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I pressed my fingers onto my neck and stared down at the magazine I was reading, well, looking at the pictures. The girls in the magazine were what I was sulking over. Their small yet beautiful bodies were so different than my own. Though I was quite petite, I was definatly not as good looking as the girls in this magazine. I quickly shut the magazine with a huff.
"We're almost there," my mother said with an easily noticed smile in her high-pitched voice. She seemed to mistake my huff of jealousy for a sigh of boredom.
I just slyly rolled my eyes and tilted my head to look out the window. The cool air rushed in once again and I jammed my finger down on the button that would release me of my windy trap. The window slid up slowly, a little too slowly, but up at that.
Resting my chin on the palm of my hand, I sighed and looked at the trees that went by our quickly moving car.
"It's not as bad as you're already giving it credit for and you know it, Rose," my mother turned her head slightly to glance at me out of the corner of her golden eyes.
"It can't be any better than New York," I mumbled softly, so she could barely hear. Her eyes went hard, and she glared at me, still with only one eye. One of her many skills, and a strange one at that. But what about my mother wasn't really strange?
"It's better than New York City, you'll realize it when we settle in. The movers already brought everything over, and it's ready to be lived in. Plus, isn't this better than living with d-"
"Yes, it's better than living with him, but I'm just saying, I won't like it," I cut her off. She turned her head back towards the black road, ending our conversation with just her body movements. I glared out the window at nothing in particular, I just needed to get the glare out of my system. The trees were still speeding by so quickly, I had no time to even realize what types of trees they were. Most were just pine trees, green needles from the summer. I could almost smell their piny scent from in the car.
After a few more minutes, they seemed like mere seconds compared to our long drive, we pulled into a gravel driveway. I could tell it was gravel from the crunching noises our Ford Edge created when the tires met the tiny pebbles. My mother sighed happily and glanced up at our new house. The grass had barely even grown in. The house was white, with windows of every size. It loomed over our neighbors house like a bully. The red door had a design on the front, and the porch was small, almost not even there.
When our car came to a halt, my mother opened her door and stepped out onto the gravel, her feet making a slight crunch in it.
"Wow," my mother breathed.
I opened my door and stood up as well as her, and looked at our new house. Not so amazing, I thought to myself, walking towards the door.
"Here's the key!" my mom yelled, making me turn around and reach up just in time for the clinking keys to land in my hand. She motioned for me to go in, and then turned to get some of our bags out of the trunk. I shoved the key into the hole and turned it until I heard the click of the door unlocking. I opened the door slowly, and looked around at our new house.
It wasn't that amazing, I decided. My mother walked behind me soon, and looked inside with a wild gasp. I just laughed and walked upstairs, where my room was.
"Don't stay up there too long, Rose. We need to go into town and get some groceries. I want you to come and pick something out," my mother hollered after me. I just nodded and kept walking until I reached the door to my room. I opened it with another sigh, and sat down on my bed. My bed was the only thing that wasn't new in this house, so I was more than happy to just sit on something I recognized. I looked around my small room, at the dark end table, the stereo on it, and my dresser. The room was plain. It would suit me.
I sat back and closed my eyes, imagining I was with my friends in New York.

"Rosie! You can't leave! We love you too much!" My friends had said when I shared the news with them that I would be moving here, to .
"I have to, Mom says that we can't live here anymore because she 'can't afford it'," I made sure my words were soaked in quotations.
"But Rosie, you're supposed to help me pick out a dress for prom," Anna had whined.
"Anna, prom isn't for a long time, I can email you all the time if it makes you feel better," I smiled, she however, frowned.
"It won't be the same," she looked away.
"Oh you'll be fine Anna," I hugged her tiny shoulders and smiled. She just sighed and hugged me back tight.

