It all started that summer where we finally got our independence, drivers licenses cars and the freedom to go wherever we liked and do whatever we wanted. The beach beckoned and finally public transportation was not to be used, showing up in the backseat of your parents car was something that young kids did or those that had the money so mummy could drive them around in their mercedes or BMWs. Matts friends and mine were a mixed bunch different backgrounds and different cultures but thats how it went in Christchurch, everybody was from everywhere else and not really from here. I thought we were cool as driving from home to the beach or even down to the diary just because we could and nobody could stop us. Jory was Matts right hand man and my summer love but after one night of drunken fun he was no more. The police said he went quickly and in sleep but after being in the same car as him and feeling the aftereffects of the crash I knew he had to have suffered.
Weeks passed and the numbness never went away, schoolwork became my long lingering companion as did t.v. shows that would air at 3am because no matter how much i tried to sleep it just wouldn't come without the help of medication or alcohol. By the time school started back again in the winter, i was on the right track, i decided I needed an escape from well everything Matts moping , my own guilt trips and the long, lingering stares I was getting from those around me that screamed "i pity you".
Six months of hard work later America beckoned, i was to be an exchange student at Jefferson high school in Marshall, Minnesota. Of all the places to go, Minnesota did not feature high on my list of places to go to, but it was somewhere completely different and different was what I needed right now. I arrived at Minneapolis international airport a week before school was too start and I was nervous as hell. My new family picked me up from there and then we went shopping at the biggest mall in America aka Mall of America it was massive and everything was so cheap, well cheaper than NewZealand anyway.
