Chapter 1
"Kyle, Kyle, Kyle," I said, poking my older brother Kyle in the car.
"What?" He groaned.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Corey, don't you have a watch?" He questioned.
"It's broken dumbass."
"Well then," He glanced at his watch. "Quarter after one."
"Aw man, we missed lunch." My mother looked back at us.
"Just a couple more minutes guys." She said.
"Mom, we're hungry!" I whined.
"Sweetie, I'm aware of that."
"Well can we-"
"We're here!" My father yelled over his shoulder. We shut up. I climbed over Kyle and looked out the window.
The house was huge, but it looked old, I mean real old, probably close to 50+ years. The outside was apparently white at one point, but was faded and beige colored in this millennium. The windows were dusty to the max. An old Star Wars blanket hung on a clothes wire with clothes pins. I popped my gum by Kyle's ear. He flinched.
"Seriously sis?" He said.
"Macarena serious." I replied so matter-of-factly.
"Coraline, don't pop your gum at your brother." My mother said. We piled out of the car and brought boxes from our rented moving truck into the house. My other brother Adam pulled up in our family's truck. I tied my hair back and brought my box of video games and movies into the kitchen. My mother brought the cooler filled to the rim with drinks for our 21 and a half hour drive from Troy, Alabama, where we used to live, to here, Denver Colorado. My mother just became a 3rd grade teacher at MacInnis Elementary, and my father became a high school English teacher, and, on Tuesdays, the gym teacher, at J.F Robb Consolidated High, the school Adam, Kyle, and I are going to go to.
I grabbed a Mountain Dew from the cooler and continued up the rickety stairs. I chose the first bedroom from the stairs. The bed that was in their was small and seriously old. It had a Wesley Crusher blanket on it and a handmade Wesley Crusher grey, red, yellow and blue sweater pinned on the wall. A Licence To Drive movie poster hung on the door and and Outsiders poster on the wall above the headboard of the bed. A cassette player sat on the nightside table. A box of tapes sat underneath the table. I set my stuff on the bed and picked up the box. I sat on my bed. I heard a loud creak. The wind swung under me. The posts gave way and my bed collapsed. Luckily, the bed frame stayed together. Adam and Kyle dragged a mattress into my room.
"Dude, you have the nerdiest room I've ever seen." Kyle exclaimed.
"I know." I pulled the sweater off the wall. I carefully took of the posters, since I still wanted them. The wall had blue with whit clouds wallpaper covering it. I lifted the new mattress onto the old one, creating my bed. I looked out the hall and crept into the room beside mine, Adam's room.
"Adam, can I drive your truck to the hardware store to get paint?" I asked. He sat on his bed listening to music and reading a car magazine. He threw me the keys to his pickup truck. I flew down the secret staircase and out the door. Kyle was building our trampoline on the hill.
"Kyle, come hither!" I yelled.
"No!" He said. I shrugged it off and hopped in the truck. I slowly drove down the huge hill. Vi and Tom, who lived at the end of the hill, they'd sold us their farmhouse. They waved and I waved back. I turned onto the main road. I turned into Jennings' Hardware. I strode up to the paint section and chose pale green. I paid $12.59. I turned to leave but bumped into someone. I fell back and so did they. I looked up and saw it was a boy. I jumped up and got in the car.
I sped home and grabbed my paint roller and masking tape. I lined the door and ceiling with tape and began painting. Once I finished my first coat, I looked out my window and saw a red van driving towards our house. I dropped the brush in a bowl and sped downstairs. My dad was plugging in the TV, and my mom was filling the fridge.
"People are here!" I said and ran up the secret stairs.