Hannah
I’m used to moving around, it’s something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, but
I’ve never experienced as many feelings as I’m experiencing this time around.

I spent the first four years of my life in Scotland with both of my parents, but mom and I started moving around just before my fifth birthday and we’ve never really settled since then. Because of the way I’ve been raised, I’ve never had a normal life. I covered most of my education through online courses and home schooling whenever mum had a chance. I’ve never been in a relationship and I’ve never really done anything else that teenagers are supposed to do, but at least I have my best friend, Erin, to keep me sane in this messed up life.

Mum swore to me this time that we won’t be moving to another state in another four months. She promised me that we’re staying here for a long time, if not for good, and that I can be normal. Sure, I’m sceptical, she’s made this promise before but something tells me that she really does mean it this time. She can’t lie to me as well as she used to when I was a kid, I can tell when she’s being serious about something these days.
I’m excited about finally being a normal teenager and living a normal life in a really nice house, but at the same time I’m nervous about what life could throw at me from this moment on.

We moved in yesterday with the movers and it’s been hectic ever since we got here. I’d unpacked most of my bedroom and set put almost everything into its place, but we were still working on the downstairs of the house today.

I was walking around with my sketchbook and my pencil, doing a tour of the house and sketching everything I could see as quickly as I could. This was something I picked up when I first got into art when I was a little girl and now I have a collection of everywhere we’ve ever stayed – whether it was for weeks, months, days or hours I’ve drawn it.

“Hannah!” Mum called from the kitchen “Could you please put that thing down and help me
unpack some of these boxes, please?”

I walked into the kitchen and stared at the back of my mother’s head with a shocked expression for a few moments until she turned around and saw me, and quickly started to laugh.

“Alright,” She said between laughs “I apologize, it’s not just a thing, it’s your baby, your beloved sketchbook that you can’t live without, but could you please put your baby down somewhere and come help me, please?”

“Fine!” I sighed with false exasperation “I just finished unpacking the boxes in the living room, you know… the one’s with the movies, the CD’s, the books-“

“Hannah,” She warned, cutting me off “Just one box,” She insisted, sliding one towards me
“Then you can go off and do whatever you want to do,”

I set my sketchbook and pencil on the kitchen island and grabbed the box off of the floor and lifted it up onto the island, too. I glanced over at mum and saw her smiling smugly which made me shake my head and let out a chuckle. I hadn’t seen her this relaxed in a long, long time.

I tore the tape off of the top of the box and crumpled it into a ball, but just before I could dig into
the box and start unpacking, I heard the familiar sound of Elena’s car pull up outside. I rushed
through the house and out onto the front steps and squealed with delight when I saw Erin and her mother climbing out of their car that was parked at the house next door.

I looked back into the kitchen and saw mum looking at me with a smile still on her face. I gave
her a hopeful and excited look, silently begging her to let me go.

“Go on then,” She waved me off “Go over and see her, but then you better get your butt back
here and help me, I’m getting too old for this!”

I straightened out my outfit and hurried out of the house.

~~~~

I popped into Erin’s bedroom and looked around at the leopard print that covered part of the
wall, it was very… Erin and I had to laugh.

“Well, it seems that some things never chance, E.” I said with a smile just before she threw one
of her pillows at me.

I lay down on her bed while she started moving stuff towards her computer desk.

“So,” She started “Was it hell with your mom on the way here as well?” She asked. I propped
myself up on my elbows and looked over at her.

“I think if you were to be asking my mum that, she would be telling you I was the one who was
raising the hell, but yeah, pretty much,” I offered her a shrug “I kinda like it here though, at least
it isn’t cold like the last state,” She gave me a shrug of her own in response.

“I suppose you’re right,” She sighed “Ugh, but I cannot believe that they made us come here… I
mean, come on, we haven’t been able to go to one high school or apply for colleges… I don’t
know how she expects me to do anything I wanna do when I am glued to her whenever she
moves!” I had to laugh as I lifted myself off of the bed and moved over to Erin so that I could
hug her.

“E, you’re so crazy,” I muttered into her shoulder “You should cut her some slack though, they
are trying to make things permanent, and I’ve heard of some great music in the area, we will try
to make the best of this… and of course make our own fun!” I released her from my grasp
“Buuuut, I gotta get back to helping my mum, so I will see you later! Keep me posted if you go
out sightseeing!”

I left her room and darted back down the stairs and through the front of her house, greeting
Elena as I passed by her, but she was having a bit of a heated conversation on the phone and
could only smile and wave at me as I rushed past her.

