Chapter 1

 

It’s hard being the new kid, a fact he was well aware of. He had lived in six different states and three different countries in his seventeen years of existence. Since his family never stayed in one place for more than two years, he never made many friends. But, that was okay, he did fine on his own. His father says that they’re settling here for good, that this is their last home, but somehow he found that hard to believe. Regardless, he unpacked his boxes and set up his room to please his mother, all the while preparing himself for sunny Southern California.

            He lives in a three bedroom, two bath townhouse in Laguna Niguel with his mother, his father, and his younger sister. They wouldn’t be considered a dysfunctional family, just barely functional. His sister, Jane, is what you’d call an “emo” kid. Not quite goth but not quite punk either. She keeps to herself most of the time. His mother is a super neat freak, but she’s sweet in her own way. She is always dusting, mopping or vacuuming. His father is always at whatever naval base he’s currently stationed, teaching and testing new recruits. He used to actually go out to sea, but now he mainly stays on land. It was just him, Jane, and his mother at the house and he enjoyed in that way, it was quieter-except when his mom was vacuuming.

 

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            First day of school. Again. He wondered if these kids would be as welcoming as the last batch. If he’d heard right about Southern California, they wouldn’t be. As he walked through the mundane halls, he almost wished his mother had continued to homeschool him. That would have made moving around a lot easier. With a sigh he walked into his first class. He had grown accustomed to the stares years ago, so he walked up to the front and handed his slip to the teacher. The teacher assigned him his seat an he sat quietly.

            “Hi, I’m Ristan,” the girl next to him said, “but you can call me Ris.”

            “Jayson,” he extended his hand. She shook it and then turned back to look at the front of the class.

            “Where are you from?” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

            “I was born in Colorado, but I haven’t been back. We move around a lot.”

            “Well welcome to Cali. Don’t believe the stereotypes, were not all a******s.”

            Jayson laughed at her bluntness; maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. He studied her as she listened to the teacher speak. She was cute; she had light brown hair, which she had pulled loosely up into a bun, and pretty green eyes. Right at that moment she looked at him and smiled.

            “Hey, what’s your next class?” she asked.

            “Econ, with a Mr. Tesler,” he read off his class schedule.

            “I’ll walk you. I have him next too.” She flashed him another smile and returned her attention to the front.

            The hour passed quickly and before Jayson knew it the bell was ringing. Ristan walked him to his next class and again they were seated next to each other. She was easy to talk to and she smiled a lot. Jayson already felt comfortable here. Unfortunately, his next class was far away from hers, so she just pointed him in the right direction. Nothing of consequence happened again until lunch. As soon as he walked into the cafeteria, Ris was at his side.

            “You’re going to eat with us,” she said as she took his arm and led him to their table.

            Jayson smiled at the group in front of him. Ristan sat down next a boy dressed from head to toe in black. He kissed her cheek as Jayson sat on the other side of her.

            “Well everybody this is Jayson, he’s new so be nice. Jayson, this is my boyfriend Josh, and that’s Jeff, Jo, and Chrissy,” she informed him, pointing to each in turn.

            Jeff was tall and skinny; he had dark brown hair and wore an expression that said, “Back off,” in a not so nice way. Jo was a small little girl, with a black pixy cut, and a cute face. She had smiled at him and waved when Ris pointed her out. Chrissy had blonde hair and fierce blue eyes. Jayson noticed that they all had different styles; Jeff wore tight jeans and a t-shirt, Jo had on a tye-dye shirt and mini skirt, and Chrissy wore a camisole that showed of her midriff and a pair of Seven for all Mankind jeans. Jayson smiled again and then looked down at his food.

            “The only person missing is Ricki.” Jo said quietly.

            “Oh, right. Yeah Ricki’s sick,” Ris added.

            Immediately their chatter filled his ears. Josh was tickling Ris so much that she was laughing hysterically. Jeff was complaining to Jo and Chrissy about the semester project assigned to him for his art class.

            He surveyed the room taking in the different cliques. It wasn’t much different than his last high school. The separation between groups was painfully obvious. He ate his food in silence, half listening to the conversation at his table and half observing the room. He thought about Ricki, trying to guess, based off the rest of the people sitting at his table, what he would look like.

            All too soon, the bell rang and they began clearing their table. He waved at his new friends and walked to his next class. The rest of the day passed swiftly and soon he was walking home. He didn’t live far from the school and the walk only took him about 15 minutes.

            Jayson walked into his kitchen and poured himself a glass of juice before settling down at the kitchen table to begin his homework. Right as he got his things situated, his mom walked into the room.

