"Father… Father… DAN PARKINSON!" I said loudly in the Volkswagen van. He and my step mother were nuzzling each other's necks, which made me sick to my stomach. My father looked up at me in the rear-view mirror.

"Yes, Effie?" His dark green eyes sparkled.

"How long do we have until we get toWyckoff?" Right then, my step mother rolled her eyes and sighed. My father was oblivious to this.

"Only ten more minutes, dear." He gave me a cheesy smile and turned back to the road. I looked out the window and pulled the knitted blanket closer to my face. It had a fade baby blue background with dinosaurs of all colors traveling it.

I miss you, Mum…

"We're here, Effie!" I opened my eyes, still wet with tears and slid my glasses over my eyes. I wrapped the blanket over my body and hopped out of the car, staring at a two-story, brick house. I blinked a couple of times and frowned.

This was my new home. My new, two-story house in the middle of May of Wyckoff, New Jersey. My heart seemed to be ripped apart, little by little. I looked towards my step mother, who had her hand around my dad's waist with his arm around her shoulder. I looked away quickly, feeling weak in my knees.

"Effie, dear, your boxes are in your room, already." He gave me that cheesy smile again and I walked inside the house, the blanket still covering my body.

All the floors were wooden and the walls pure white. It was so bland. So boring. I could stand it. I walked up the wooden stairs to the top room.

"The top room" was the attic. Big, small, and all in between boxes were piled around and on a full sized mattress in the middle of the room. I moved some boxes off the bed and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"EFFIE! COME DOWN HERE!" A screechy voice called up to me. I sighed. I put the blanket on my bed and walked down the stairs. My step mother was glaring at me from where she was standing on a box. She pointed down at a small, puffball circulating the box. I bent down and picked it up.

"Aww… You scared Hammy." I said, petting the panda hamster. My step mother growled.

"Me scare that rodent?! I think not!" She screamed at me. She hopped down from her chair and got close to my face.

"You should be glad that your father is a rich man." She whispered. I chuckled.

"You should be glad that I don't have a puppy." She lifted her hand but paused at the sound of a slamming door. My father walked into the room, carrying bags.

"Oh! I see you found Hammy. His cage is in the smallest box in your room, along with his food and other hamster things." I smirked at my step mother and walked back up to my attic/room. After I put Hammy in his colorful cage and fed him, changed and ran back downstairs.

"I'm off to explore, Father!" I called. I got a whistle as an echo (which meant "Yes" or "Okay" or "No drinking or drugs" in father/daughter language) and I exited the house.

It was May. 3:00 in the afternoon. Warm and sunny. I was wearing gray, skinny jeans with holes at the knees and all on my skinny thighs and an orange tube top. I replaced my glasses with contacts and bulky sunglasses.

It was about five houses down when I heard laughing. By the seventh house, three guys were playing football/soccer in their front, green lawn. They were all different heights. The second tallest one kicked the ball past the taller one and it rolled onto the sidewalk. In front of me. I put my classic black converse on top of it as he ran towards me.

"Hey." He said, his brown eyes looking at me. I crossed my arms.

"Hey yourself." I said, smiling. The other two guys ran over and stood on either side of him.

"You must be the new girl that moved here from England. I'm Joe." He put his hand out but I didn't move.

"How do you know that?" I asked, moving the ball slightly underneath my foot.

"We've never seen you before, no one has hair like yours, and we asked the seller who was moving in. Plus the accent. They said a family with a daughter around our age."

"I bet you liked the last part, Joseph." He laughed.

"That was my favorite!" I laughed. I looked at his hand.

"I'm Effie, but call me Effs. And I don't handshake. I hug."

"Then give us one!" The shorter one said. I laughed. I gave him a hug, then Joe, then the taller one.

"I'm Nick and that's Kevin, by the way." Said the shorter one, Nick. Then, my phone started to ring Beethoven's 5th symphony. The one that goes 'DUNDUNDUN' (I know I got this off of Disturbia). I murmured something in French and pulled my sidekick out of my pocket.

"Yeah… I'm just walking around… No! It's, like, 3:10 in the afternoon! Why the hell would I do that?!" Then I started to talk in rapid French. I closed my phone and stuffed it back in my pocket and sighed. I bent down and buried my face in my hands.

"Is everything okay… Effie?" Joe asked. He put his hand on my shoulder, which sent chills everywhere. I nodded. I stood back up and smiled.

"It was just my step-mother. We don't get along very well, but any who," I quickly changed the subject. "You want to play a game of football?" They gave me puzzled looks as I dribbled the ball onto their lawn.

"You mean soccer." Said Joe. I looked at him.

"No. I mean football."

"Soccer."

"Football."

"Soccer."

"Football." By this time, we we're nose to nose, both smiling.

GAHH! My first one. Comment if you like this.