A weekend in Seattle.

Day 1,

May 9, 2008

The California wind buzzed around me as I stood silently on the sidewalk. My brown hair had a single braid in it, my usual style. It was lightly caressing my cheek, and I let the wind blow it in complete disorder, not caring how messy it got. I snuggled deeper into my sweater and shoved my hands in my jean pockets. The sun was rising in the horizon, its rays crashing against the far away ocean. The distant cry of a seagull could be heard, and it soothed me.

I sat on the sidewalk, pulling my suitcases in front of me. Logan, Zoey, Chase, Lola, and Michael were sitting, too. We were waiting for my ride to Seattle, my hometown in which I would be staying for the weekend. My parents were picking me up, and I was going to spend the entire weekend with them and my little sisters, Morgan and Kelsi. It wasn't an event I was looking forward to that much, because I didn't know what to expect. I never really got along with my parents. They expected so much from me, and it never felt like what I did was enough. Sometimes I felt like they didn't even know I existed.

That's why I came to PCA. My parents supposedly thought I would have more opportunities to excel here, and when I asked, they were packing my stuff right away. I like it better here, though. Everyone is so much nicer here than the people back home, and now I cannot think of anywhere else I'd rather be than here.

"So, when are your parents coming?" Zoey asked, breaking the dreaded silence.

"I think they said 6." At least, I was pretty sure they had said six.

"Remind me again why I got up to sit on a cold sidewalk at 5 in the morning." That was Michael. He was moving his arms up and down in a confusing pattern, mocking the way he would play with his clackers.

I didn't have a good reason for that. Well, I guess you could say it was a good reason. "Because, you're my friends, and a friend will do that for their friend." Michael's expression turned from confused to, well, even more confused. He wove his fingers in the air, as if I had just asked him to solve an extremely hard math problem.

A horn honked, and I groaned. Looking up I saw my dad's navy blue car pulling up in front of us. He rolled down his window, and I could see he hadn't changed a bit. Same old round face, dark hair, and round glasses. The passenger's door flew open, and I heard the clack of my mom's high heels as she tried to run toward me. Her short brown hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing something that looked like a business suit. She gripped onto my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I was sure she was going to crush every bone in my body.

Behind me, I could tell it must have been awkward, because I heard coughing and the shuffling of feet. I wriggled out of my mom's grasp and stood next to Zoey.

"Mom, you remember Zoey, right?" She nodded, causing her bun to bounce up and down. "This is Chase, Lola, Michael, and Logan." I ended at Logan, and he shook hands with my mom.

"Oh, so this is the one you've been telling me about?" My cheeks turned bright pink. I could feel them burning up. She gestured me to the side so we could talk privately, and I followed suit. We were a few feet away. She looked me in the eyes, and I could tell it was not going to be good. "Honey, I don't know how to tell you this," She began, placing her arm on my shoulder. "I really don't think you should be seeing this boy."

I almost choked on my own spit. I only managed a soft "What?" Oh, trust me. I wanted to scream and yell and attack her with questions, but that's all I could get out. I was excessively shocked. Only two seconds with Logan and she already disliked him.

"I just think he isn't the right person. His hair looks like he got a perm, and his over-all appearance makes him look like he should be on Bay-Watcher. Besides, I got a really bad aura from him."

Let me explain…my mom, besides being a legal psycho, (you know it's true, mom) is insanely superstitious. I swear, on Friday the 13th in 4th grade, she made me wear a hand knit sweater of four leaf clovers she'd spent all the month before searching for. She keeps cloves of garlic on every door, and salt on every windowsill. She swears aliens abducted her, too. In addition, she highly believes in auras. When I asked what kind of aura she didn't like, she laughed.

"Dear, can't you see it? It's the aura of pompous and snob." I guess I couldn't blame her for getting what I had gotten my first day of school. However, the thing was, that's what everyone thought of Logan. Although they didn't know him the way I did.

"But mom, I swear he's not like that!" I protested.

"THE CARDS DON'T LIE!" with this I could feel every one of my friend's eyes on us. My mom came closer to me and whispered, "You will not speak another word of him. You are never to come close to him, either." My eyes were tearing up now.

"But mom, I-"

"ENOUGH! In the car…" I didn't budge. If only she would hear me out.

"Can you just list—"

"NOW!" Her dangling beaded necklace clanked together, and she took my shoulders and guided me to the car. I wriggle away to hug my friends. First were Zoey and Lola, who looked upset. Michael was next, and he was crying, and Chase was last. His look was in between shocked and scared for me. I ended up, last, at Logan. I felt I couldn't look up or I'd cry. I just wanted my parents to go away. Where were they when I had needed them in eighth grade? Now that I didn't want them here at all, they had to come and ruin everything. I hugged Logan and gave them a kiss on the cheek. I was sure I would be yelled at for this, but I didn't care. My bags were already in the car, and I reluctantly climbed into the backseat next to Morgan and Kelsi, who merely looked at me and got back to their conversation. My mom was furious, and I was sure this was not going to be a fun car ride.