Clockwork Daisy

Chapter 1

Ellie

Chapter 1

I still had the taste of summer on my tongue. Sunlight was stuck in the strands of my hair, fresh cut grass tickled my pudgy toes, and sun tan oil slithered down my back. Every breath I took tasted like saltwater and vanilla bean. I always had withdrawal symptoms the first few weeks after coming back from our summer house on the shore, but this time had been especially hard. We flew to our residence in New York, packed up our heirlooms, and took a plane halfway across the country to California. My parents were relocating me a week before I was to start my sophomore year of high school. 

They gave me the news whilst we were at the beach house. I was returning from a sand castle competition with some seasonal friends, pales in our callused hands and towels tied around our waists like thick skirts. I could sense something was off when I saw my mother pacing and fiddling with her pearl necklace, something she did whenever she was nervous. I told my friends they best not come inside for dinner and sprinted to the porch.

"Ellen." I swear, my parents were the only people left in the world who didn't call me Ellie. "Perfect timing. Your father and I need to talk to you." She placed her hand on the small of my bathing suit clad back and led my inside. 

The atmosphere was stale and uncomfortable. My mother didn't even flinch when I sat on the milk-white couch, even though I was covered in sand. My father straightened the collar of his expensive polo shirt and then stuffed his hands into his khaki pockets. He looked first to my spaced out mother, then to me. "We're leaving the shore a little earlier than usual this year."

"Did someone die?" It was the only logical explanation I could think of in my water logged brain. 

"No, dear, no one died." He ran a hand through his flawlessly shampooed, glossy brown hair. "We're leaving early so we can go home to New York and pack. We are moving to California."

I swallowed the news like a spoonful of lard. It slid down my throat like a rock and landed in my stomach with an echoing thud. "California?" 

 "The world headquarters of Marlow and Company is in Los Angeles." He'd worked for Marlow and Company, a high class contracting company aimed mostly toward millionaires and celebrities, in New York City. Needless to say, he was very respected. "They've offered me a job."

"Los Angeles?" I felt like a geography teacher, rattling off places easily found on a map. 

"We won't be living in the big city." My mother's smooth voice suddenly entered the conversation. "It'll be like in New York, we'll live in a suburb of sorts."

"St. Wisteria." My father added. "The town we are moving to is called St. Wisteria."

"So you're serious, then?" My parents gave me a quizzical look, but I carried on. "We are actually moving? I'll have to start high school all over again!" I was standing up now, towel slowly sliding off my waist.

My mother put a hand to her chest. "Ellen, I understand you're upset, but..."

"But what? You want me to just accept that I will be leaving everything I know behind? My school, my friends...my life?" I stomped my foot on the ground and felt like a toddler. 

My father rubbed his wrinkle filled forehead, obviously annoyed. "Ellen..."

"I need to get out of here." I ran over to the laundry room, threw on the first watercolor sundress I could find, and slammed the front door. My parents didn't even try to slow me down. I was a crackling fire, ready to take down an entire house. Preferably the one we were to move into in St. Wisteria.