New Faces

Part 2

 I continued to go through the boxes until I found the one with my pictures and posters. I needed to get something up on this hideous off white wall. I took everything out of the box and picked up my floor mirror. I set it against the wall adjacent to my new closet, which happens to be a walk-in, so that's a plus for this new room. I then walked back over to the box of pictures and picked up a stack. The rubber band has put a dent in all the pictures, just to remind me that my old life wasn't perfect, it had been dented by my dad's mistake 16 years ago. He left us when my brother was maybe a few weeks old, and then showed up again a few months ago asking my mom for bail. That's why my mom decided to move. She didn't want to open the wound again, so she made the executive decision to leave, to runaway, to take George and I away from the only home we've ever known.

That's when I realized I was crying, staring at the picture of my mom, George, and I standing in front of our little house in Florida. I took the rubber band off the stack and quickly went through the pictures. The one of us in front of our old house was placed on the corner of my floor mirror. Another picture, one of my two best friends, Mel and Chris, sitting on the old swing set in my old backyard. I smiled remembering how long it took for me to even get that picture. I put it in the other corner of my floor mirror. And the last picture I taped on my headboard. It was Mel, Chris, and I at the beach, standing knee deep in the crystal blue water, laughing as a wave, one we didn't see coming, crash into our bodies. All the other pictures got tossed back in the box. Under all the memories I didn't want to remember were all my posters from my old room. I pulled the stack out carefully and layed the posters out on the floor. I laughed to myself as I remembered each concert that I got each poster at. I picked up my Of Mice & Men poster and ran my fingers over Austin and Alan's autographs, rolling my eyes at how much trouble Mel and I went through to get them to sign it. Still smiling, I hung the poster up on the right side of the wall by my bed. I walked back over and picked up my Bring Me the Horizon poster and hung it up opposite the other poster. Reminiscing as I hung each poster on the wall, the white walls, that were now covered in autographed band merch, started to feel like home again.

I glanced over at my phone as I heard my text message ringtone. The screen read a text from Mel: Turn on your laptop. Without questioning it, I pulled out my MacBook and opened it up, typing in the password to unlock my computer.  'One Missed Call from Mel' I called her back and her face lit up my screen as she immediately answered.

"Hey Love! How's that best friend of mine?" Mel said.

"Hey she's my best friend too." I laughed as I watched Chris make his way into the screen with a sandwich and a coke can in his hands. He saw me and smiled. "Hey beautiful. How's North Carolina?"

"I had almost forgotten about it for a second there." I said looking around my room.

"Oh sorry." Chris said looking down. Mel rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"So I see you got all your posters up!" Mel said trying to get my mind off of the move. I nodded and half smiled to make her feel better. "You psyched for Warped?" Mel asked.

"If my mom will let me go then yes."

"I'm sure she will, you went with us last year, and the year before. it's practically a tradition." Mel said.

"Keira, you have to come." Chris said with puppy dog eyes. I nodded and laughed at his stupid facial expression. Mel started laughing too and Chris looked back and forth between us and just shrugged his shoulders. "I need more guy friends." he said, which caused even more laughter.

"You've been saying that for years." I said. "And so far, nothing. You're stuck with us love." Chris stuck his tongue out and took a bite out of his sandwich.

"That's our Chris. Always eating." Mel said. "So how's your mom and your brother taking everything."

I rolled my eyes and said "My mom thinks that she can convince me that the move was for me and George, but I know full well that it was running away. No matter how much my dad screwed up this family, my mom will never be able to stay anywhere and fix her own problems. She always runs away." Mel just looked at me waiting for the continuation. So I said "George. George is George. All he's thinking about are all the new girls he can hook up with. Damn, male minds. They want sex. That's it."

As if on cue to prove my point, Chris looked up from his sandwich and said "Did someone say sex?" With a mouthful of ham and cheese.