It was nine o’clock when I finally opened my eyes and saw our new house for the first time. It was a pretty average two story house. It was blue with white shutters and a big front yard; a typical household. My eyes adjusted to the light as I opened the car door and stepped out onto the driveway. This was home now, where I’d spend the remainder of my teenage life before, hopefully, getting into college and leaving to go on and live my own life. For now though, I had to get used to this strange new place with strange new people and a strange new school.

The movers had already brought in all of our furniture. My bedroom was upstairs, tucked away in the corner of the house, or at least I assumed it was my bedroom considering all of my stuff was in there. My bed was pushed up against the wall under the window. My dresser stood next to my desk with my closet opposite the door. It was a nice sized space, not too big but not cramped either. I walked over to my bed and knelt on it to look out the window. If I opened it and climbed out, I could easily sit out on the roof. So I did.

I pushed open the window and stepped out, steadying myself as I scooted down to sit on the rooftop. I had a pretty good view of the other houses on my street and my own front yard. I settled down, careful not to slip on anything and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I lit up a stick and brought it to my lips, drawing in the smoke. I felt my body relax as the nicotine worked its magic. I watched as the smoke swirled out in front of me and disappeared without a trace. My mom was inside downstairs so I didn’t worry too much about her catching me.

So this was it. My new home. The neighborhood seemed calm enough. No kids running around like maniacs and no dogs barking their asses off. It was a fairly quiet street with only the occasional car driving by. I liked the new setting so far but it’s not like I didn’t still have more to see. I took in the last drag of my smoke and put it out, careful not to throw it in the yard so my mom wouldn’t get suspicious.

I stood back up and cautiously made my way back in through my open window. I climbed back onto my bed and hopped down to the floor. I figured now would be as good a time as any to get my stuff unpacked. There were boxes stacked all around my room. They were filled with everything New York Leigh had ever loved, everything that made her the freak she was.

I picked a box up off a short stack of them and tore off the tape. Inside were some of my clothes, all folded and packed neatly inside. I picked up the first garment, a black long sleeved shirt. Most of my clothes were just the same; long sleeved and dark. So much easier to hide the scars that way.

The only downside was the fact that no matter how hot it was outside, I would always have to wear sleeves. My mother had given up trying to get me to wear tank tops and normal tee shirts a long time ago. I’d always given her the same lame excuses, “I don’t feel hot,” and “I like this shirt.” I hated lying to my mom, but I did what I had to do.

I started to hang up my clothes in my closet, filling the space with my dark garments. There was no real method to my madness besides pick up a shirt, put it on a hanger and put it up in the closet. It was boring and monotonous work but I didn’t really mind, it’d probably be the most exciting part of my day anyway.

I placed in the last of my clothes and set aside the empty boxes, unfolding them out of their current configuration and leaning them flat against the wall. There was still a lot left to unpack and as much as I wanted to get my room put together I wasn’t really in the mood to do it now, besides, we still had to paint. I left my room the way it was, not a single thing on the barren white walls, no personality, no comfort. It was a foreign place, not my bedroom. Even though it was my designated space, it wasn’t mine yet.

I looked around my room disappointed in its current state and decided to go find my mom. She probably needed help unpacking or sorting through God knows what. She’d always been a bit of a control freak and always took on more than she could handle, leaving me to be the one who was normally sucked into her little plans against my will. I didn’t mind it much but redecorating a room or deciding what color curtains she should buy wasn’t my favorite way to spend an afternoon.

My mother was downstairs talking to some people. I’d never seen them before but it’s not like I’d expected to, it was a new state after all. I assumed they were a married couple given their age and the way they were holding hands. “Oh Leigh, come and meet Mr. and Mrs. Way. They’re our neighbors; they live right next door,” my mother said with a smile waving me over to her and the couple.

Mr. Way was an average man with dark almost black hair and dark brown eyes. Mrs. Way on the other hand had light blonde hair, obviously dyed, with bright green eyes just like mine. They looked like complete opposites. I made my way over to them and made acquaintances. “Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Way, I’m Leigh.” I said as I extended my hand to them, Mr. Way taking it then Mrs. Way following suit.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Leigh. And please, 'Mr. and Mrs. Way’ is so formal, you can call us Don and Donna.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the name combination. What were the odds that a man named Don would marry and woman named Donna? It was charming no doubt. I wasn’t sure exactly how to respond so instead I did what I did best, I kept quiet. I was never good at meeting new people or making conversation. I was shy and awkward and I knew it and accepted it. My mom on the other hand was an excellent conversation starter; she could always keep it going and always knew just how to answer.

“Leigh’s a little shy, but she’s a sweetheart,” my mother explained as if I weren’t even in the room. It didn’t bother me though; this wouldn’t have been the first time. She’d always talked about me like I wasn’t even there, granted she only ever had nice things to say. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body and could never bring herself to portray someone negatively, even if it was clear she didn’t like them. “She’ll be starting at Belleville High School as a junior this fall.”