~~~~

About ten minutes ago, Erin walked by and invited us over to their new house for Chinese food
in an hour.

It was a sort of tradition for the four of us to get takeout Chinese food and eat it in one of the
new houses – alternating with every move – and just pig out and watch movies all night.

We had just finished unpacking the house five minutes ago and already mum had been taken
through to her office with a phone call that she had to take in private… meaning that work can’t
give her a ten minute break to move into the house they made us move into. I was sitting on the
kitchen island, dangling my legs off of the edge while texting one of my friends from our last
state, saying that he missed me already. It was sweet and made me kind of miss it back there,
but I certainly didn’t miss the cold weather, I was going to enjoy this heat.

Speaking of the heat, all of the unpacking and rushing around has gotten me pretty thirsty. I
hopped off of the counter and slipped my phone into the back pocket of my shorts and walked
over to the fridge. I opened the fridge and was hugely disappointed when I found it completely
empty.

“Mum!” I called out, walking through the house in the direction of her office “Mum!” I repeated
when I didn’t get an answer.

I reached her office door and slowly pushed it open. Mum was inside the office, pacing the
room repeatedly with her phone pressed against her ear and the thumb of her free hand
jammed inside her mouth while she chewed on the nail. Something she did whenever she was
stressed out.

“Mum,” I whispered, getting her attention. She tried to wave me off, but I stayed in the doorway
“We don’t have anything to drink; I gotta find a store around here somewhere,”

“Alright,” She sighed, moving the phone away from her ear “Take my card and get whatever
you want at the store, I’ll do some grocery shopping in the morning,”

I shrugged and left, leaving her office door open just to irritate her and I didn’t even make it all
the way back to the kitchen before I heard her closing it behind me a little louder than she
needed to.

I pocketed her credit card and grabbed my board from the front door and hurried outside. I cut
across the grass of the front lawn, tossed my board onto the road and jumped on.

I loved being on my board, I always felt so free. The feeling of the wind blowing through my hair
and my clothes, plus, it’s a faster way to travel than walking.

The streets were fairly empty given that it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week
and most people are at work and not driving around, so I had all of the roads to myself. I turned
a corner onto another street and decided that I would take a little detour while looking for the
store. I had to move out into the middle of the road and around a parked car, but I looked over
my shoulder at the same time and didn’t see what was in front of me, I didn’t notice that anyone
was there until I heard them call out for my attention.

“Whoa!” They called out. I looked ahead of me and saw a flash of torso and arms before I hit
them.

I gripped onto the shoulders and felt arms wrap around my waist as they tried to hold onto
something, but the momentum that I hit them with sent us both crashing to the ground in a heap
of apologies and groaning as we tried to get off of each other.

“I am so, so sorry,” A strong, male voice apologized as the guy I crashed into finally got onto
his feet and held a hand out for me.

Sitting on my ass in the middle of the road like a complete loser, I looked up from his hand and
up the rest of his body until I reached his face and our eyes met.

“Want a hand up?” He asked with a smile that caused dimples to pop into his cheeks and I
could have just let the ground swallow me up right there, but I could hear Erin’s voice in the
back of my head telling me not to back out of this and not to be… weird.

“Thanks,” I smiled, blushing, as I reached out and slipped my hand into his so that he could pull
me up onto my feet, and he did, without the slightest hint of a struggle. It was probably all of
those muscles “I’m so sorry,” I apologized “That was all my fault, I wasn’t watching where I was
going – but it’s not like I actually know where I’m going, but I should have been watching, I just
wasn’t expecting to-“

“Hey,” He laughed, cutting me off “Don’t worry about it, you weren’t watching where you were
going and I should have looked before crossing the street,” He ran a hand through his hair “I
wasn’t expecting a pretty little thing like yourself to be boarding down the street,”

All words failed me at that moment, so I stayed silent.

“Where are you headed, anyway?” He asked “You seem a little bit lost and I haven’t seen you
around here before so I’m guessing that you just moved into one of the big houses back there,”
He gestured in the direction of the house and I nodded at him.

“We’re out of food,” I told him “And juice, so I was looking for the nearest store,”

“Why don’t I show you?” He offered “It’s on my way home anyway,”

“Thanks,”

"Do I get a name from the green-haired girl who just crashed into me?" He asked with another smile as we started to walk.

"Hannah," I blushed.

"Nice to meet you Hannah, I'm Matt."

Notes