Author's note: So I have been thinking of this for sometime now and wanted to give this idea a shot. Not sure if I'll continue or not, give me some feedback and I'll continue if you say it's a good idea!

Thanks

-Simbits

A Fresh Start

"Bzzzzzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzzt." I looked down as I felt a slight vibrating in my lap. My phone was lit up and in the little screen I saw the words "New Text". Sighing, I picked up the cell phone and flipped it open. I responded to the text and smiled.

"Was that Al?" my mom asked, as she signaled to get into the exit lane. "How is he handling the move, anyways?" This was my mom for you, always trying to butt in; I didn't mind though. My mother and I have had such a rocky relationship for as long as I remembered, so I never dared get onto her bad side.

"Yeah, that was him. Al and I talked about it and we promised each other that we would try to make it work." My mom grunted and kept on driving. Indeed it would be hard, but I felt that our relationship was strong enough to last. We had been dating since the middle of freshman year and it seemed almost perfect. Sure it was my very first relationship, but I had a hunch that it was supposed to be like that.

The only negative in the relationship was I knew that I wasn't in love with Al; something that doesn't worry me so much since I'm so young. He had told me that he loved me a few months after we started to date, then stopped a few months after that. Yet again, I was fine with that.

The car rumbled one last time until it finally turned off, as we rolled into the driveway. I pulled my long dirty blond hair back into a quick ponytail as I got out of the car. I looked up at my mother's home. The same as it had always been, a two-story home with the red brick chimney, situated in the quaint little neighborhood of Warren. I heard the front door open and quickly walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk.

"Hey hun," a deep male voice said, then I heard lips smack. I looked through the car to see my mom's boyfriend for the first time. My parents had divorced almost a decade ago and my mother finally decided to settle down. The had been dating for a year now, and had been engaged for a month.

I was shocked at first to see that he must have been only ten years older than I; the initial shocked died down when I realized that my mother wasn't that much older than him. She had me when she was only seventeen, and while she was a senior dating my father in high school.

My step-dad had dark brown hair, and deep blue eyes that were hard to not look at. I shook my head and picked up my duffel bag. Taking a deep breath, I straightened up and tossed my head to the side to get my bangs out of my eyes. I took a step forward and moved out from behind the van. My mother quickly broke away from her fiancé and looked at me. I saw his reach for her hand and he squeezed it, but she quickly pulled her hand away.

"Kelsey, John, John, Kelsey". She leaned forward as she took a step and walk briskly by me to grab more bags. I bit my bottom lip and looked up at John. He looked at me straight in the eyes and then quickly looked away and cleared his throat. I rebalanced the bag on my shoulder and walked by him into the house. The house was so much more friendly now than last time I was there; all of the windows seemed to be opened and a soft summer breeze was drifting in. Sunlight cascaded in through the kitchen window, onto the counter tops. There were pots and pans on the stove, giving sign that John was cooking dinner for the three of them. Ugh, he was going to try and be my dad, when he was young enough to be a brother, or cousin or friend...

I walked into the living room where the stairs were located at the far end. I made my way over to them and gradually climbed the stairs, shifting the weight of the bag around on my shoulders again until I arrived into my old bedroom, still set up how I had it three years ago. Smiling I began to put some of my clothes away.

Moves like this were tough but I was used to them by now. I never had a boyfriend before though during a move, so I was a little sad about it, wanting to stay with my father, but he insisted that I go.

Al was such a great guy, he made me laugh like no other guy, and made me smile to no extent. We spent the majority of the past three years together, going on many adventures.

I heard banging and dragging coming up the stairs and dropped the hangers I had in my hands to get to the stairs. My mother had John dragging some more of my belongings up the stairs.

"Here, let me get that for you," I said, grabbing the other end of the luggage. He released his hand and continued to drag up the other bag.

"Wow Kelsey, you have a lot of clothing," He joked nervously. I looked at him and tried to smile.

"I guess I do, I try to shop at secondhand stores because it's cheaper."

"Is this all you brought with you? Just clothing?" He gestured to the three bags of clothing I had brought.

"Yeah, well for now at least," I said. "I paid for the rest to get shipped over here in a few boxes. I didn't want to have to pay so much for the extra luggage on the plane. It should all get here in a day or so." I tried to smile again, but felt fake, so I looked away and started to hang more clothing.

"I have dinner cooking downstairs, so you can come down when you'd like to. It won't be done for another hour or so." I continued hanging my stuff up, with my back turned to him, and I heard him leave after a moment or so.

I could tell he was trying hard to get me to like him. He really didn't have to though, I wasn't some snobby brat. Yeah, I was seventeen, but I felt like I was a little more mature than he thought I was. I wasn't going to snap at him, or whatever he had in mind. If my mom was happy with him, I wasn't going to stop her from being happy.

I wasn't used to sitting down at a dinner either. For as long as I could remember, we never did this, with my dad, the last time I was with my mom, and even when my parents were still together. The food was good though. Throughout dinner, John and I ended up getting along really well. We joked around like old friends and it seemed like my mom was actually in a good mood around me.

" Ha so Kelsey, how do you feel about starting at a new school your senior year?" John asked me, helping himself to some more food. "I know that I would of hated that."

I smiled halfheartedly, my mood drastically changing. "I don't like the word hate, or else I would hate the feeling too." I looked down at my food and played with it a bit. "It's going to be tough having to spend my last year of such a big milestone in life with people I barely know." I looked up and glared at my mother. Ever since the divorce when when I was seven, I was sentenced to spend three years with one parent before I went to the other for three years.

I knew it was pointless to complain though, seeing how there was no way my dad was going to take me back again. I was just going to have to cope with not seeing my friends and making new ones.

"It's fine though, I love meeting new people, always have, and I'm not going to get anywhere being a sourpuss, right?" I smiled, a real smile this time.

"I knew you would come around." My mother commented, taking a sip of her tea. John gave her a look.

"We're really happy that you're here Kelsey, really." John said, with all the corniness of a corn muffin. He really was being sincere though.

"Yeah, I'm neutral. It'll turn out to be good, so no worries, right?" I smiled again and looked up at both of them. They were looking at each other with flirty looks. Right. This would be a great year.

Thanks for reading! Leave me some reviews so I can decide my next step. :)