Timeline

The Boy

My mom has a job interview... again. We've been moving around the world for most of my life. We were in Texas a couple years ago and I loved it there. My mom said that we were staying there for a while so I had ended up making a best friend there. But I didn't dare get close to anyone else, just in case we had to leave sooner than expected. After I started getting comfortable in Texas, we moved to California. It wasn't as nice as Texas and I didn't really like it here. But I did NOT want to move again! We've been here for a long time and I wasn't sure I wanted to start over again with a whole new life!

"I don't want to move!" I shouted as I quickly threw everything out of my suitcase that my mom had already put in it.

"We have to, Honey. I need to take this job."

"Why? We could do fine here, ya know! We have been for three years!" I threw up three fingers on my right hand and held the other hand in a tight, clenched fist, which was helping me control my anger a little bit.

"Because it's what your father would have wanted. Plus it's a really nice job opportunity." She looked so annoyed but I didn't really care right now.

"Well, he's not here is he!?" That was probably the worst thing I could've said to her but it didn't matter now. I was too angry to care. Why does everything we do have to be something that would make him happy? He's gone! Can't we do what would make us happy?" Nothing I did or said was going to convince my mom to cancel the plane tickets she already bought. We were flying and making our way towards Florida within the next hour. Tomorrow I will start another new life at a new school. I didn't even get to say good-bye to my friends this time, so it was extra hard to leave.

The next morning, I ate breakfast in our new apartment very slowly, hoping that, if I went slow enough, I'd miss the bus and wouldn't have to go. "Sam, come on. You're going to be late for your first day." She motioned for me to hurry up with her hand.

"That's the point," I muttered. I took another bite of cereal and headed for the door.

Unfortunately I was stuck walking to school because my mom had to be at work right as school was supposed to start and I didn't know the bus schedule yet.

As I walked out of the office from checking in, I didn't feel very welcome or safe at all. People bumped into me, knocking my brand new textbooks into the floor, bending some of the pages. Great.

I wanted so bad to make some friends. Good friends. Ones that I could stay in contact with the next time we moved. But I knew I shouldn't get close to anyone or maybe I shouldn't even make any friends this time. It might make the move a little bit easier next time. There were lots of friendly people, though, and the teachers all seemed nice. But I still resisted the urge to talk to anyone.

The last bell of the day rang loudly as everyone got up to leave. It wasn't that bad of a day, right? It went by quickly, anyway. I walked outside to wait for my mom. She was already there and the first one in line to pick me up. I took a deep breath and headed for her car. I wanted to go home but kind of wanted to walk home. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I got into her oversized vehicle, put my seat belt on, and sighed a heavy sigh. "Here we go." I thought to myself, waiting on the interrogation.

I told her everything about my day just to start the conversation. I told her about how rude the lady that greeted me was and how nice the man that handled my books was. I told her how there were paper airplanes flying around and hitting everyone in every direction possible. I told her that someone ran into me the second I got out of the office. I went through every single possible detail that I could remember from the second I walked onto the property to the second I climbed into her truck. I sighed and was super relieved when I was finished.