Untitled

Chapter one
First impressions

“I told you, I don’t like it here,” I mumbled with a slight ‘humph’ at the end. My mother looked at me questionably.
“I thought you said you hated where we lived,” She responded as she looked into my deep green eyes. I could sense she only wanted what was good for me.
“Yeah, but I hate this place more! Where are all the people!? We are in the middle of nowhere!” I glanced around at my surroundings. No other house was in my sight besides our new little country house. The green grass seemed to shine in the mid afternoon light.
“I know you won’t like it, but you will come to know and love it like your father and I have,” She responded with a joyful grin spread across her face. I was sixteen and old enough to drive and I lived where now? I lived in this forsaken town with the population at an extremely low number.
“Who knows, maybe something interesting might happen,” My father commented as he carried a wooden chair into the dining room.
“The most exciting thing these people have seen is the sun that always seems to rise,” I mumbled as I took a box into the house. The box was labeled Nicole’s stuff in bold letters.
“Man, you’re so dreary, I think it will be kinda fun not to have neighbors to yell at you because your music is too loud,” My older brother Josh added as he carried his things into the house as well. He stopped for a second to think then laughed, “Wow, that was a stupid comment!” He said with a louder laugh that before. My brother was only a year older than me and always seemed to cause troubled wherever he set foot.
“Yeah, you’re right. That was stupid,” I admitted with a scowl. We both wore sour expressions as we set out items in the hallway.
“You kids are so spoiled these days,” My father commented, he was an overall happy guy that seemed to always get on my nerves, his name was Jared, I always thought it was a stupid name, it was more juvenile than he was, his parents fault.
“Whatever dad,” I mumbled as I went outside to get another box. The stack was slowly getting smaller, all that was left were some old books and pictures we kept in storage anyhow. I made an odd noise as I lifted the heavy box.
“Come on Nick, it’s not that heavy,” Josh said slightly above a whisper as he grabbed it from my arms, “Oh, it is kinda heavy,” He added as he walked quickly into our new home. I leaned against our Chevy with disapproval, how could some place be so bad? I looked to my left to see my mom carry the last box from the back of the pick up truck. She seemed to struggle slightly, but continued to walk on.
“Hey mom?” I asked as I walked to her side, she was breathing heavily as she walked forward.
“Yeah sweetie?” She said with her sweet voice. She was a nice woman with tons of love in her, her name was Clair. I always liked that name for some reason, quite the opposite of my dad. I always questioned why they got married.
“Do you think the school here will be alright?” I asked with a questionable expression clinging to my face. She looked back at me and grinned.
“It’s what you make it,” She replied as she walked into the house, I fell behind to let her go first, as she walked in I automatically looked at all of the rooms. One of the rooms I simply loved, the walls were painted a light colored brown and the floors were oak. I smiled as I looked in, I automatically grabbed my boxes and piled them in as fast as my body would let me. After all the things were in my new found room I decided it was time to put everything in it’s place.
“I knew you would take this room,” My father commented as he slyly glanced in on me. I tried my best fake smile, he appeared to believe it. As he continued to walk down the hallway I set my bed up my mom had shown me before we left L A. Things were much different here I could already tell, I couldn’t believe I would be seeing snow, since it never snowed at our old house. After hours of putting together and stacking I was finished. I sighed deeply and collapsed on my bed. It was only eight and I was beat. I jumped up and got all my shower stuff and headed towards the bathroom.
The shower felt nice, until the warm water ran out. I quickly got out and did my normal routine. As I stepped out of the bathroom I looked down to see a scruffy looking dog.
“Why is a dog in the house!?” I almost screamed, I could hear Josh running from his room to me.
“His name is scoff!” Josh protested as he kneeled on the ground and embraced the dog.
“Where-did-he-come-from?” I asked as I looked down at him with a glare. My brother shrugged then stood up.
“I don’t really know, I found him in our new backyard,” Josh answered with a little sigh at the end, knowing that I would rat on him instantly.
“Dad!,” I yelled with full force, “Josh brought a dog into the house,” I listened for a few seconds, then heard the reassuring sound of huge foot steps coming our way. My father looked at the dog, then Josh as he rounded the corner. He came storming towards us then stopped about a foot away from the dog and crouched down to inspect it.
