Take My Hand

Chapter Two

We finally arrived in River Mountain. I got to admit though, the view is breath-taking. We drove past sparkling blue rivers and in the distance I saw lines of tall white mountains. Now I guess I know why they call this place River Mountain.

Stephanie was taking pictures of the view from her phone. I would love waking up everyday to see this kind of view.

Since it was getting late, and all of us are starving for dinner, our parents decided to eat at our very first restaurant here before settling in our new house. Mom's right. There's so many restaurants around here. Especially Italian restaurants.

We ended up deciding to go to one of the Italian restaurants because Stephanie is such a fan of Italian food. And hopefully by eating Italian, she'll feel better. I was wrong.

She was actually picking at her spaghetti with that same gloomy look on her face while we were eating at an Italian restaurant. I ordered spaghetti myself too but I only took a couple of bites of it every five minutes.

"Wasn't the view amazing," my dad asked us after taking a sip of his coke. "Very," Stephanie replied. I'm surprised she's talking because she hasn't talked since she went in the restaurant. My mouth blurts on its own by saying, "That was one of the most beautiful sights I ever seen." Dang it. Why did I say that? I'm supposed to be mad at them. Don't talk to them, Conner.

"I know right? Rivers and mountains are famous around here. Maybe sometime we can tour around this place. Get to know a little about this state," my mom said then took a bite of her garlic bread. "Sounds like a plan," dad agreed. But me and Stephanie exchanged a look at each other. The kind of look that says we're not taking a stupid tour.

After we ate at the restaurant, we drove off to our new neighborhood. The houses in our neighborhood were all huge and colorful. Like a rainbow spilled all over them. There were blue houses, brick houses, white houses, orange houses, green houses, and there was even a pink house at the far end of the street. I never saw a pink house before. I wonder who lives there.

Dad, who has been driving the car, pulled up to our new driveway and parked. I took a good look at our new home.

It was a big house, just like the others, with a big porch and all kinds of flowers decorating the outside of it. It was white with a red door and red shutters. And believe it or not a red roof. If you add blue to the outside of the house, it would look like the American flag.

There's a walkway up to the porch and we had a huge front yard. This house looks way different than our old home.

Our old house, which I grew up in all my life, was much shorter and was in a better neighborhood. Our old home was surrounded by parks and shops and local swimming pools. I would live literally a couple houses down from my best friend, Luke. Almost everyday we would visit those parks and shops and local swimming pools. We would meet up with the rest of our friends, who would live around a block from us, and play baseball or basketball.

Stephanie would come to the parks, shops, and local swimming pools with me and her friends too. Even Jamie lived close by. It was perfect.

"Here it is. Our brand new home," dad said as he was getting out of the car. "I can't wait for you two to look inside it," my mom said as she was getting out of the car too.

I'm not ready to go inside. I'm not ready to accept this change. Stephanie must have the same thought as me because she turned to me with a worried look on her face. Stephanie and I were still in the car while our parents were walking down the walkway to our house.

Before Stephanie And I were ready to come out of the car, Stephanie turned to me and said, "I'm so not ready for a new life."