"Rose!" My mother yelled, snapping me back into reality. I looked at my clock next to me, 4:32. She probably wanted to go to the grocery store, if she ever found it. I stood up, with yet, another sigh breaking out of my lips.
"Coming," I said, just loud enough for her to hear my downstairs. I trotted down the steps quickly, and slid my coat over my pale shoulders.
"Ready to go Rose?" My mother asked me, looking at my tired eyes.
"No, but let's go," I sighed, opening the door. I slipped out into the cool air and took a deep breath. The scent of pine was fresh and dominant in the clean air. Not at all like it was in New York, one deep breath and you got lung cancer there. I glided to the car and sat in the passenger seat. My mother quickly hopped into the driver side and turned the key in the ignition, our car roared to life.
While we were on our way to the grocery store, my mother barely spoke. She was glancing at her built in GPS every few seconds, even though it told us when to turn. My mother was one person to never get lost. She made sure she knew where she was going at all times. Never really needing a second glance at a map or our GPS, but she kept her eyes on them anyway. It took awhile to get used to. And even longer to trust her enough not to wreck while her mind was elsewhere, besides her driving. When the GPS gave it's final turn, in fifty feet, we pulled into the grocery store's parking lot. Bland. The whole building was a faded white brick with a yellowish tint. The windows were glass, large. And the parking lot was nearly empty. Was everything in this town so boring?
"It's so tiny," I said grumpily, "I doubt it will have any of the food we normally ate in the City."
"Oh, please Rose, give it a chance, for me?" My mom's eyes pleaded with me. I just rolled mine and opened the door when she stopped in one of the many vacant parking spaces. She sighed nearly at the same time I did and we made our way up the cracked blacktop to the glass doors. Getting a closer look I could see smudges from little kids on the windows and door, lovely. Couldn't they clean? Almost on cue a damp rag glided across the glass, when it slid down completely, and parted from the glass, I saw who the hand belonged to. He looked plain. His brown hair hanging down over one dark looking eye, which was looking at my mother and I. He was eighteen, seventeen maybe. My mother barely noticed him as I tried to access him in my mind. I hoped the spirits of the people here were better than the looks of it. When we walked into the store, he stopped washing the windows and smiled politely. His teeth were perfectly white, a contrast against the faded walls and floors. Not so bland smile. My mother smiled a goofy looking smile and said hello.
"Hello," he said softly, shyly, then turned back to the windows after I caught his uncovered eye glancing our way once more.
My mother nudged me playfully in the side and winked, then walked along. She usually figured that she could pick out my next boyfriend, she usually, was wrong. Sometimes I was embarassed to be around her. The nudges she bestowed upon me were so noticable, the 'to-be' boyfriend candidate always noticed. It seemed this one-eyed one had not, to my relief. He wasn't even the kind of guy I would glance twice at, and the fact that my mom would, kind of freaked me out. As we left the fresh air of the doors, I caught a scent of cleaner and dust, a mixture that's not very normal. My mother leaned down and scooped up a basket, always skipping the shopping carts, one thing I never understood. She usually ended up carrying half of the things we picked out anyway.
We walked down the aisles slowly, and I soon found out that I was wrong. They had most of the food I was accustomed to in The City. We tossed random things in the basket, not much, but just enough. There was the slight possibility that the only reason they had the food I liked, was because the food I liked was basically meat and garlic bread. Which every store should have, no matter where you are.
After we picked out just enough to get by on, my mother scoped out the counter and I followed. She shoved the basket onto the counter and began pulling the food out. The man behind the counter smiled. What was with these people and smiling? I hoped that when I had to start school here people didn't smile like idiots at me all the time.
"Hello," the man said. He spoke loudly. It was in a way very nerve wracking.
"Hi there," my mom smiled back at him as he began to scan the items.
"You must be new around here, I know most people in this town. Considering they have to come here to shop," he nodded once and waited for my mother's answer.
"Oh, well yes we just moved here. In fact this is the first place we came to," she paused, "I'm Bree and this is Rose." I noticed that she didn't say 'daughter'. Hopefully that wasn't for the mans benefit. That would be my mother, always acting single and childless.
"Mark," he smiled again. If I was lucky he didn't notice the whole act she just gave. "Well I think you'll like this town well enough, in case you haven't noticed, it's a little plain. But the people here are very friendly. So I don't think you'll have any worries of robbery or anything like that. The poor police station is dormant for the most part. Forty one dollars on the nose."
"That's good," she scanned her credit card.
"Very much so really. I don't actually have an alarm system here. I trust people that much." Strange. Why share that with us?
"Alright, well it was nice meeting you Matt," my mother grabbed the bags and turned.
"Mark," he corrected.
"Right, excuse me."

