Halcyon Summer

Moving on Up

So this is a story I started writing back in highschool, which I have posted on Quizilla, but I thought I'd revamp it a little and bring it on over here. Enjoy!

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"We're WHAT??" I shouted, gaping open mouthed at my mother in front of me.

"Uhm...we're...moving," she said carefully, not looking at me.

So yeah, my life is over. I seriously can't believe parents sometimes. The look on my mother's face was truly unbelievable, I mean it's like she had expected me to jump up and dance around singing in sheer, unabashed delight.

Yeah, thanks Mom.

"Moving. As in packing every single one of my belongings into boxes, loading them into a truck, uprooting from my friends, my school, everything I love, waving goodbye to the house I've lived in since I can remember, climbing into a car, driving halfway across the country in the middle of the hot summer, arriving at some new house that I don't know and then throwing myself into 'my new life'. That kind of moving?"

Wow. Sometimes my rants even impress me.

"Uh, yes." That's the best my mother, the country's best attorney, could come up with. She eyed me warily like some crazy court defendant, trying to anticipate my next move.

"Oh. Great then." I said and promptly shut the door in her face.

Now, I've learned from a wise movie called Lilo and Stich that screaming into a pillow helps get rid of rage and frustration. My parents pride themselves on being 'spontaneous', 'experimental' people and have helped me test this method many times. Being their kid, frustration seems to come with the job, so I was pretty used to venting to my pillow and could even multi task while rage and frustration releasing. I've done some of my best thinking while screaming into a pillow. Seriously, you should try it, it's good stuff.

Anyway, while I was releasing my rage and frustration into my pillow, I got to thinking. This whole moving thing? It sucks. I mean, here I am; seventeen years old, in the prime of my life, and I'm expected to ditch everything and go with my impulsive parents to some town way over in California full of beach bums and bottle blondes? I've never even seen a beach bum, let alone be dropped among them. I'm from the city. I do sky scrapers and rush hour and taxis. I don't do surfing, and neverending sunshine, and streetcars. My parents tell me I'll fit right in.

Yep, I'll be a chameleon among the Californians. Rosaline-Rae Dryden, Miss Perfect, that's me.

But seriously, I'm the farthest thing from perfection. I laugh at really inconvenient times in everything, I'm the world's biggest klutz without an ounce of grace, I'm a superpig and always eat more than my share and nobody can ever understand me when I get excited because I talk that fast. And even though I've happily accepted my flaws, I'm not so sure about the people of the Sunshine State.

After my rage session, I pulled my blonde hair back into a ponytail, washed my face and put on my running clothes. After the inital screaming into a pillow, the only thing I could do in this situation was go for a run. It helps calm me down and it's when I feel the most free. Like nothing can hurt me.

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Day one on the alien planet.

Where did the summer go? I couldn't believe I was already here in California, and only a week away from starting school. Oh, and the best thing so far? I. Have. No. Friends. Seriously, nobody lives in my upscale, palm-filled neighborhood but old people and families with 5 year olds.

But don't get me wrong - as far as alien planets go, California is pretty nice, though I was right about the beach bums. This is definitely the typical beach town. I didn't realize quite how much I loved the sunshine until now. Not that that changes the fact that I'm severely unhappy with my parents for dragging me here. They keep telling me that I have to visit the boardwalk, cause it's "the hot place to be" (my parents are bad at trying to be cool). Yeah right. Like I'm going to a beach boardwalk alone and friendless. That'd be the day.

But here's the good news. WE. HAVE. A. POOL. I phoned my friend Megan immediately upon discovering this and shouted "WEHAVEAPOOL!!" the minute she picked up. She was rather unimpressed until she figured out exactly what I said and started shrieking along with me. Okay, when you're from the urban sprawl of Chicago, having a pool is a big deal.

Having nothing else to do, I spent the rest of my week lounging by the pool reading some of my many books. It's definitely nice how much more space we have here. I actually have room for all the books I own. I dug up a few I hadn't read in a long time and sat outside each day with the perfect poolside accessory: lemonade. At least I'd have a nice tan when I went to my new school. Tans aren't really so available back in Chicago. Too much smog.

That's another thing. The air sure was cleaner here. And life seemed to move a whole lot slower, like people didn't have to be so many places at once. I was having a little difficulty adjusting to this calmer pace, so I found myself bored a lot. I almost couldn't wait for school. How lame am I.

Of course, I regretted every minute I spent hoping for my first day of school with every ring of my alarm on Monday morning. Great. My first day of torture. And little did I know what was in store for me today...

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Thanks for reading! Emma Stone as Rosie in the pic!