Her Little Secret

Chapter 1

Bang, bang, bang.

Suddenly being woken up, I jolted, sitting up in my bed instantly before I realized what was happening. My bedroom door slammed open, and my mother stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"Claire! Get up, it's almost 9 o'clock. We need to get moving. We are visiting the real estate agency at ten. Hurry and get ready!" my mom demanded. Immediately, I could hear her walking to the kitchen. She was going to make breakfast.

I moaned. I rubbed my eyes as I pulled off my covers. My heart was pounding. I laid back down in my bed for a few minutes before fully waking up.

-

Reality was starting to settle in now. My family was going to be moving soon. We were going to move to Minnesota, all the way from my hometown in Connecticut. We were moving because my dad got a job promotion. I've lived in Connecticut for 15 years, which is basically my entire life. There's been so many memories that have been made here, which makes this whole moving thing so much more painful. Once we move, my life starts over. I'm not really sure how to feel about that; maybe it will be a good thing...or maybe a bad thing.

I'll be leaving my closest friends, especially my best friend, Ellie. We've been best friends since second grade. She's practically been my sister all these years, mostly because I'm an only child. We've been through thick and thin all the way through elementary and middle school... and in freshman year.

That brings more painful thoughts. I can't believe I'm leaving my town high school. I was meant to be here...living here. But now my parents have the right to tear apart my life and create a new one for me. In a boring town in Minnesota. Not only am I leaving my friends behind, but I'm leaving my high school memories being here, I'm leaving my home and my neighborhood; my town.

I think I'll come down with depression or something, because I feel like this will be unbearable. But I'll pull through. I'll adjust.

Maybe.

Just maybe.

-

As my parents and I finished breakfast, we discussed how living in Minnesota would feel. But it wasn't like we were discussing it. It was more like my parents were praising how good of a place we would be and saying that my life would be fabulous there. And I sat at the table not saying a word. I was just listening to their BS comments and rolling my eyes and biting my lip just so we all wouldn't spark up an argument about how this would ruin my teenage life.

-

I was about as happy going to this agency as a mouse being eaten by a snake. Not very fortunate. We drove up to the cube-shaped building. It was a small, tan, plain building. Nothing special. We pulled up to the closest parking spot. Through the doors of the agency, I saw a well-dressed man walk outside to welcome us. He looked approximately 40 and had a nice suit with a red tie. He had brown, clean cut hair. Professional. I had to see what this guy was all about.

He stepped towards our car as we all got out. Dad stopped the engine right as the man started chatting. "Why, welcome Mr. Collins," he said in a smooth voice. The man and Dad shook hands. Then Dad locked the car and we were going to head into the building.

"Thank you, Mr. Rowe," Dad replied.

Mr. Rowe, the man who now had a name, then shook both Mom's and my hands. He smiled at both of us. "You must be Mrs. Collins and this is your daughter, I see?"

I was waiting for Mom's response, but she didn't answer, so I responded and blushed as I stared at the ground. "Yeah, I'm Claire."

We followed Mr. Rowe through the building until we entered his office. The walls were a pleasant dark shade of blue and it was clean and organized. He gestured us to sit in the cheap plastic chairs that surrounded his kidney bean shaped desk. I sat in between Mom and Dad. We all sat down in unison. Mr. Rowe brought his laptop from the back counter over to the desk. He put on thick rimmed glasses as he started up the computer.

"Alright, we have some houses in thought, correct?" He looked up at Mom and Dad. They both nodded.

Dad explained our preferences in a house and they discussed prices and other things too.

I kind of day dreamed while they were talking. It really wasn't necessary for me to be here, but I guess it was sort of required. I stared out the window, resting my chin on my hand. I think I was dozing off. It didn't matter though; this was really boring. I closed my eyes slowly. Their voices melted into the distance and everything became peacefully quiet.

"Claire, hun. We are home now." It was Mom. She had a big grin on her face. I looked around. We were inside a house, but it wasn't familiar. This wasn't home.

"Mom, this isn't home. Where are we?"

"Right where you want to be." She kissed me on the top of my head.

I felt something stab me right in the hip. I opened my eyes. It was Mom's elbow. I woke up in Mr. Rowe's office. I can't believe I fell asleep!

"Hun, wake up. You're falling asleep on my shoulder. Why are you sleeping? Too boring to handle?" She giggled nervously and glanced at me and back to Mr. Rowe. He smiled.

I sat up straight and felt my cheeks turn red. "Um, I don't know." I giggled nervously back and pretended to smile. Wow, I was dreaming. I didn't know I could doze off that fast.

Mr. Rowe closed his laptop. He looked at me. "Well, Claire, we have found the right house for you. You woke up at the right time."

Confused, I turned towards Dad, then back at Mom. They were both smiling. "We found a house already?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Absolutely," Dad answered. "We are planning the move very, very soon."

"How soon?" My face had no emotion, but I was a little panicked. Mom grabbed my hands softly, as if it was very important. I turned towards her.

"I know you'll miss this area, but we aren't moving in a few months, like we expected."

I was really confused. Oh no, I don't want to move earlier! Thoughts raced through my head. I won't be able to say farewell to all my friends before then and do all the other things I had in mind before I'd leave.

Then Dad spoke. "We're moving next week," he said with a hopeful smile.

My heart dropped. No....No way.