Ugh, school. My sophomore year had just ended not twenty-four hours ago and my mother was already bringing up the topic of a new year. I didn’t want to have to think about enduring another hellish year with snotty new kids in an intimidating new school. Of course though, I’d never tell my mother that.

She had always been under the impression that I liked school, probably because I got such good grades. She knew I wasn’t very active in any of the clubs or sports and she was okay with that. She figured I just wasn’t a good athlete and none of the clubs interested me, which wouldn’t be false. I was on the track team for two years in New York, but it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. Sure I wasn’t the fasted, but I wasn’t a sloth either. It was more because of the other kids.

I never had any one to talk to during practice and I’d always end up running alone. Not to mention the occasional incident where I’d ‘accidently’ be tripped the day before a meet so that I couldn’t run in it. As for clubs, I just never got into many of them. I joined art club freshman year but when I realized that nothing interesting really ever happened, I dropped it.

My normal academics were fairly impressive if I do say so myself. I was an all A student with a 4.1 GPA. I didn’t like to brag about it, not like any one ever asked. My mom was really proud of me though and aside from wanting to get into a good college, she was probably the only other reason I kept my grades up so high. Now, as I silently stood with my mother and the Ways, all the thoughts of school that had flooded my mind seemed to have distracted me thoroughly.

“Leigh, did you hear Donna?” I shook my head a little, being violently thrown back into reality and away from my thoughts of school. In truth, I had no idea that they were even still talking and I had no clue what Donna had just said. I looked back up at my mother, hinting to her my obliviousness and she repeated herself. “Donna said that she and Donald have two sons. One of them will be going to school with you.”

“Oh,” I interjected not really sure what else to say. I wasn’t going to tell her, ‘Well that’s too bad, I’m an antisocial freak and I don’t think your son and I will get along, you should give up now.’ That would have been the most accurate yet least friendly thing I could have told them. “That’s nice.” I pretended to sound like I cared even a little but obviously I was having a hard time because Donna tried to make it sound more pleasing. “Oh, I think you’ll like Gerard. He’s not the most outgoing, but once you get to know him, I think you two will get along great.” I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me to be friends with her son or date him. And Gerard? Who names their son Gerard? I thought only old people had names like that. I plastered on my most realistic fake smile that I could in an effort to appease Mrs. Way who accepted the gesture with a smile of her own.

“Would you like to meet him?” I wasn’t going to say ‘no’ to that, I may be antisocial, but I’m not rude. I didn’t really care if I met this Gerard kid or not, we’d never be friends. Sure, I’d be nice to him when we first met and maybe talk to him for a minute or two, but that was as far as our ‘friendship’ was likely to progress. I never got close to people, I’d either end up letting them down or they’d somehow let me down. It was just easiest to not have any friends at all, that way no one would get hurt.

I figured that I should at least appease Mrs. Way and meet Gerard once though. It wouldn’t be so bad to just get it over with. “Sure, I’ll meet Gerard.” I said timidly, trying to contain my laughter at the mention of his old-man name. Donna’s face instantly lit up at this, I guess Gerard didn’t have many friends either and she thought I was going to be his social savior or something. Sorry to disappoint, but she would be wrong. “Oh great, he’ll be home around two or so, I think. He took his brother out to the comic book store or something. I’ll bring them over when they get in.” Them? I had to meet Gerard and his kid brother now? And the comic book store? First his name’s Gerard and now he reads comics? What, does he draw them too? Great, I was really looking forward to two in the afternoon now.

***

Once Don and Donna said goodbye, I decided that I’d go finish unpacking everything that I could. Even though I didn’t have the strongest intentions of being Gerard or his brother’s friend, I figured that I’d make my room as presentable as possible in case they came upstairs. I wasn’t so much trying to impress them as much as I was trying not to come off as a messy person. I finished unpacking and putting away all of my clothes, unfolding the boxes and grouping them together after each was emptied. I organized my desk with all of its knickknacks and stacked my notebooks on top. I had to say, it was already starting to look more like my room, the only thing missing was just about everything on my walls. I couldn’t put up anything until my walls were painted unless I wanted to leave them white, which I didn’t. I was thinking more of a dark red to go with my bedding.

I made my bed, tugging on the sheets and throwing on the black and red comforter. I had always liked my room to be dark, it made me feel cozier, so dark bedding only made it better, and my mom didn’t seem to mind it. Much. After the bed was neatly assembled, pillows in their cases and placed along the edge I went on to my next task. Instead of a headboard I had bookshelves on my bed. I alphabetized the books by author and title, a nervous habit, but I didn’t mind the extra effort. Once I was pleased with the literature arrangement, and the all-around condition of my bedroom, all there was left to do was sit and wait.

Notes

Just felt like posting again... and now that I think of it, this chapter was kind of long too.