“Can I keep him dad?” Josh wondered in a whiney toan of voice. I rolled my eyes, knowing what would happen next.
“Where did you get him?” My dad asked as the anger in his voice lowered to a simmer. Josh shrugged before answering.
“Out back,” he replied, My father looked at the dog with intent eyes than turned his gaze back to Josh.
“You know how much work it is to own a dog?” My father commented, Josh smiled then looked at me.
“Who doesn’t?” He remarked with a slight laugh and a crooked smile. I mocked his smile back, then looked at dad. He seemed to be pondering the question.
“Are you seriously considering this?” I said with much attitude. He shrugged then stood up to look at Josh face to face.
“As long as you don’t mess up, we’ll get dog stuff in the morning. It’s already after eight,” My father mumbled as he turned to walk away. I grabbed his right shoulder, he turned to face me, “What?” He asked with a tired expression.
“Are you sure?” I mumbled with a questionable face, he turned around and walked away without answering, “Sometimes, you just-” I began to say until the dog started to bark at me. I looked down at it and glared at it’s sheep dog face. It growled with much force.
I turned to walk away, leaving this dog behind me as my brother tried to calm him down. My brown hair was sliding in front of my face as I began to look down at the flooring without knowing it. It was still wet and dripping, I could see the water seeped through the space on the back of my neck that was left uncovered by my towel.
“It’s okay Scoff, the stupid girl is gone,” I could hear Josh whisper to the dog as I glided into my room.
“Nope, poor Scoff. Doesn’t know that his owner is still there beside him,” I mumbled back, I could tell Josh heard my remark and was walking away now. I could hear that soft clank that the dog’s poorly trimmed nails made against the hard wood floor. I gave a slight sigh and sat at the foot of my queen sized bed. My legs dangled over the edge as I put my headphones to my ears, hoping that it would calm me down.
I turned my MP3 player to my favorite song and sat back, as the music went on I slowly drifted off to sleep on my bed. I awoke to my blaring alarm clock that must have been set by one of my parents while I was sleeping. I quickly changed and brushed my teeth. As I swung my bag over my shoulder I began to think that I was missing something. I glanced around and noticed that my MP3 player was still on and in my ears, I laughed and grabbed a bagel off the kitchen counter.
“Hey, someone got up on time, I was surprised you went to bed so early,” Josh said jokingly as he grabbed a bagel as well, his blond hair was in his face like most days, it was an untamed wilderness. I walked up to him and smiled as I slicked back his hair.
“Don’t want to make a worse impression,” I commented with a laugh, he scowled back at me. I suddenly heard that too familiar sound of nails against the wooden floor. Scoff came running up to Josh and licked his elbow continuously. Josh looked down at his dog with a smile.
“Want some food boy?” He asked as he crouched down to pet the scruffy dog, the dog seemed to give his own reply. Josh nodded and quickly took my bagel and gave it to him, “Now you happy?” Josh said in a babyish voice, Scoff seemed to smile up at him. I sighed and grabbed another bagel.
“Why can’t you kids ever get along?” My father remarked as he walked into the kitchen with a slight smile on his face. He wore his usual attire, a suit and tie. I looked at him then the dog, deciding whether or not to rat out Josh. I shrugged it off, knowing Josh would probably get me back later. I glanced out the window to see our truck, sitting in the glimmering light, I couldn’t wait to drive it to school. I smiled as I looked, then turned my attention to the dog that was sitting in front of me.
“Move it dog,” I mumbled as I began to walk out the door towards the truck, my brother ran after me.
“I call driver!” He yelled as he sprinted to the drivers side and began to open the door.
“You can’t be the driver without the keys,” I remarked as I flashed them in front of his face, he glared at me and walked towards the passenger side in defeat. I smiled slightly as I sat down and put it in gear, I drove out of the driveway with ease and started towards our school. On the way to school me and Josh constantly fought over the radio station. I quickly parked the truck and jumped out. I looked at my classes quickly, then to the map I had been given.