EMMA
Moving - - Again
"No Mum, this time I am putting down my foot, I am not moving again! I like it here"
Emma was lying, she hated it in Baltimore, but they'd only just moved there from Atlanta a few months before, and she was sick of the inconsistency.
"Darling I think it would be good for us, it's just not working out here"
Emma scoffed; how could she possibly know that it wasn't going to work out after so short a time? "I swear mom, if I have to go into foster care just to stay here I will"
"I've found a few nice places for us to live, I'm sure you'll like it"
Grace sighed, she knew it would be hard work convincing her daughter to leave, it had been easier when she was younger; Emma just thought it was another adventure; she'd counted herself as one of the lucky ones. Emma was growing up now, beginning to know what she wanted and what she needed, better than Grace herself. They'd had the repercussions of what happened when she didn't get it, the scar on Emma's wrist, made three years ago reminded Grace not to go to far.
"Sure," Emma replied "Mom you promised me last time that this would be the last move that we make, you know I'm not going to be around here much longer, once I'm eighteen I'm off to see my father; legally you can't keep me from him then"
This was a familiar argument, Grace was afraid what would happen when Emma turned 18, there was no doubt that she would leave to go find her father, but the lies that Grace had tied herself up in would come undone and her daughter wouldn't want anything to do with her once Emma found out what she'd done.
"How sure are you that he even wants you? He hasn't come looking for you yet has he? It's been fourteen years Emma; You think he would have at least popped in by now right? For the last time, I am putting my foot down, and you know my shoe size is bigger than yours, we are moving Emma!"
Tears swelled up in Emma's eyes. "But you promised mom, you promised me" she mumbled
Emma dragged her feet out the door her head down and she left for school, it was much earlier than she normally left, but she would need the extra time for walking. In her class, she had asked the girls to call her Em-J, just like she had asked girls the last three years to do, a new name a new start she figured. It still hadn't worked; 14yr old Emma felt like an outsider; she was the freak, the new kid who'd has yet to make any progress with her friendships. She knew the other girls asked her out on the weekends just to be courteous, but if it went like any of her other schools this would eventually stop. Luckily around that time her mother usually decided to up and go. Her classmates had been astounded when they'd asked her the number of schools she'd been to; "Eight" she replied.
Emma appeared more mature for her age than those of her peers, she'd always got on better with children a little older than her, but with changing schools so often, it was hard enough being accepted by children her own age besides making friends with older students. Her best friends were in stories, her conversations with music and dance. In short she was alone.
Her school day finished and she walked back home, her anger easily visible on her face, ready to go to battle with her mother.