Gems

||ONE||

Waking up at five a.m. to my annoying alarm clock to go outside and check on the farm animals and to feed them. My parents are Sheila and Tom Smith my mother left me on their doorstep when I was a baby which is a miracle because my parents couldn't have kids. 

I walk out of my room dressed in my pajamas and I smell fresh pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I enter the kitchen to find my mom. "Hey Amethyst sweetheart the new bag of pig food is on the back of your dad's truck okay," she says. "Okay," I say and I head outside.

I live in Florence, Oregon which has a population of 8,921. Yeah, a small town But I can't complain because I love the beach and its rocky shoreline and the forest-- and its beautiful trees that stay green all year long and the soothing sound of our waterfalls. I step outside into the March air and take a breath. My dark brown curly hair flowing in the wind. I go out to feed the cows and horses first then to the chickens and lastly the pigs. I heard a twig snap when I put the food back into the shed. Behind our farm are the woods I would occasionally see deer or rabbits come out of there while I'm riding one of the horses or doing farm work so I don't think anything of it and walk back inside and get ready for school. 

I walk back into the kitchen and I sit down and eat my breakfast with my mom. "Hey, where's dad?" I ask. "Went to go pick up something," she says. Hopefully, it's a car for me I turned sixteen last week and I've been waiting on my car ever since. My mom owns the local drugstore I work there on weekends and sometimes after school. 

"Oh there's a new family in town they own a line of meat shops and they're opening one downtown," my mom says. "Entrepreneurs I wonder why would they move to a small town," I say. "Some people like small towns. Oh and they have three kids two girls and one boy so be welcoming I know you and Pandora are a part of the welcoming committee, but just don't show them around and be done with them" she says. "Yeah sure no problem," I say.

People in this town love the news of new people which I'll never understand I mean people move around all of the time.

 I hear the horn of my best friend's car outside. "Alright, bye mom," I say as I give her a kiss on the cheek.

I walk outside and get into my friend's jeep. "Hello, my favorite girlfriend," she says. "Hi and I'm your only girlfriend," I say giggling a little.

 Pandora and I have been best friends since preschool. I've always been the girl that keeps to herself and felt I was different from others. On the first day of preschool, I sat by myself on the swings and a little girl with flaming locks of red hair and emerald green eyes came up to me and asked do I wanna be friends with her and we've been inseparable ever since.

"So you know there's some new kids in town right?" she asks. "Yeah, my mom just told me about that," I say. "I know them," she says. "How?" I ask. "Well I don't know them but, my mom does from college but she was never friends with them," she says. "Oh that's cool," I say. Pandora is the preppy type people tell us all the time that they can't believe that we're friends because we're polar opposites. That's what I like most about Pandora she's always positive no matter what. 

"So you know we have to show them around!" she says all excited. "Yeah, I guess," I say. I'm not much of a people person I'm the girl that goes on adventures alone in the forest and draws what I see takes it home paints them and sells some paintings and sometimes keeps them for myself.

We pull into the student parking lot and of course, every clique is standing by their cars. Pandora parks next to our guy best friend Major. Major is kind of a nerd but he's funny so we like to keep him around. Major gets picked on a lot and that's actually how we became friends one day I got sick Jaxon Davis picking on him so I put sand in his underpants which made him itch for a week.