Dreams of America

Moving to America

"Mum get off I'm going to be late!" But my mums embrace didn't soften. "Mum come on now." Slowly her arms went limp and she pulled away, smiling up at me tearfully.

"Alright, go on Leila, be careful. I love you, call me when you land."
I blew a kiss to her as I rushed away and joined the queue for the final check in. This was it, I was on the way to America to live my dream.
The flight from London to LA was not as bad as I thought; there were films to watch and I ended up chatting a lot to the family next to me.

When I stepped off the plane I felt a rush of excitement and nervousness. Mum's cousin was meeting me at LAX and taking me to an apartment that I'd brought when I came here with Mum a couple of months earlier, when I got my acceptance letter to the Los Angeles School of the Arts. This had always been my dream and I was finally living it.

I collected my luggage and met up with Ricky. He was 28, exactly ten years older then me and eleven years younger than my Mum. I'd met him quite a lot when he still lived in England, but he moved out to San Diego to become a Marine Biologist. Everything ran smoothly; collecting my luggage, meeting Ricky, driving to the apartment. It felt so surreal I almost couldn't believe it.

The apartment was small with one bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and a study. But most of it was open plan which meant I could practise dancing (one of the main reasons why I brought the flat). We decorated the study and bathroom when me and Mum came out here, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
Before I went to sleep, I remembered that Mum had asked me to ring her. In the mix of unpacking I had completely forgotten.

The tone rang and rang before finally; "Leila! Oh my, I've been waiting for you to call for ages! Are you okay? Did something happen?". She gushed down the phone.

"No Mum, calm down I'm fine! I just got a bit pre-occupied unpacking and stuff, sorry." I giggled. She always overreacted.

"Don't laugh at me missy! You're halfway across the world, not in the room next door like you used to be - I have every right to worry."

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. Love you Mum." I sighed.

"Love you too, now have you got everything ready for school! You start tomorrow in case you've forgotten."

"No I haven't forgotten silly, and yes I have."

"Good girl, now you better go to sleep. Night Leila."

"Night Mum."

That night I went to sleep feeling complacent and happy. I was finally living how I always wanted.

Authors Note: Sorry the boys aren't in it yet, they'll be making their appearance in the next chapter.