Authors Note: So this is my first story. There will most likely be a lot of things extremely wrong with it, but this is just a way for me to not be bored. I have never tried to write anything outside of essays before so this is completely new to me. If anyone would like to beta read it or edit it, and give me some advice it is most welcome.
Authors Note 2: I edited it, I'm sorry guys I feel like I didn't end it right and the bit that needed to be added wouldn't be a great opener for a new chapter. Thank you for everyone that has followed, favorited, or reviewed it so far. It's great to see such a positive response on my story so far. I don't really have this story all planned out yet, so your ideas would be wonderful.
When I left the United States to be an exchange student my junior year of high school, I expected to be returning to my home in Louisiana. Not Pennsylvania. But here I am stepping off of the plane in a state I've never seen before. My parents had decided it would be a brilliant idea to move to a state across the country. I was a bit angry with them. All I wanted to do when I got home was be able to relax in my home I grew up in. To relax in an area I was comfortable with and to see all of my childhood friends. Except I can't. I'm leaving a place foreign to me, only to return to my 'home' in another foreign place. This should help me adjust to being back in the U.S. well. Please note my sarcasm.
Going through customs was fairly easy and soon enough I was in the waiting area looking for my family. "Logan! Over here!" Looking to my left I saw my whole family waiting in a crowd of other people looking for loved ones. They were holding 'Welcome Home!' signs and were now struggling out of the crowd to meet me halfway. After not seeing my family for a whole year it brought tears to my eyes. I ran as fast as I could to them with my luggage, and as soon as I reached them I dropped all of my bags and jumped into a group hug.
"Oh Logan we missed you so much!" My mother exclaimed, while bursting into tears. My parents didn't cry often and it made me uncomfortable to see her crying.
"I missed you guys too." I, being the big baby that I am, began crying too. As my dad grabbed my suitcases, my two little siblings fought over who would get my carry on.
"I missed her more so I get to carry her bag!" My 6 year old sister yelled.
"Yeah, well she loves me more!" Her twin brother exclaimed.
"Hang on guys, I have an idea. How about you share?" I told them. As much as I loved that they missed me, I wasn't in the mood for their fighting. I wasn't used to flying. My flight was extremely long and left me feeling nauseous, with an agonizing headache.
That seemed to fix the problem, as they went silent. My mother kept talking about our new home in a town called Burgess while we made our way to the car. "It's not far from here in Philadelphia actually. Maybe about a thirty minute car ride. Burgess is the cutest little town you'll ever see, and the weather is a lot more pleasant than in Louisiana." She said. "We already had your room made out for you in the house so as soon as we get there, you can rest. I know you must be tired." I know she was doing her best to make me comfortable. Especially since she knew I would be upset about the move.
"Thank you Mama." I said with a weak smile. "Maybe after I get rested up I can tell all of y'all about my year in Japan."
"That would be great honey." She replied.
The rest of the ride home was silent except for the quiet chatter of my siblings. I spent it looking out of the window to look at the passing scenery and listening to music.
Soon enough we passed a sign that happily proclaimed, "Welcome to Burgess!" My mother's words were true as the town was quite adorable and had its own charm to it.
Another five minutes and we were pulling up to a two story home covered in a light yellow paint. Like the rest of the town, my new home had a certain charm to it. We were part of a neighbor community, so we didn't have as much land as we did back in Louisiana. I'm used to being able to roam and not used to having neighbors, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Getting out of the car, my father and I grabbed all of my luggage before my little siblings could argue over it, and headed towards the house. As we made our way inside, my body made its exhaustion apparent. I felt like I could drop and sleep anywhere at that moment. Apparently my face showed it as well, because my dad gave me a sympathetic look. He motioned for me to follow him upstairs. He opened the first door on the right and dropped the luggage he was carrying on the bed, while I did the same.
"I know you're tired, and that your body is used to Japan's time, so I'm going to leave you be for now. It's still morning here, but you can take a nap all day if you want. You need to wake up before dinner at 6:30 though. I invited the neighbors over because they wanted to meet you. If you need it the bathroom is across the hall. It's the second door on the left." He said while giving me a hug. Letting go he added, "I love you so much kiddo."
