Chapter 1
Don't you just hate it when your parents make a decision without talking to you about it? Or even asking you for your opinion? Especially when it includes you.
"Don't be upset anymore, Cassie," my mother said as we got to our street.
Oh right, like I won't be upset we moved to Texas. Out of all the states, my parents chose Texas? If we were going to move we should've gone to New York or Florida. Not dumb Texas. Who would even want to live in Texas? It's so boring here with nothing fun to do.
Man, we were fine in California. We had a decent house in a small town, but I guess that wasn't enough. At least in California I had my friends. Now I have no one to talk to. I always hated living in that small town in California but now I realize it's much better than this dump they call La Vernia.
"I just don't get why we had to move to dumb La Vernia." I tell my mom.
"Your father and I already told you. You already know how he got offered better pay at this job here," my mom explains. "He had to take it immediately before the job was gone. I know you don't like it yet but you will once you get to look around this town."
My sister and brother were lucky. My sister, Evelyn, stayed back in California to attend college at Santa Cruz. My brother, Josh, also stayed back in California with his family. He is already married and has 2 daughters. My sister is 18 and my brother is 22.
My younger brother, Joseph, and I had to move with my parents to Texas since we weren't old enough to live on our own. My brother is 14 and I am 16. It's actually not fair that we didn't get to decide if we wanted to move. We tried to explain that to our parents but all they said was, "you don't always get what you want in life." Whatever that means.
I sighed. "I wish I could've stayed in California with Evelyn and Josh. It would be better than La Vernia."
"Your sister will be busy in the morning at school and she works in the afternoons. Besides, she has to do her school assignments not look after you." My mother said irritated.
"Fine. Why couldn't I have stayed with Josh back home then? I don't think he would mind."
"Cassie, you can't just stay with your brother. He already has a family to look after. Besides, what would his wife think of you living with them? Don't be silly, c'mon help me get down the groceries."
I sighed and got out of the car. I grabbed grocery bags and walked inside the house. This isn't fair. I was just dragged here without a choice.
I passed through the living room and set the grocery bags down in the kitchen floor. I looked around. I didn't really realize how huge the kitchen was. Seriously, it was like something off a catalog they have in those furniture stores. The ones with a huge stove and refrigerator. Everything you saw there, was pretty much here. I walked towards the window. It was our first week here in this house. Everything from our old house had already arrived. I could see our pool in the backyard and it was huge.
Our backyard was bigger than I imagined. It had grass from one side of the fence all the way to the other and a big pool in the center. It had a jacuzzi on the left side and on the right were all kinds of flowers. From roses, daisies, to sunflowers. Every flower you could imagine was probably there. I smiled as I kept looking around. I could probably get lost there, I thought. Maybe I can go explore that wonderful land later. I can spend my afternoons reading peacefully or maybe swimming with my friends. My friends. God, I miss them. They were all back in California. They were probably at the mall right now shopping for cute outfits or at a party. They were probably dancing and singing loudly while I was here bored out of my mind. It was only the beginning of summer, but I could already tell it was gonna suck.
"Cassie, can you please help your brother find his control for his video game?" My mother said, interrupting my thoughts.
"Fine, I'll go help him." I said pretty mad that I was always the one to help my brother look for things he lost. Seriously, he's fourteen, he can do stuff on his own. I don't need to solve all his problems. I ran up the stairs towards his room. He had his door wide open and from a few feet away I could tell his room was a mess.
"What have you done, Joseph?!" I screamed at him. I looked around the room and saw papers scattered everywhere. His desk that was usually filled with his things was now empty. Everything was on the floor and his closet door was almost falling.
"I was looking for my control and I can't find it anywhere." He said casually as if this was a normal thing. Maybe it is normal for him. He looked around the room and his mouth got bigger. "Damn, Mom's gonna get mad!" He exclaimed as he pointed out pretty much the obvious.
"Obviously!" I yelled. "And by the way, I think you left it in the garage in the box with all your video games. Wow you're so dumb."
He looked at me grinning. "Why are you mad? Oh it's because you don't have anything to do all summer." He laughed as he saw me roll my eyes.
"Shut up, Joseph. You don't have anything to do also. Don't act like you're not gonna be bored either. You're going to be alone. All your friends are back home too." I told him as he kept grinning at me. "Why are you smiling?" I looked at him weirdly as the grin on his face stayed.
"I am not gonna be bored and I am not gonna be alone either. I already have a friend here." He said to me as I should already know this.
"What are you talking about? Who is your friend?" I said curiously as to how he already made a friend when we've only been living here a couple days.
"Andrew." He smirked as he said his name. "Oh you know, Alex Constancio's brother." He grinned at me as my face got warm.
Wait, he doesn't mean that Alex. I thought I'd never see him again. No, it can't be him. It can't. He had moved in the 8th grade. He was supposed to be miles away from me. It can't possibly be him. He can't be back in my life. He was supposed to be gone, that's what he had wanted. I felt sick to my stomach just thinking of him.
This can't be true.
