"Are we almost there?" Cassie wined staring out the window.
Mr. Price sighed. "Cassie, we have only been driving for an hour."
And ten more hours to go. Boein thought.
"But I'm tired."
This time Mrs. Price answered. "Cassie, stop whining and find something to do. I know moving is hard, but complaining will just make this trip longer."
Tell me about it. Boein thought. His parents had asked him what he thought about moving to Big Rapids, Michigan and he had told them exactly what he thought. That had caused Boein to be sent up to his room until dinner. So now, because of his dad's stupid job, they were moving 11 hours and sixteen minutes from his friends and his life.
"Hey Dad," Boein said, " Remember the time you took me to Times Square on New Years Eve when I was eight?"
"Yeah!" Mr. Price said. "That was fun. Your eyes were shining for a week afterwards."
"Exactly!" He exclaimed. "Which means that we should turn back, forget your new job, and return to our old life in the Big Apple."
"Sorry, that's not happening." Mr. Price said. "We already sold the apartment. Besides, all of us agreed that we wanted to live in a house."
"That doesn't mean I want to move." Boein grumbled.
A little after lunch, Mrs. Price made the best peanut butter sandwhiches, Cassie fell asleep and Boein was bored to death. He had read all of his comic books, listened to his playlist on his ipod twice, and his family had sung campfire songs until their throats hurt.
And, he thought, having Kumbaya stuck in your head makes you feel like your brain's going to explode!
Really, Boein wouldn't have minded moving so much if he wasn't hooked on one thing, basketball. He didn't really like his school, wasn't very popular. In fact his only friends were his basketball buds. The guys he saw almost everyday at practice or at the park playing a pickup game. Now Boein would have nobody to hang out with or play video games with. His parents had said he could see his friends a few times a year and that he could talk to them on the phone any time he wanted to. But to Boein, he felt totally cut off from everyone in the whole entire universe. He was stuck in this hot smelly car, an annoying sister that was almost always annoying stuck with him, and what seemed like a forever long drive ahead of him. This was the pits.
Boein crossed his arms and slumped down in his seat. I wish this was all just one big nightmare! he thought. Maybe in a few seconds he would wake up in his apartment in New York ready for another day of fun. He waited and then sighed. This was not a dream. This was real life. Lots of his friends had moved away before but he never thought it would happen to him.
"Boein, Boein! Wake up! We're here! We're finally in Big Rapids!"
Boein blinked open his eyes. Cassie was tugging on his arm and almost jumping up and down in her booser seat. Boein looked out the window. He saw a handful of shops strewn around a cobblestone road. This is Big Rapids? He thought. What's so big about it? New York's mini-mall was larger than this town. Mr. Price turned the old ford onto a dirt road that led up to a small neighborhood. The car turned into a cracked driveway which was in front of a small house with a rope swing in front.
"Well, we're here!" Mrs. Price got out while Mr. Price started unloading some of the bags. "Give me hand, will you Boein?" He asked, lifting a heavy box, labeled kitchen out of the trunk.
"Sure Dad." Boein jumped out and heaved a duufel bag on his shoulder. His mom and sister were already inside. Boein hopped up the steps to the porch and opened the door. A musty smell hit his nose, and he wrinkled it. He found his family in the living room looking out of the window.
"What a beutiful view!" Mrs. Price exclaimed.
Boein stared out too. Past the backyard were no rapids and it was certaintly not big. Just a muddy creek with a trickling water fall that was tiny. His parents thought otherwise though. As Boein's parents and sister gushed over the house he slipped out. what's so great about a crummy old puddle in our backyard anyway? he thought walking outside. there wasn't much of a view to see. Boein was just about to go back inside when a boy rode up on his bike.
