New State, New Life

Chapter 1

We step into yet another restaurant. We have been to so many over the last 3 days, I'm tired of them. Which is not normal for a teenager. But since my father thought it smart to drive all the way from North Carolina to Michigan instead of flying, we have stopped at so many Applebee's, Denny's and McDonald's, that I'm sick of fast food. But I know this journey is coming to a close. We have finally stopped at the last city until our destination. Western Jackson. But our new 'home' is in a small town in lower Michigan, Parma. You may be wondering, where is Parma? You may have even gotten on your smart phone and looked it up on google maps. That's partially the reason my father picked this city. Because it's small and no one knows where it is. The other reason, of course, is it's near where my father got his new job. (The whole reason for this expedition from warm, sunny, homeland, North Carolina, to cold, cloudy, strange new land, Michigan.) Can you tell I'm not happy about this change? I'v made it very clear to my parents by wearing NC clothes and commenting on the drop of temperature the whole way up. I think they're as happy as I am to have arrived.
The waitress steps up to us and asks in a strange accent (which I'm slowly becoming used to) "Hello! Welcome to Applebee's! Four?"
"Yes" my dad replies in a suppressed NC accent. (He's been suppressing his accent since we started our journey to try to seem 'normal')
"Booth or table" the waitress continues.
"Booth please" my father replies.
She nods and tells us to follow her. She walks past the other booths filled with people, to our table in the corner.
We go through the motions of ordering drinks, and since I'm tired of all the soda, I order iced tea.
"So are you excited to see our new house?" My dad asks, pure excitement etched on his face.
"Yes darling" my mom answers patiently for the hundredth time.
My brother automatically nods, paying no attention to the conversation and texting his friends under the table, as he has been since we left our home in NC.
My parents look at me and I shrug, pulling out my iPod and sticking the headphones into my ears under my NC sweatshirt when my parents look away to order a appetizer in 'celebration on making it to Michigan' . But my peaceful bliss of country music comes to a end when they notice my earbuds and Alex's phone.
"Put those away!" My mother whispers angrily, "you've been using them all day for the last three days! Enough!"
"Don't you guys realize the importance of this moment?" My dad continues in his usual importance speech, "we are literally 20 minutes from not only our new town, but our new house, and our new life!"
I roll my eyes and go back to listening to my music, which is cut off when my mother reaches over and tears the buds out of my ears and takes the iPod. My dad does the same to Alex and his phone.
"It's family time. Family time doesn't consist of iPads and cell phones." My mom says in a low, 'your in deep trouble' voice.
~It's an iPod. an iPOD.~ I scream in my mind, bottling up my anger and holding back the tears of a break down.
~I can't take much more of this~ I think, knowing I need a room and bed to myself.
The waitress comes back to our table with our drinks and passes them out, noticing the tension but continuing to smile.
I grab my drink, parsed from the long trip and take a huge swig. Only to spit it back out into the cup.
My parents look at me in confusion, and I say,
"It's unsweetened." And push the bitter tea away.
They roll their eyes and my mother gets some sugar from the condiment stand and throws it at me.
I catch the packets and drain all 4 into my tea. I look up to see the people in the other booth staring in disgust. I stare back and take a huge swig of the now sweet tea, Never breaking eye contact, until I let out a satisfied 'ahh'.
My parents scowl. I just shrug and look at the menu to find a meal.
So far I'm not liking Michigan.

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