In the Beginning

Chapter 1

Ro blinked her eyes once. Twice. Three times, and she couldn't ignore it anymore - the gray early morning light shining through the car window. With a groan, she rubbed a hand over her face sloppily, and sat up, her faded cartoon blankets falling to the floor.

There was a pounding on the car door. Ro practically snarled.

"What?" she shouted, her eyes snapping open. Through her fuzzy post-sleep haze, she could see the eager face of her little brother Jacob. He grinned crookedly at her, his red hair sticking up in fluffy tufts at random.

"School!" he yelled back, the words muffled by the pane of glass between them. That one word made Ro want to snuggle up in her blankets and never come back out. "It's our first day here, c'mon, dad unlocked the showers at the swimming pool for us."

Ro frowned. "When are we getting a hotel room?"

"Tonight. He says sorry, but money's low. He's gonna try n' sell some things at a pawn today."

"Fine," said Ro, rolling her eyes. Her chest tightened. She really would have preferred showering in a hotel. They had those cute little shampoos and soaps that were good for stealing for the road. "Gimme a minute." Grabbing her clothing duffel out of the backseat, she quickly flipped open her laptop, cursing at the loading screen. 2 minutes until download is complete.

"Ronan!" shouted Jacob, pounding his fists on the window. Ro smacked the glass back.

"Shut it, kid, just wait."

"I'm not a kid, don't call me that, I'm almost a - "

" - teenager, yeah, yeah," said Ro, finishing his sentence for him. The download blinked from red to green, letting out a beep, and Ro smiled.

13 songs downloaded to Mp3.

"I swear to God, Ro, if you're illegally downloading crap again - "

"Dad'll kick my ass, I know," Ro said in an undertone. She pulled on her combat boots, the distressed material looking odd with her dotted pink pajama pants, and kicked the door open. Jacob yelped.

"Ro!"

"I'm not sayin' sorry."

Inside of the Evans Community Center, it was humid and dark. Ro could smell the chlorine in the air, taste it on her tongue. Jacob motioned for her to turn left as they tiptoed past the front desk. Standing at the end of the hallway, blonde hair thinning, stood their dad with a lock pick.

"'Bout time you two got here," he said, throwing them each a bag of off-brand corn chips. "There's breakfast, eat up and shower fast. I gotta drive you both in fifteen minutes."

"Daaad!" whined Ro. "My hair won't be dry by then!"

"Suck it up," he said gruffly. His expression softened at the anxious look on his daughter's face. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but if you wanna sleep in a bed tonight I gotta drive all the way to Redmond for their pawn shop and back. Better hurry."

Well, guess, I'm looking like crap today. But who cares about first impressions anyways, dad?

Ro tried not to care what she looked like, tried not to care about her ratty old clothes and messy hair, but sometimes - in the early mornings before she started a new school - insecurity slipped in, unable to be drowned out by angry eighties rock music. Maybe it had something to do with the new people, the fresh start...she could be an entirely different person. But she never was. She was always just that bitch of a new girl who thought she was "too cool" to bother making friends with anyone.

But why bother making friends when you'll be leaving them in two weeks anyways? Ro thought bitterly to herself.

"Yeah, dad, that's fine," spoke up Jacob, as Ro had stayed silent.