The Notes We Write

3.

The kitchen was way bigger than the one we used to have. I eyed the oven on the side. I have always loved baking, I was looking forward to doing that again in this kitchen. I also saw a kettle with my favourite tea bags next to it. I had to thank grandma for that later.

I climbed up the stairs to the second floor. I took a quick look at Nova's room, and at my parents' one. I was sure Nova was going to love her room. She had white coloured walls with little bird stickers on them. Her bed was white with light pink bed sheets. Next to her bed stood a little bedside table, on that stood a picture of me and her at the beach in a pretty frame. Her wardrobe on the other side of the room. Her toys and stuffed animals were in a pink basket next to the wardrobe. Grandma and the aunties did a great job!

The walls in Mum and Dad's room were a light grey. They had the same bed as back home.. I mean in our old house. The same black double bed I remember sleeping in when I was little. I sat on it and smelled the bed sheets, but, because they just had been washed, they didn't smell like they used to. I smiled at the photos on the wall. Me holding Nova when she was born. Me with Sophie on the first day of elementary school. Nova showing the camera the sandcastle she had made on the beach. And lastly a picture of the four of us last summer.

Before I could get too sad I walked out of the room, and went in to the bathroom. The bathroom held a shower and bath in one, a toilet, and a sink with a mirror above it. I was happy that we had a bath, because I love taking baths. Plopping a bathbomb in, and just read for at least two hours. I find it amazing. The floor and the walls both had simple white tiles. There also stood a small white cupboard with towels in it. The bathroom was still pretty empty, we yet had to buy shampoos and soaps. There was still a lot to buy, not only bathroom stuff. We practically had no food, so we'd probably go grocery shopping tomorrow.

I climbed up another set of stairs, and finally got to my room. You still had to go through a door before you would actually be in my room, so I did have some privacy. When I opened the door I felt a bit overwhelmed. Maybe I was a bit dramatic, but you have to understand that I had never moved before.

The room itself was way bigger than my old room was. Before we left, my parents let me pick out a double bed. That same bed was now standing in the middle of the room, against the wall. I had white bedsheets with grey dots on them. White and baby blue cushions laid on the bed.

I opened my wardrobe, and saw that all my clothes were already in them. I grabbed my favourite jumper and pulled it over my head. I didn't care that it was sunny outside, I just needed a little comfort. It wasn't that I didn't like my room, I even loved it. It was just that all my stuff was now in this unfamiliar house, I just hadn't warm up to.

On the other side of the wall stood my two bookcase, filled with all the books I had brought along. They were sorted by author, I noticed when I took a quick glance. I probably would sort them by colour later, I always did that. I liked all my things organised, to have a spot for everything, and know exactly where everything was.

Next to the door stood my desk. On top of it, a couple of photos and candles. There also was an cardboard box I didn't recognise. It were my schoolbooks that the school had sent me. I took them out of the box, and flipped through them. I saw English, French, Maths, science, geography, world history, economics, and Canada history and government. I had never learnt about that last one, but I was excited to. I had always been very interested in history and how the political system worked.

My eye fell on my keyboard in the corner of the room. My parents had given it to me for my fifteenth birthday, and I had gotten quite attached to it since then. My fingers slid over the keys. I turned it on, and slowly started playing. "Am I asking all these questions for nothing? I'm wondering if anyone's there. And I really need to make a confession. I hate to say that I'm a little bit scared" I silently sung, the last words getting stuck in my throat. I wrote that song a couple months ago, when Mum and Dad had told me we were going to move here.

I couldn't stop my tears as the were silently rolling over my cheeks. I was about to pick up my phone and call Sophie for help when I saw the door slowly open. Auntie Rita came in and closed the door behind her. As soon as she saw my face, she rushed to my side. She walked up to my bed, and sat on top of it. She pulled me to her side, and I laid my head down on her shoulder.

Auntie Rita had always been able to calm me down quickly. She wiped the last tears from my cheeks and kissed me on top of my head. "So what's wrong?" She asked me sitting up a little straighter but still having her arm wrapped around my shoulder.

"I'm scared" I told her silently. She furrowed her eyebrows "what of?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, everything. The new house, new people in school, not having Sophie there. I know it's stupid, I just.. I don't know" I tried to explain to her.

"It's not stupid" she said as she put her head on mine. "It's normal to be scared. This is going to be your first year on a Canadian school, on top of that all you don't know any one there. I'd be scared as hell too. But I know how smart of a girl you are, how hard you work, and I know that you're going to get good grades because that's what you always do. If the kids in your class don't see you for the amazing person you are, then that's their loss."

We were both quiet after that. Rita had helped me putting my worries a side. They weren't entirely gone, but I did feel a bit better. "Thank you Rita" She smiled back at me. "Of course Hails. You know you can always call me. By the way, do you want to go shopping with me tomorrow? We could buy school supplies, and maybe something else than dungarees your closet seems to be full of."

My closet was really full of dungarees, I had them in all sorts of colours and shapes. I just really like them, they're comfortable but still pretty. In winter I wore them with sweaters underneath and in summer I would wear short ones with a t-shirt underneath.

After I'd agreed to go with her tomorrow, she asked me if I was ready to go down again. I told her that after I had called Sophie, I would join her.

It was 5 pm here, which meant that it was 11 pm at Sophie's. Since it was still summer break, she probably would still be up. I clicked on her name in my contacts. Her face appeared on my screen. "Hailey! I was waiting for you to call me!" She exclaimed.

I told her about the flights, I showed her my room, I told her about my school books, and we promised that we'd see each other soon. We talked until Mum called me to come down and eat. I said goodbye to her and promised her to call her tomorrow.

When I came downstairs, I saw that they had ordered pizza. Mum smiled at me when she gave me my pizza. "Are you okay?" She asked me, putting my hair behind my ear. "Yeah" I smiled, and I meant it. Because I knew I would be okay, even though I didn't feel that way right now, I would be.

I sat down next to Nibbit, Lottie and Grace. I chatted with them for a while. I hadn't seen them in a year, so we had a lot of catching up to do. They told me about their school and about their friends. Lottie went to her first concert with my aunt, she excitedly told me about it.

It was already late when the rest of the family left, and I was pretty tired. Nova had been in bed before they left, but I stayed up. "I'm going to bed" I announced to my parents as I kissed them on their cheeks. They smiled lovingly, wishing me a good night.

I almost immediately fell asleep, as I laid under the warm sheets. I managed to keep my worries out of my mind the whole evening. I didn't even think about it when I fell sleep, I was just looking forward to go shop with auntie Rita.

A.N.

I'm not actually from Canada myself, so I'm sorry if I got some of the subjects, that are mentioned here, wrong. Also, the song Hailey was singing in this chapter and supposedly wrote, is Understand by Shawn Mendes. This story is going to have more songs in it which they "write". I just wanted to give you this heads up, in case someone gets offended by that.

X N