Curveball

Chapter 1

Today's the day. After spending hours upon hours of packing up all of our belongings, my family and I were finally moving to Adamston, Pennsylvania.

When I had heard the news about moving away I at first grew angry at my parents. How could they ever think that I would be okay with leaving everything I've ever known behind and starting my senior year with total strangers? But now all I feel is sadness. I don't want to leave my house or my room or even my school, and I sure as hell didn't want to leave my friends.

My best friend, Jo Meyer, was heartbroken when I told her I was moving away, but she knew it was best for my family. See, my entire family lives in and around the Adamston area. My grandfather had passed away around three months ago there so my family decided we should all try to be close together from now on because that's what grandpa would've wanted. He held us together. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, all of us. Without him, we were slowly drifting apart. So a lot of us packed up and moved to Adamston. Sounds dramatic right? All that for a grandpa? But he taught us that family was everything and he was right. Jo understands that.

I also have an older brother, Micky. He's a junior at Adamston University. He figured that going to college closer to our family would make things a lot less stressful for him, and so far it seemed to be working for him.

After shoving the last of my things into my dad's truck we started on our way to our new home. Syracuse, my hometown, is only around two hours away from Adamston so the drive won't be too bad, but all I can think about is my life here at home. How am I gonna handle senior year without Jo by my side?

As my mind starts to wonder about how the school year will turn out I get lost in my thoughts and drift off to sleep.

"Ruth, honey, wake up! We're here!" My mom states excitedly.

She's been looking forward to this for a long time. My eyes flutter open and my gaze is met with a cozy looking home. It's not small, but it's not too big either.

"Wanna give me a hand with these bags Ruth? After all more than half of them are yours." My dad says.

"Hey! You said to pack up everything and I did so no complaining." I tell him.

"Look at this place! Isn't it beautiful? John can I have the keys? I need to get inside already!" My mom yells as she makes her way to the front door.

"Oh yeah sure don't even worry about the bags and boxes honey! Ruth and I got it all under control!" My dad says sarcastically. I can't help but laugh at his remark. Mom's never been one to help with the heavy lifting.

As we finish unloading the last of the boxes and bags we notice two people come out of the house diagonal from us. I assume they're husband and wife by the way the man's hand is placed on the small of her back.

The woman is beautiful. She has a petite figure and long golden hair. The man is also quite slim but seems to be in pretty good shape. He has short brown hair that looks as if it was lightly bleached by being in the sun, but he covers almost all of it with a University of Virginia baseball cap.

"Hello! You must be the Matthews! I'm Diane and this is my husband, David. We basically live across the street from you and wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood!" Diane says as she gives me a hug and then shakes my dad's hand.

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you. I'm John and this is my daughter Ruth. Let me go get my wife, she'd love to meet the new neighbors!" My dad says as he hurries to our house in search of mom.

As he goes to find her, I'm left alone to chat with the middle aged couple.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. ..." I realize they haven't told me their last name.

"Cavanaugh" David states.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh" I correct myself.

Mrs. Cavanaugh looks genuinely happy to be meeting my family and I, but Mr. Cavanaugh looks..bored? Annoyed? Maybe I'm wrong, after all I did just meet this man.

"You look to be around my sons age! He'll be a senior this year at Adamston High School. He's out at a friend's house at the moment but I'm sure he'd love to meet such a pretty girl like yourself! His name is Will." Mrs. Cavanaugh tells me.

I slightly blush when she calls me pretty and I tell her that I too will be a senior at Adamston. That's when I hear the front door of our new house open and my mother shouting her arrival.

"Hi! I'm Julie it's so wonderful to already have met neighbors!

Diane greets her with joy in her eyes and as the women talk about themselves and exchange phone numbers, Mr. Cavanaugh quietly excuses himself from the conversation and makes his way back to his house. I get the feeling he doesn't care too much for new company.

As I hug Diane goodbye I grab some bags and head inside the house. All of our furniture from our old home is already here which causes me to let out a sigh of relief.

I head up the stairs and find my new room. It has two large windows that overlook the backyard and to my surprise it even has glass sliding doors that lead out to a balcony. Definitely an upgrade from my old room. A dark shade of periwinkle covers all four walls and I can't help but love the color. I walk out onto the balcony and see that our back yard has a small patio with a grill and also a small shed off to the side. I want to go and see what's inside but before I do any exploring I plop down on my bed and I start to think about my friends back in Syracuse.

I had sent Jo a text earlier saying that we have made it to the new house safe and sound but I know she's still at field hockey practice.

I also think about our new neighbors and their son, Will. I wonder what he's like? Maybe he'll be my first friend here in Adamston. It wouldn't be until later when I would realize just how wrong that statement would be.