no matter what, no matter where

Chapter 1: going home

"Again!"

My coach yells at me as I repeat my combination; jab, uppercut, roundhouse kick, back kick, side kick, jab. I breath out air with every move as I attack my opponent, succefully hitting him.

"Good, point for Rachel." I smirk at Mateo, who returns a lopsided grin. Mateo has been training with me for the last two years, from the moment that my parents had enough of my sulking at home, they sent me to the gym and signed me up for the first thing on the list. And this is how I ended up doing kickboxing.

Now that's good parenting.

I take off my protections and throw them in my bag. I turn to my coach and give him a hug. This was the last training lesson I would have with him, as I'm returning to California the next day. A tear escapes my eye, before I quickly wipe it away. I smile at coach Lorenzo, he was to one who put me back on my feet after I moved to Spain, I had no friends and didn't speak Spanish, so you can imagine how I felt in this mysterious country. He was nice to me and introduced me to everyone here at the gym, plus, he spoke fluent English so that helped a lot. To think that I used to hate sport, I couldn't run for more than 5 minutes and couldn't do more then 10 push ups.

"Take care okay, Rachel? Text me whenever you need help with your techniques, and don't forget, elbows in when you kick!" I laugh heartily at him. Mateo, comes up at me.

"Adiós Rachel, ven a visitarnos pronto!"( Goodbye Rachel, come and visit us soon!)

"Por supuesto!"(Of course!) I grin at him as we hug goodbye, after 2 years in Spain, I have become fluent in Spanish. I go to the changing room and put on a pair of sweats, carrying my bag on a shoulder. I leave the gym, hugs and farewells are received by everybody I know.

I walk home, I never did have good friends here in Spain as I mostly kept to myself, and I lost all contact with Hanna, Emma, Claire and Coral as well. They never visited...It's been so long, I have changed a lot too. My brown hair decided to grow, my curves filled out, I'm definitely much taller (thank god) and I also lost some weight, due to the constant exercise that I withhold. I plug my AirPods as I start running; after all the goodbyes I have lost track of time. I wave at my neighbors as I enter our home. The house is now completely empty, as all our stuff had been shipped this morning.

I put my keys at the counter and go upstairs. We're all sleeping on the floor tonight, my mom had suggested that we stay in a hotel, but my dad said that it would be 'more fun' this way. Our house is already sold and the couple is going to move in as soon as we leave for the airport tomorrow morning. The flight is at 10am so we should technically be there by 7-8, but no. My mom decided that we should arrive at the airport at 5:30, for extra precaution.

That means that we are going to wake up at 3am. Sigh. I drop my bag on the floor and make my way to the pile of clothes on the ground, I pick them up and take them to the bathroom, where I take a quick shower and change into my clean clothes. I stay in my room, listening to my music, nodding my head to Eminem's beat. The song changes and Ariana's vocals fill my ears. I try to sing along only to sound like a dying seagull.

"Rachellllll" I hear my moms voice travel through the empty house, leaving three different echoes. I turn off my music and run downstairs.

"What?"

"We are eating pizza, please bring the boxes to the kitchen." I do as I'm told and bring the pizza boxes to the kitchen table, while my mom takes off her shoes. My dad comes in behind her.

We eat in silence, with the occasional packing question that my mom asks my dad and vise versa, we finish tidying the place and head to bed-oops, floor. We head to floor.

Ok that makes no sense.

I sleep directly in my plane clothes, knowing that I'll be too tired to change tomorrow.

*beep* *beep* *beep*

I'm woken up by the irritating sound of my alarm. I turn it off and go back to sleep, it's not like I have anything important to do today. That's when I remember that today we're moving.

"Shit!" I bolt on my feet, quickly packing my stuff and putting it in suitcase. I go to the bathroom and braid my hair into two boxer braids, I splash my face with water, attempting to make myself more alive. I brush my teeth and walk downstairs, my sipuitcase making a banging noise with every step.

"Can't you lift it up?" My dad scolds me.

"It's too heavy!" I hiss. No it's not, I'm just like, really lazy.

"Nonsense Rachel." Too late, I'm already at the end of the stairs, I give my dad a smug look as I walk to the taxi. Our car is already in LA, waiting for us to come home. The taxi driver takes my bags, I thank him and enter the vehicle. I make myself as small as possible as I look out the window. I'm going to miss Alicante, I must say that with time, it grew on me, but I still can't wait to go back to my friends and family. I wonder how they look like right now. I smile as I slid down further into my seat.

When we arrive at the airport, my father pays the man and we head inside. After we wait in all the lines, we finally arrive at the gate, with 2 hours and a half to spare. I go to the bathroom twice, I go through all the shops at least three times and I explore the food mall, then I start walking. I walk around and around for what feels like eternity when finally they announce the first baording call. I look at my ticket and I see that we are premium economy, after around 20 minutes they finally call our group. I smile at the attendant as he shows me my seat. I have the window seat, next to me are my mother and father. Exhausted, I fall asleep even before the take off. And all I can think of is;

Here I go....again.