"Thank you Daddy. I love you too." I said giving a tired smile at his last comment.
"Well, I'll leave you to it. See you later sweetheart." He said closing the door.
Too tired to do much else, I dragged my bags onto the floor and dropped onto the bed. Not even bothering to get under the blankets, I closed my eyes and gave into sleep.
I was a bit confused when I woke up. I had forgotten that I wasn't in Japan anymore. The fact that my dream was about my friends in Japan didn't help much either. I felt a pang of homesickness for my host country. I was told I would experience this, but I never thought it would hit me so soon.
Wiping the sleep from my eyes I took in my surroundings. My new room was slightly bigger and had everything from my old room in it and more. I would have to rearrange some things to make room for my souvenirs from my exchange.
My bed sat under a window with a great view of the neighborhood. Looking to my left there was a closet with a vanity next to it. A full length mirror was hanging on the closet door and upon looking at my reflection I cringed. There were bags under my eyes, my hair was full of grease, and my clothes were rumpled. In other words, I needed a shower.
As I continued to look around the room I noticed that in the right corner there was a lamp and next to it was a dresser. Looking forward I noticed things that brightened my mood. My art desk and book shelf, complete with all of my art supplies and books.
My parents told me that growing up I was more creative and imaginative than my fellow peers. I like to think that I still am. I enjoy creating and dreaming up new worlds, and reading about ones others made.
I've always wanted to have a career where I could help other children's imaginations grow. I've always wanted to become and illustrator or an animator for a company like Disney. Ambitious, I know. But one can dream. My only problem is my parents. Though my parents say that they support me and want me to follow my dreams, I know they are a bit disappointed in my career choice. I've thought about choosing something that would make them proud of me, but I know it won't make me happy. I only have my senior year of high school to think about what I want to do.
Dragging myself out of bed I saw my reflection again. "That's it," I said, "time for a shower." Opening my suitcase that I had yet to unpack, I looked for an outfit to wear. 'I'm too tired to wear anything formal for dinner.' I thought, 'hope the neighbors don't mind t-shirts and jeans!' Grabbing a dark pair of skinny jeans and a 'Thor' t-shirt, I looked at my phone for the time. "5:04, plenty of time." I muttered to myself. I followed my dad's directions towards the bathroom and sure enough there it was.
Entering the room, I set my clothes on the counter to my left, turned on the water in the shower, and started looking for a towel. After a bit of searching I found them in the cabinet under the counter. I quickly undressed and slipped into the warm water with a sigh. I usually consider taking a shower my thinking time, but today I didn't want to think about anything. I just wanted to relax.
No amount of explaining could help me express how much I love showers. I feel completely refreshed, or with less exaggeration, little less like shit. With my hair still damp, I headed downstairs. As I neared the bottom of the steps, I smelled something amazing.
"Italian!" I whispered to myself, "Real Italian food! Hell yeah!" With my spirits lifted at the thought of food, I picked up speed and began searching for the kitchen. "Just follow the smell of heaven, Logan."
"Smell of heaven?" I heard an amused voice behind me say.
Jumping and clutching my chest I whirled towards the voice. In front of me was a boy who seemed to be my age and... Not the kitchen. Just the living room. Damn it. Realizing that I was being rude, I introduced myself. "Konn-" I cut myself off at his confused look thinking, English dear. You're in the United States again. "I mean, hi there! My name's Logan. Might I ask what you're doing in my house?"
The random guy chuckled. "I'm here with my family. We were invited."
My mouth opened into a comical 'o' shape and I let out a long 'oh' sound. An awkward silence started to fill the room. We both began to shuffle our feet and avoid looking at each other. Feeling brave I decided to look up towards him only to make eye contact. We both looked away from each other quickly, me blushing furiously. But that short time of eye contact was enough for me to figure something out. That he was attractive. In a dorky sort of way. He had dark brown hair that was pretty wild and stuck out in all directions. His ears seemed a little too big for his head, but that's what completed his dorky look. He had freckles over his nose and cheekbones, and his eyes were a wonderful honey brown color. I concluded that dorky cute is the best cute.
"Oh yeah!" He exclaimed, making me jump again. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jamie. Jamie Bennett."
