What We Have Now ☁ Benny Rodriguez

o n e

May 30th, 1962

I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply, trying to remember the place for which I was in. My cocoa eyes opened and roamed the place once more, the place I would be leaving behind. The sea green walls were now bare, stripped of my sketches and posters, the floor bare of my clothes and various possessions.

I sighed, closing the door of my bedroom slowly, before continuing down the hall. I was still trying to absorb the fact that we were moving, five months after my mom told me. It all feels real now that we're actually leaving. Cold snow blew around me as I stepped outside- the last snow I'll probably see for a while, since we're moving to California.

I got into the back seat of our station wagon, situating myself between two of my suitcases and a blanket, a pile of books on the floor next to me. My older brother, Mikey, climbed in the other side, listening to his music and paying no attention, causing him to bump his head. I laughed, pointing and pulling a face, making him playfully glare then laugh again with me.

Our oldest brother, Brayden, climbed in the front seat, holding a backpack and his baseball bat. He settled the stuff in by his feet, and then turned to look at us.

"Ready, Mike-o?" he asked, and Mikey nodded, going back to his music. Brayden rolled his eyes and turned to me.

"And you, Fireball?" He asked, a but of concern in his eyes. He knew I wasn't taking the move to well. I just shrugged, offering a small smile.

"Okay Blazey, tell me if you need anything,"he replied, and I nodded, smiling at the nickname. Ever since I was six, I'd been called variations of Fireball; Blaze, Blazey, Firecracker, Flame, etc., because of me being a feisty, sassy little 'firecracker'. But, only my brothers were allowed to call me these nicknames. Everyone else called me Kali, after my middle name Kaliyah. I never went by my first name because I really disliked it, and everyone just went along with it.

"Aha, when we get to Cali, I'm gonna yell your real name from the rooftops. 'she's G-", I cut Mikey off before he could continue. He knows I hate my first name and uses it against me quite a bit.

"Oh hush up, Mikey 'Strike Out' Rizzoli," I smirked, making Mikey Glare. I smiled contentedly and pulled out a book, opening to the first page. Time to get settled in for a forty-three hour drive...

June 1st, 1962

We arrived in front of a pale blue two story house around 6 AM, the sun just rising over the horizon to greet us. Mikey was snoring; his head against the window and his feet kicking me in the side. I was itching to get out of the car, bad. We hardly took rest stops because my mom just wanted to get to the new house as fast as she could. The last time I was able to stretch my legs was around eleven last night.

I opened the door as fast as I could, hobbling out like a little old lady. Everything was stiff from sitting in that seat for so long. I stretched my arms and back, then my legs, and took a few steps from the car. By now, Brayden was out of the car, putting his duffel bags up on the front porch.

I went back into the car to grab my stuff, and saw that Mikey was still sleeping. I rolled my eyes, and took the end of his baseball bat that was lying on the floor and nudged the bottom of his feet.

"Michael, wake up! We're here," I singsonged, poking him in the stomach with the wide end of the bat.

"Huh, what? Oh," Michael sputtered once he woke up, causing me to snicker at him. I grabbed my light denim backpack and threw it over my shoulders, then took my two black suitcases and rolled them to the front.

"Okay, you three, listen. The moving truck with our personal furniture won't be here until tomorrow. But, we have the basic furniture in the house that was left. You all can check out your rooms, then set up sleeping bags in the living room for the night," mom said, and we all nodded.