered the sound volume on my phone. "I know right?! I already told her that and we've been looking for houses near the school. So I can go to Norwest. And I guess we'll be flying in a couple of days, and then we'll stay at an hotel while checking the houses out. And then we'll live there and luckily it's summer vacation, but then we can go to school together and just.... YAAAAAAA." I said and Anna was jumping through her room while yelling "SJAKALAKA!" over and over again. I chuckled. "Wait. You can both stay in our guest room until you've found a house." Anna suggested. "Are you sure your parents will be okay with that?" I asked, not so sure. "Yes, you know they're not difficult. Wait, I'm gonna ask them right now. Wait here." She said. I saw her walking away from the screen and heard her walking down the stairs. I stood in front of the hotel room and bashed through it. "Mom, Anna said we can maybe stay at her house while we'll be checking the houses out so we won't have to stay in a hotel!" I said happily. My mom turned around in the spinning chair and frowned. "U sure?" I made wild hand gestures. "Yes! She's asking her parents right now!" She nodded. "Okay... But I'll have to talk to her parents then." I nodded and looked at the screen of my phone again. I sat down on the bed and saw Anna walking into her room, with her parents. "They want to meet you and your mother first. I guess that makes sense..." She said and I nodded. Okay Skyler, good first impression. I saw Anna and her parents sit down in front of Anna's laptop and I waved. "Hey Miss and Mister Scott. I'm Skyler." They both smiled. That was good. "Hi Skyler, how are you? We've heard much about you." Her mom said. "I'm sure they're not all good things..." I joked and she chuckled. "That's very true." I laughed. "So, we've heard from Anna you'll be moving to Sydney? And you'll need a place to stay until you've bought a house?" Her dad asked. "Yea. We've already found some houses, but we want to look at them in real life, you know? But we don't have to stay at your house, we can stay in a hotel or something. That's really no problem." I said. "What's the fun in that?!" Anna protested. I shrugged. "Well, can we meet your parents?" Her father asked. "Oh, it's just me and my mom. But sure, here she is." I turned the camera to my mom and her face fell. "Gosh, Skyler, get that camera out of my face, geez." I chuckled and gave her the phone. She held it away from her as far as possible and then saw Anna's parents. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know... I didn't... Ah whatever." She said. Anna's mother laughed and said: "No problem."

So, this day summed up: Telling Anna I'm gonna move to Sydney, Anna asking her parents about my mom and me staying in their house for a while, my mom meeting Anna's parents, my mom talking with her parents for a while until they agreed. After that my mom and Anna's mom kept talking and talking. Like... What? Yea. I think they're besties now. Which is a good thing. But we'll be staying at their house. My mom also told her mom she bought tickets for wednesday, which is 2 days away. I kinda freaked out. I had so much stuff still in our house... What were we gonna do with that? "Mom, what will we do with the other stuff that's still in our house?" She looked at me in thought. "I really don't know. We won't get it ourselves, obviously. But we can't really ask someone to do it for us, since I don't really know many people here." I nodded. "Goodbye new guitar." I sighed. "Don't worry. We'll buy new stuff in Sydney okay? I've been saving some money for a while now, and I think this is a really good time to use that. I smiled weakly and nodded. "I kinda... Have money too, you know? So if we run out of money-" She cut me off. "Skyler, we won't. And even if we did, I won't let you spend your own money on things you shouldn't be spending money on okay?" She said. Should I tell her? "What... What if it's not my money?" I asked carefully. She narrowed her eyes. "You didn't." I shrugged and nodded. "I kinda did." She narrowed her eyes more. "How much?" I smiled innocently. "Just enough so he can still live off the money he has left." She kept looking at me with that terrifying look. "400.000." I said quickly. "You what?! From your father?" She yelled. "He has still more than a million left. He won't end up on the streets or something like that." She relaxed a bit. "400.000. We could actually really use that." I smiled. "Told ya." She shook her head. "Where do you have it?" She asked curiously. I walked to my suitcase, got the jewelry box out, and threw her the stacks of money. She held it in her hands and stared at it. "I feel like I'm in the mafia." She said and I grinned.