"Nice to meet you Jaime." I said holding my hand out.
"You too, Logan." He said taking my hand and shaking it.
"You were meant to kiss my hand, not shake it." I joked, mentally cheering when he laughed.
"Was I? I'm sorry Princess. How ever will I make it up to you?" He asked with a smirk.
Grinning, I opened my mouth to reply, but was interrupted by my mother calling all of the children for dinner.
"Well, looks like it's time for my interrogation." I said following Jamie since he seemed to know where he was going.
"Interrogation?" He asked curiously.
"You'll see." I answered vaguely as we entered the kitchen.
"Logan, could you get the pitcher of iced tea and put it on the table please?" My mother asked as she pulled lasagna out of the oven.
"Yes ma'am." I replied.
As I approached the table, a woman I hadn't noticed sitting there before began to speak. "Your children are so polite Renee! Tell me your secret so I can teach my children some manners!"
"Raise your children in the south." My mother replied. "There's this respect your elders mentality down there that everyone has."
"I'm really not polite," I pipe in. "I just say it out of habit."
This earned me a smack on the back of the head from my mother. "Sit down while I go get your dad and the kids." She said exasperatedly
"Yes 'ma'am'" I said with a shit-eating grin.
Soon enough my mother came back in with my father, my siblings, and another child in tow. As everyone settled down, my father turned towards me with an excited grin. "Are you ready for the questioning?" He asked.
"Bring it on!" I replied with a grin of my own.
"So you've been in a foreign country for the past year?" I heard Jaime ask.
"Yup!" I answered while flopping onto my bed.
Dinner, or as I like to call it, the interrogation, was a long one. I was asked many questions by everyone at the table, even the little ones. It seems I've managed to make my parents proud, and impress the neighbors. Even Jaime.
After said interrogation was over, the children and teenagers were dismissed. Taking the hint that it was time for 'adult talk' Jaime and I made our way up to my room.
"Wow, that's pretty amazing!" He said. "If I had known about something like that, I would have done it."
"There's always college." I replied. "If you ever get the chance to do something like that, I say go for it. It's life changing."
"Your family also moved here from Louisiana. I bet it's strange, technically not being 'home." Jaime said while sitting in the chair at my art desk.
"Yeah, I mean they told me about it when they decided to do it, so I've known for a while, but I feel like I left an open end back home that needs to be closed properly. I need some final goodbyes from my friends face to face." I said sitting up.
"I can see where you're coming from, I'd want to do the same thing." He replied while looking around my room. His eyes stopped on my bookshelf. "You sure do have a lot of books," he looked a bit closer. "And comics?"
"Yeah I kind of fancy myself a nerd. And an artist. And a multitude of things. Kind of want to have a career like that in the future. Being creative, and inspiring others like me to be creative. But anyway, I have a ton of books that I read while on exchange being shipped over to add to my collection." I replied.
"A nerd." Seems as if that's the only thing he got from my tirade.
"Hell yeah."
"An artist too?" Oh wait, never mind. He heard the rest.
"For sure." I replied looking him in the eyes.
A silence filled the room as we were staring at each other. Before it could get any more awkward, I spoke up.
"You wanna check out how nerdy I am?" I ask hoping he was into the same things as me. "I had to leave a lot of stuff behind, so it's here. There's the books and comics on the shelf of course, but I have all kind of things. Movies, posters, figurines, cosplay. You name it, I most likely have it." I said with a smile.
My excited rant must have been hilarious, because he started to laugh. I don't think I said anything funny. 'Shit, I fucked up.' I thought 'I got too crazy with my obsessions, and now I've scared him away.' Before I could think too much about how I suck at making friends Jaime spoke up.
"Sure, I'd like that." He said giving me a challenging grin. "I'd like to see if you're as much of a nerd as I am."
'Dear Lord.' I thought. 'This move may be a better idea than I thought before. Hello Burgess, and hello Jaime Bennett.'
"You bet your butt I am. In fact I'd go as far to say I'm a bigger nerd than you are!" I told him, while matching his grin.
"You're on!" He replied
And that is how Jaime Bennett became my first and best friend in Burgess.