Lena's Love

New Neighbours

Another new town, another reset on my life. I am used to moving around a lot because of my sperm donor's job, but the difference is now we are moving to get away from his cheating ass, instead of following blindly. He walked out on my beautiful mother and our family for some dull college graduate only a few years older then me. I try not to think about him and the home-wrecker though, as it only sends me down a murderous path.

His unfaithfulness has deeply hurt my mom who keeps belittling her worth, and is tough on my younger brother Adrian, who has just got into a good routine and was doing really well keeping things under control. He has high functioning autism, so he struggles with communication, change, and has a very strict routine he has to stick to or else he goes into melt down mode. Losing his dad and moving half way across the state has not been good for him, but the situation is starting to improve. Still, we never should have had to go through this heartbreak in the first place.

I will never forgive Jonathon Stone for the unnecessary hurt and pain he has caused us.

My full name is Valentina Celeste Stone, which is way too fancy for plain old me. I prefer to go by Lena, although my mother insists on using my full name, and uses my 14-hour birth against me when I try to convince her to call me what I want. Now I've just given up. I don't like makeup (but wear it to cover the odd stubborn spot and magic some confidence) and I have simple features you would gloss over in a crowd. My mother is stunning and is often mistaken for my sister, but sadly did not share any of her model genes with me. Muddy brown bug-eyes, shoulder-length dirty blonde hair and an apple-shaped figure makes up my average appearance. My face is cluttered by brown freckles, which only get more pronounced in the sun as my skin tinges red. I am paler then Snow White and don't have a hope to God to tan naturally.

It is vexing that we have been forced to move again after Jonathon promised he would just travel in future and we would settle down in one place for a good few years, (mainly for Adrian's benefit), but I would move countries if it meant we did not have to see him again. I will miss my friends, but I am sure I will meet some new people I can latch onto to get through my final year of high school. I have never had a best friend I felt like I could bare my soul too, but it has never bothered me as I don't mind being alone, and I am blessed to have a wonderful mother and brother I love spending time with. As we are always moving around I never let myself get too attached people either, as it will just make it more painful to say goodbye.

Maybe this year will be different.

We arrived at our new house yesterday, which is fortunately an identical copy to the picture in the cosy estate brochure. Stretching out of sight on either side of the road are identical semi detached houses, each with a path running down the left side separating them from the next block of two. The tidy front gardens with matching grey stone steps are bounded with low brick walls. The front bay windows are square and turreted, a long vista of copy and paste running down the stretch of the estate. Our new house, number 61, is clean and geometric, built with regency-coloured bricks, three sparkling windows and a standard whitewash front door. The rooms inside were empty, the bare walls devoid of the usual smiling framed faces, making it feel cold and unlived in. It has as much personality as a blank page, and the hollow rooms make it feel like a box just to put people in.

Last night was rough as the van holding all of our belongings got lost, and we had to sleep on the floor with just a few blankets over us. The van rolled up at seven this morning though, so we are now surrounded with cardboard boxes scrawled on in black felt-tip marker, and black garbage bags full of clothes with white parcel labels stuck on them. I don't know how long we are going to be camping out in a house full of boxes as I'm fine with just having the essentials out, and I'm sure my mom will just relocate anything I put away.