After we'd put all the food in the new white cupboards, my mom began unpacking her little knick knacks all around the house. She collected candles and anything old. I, myself, didn't collect anything. But I always figured she collected enough for the both of us. I decided to check out the house a little more. I'd seen pictures, known the layout, but this was all before all of our furniture was moved in. The home was supposedly really old. But the couple that lived in it before had made some improvements so it looked quite new by my standards. I walked from the kitchen to the living room, looking around. It was decorative, sure, but not really my taste. The rooms were all definatly large. I flung myself onto the couch and pressed the power button on the remote for the TV. Static. My mother said we should have the cable by now, but if we didn't, not to fret. I closed my eyes and layed my head back, a slight headache creeping into my skull.

"Why?" That was all Oliver had said when I told him I'd be moving.
"Because my mom found a great job there, I guess, I don't know. Plus she thinks the city is bad for me or something," I answered him, sounding a little weak.
"Great. Who's homework am I going to copy? I'm going to fail, Rosie." He was joking of course, he always teased that I copied him sometimes. Only when I had a very decent reason, like I decided to sleep instead of work.
"I think you'll manage," I laughed softly and looked down. I'd miss him I guessed at that moment. But I think I could manage that better than he not having my homework to copy. Meaning I'd manage just fine.
"I sure hope so. We should throw a huge party for you before you leave. You never have, or go to, parties. Think that would be cool?"
"No. No parties. I'd rather just leave as soon as I can without people fussing over it. And don't think about a surprise one, it'd just make me angry. Not that you'd care. But just for me don't," I sighed.
"Oh come on Rose," he nudged my arm and frowned.
"No, in fact, that can be my farewell gift. No parties. Period. Please."
"Oh, alright, alright. But I think I should be able to do something." Honestly when would he give this up? I'd known Oliver for enough of my life to know he wanted to be more than just what he was. My friend. Not even a close friend. But couldn't he just back off? I'd told him many more times than one that I wasn't interested. Yet he wasn't really hiding it, or trying to it seemed.
"There's not much time to do anything Oliver. I'm leaving when school's out."
There was a short pause that passed then his eyes got a little wide. "That's two weeks Rose!" He looked like he'd cry, but I'd known him long enough to know that when he got either very angry or very sad he just got a look about him that made you think he'd burst into tears at any moment. He never really did.
"Yes, it's two weeks, I just found out like two days ago so don't look at me like that," I had said, noticing the look of pain come over his face.
"How will we keep in touch Rosie?" The pain was more prominant now. It almost hurt me to see him so down, almost. Sure Oliver had twisted my stomach into knots before over some of the things he's said to me. Telling me I look stunning when I was tired out of my mind and decided to skip the mirror. Or when he sometimes looked at me with this funny look on his face, all of it gave my heart a jump.
"It's not like I'm getting cut off from all sources of communication, Oliver! I still have my cell phone. I'm not going to be a stranger just because I'm moving," I had a little trouble saying that, "You can call me whenever."
"I guess, but it won't be the same, will you come visit?" That's the question I really didn't want to hear.
"Aren't you going to college?" I tried to avoid the bombs of sadness he'd throw at me if I said I didn't want to have to drive back and forth much, gas was too expensive.
"Well, yeah, but.." He stopped. I knew I'd easily slid out of the idea of driving for hours.
"Look, you can call me, text me, picture messages, video messages, you name it. Just stop frowning like that. It's depressing, really."
"Sorry," his frown got a little smaller, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

"Rose, what do you want for dinner? Think we could go look around for a resturant or something?" My mother asked me, dragging me yet again to this moment in time.
"Yeah, sure, I'm kind of hungry for italian."
"Goodie," ugh, I hated when she said that, "I'll go start the car, you ready?"
"Umm, yeah just one minute." I pulled myself out of the couch that I had sunk into more than I thought I could and sluggishly climbed the stairs. Remembering how I'd promised Oliver he could call me made me want to have my phone with me at all times. I unplugged my phone from the charger and slid it in my pocket after checking my missed calls, there were none.





Absolutely amazing work. I'll be able to add more as I get the story from the writer. Please people, write what you think about this story on here.