12:23

12:23 am

I awoke with a start, the reason for my jolt back into reality being the loud creak of steps running up the stairs directly across the hall from my bedroom. I felt my anxiety kick in as I thought of all the possible reasons for the noise. After a few seconds of internally fighting my anxiety, I got up the nerve to crack my door open enough to see what had happened. What I found shocked me, all the lights had been turned on and my little brother James had bolted downstairs excitedly just after I'd opened my door. Suspiciously I followed my eager brother down the soft carpet stairs to see my father. My father has been in France for almost 2 years for his work which was a top secret government agency that dealt with private foreign affairs. I was overcome with joy as my father carried James to me as he hugged us both in a powerful embrace.
"I missed you so much! I thought you weren't coming back until next Christmas!" I exclaimed while hugging my father and James even harder as happy tears streamed down my puffy red cheeks.
"I did to but I was told they wouldn't need me, I do have some bad news though I'll be home for a while now, they said anywhere from a year to five years. It all depends what happens in France. So I've purchased a house but you'll have to move out of this school district," my father said sadly. We'd just moved into my grandparents last year so I'd barely made any friends, but he knew how much I hate moving constantly. As he saw my sadness he went on "the new school is only an hour from here and it's fairly small there are only 250 students in the junior class, I think it'll be a great fit not to mention they have a really good arts program," my father looked genuinely hopeful and I couldn't help smiling at his attempts to sell me on the new home.
"I understand dad I'm sure it'll be perfect I'm just not looking forward to moving again," I replied with a heavy sigh.
"I know sweetie, trust me I know. I've hired a company to help us move this time though so it should be pretty low on the physical labor aspect. But we don't need to talk about that right now there's still a week left of break so we have that much time to move, the company will be here at 10 am to pick up our stuff," my father informed James and I quickly while starting to head up the stairs. I followed him into jame's room while he put him to sleep. Then he went to my room. I receded back into my cocoon of blankets, while my father leaned against my door.
"Goodnight sweetie I'll wake you up at 9 am. Sleep well I'm sorry to wake you so late... Or early I guess," my father said looking at my clock and blushing a bit at his poor arrival time.
"It's ok dad goodnight. See ya in the morning," I replied trying my best not to fall asleep. As he left my room I was quickly overcome with grogginess and fell into a calm, dreamless sleep.
---- 9 am in the morning----
"Good morning sweetheart I hope you slept well time to start boxing your stuff," my father whisper gently while stroking my horribly matted bed hair. I smiled up at him happily, I wasn't really dreading today too much because I didn't have much to pack all I had was my cloths and my photos. Since our last few moves I've just thrown away most of my useless junk.
"Ok dad," I replied while yawning and stretching out my cramped limbs. My dad walked out of my room and into jame's to wake him. I quickly closed my door and got dressed, since I was just moving and checking out the new house I wore my black keds, a white hollister sweatshirt and black leggings. I also put on my regular foundation and mascara. Once I tamed down my long dirty blonde hair I started pulling my clothes out of my closet and boxing them up. By 9:30 am all of my clothes were packed away, labeled, and downstairs waiting for the moving trucks. Now all I had left to pack was my photo board and all the photos on it. I took a short break to check my phone and eat some pancakes before returning to pack away my photos. By 10 am all of my possessions were downstairs being loaded into the moving truck by my dad and the two men who worked for the company. Finally after 30 minutes of watching the men load our belongings we all loaded into my fathers truck. During the drive my father explained that his work had given him a raise to pay for the appliances and other things the house didn't already have such as our beds, dressers, and etc., he also explained that even though he was no longer going to be in France he'd still be working in town from 8 am- 9 pm. After another 15 minutes of James rambling on about what he thought the house would look like we finally pulled into the neighborhood. I was shocked my father was by no means poor because of his job in fact we are actually quite rich, but we don't really like rich neighborhoods because of the snobby people who brag about their wealth. But the houses that surrounded us were practically mansions. My dad smiled back at us happily as we pulled into the driveway of one of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen.
"I thought that you should be comfy since we will be here for a while," my father explained to James and I while grinning wildly, his eyes shinning with delight.