Right There Beside Me

Chapter 1: The Move

Chapter 1

“Ally, Are you ready yet?” yelled my mom from downstairs.“Coming!”,I replied after taking one last look in the mirror. It was a hot summer night, about an hour after my belongings were all packed up. I was wearing my blue, Westfield soccer jersey, with the name Ally Brooks printed on the back, very old dark washed skinnies and a beat-up pair of red chucks. My wavy brunette hair flowed messily down my back and to my elbows and I had on some eyeliner and lip-gloss. As you could probably tell, I wasn’t exactly the “rich girl” of the time. I didn’t have a nice car, and I didn’t wear brand name clothing. My dad worked as a maintenance man in a hotel and my mom worked as a secretary at a boring office somewhere downtown so they weren’t paid much, but it was enough to get us by. I live in a small box apartment that reeks of beer and tobacco on Dunlock Avenue. Yes, I know the neighborhood is crap, But it’s what we have. Or should I say, had.

Today, I was finally going to leave that dump and move in with my sister, Melanie. She’s 25 and lives in a better neighborhood. Apparently her house is really huge. She just moved there a week ago and it was my first time going. Melanie worked as the manager for NoFrills, which surprisingly, paid a lot. My parents have already told me I was moving there a few weeks after their divorce. The divorce really wrecked me at that time. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like without both of them in my life. I guess I’ve gotten used to it now since there’s no turning back anyways. So, after their divorce I would go with my mom to Melanie’s house, and my dad would stay here. He was fine with it, he liked the place. Me? Not so much… I quickly studied my room one more time to see if I left anything a small box labeled “earrings” is on my desk. I quickly grab it and head downstairs.

I finally step into the foyer to where my parents are. “Finally!” exclaims my mom swinging her arms up in the air. “Let’s go.” My mom is wearing black dress pants and a white lace top. She’s always talking and walking with her back straight, chin up and a look of confidence which she always seems to have. That’s what I love about her; she doesn’t care about what others think and she doesn’t care if you like her or not. If she’s happy with herself, then that is all that matters. People always say that I look a lot like her, which doesn’t bother me, because my mom is one of the best looking moms I know.

“Be sure to come and visit” Says my dad casually, while giving me a big bear hug. I can still smell his tabbacco infested breath. “Don’t worry dad, the new house is only 40 minutes away.” I reply. “Ok”, he says with a smile. My dad is always so carefree, it was awesome. He lets me do almost whatever I want whenever I want as long as I came home on time.  He was a cool dad, but he also cared. The only downside to him was that he drinks and smokes a lot. He drinks when he’s happy, he drinks when he’s sad. He can’t really control himself; it’s the way he is. I just ignore it, I guess because there's really no way to stop him.

We head out the front door and I throw the box of earrings into the trunk and hop into the front seat.

“Bye! Love you” I yell as I get into my mom’s car. “Bye Alls!” He shouts back waving, and we’re off. As soon as we get off the driveway, I immediately turn to the radio. Music is my life.  I can’t go a day without it. After a few minutes of flipping through channels, I decide on Flo-Rida’s “Wild Ones” I’m not a big fan of his music, But this was ok so I decide to leave it on anyways because I’m too lazy to change the song. A few minutes later, I feel my eyes start to droop, and I slowly fall asleep.

 As we pull into the driveway of Melanie’s House, my eyes slowly drift open revealing the beautiful variety of colorful flowers and plants greeting us in a nice, starry night background. I was still very tired and sleepy. It was now 9:30 PM. After a long stretch in the front seat, I send Brianna a short text; “Im hereee I’ll call you later. Gotta check out the new house” and hop out of the car.