New Girl In Town

Chapter 1

The wind picked up as I pulled my leather jacket tighter around my body. Since I'm from California, I'm not necessarily used to the colder weather. Even though it's about 65 degrees, I'm still cold and the fact that it's the middle of the night probably didn't help. I grabbed the black spray paint and continued my piece. While living in California, graffiti and art were the only ways I could express myself, and I wasn't about to let a change of location stop my creativity.

"Hey!" I heard a deep voice yell from behind me. I slowly turned around to see a tall, dark figure stomping towards me. Shit. This is not how I planned on tonight unfolding. I quickly grabbed as many of my spray paint cans as I could, threw them in my bag, and ran away as fast as my legs would carry me. I look back to see if this mysterious guy was following me only to find him bending over and picking up one of the cans I had left behind.

I continued running as hard as I could until I got home, still scared that someone might be chasing after me in this unfamiliar territory. I tried to control my breathing before approaching our small, run down house that sat alongside Sweetwater River. I opened the front door slowly and entered as quietly as I could, hoping that my dad wouldn't catch me. He'd be pissed if he found me sneaking in at one in the morning.

I could hear faint noises and peered around the corner into the living room and saw the light of the TV illuminating the tiny space. I then discovered my dad passed out on the couch with about ten empty beer cans surrounding him. Great, he'll be hung over and crabby in the morning. Over the past few years, my dad's addiction to alcohol has gotten increasingly worse. It all went downhill when my mom died three years ago. Since then, he hasn't been able to hold a job or be productive in any way; so when the cost of living in California got too high, we moved here, to the small town of Riverdale.

I silently slipped past my dad and made my way upstairs. Once I got into my room, I had to maneuver my way around the unpacked boxes scattered across my floor. Even though we've been here for a week, I'm still taking my time to move in. It still doesn't seem real to me. I had to leave everything behind in California; my memories, my friends... they were my real family, not my sorry excuse for a father.

I removed the bag of spray paint from my shoulder and took off my jacket, setting them on top of a stack of boxes. Not realizing how exhausted I was until now, I plopped down onto my bed and prayed that sleep would come easily tonight. I start school tomorrow after all, at the one and only Riverdale High. It would have been a lot more convenient if Southside didn't shut down, I thought to myself before finally dozing off into a dreamless sleep.