wake up call

Prologue
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It had just turned into routine.

I hadn’t attended the same school for more than four weeks in my sophomore year so I was used to always being the new girl. My dad couldn’t find a job that suited him, so he was just “trying out his options” like he told the rest of our family.

If “trying out your options” meant traveling across the country and back, then I definitely wasn’t on board.

I looked out the car window as we drove down the street. All I saw were trees, trees and more trees; the polar opposite of my usually busy and fast paced city lifestyle. Usually, we moved to bigger towns, but my parents wanted to try out the suburban area.

“Why are we here again?”

My mom sighed and looked back at me from the passenger’s seat. She pushed a lock of her curly blonde hair behind her ear.

“I’ve told you about a million times. Your dad needs to find a job so until he finds one; the family is going to be quite mobile.”

Obviously, neither of my parents understood what it was like for me to move all across the country. I had to leave behind my friends and even my boyfriend, who decided that our relationship would be way too much of a hassle to try making it long distance.

“I just don’t understand what was wrong with your old job,” I said. “It’s not like we weren’t making enough money or anything.”

Now it was my dad’s turn to sigh. He tightened his grip around the wheel, his icy blue eyes staring straight forward at the road. “You know what the case is Reid.”

Yes, of course I knew. My parents didn’t care how much money they were making. If it didn’t make them happy, they wouldn’t do it.

My dad sharply turned the car onto a new road, and instead of buildings we saw houses. We drove up the street for a little while, until finally we turned into a driveway. Immediately when the car stopped, we all got out of the car to see where we would be staying.

It was the cutest little town home I think I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Is this ours?” I asked my dad, walking toward him.

He smiled and nodded. “I have a good feeling about this place.”