            “Hey honey, how was your first day?” she asked as she gently kissed his cheek.

            “It was fine mom. No different than any other school day,” he told her gently, willing her not to prod further.

            “Well I’m glad you had a good day,” she said as she left the room.

            He let out a sigh of relief and began working on his homework. Once finished, he went up to his room and logged onto the computer. Jayson never really got into the MySpace craze, but he had one all the same. He had a few emails and comments from some of his friends from the last place they lived. But, he also had a friend request. He clicked on the link and found that it was Ristan. As soon as he accepted her, he had an email from her.  

            “Hey a bunch of us from school are going to the movies tomorrow night, you should come. If you want I can have Josh pick you up on his way to get me.” It said.

            Jayson quickly responded saying that would be nice, and she replied with her phone number so that he could text her directions to his house. He logged off his computer and went downstairs

            His mom had left a note saying that their dad was at the base tonight and she was going shopping, so they should order pizza for dinner. He left the note on the counter and went to find the phone book.

            “Hey Jane!” he shouted up the stairs.

            “Yeah?” she yelled back when she opened her door.

            “Mom left so I’m ordering pizza, what do you want?”

            “Pepperoni,” she said and then closed her door. He heard her music blare and rolled his eyes. Sometime she was so predictable.

            He ordered the pizza and then settled in front of the TV, surfing through channels. There really wasn’t much on, so he picked a random channel and ignored it. Sooner than expected, the pizza arrived. He called his sister down and they ate in silence, just the way they liked it. It wasn’t unusual for their mom to go out shopping and leave them to order pizza. That was her way of dealing with their father’s absence. Jane and he just enjoyed the quiet, without their mom’s constant cleaning to interrupt their thoughts. After they finished eating, Jayson cleaned up the kitchen and put away the leftovers while Jane retreated back into her room. Jayson then went upstairs and showered before going back to his room. He read on his bed for a while, but, when his eyes grew heavy, he went to sleep.

            He woke up when he heard his mom’s door slam shut. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was half past one. Slightly confused, he sat up and turned on his light. Once his eyes had adjusted he got out of bed and walked across the hall to his mom’s room. He knocked twice before cracking open the door.

            “Mom,” he said quietly as he walked into the room.

            “Yes baby?” She replied from her closet.

            “Did you just get home?”

            “I’m sorry honey, did I wake you?”

            “Mom you’re avoiding the question.”

            His mom walked out of her closet. Her hair was messed up and one of her eyes was starting to blacken. He immediately moved to stand next to her.

            “Mom, what the hell happened?” He struggled to keep the anger out of his voice.

            “Nothing baby, don’t worry about it,” she smiled weakly as she sat down in front of her counter and began brushing her hair.

            “Bullshit, mom. Who did this to you? Was it dad? Is that where you went?” He could barely contain his anger, knowing the answer that would come.

            “He was angry, and I was arguing with him. Your father is a good man Jayson, please don’t worry.”

            He blew out an angry sigh and stormed out of the room. He couldn’t stand the thought of his father raising a hand to his mother. Jayson wanted to kill him. But that would destroy his mother. Jayson couldn’t understand she stayed with him. He was rarely home and when he was home, he was always angry. No matter how clean his mother kept the house, no matter how many gourmet meals she cooked, his father always seemed to find something wrong with her. Her hair wasn’t up right, her clothes didn’t look right; she was a few pounds overweight. And with those comments, his mother would go shopping, have her hair done and start some ridiculous diet to lose weight so that she could somehow gain his father’s approval. But, no matter what she does, it’s never enough. She’ll go visit him at the base and come home with a tear-streaked and bruising face.

Author's Note

Feedback is appreciated, I'll have chapter two up soon

Reviews

[HoWiE]

Hey there, welcome to the cafe! Thanks for posting this piece, I quite liked it. Being from the UK, I started reading this and though immediately, 'uh-oh another Beverly Hills 90210 type teen affair'... lol... I'm not necessarily a big fan of the US Teen scene highschool drama but I think this definately shows promise. I liked the ending, it shows that you have branched off from that sort of stereotyped SoCal based literature and has added a sense of forboding and mystery to the piece. I now want to know what's happened to his Mum, did his Dad do it? Is his Dad a wife beater or is there something else more sinister going on? Is the reason for their continuous movement really his Father's different drafts or is it something else. Thanks for keeping me interested, I think your writing shows great promise, keep it up and I'll be back for more. Cheers! Good luck - Howie ;)