Whoo-hoo! I've got my new story up. I hope everyone enjoys it! Oh, and thanks to my Beta Reader, i-embrace-OCD. She did a fantastic job and I am very grateful that she is my Beta Reader. Now on with the story!

I hate my parents.

No seriously, I hate them, especially right now. The reason... we moved. Away from my friends and my almost perfect life. And when I say almost perfect, I mean that my parents have always treated me like I was helpless.

All the time.

Every single second of every day. Just because I'm blind. Also, it wasn't perfect because not even three months ago my best friend died after getting hit by a car.

Flashback

I walked home after another day of school. I was pretty happy. It was the last day of school and it was finally summer break. I had fun with my friends Meng and Song, but Teo wasn't at school, which puzzled me. Teo was always at school and had never missed a single day in his whole life. Maybe he was sick.

Once home, my parents asked me how my day was.

"Great," I replied.

There was a tense feeling in the room, then my mom said, "Toph, we've decided that we are going to move to California in a few months."

"What? Why?" I replied, trying not to let my parents know that I was mad.

"Our job is moving."

"Oh, okay," I said quickly and went into my room.

I couldn't believe it! We were moving. Away from my friends and my life. All the way from Florida to California.

Once I was in my room I hastily called Teo on my cell phone to find out where the heck he had been all day. It was his dad who picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked solemnly.

That's weird. Teo's dad was always excited when he picked up the phone.

"Hi, this is Toph. Can I speak to Teo?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, then he said, "Umm Toph? He's in the hospital. There was an accident. He was hit by a car and..."

"I'll be right over,"

I hung up the phone and called Meng and Song in a three-way call. Whenever we called each other, we always did it as a three-way call.

First, I called Meng.

"Hey Toph. Long time, no see," she said in her usual, happy way.

"Hold on," I replied, "I'm calling Song, so we can all talk."

Then I called Song, "Hi Toph. What's up?" she said quietly.

"Well...I called Teo to see where he had been. It was his dad who answered and he told me that Teo had been hit by a car," I told them, "He's in the hospital right now."

There was a shocked silence, then Song said, "I'll go to the hospital immediately. Meng, do you need a ride?"

"Yes, I'll be waiting in front of the house," she replied.

"Alright, I'll see you two there."

After I hung up, I briskly walked to the living room.

"Mom? Dad? Can I get a ride to the hospital? Teo's been hit by a car. I need to see him."

"Of course. Let's go."

We all piled into the car and drove to the hospital. When we were there, I ran ahead of my parents to the front counter.

"Where's Teo?"

"Hmm. He's in room 42. It's down the hall to the left," said the lady kindly.

I ran down the hall, brushing my hand against the braille numbers that were on the doors until I found 42. Then I knocked on the door until it was opened and dashed inside.

There was silence. No beeping of hospital equipment, no words, but then there was sobbing. Then I realized.

He was dead.

I screamed in sadness and anger, then I punched the wall and ran with tears streaming down my face.

End of flashback

Anyway, back to the point. When I get upset at anything, I turn on my iPod.

Really loud.

And get as far away from my house as I can get. That is what I was doing right now.

I was listening to some upbeat music when, suddenly, I felt someone run into me, which knocked me backwards and ripped the earphones out of my ears.

"What the hell?!"

Then I heard a voice. A guy's voice. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, are you okay?"

"What do you think!" I yelled at him.

Then I got up and ran, retracing my steps back home.

How could I have been so stupid! I turn the volume up way loud and walk around in an unfamiliar place.

I can't hear what's around me!

That's the only way I can tell what's around me is with my ears.

So, it was kinda my fault me and the guy ran into each other. But I wasn't going to tell him that. He sounded young enough to be in high school.

Great.

Do you like it? I hope so. If you review, I'll make sure to reply. I've rarely done this in the past and have now decided to reply to everyone's reviews. I'll have the next chapter up soon! Don't worry, my next chapter will be much longer than this one.