Alice

Chapter One - The News

"You what?!" I didn't mean to shout as loud as I did but I was in shock. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there like glass about to shatter into a million pieces. My mother did warn me to sit down but I didn't think it was this bad.

Today was going very well, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, I hadn't seen Zoe or Dylan today either. The lessons went by in a blur which was abnormal because usually the day goes so slow I forget what year I'm in. After school me and Poppy went to the shopping centre so that Poppie can buy herself a dress for her date with Aaron on Saturday. She did try to get me a date with his best friend but I refused a couple of times. Nathan looked as uncomfortable as I did. 

Her mum dropped me off home after receiving a message from my mum telling me she needs to talk to me. On the ride home, my heart was beating so loud I swear you could hear it over the radio. Poppie sat next to me telling me everything was fine and that I wasn't in trouble. I never got into trouble.

I had only walked through the door two seconds and she laid the devastating news on me. Thickly. My whole day was now ruined, I don't want to leave my best friend behind. I don't want to leave the small town I grew up in, I had so many memories here and when I leave, those memories will fade eventually.

"Stop overreacting" she said rolling her eyes at me.

I could see that she was nervous about telling me this devastating blow, I looked down at her hands and her perfectly grown nails had one shorter than the rest, my poor mother was that nervous she started chewing her nails again, this must be very nerve wracking for her. I looked back up to her, her eyes filled with worry and her hair stuck up in all kinds of directions as her neat bun had turned into a birds nest.

"Mum, what do you mean by overreacting? You just said I'm going to leave everything and everyone behind to move halfway across the world, I'm not going to sit here and say yeah that's totally fine, it's not like a have a life..."

"I didn't say that you didn't have a life sweetheart, this is as much a shock to me than it is to you, don't you think I am worried about this?" she burst out, interrupting me.

She sat down on the edge of the sofa and buried her head in her hands before lifting it back up and fiddling with her fingers, my mum did this when she was upset. I took a deep breath and sat down beside her, I lifted my hand and placed it on top of hers.

"Don't worry mum, we will get through this thing together.. I promise" I said softly with a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, we will have to move very shortly and I have a lot to sort out back at the office and I also need to pack up the house.."

"Mum." I said before she could say any more.

"I will help pack, so stop worrying so much about this. Just breath"

I sat there and watched her inhale and exhale, it was mesmerizing watching her shoulders go up and down as she relaxed. After she exhaled she opened her eyes and smiled at me.

"Chinese?" she nudged me in my side with her scrawny elbow. She looked a lot more thinner than she has done for a while. I did tell her she needed to eat more but her excuse was that she was too busy to cook a meal. I laughed and stood up.

"Sure, I'll go get the phone and the menu" I trudged off to the kitchen grabbing the menu out of the junk draw and the phone from the side.

Later that night we ordered Chinese, that took way too long to arrive. The delivery guy was trying to flirt as he handed the food over slowly but I brushed it off. We watched a movie on Netflix that we picked out whilst waiting for our food. After we ate and the movie finished, we talked for a while, we laughed and cried too but not once did we talk about the move, I didn't want to make her worry again, I just wanted her to relax even if it was for this one night.

There were two questions that were burning in the back of my mind and that was, why are we moving? And why so soon? I got up off the sofa softly abandoning the warm embrace forgetting how cold the air was, I forgot to shut the window again. I made sure not to wake my mum, I spun around shutting the window quietly, I grabbed a spare blanket from the guest room and covered her so she wouldn't get cold during the night.

I ventured back up the stairs and headed to my room climbing into my queen sized bed, I pulled the quilt up to my face snuggling down into the covers. It was too late to have a shower, I would have to wake up early to be able to get one in before school. I stretched out, set my alarm twice and fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke up on the second alarm, rose from the sheets rubbing my eyes and releasing my hair from its ties. I yawned a couple times before stepping out of the bed and into the shower. I made sure I was dry before putting my black matching underwear, navy jeans and white tank top on. I put mascara on along with a touch of lip gloss, grabbed my cardigan from my wardrobe, slipped my converse on and snatched my bag from the back of the chair.

Today will be a good day. I chanted over and over again in my head.

Won't it?