Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the characters or any other songs, movies, books, or places that I might mention.

New Beginnings

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Shit. I try to reach into my purse to grab my vibrating cell phone. Of course, it is probably at the very bottom of it. I lose my grip on my backpack, and it falls to my elbow. Why the hell did I ever get such an abyss for a purse? The strap from my backpack was starting to hurt, so I let it fall to the ground. I pull up my purse to get a better visual of what was inside.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

God dammit. Where is it? I start to empty out my purse in pursuit of my phone. Wallet, set of keys, pack of gum, another set of keys…Why do I have to sets of keys? Aha! There is it; at the very bottom of my purse. I glance at the caller I.D. and the picture of my 13 year old sister. I roll my eyes and swing my backpack back over my left shoulder.

Buzz. Buzz.

"What do you want, Hannah?" I demand over the phone as I continue to walk into O'Hare International Airport.

"Is that any way to talk to your little sister?" She fires back.

"It is when you have called me at least four times since I left the house an hour ago." I glance at my watch. Damn, I got here way too early for my liking. I sigh, looks like I will have to wait a little longer than I wanted.

"Don't be like that Sydney. I am going to miss you, and I don't even know when I am going to see you next. Why do you even have to go?" Her voice is starting to break, but the only thing that I can do over the phone is reassure her that everything will be okay.

"You know why I am leaving Hannah. One of us has to go live with mom, and I did not want to uproot you from everything that you have here. Before you go on and on about all the things that you think that I have, let me remind you that I really do not have anything going for me in this big city anyway. You have a lot of friends, and I am lucky enough to get out of the house every once in a while. Furthermore, you will be starting high school pretty soon, and it would not be fair to you if we tore you from everything that you know. Hannah…please, just let me do this for you." I take a breath and look around me as I listen to the silence on the other end of the phone.

"I know, and I am grateful that you are doing this for me." I find a fairly empty row of seats, and I put my backpack on the seat next to mine. "Syd, just promise me one thing, okay? Promise me that you will at least try to make some friends while you are there. I know you like to be secluded with your books and music, but I want you to have a good time while you are there."

I sigh again, and I am pretty sure that she heard it. I look at the bustling people around me. A guy in a business suit is sprinting to catch his flight, while an elderly couple is walking in the other direction. They are holding hands, and they are walking along as if they are taking a stroll through a park.

"Sydney Koontz!" I jump and look at my phone, and I remember that someone is waiting for my reply.

"Sorry, I spaced out. I will try to make some friends. I promise, but you have to promise to let this go. Do not dwell on this situation anymore, okay? Just focus on your art and going to rock concerts. I will probably see during Christmas break at the earliest." I look at my watch again. I still have a good 20 minutes.

I hear someone talking in the background, and I know exactly who it is. I sit up a little straighter form my slouched position, and I try to end the call before he realizes that it is me talking to Hannah. "Listen Han, I have to go. Just remember that this is for the best. You get along better with dad, and I get along better with mom. It was the only way that this was going to work."

I hear a sigh on the other end of the line, and I smile at how similar it sounds to mine. "Alright, I will let it go. Lord knows that I won't be able to stand to live alone with mom anyway. Did you want to talk to dad, he is right here?"

I freeze and start scrambling to end this call. "No, I am good. I will talk to later, okay? I love you. Bye!" As I hang up. I can hear her say 'I love you' and some unintelligible background noise. I sigh again and slump back into my seat. I glance at my watch again, and I still have 15 minutes. I close my eyes and think about why I am even here in the first place.

My dad. He is a hardworking man, and will do anything for his family and his friends. He is also a very selfish man. He is the kind of person that gets what he wants, and he will stop at nothing until he gets it. He could also fool anyone. I thought that our little family was great, and that everything was going well. My parents rarely fought, and they both worked really hard to provide for my sister and I. They went out on dates, did yard work together, and they always knew when something was wrong. Unfortunately, they did not pick up on the shit storm that was headed our way. I always thought that dad loved us, but when mom found him fucking some 20 year old, I think all of us had second thoughts. Mom had always loved him unconditionally. She would lay down her life for that man. So, when she found him in bed with another woman, she finally lost all of her shit. I had never seen act like that before. She was ranting, throwing things around the room, and throwing all of dad's belongings out of the window. I guess it was then that she decided that she needed a change of scenery. A couple of days after the incident, she had her bags packed and ticket to London, England in hand. Before she left, she told us that she would like one of us girls to come and live with her. Then, she was gone. I had immediately decided that I was going, and not just because I wanted Hannah to stay with her friends. I just do not think that I can stand the thought of living with dad right now. I can barely stand to think of him. It makes me so mad to think that he would betray the one person who gave her all to him. I feel the hot wisps of anger that I have become accustomed to travel up my spine, and I find myself glaring out of the nearby window.

Mom is a nurse. She lives and breathes to help people. She loves interacting with people and getting a chance to solve their problems instead of focusing on her own. She was offered a job in London at St. Thomas' Hospital, and she jumped at the opportunity to run from her problems instead of facing them. I do not blame here though, because I am the same way. I do not know what is wrong with me. On the outside I am timid, and I do not like to upset people. On the inside I am like an untamed animal. There must be a broken connection in my brain somewhere, and my thoughts just so not coincide with what actually comes out of my mouth and the actions that I do. My mother and I are the same in that respect. Hmm… maybe I will snap one day like she did. I am snapped out of my thoughts when I hear that my plane is boarding.

I stand up and stretch. I gather my backpack, and I make sure that I have my ticket in hand. I look out of the window again and notice the dark clouds that are rolling across the sky. I adjust my glasses and make my way to the terminal. There is already a line formed. I notice that it has begun to sprinkle outside, and due to the darkness outside, I can barely make out my reflection on the window.

I am wearing simple jeans, and I dark grey 'Jurassic Park' t-shirt. I have my brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail, and you cannot make out my light blue eyes due to my glasses. I look down at my old, beat-up black Nikes. I am a little overweight, but it is not like I anyone to impress. I am who I am, but it does not make the jokes hurt any less. I am also short. I cannot believe that I stopped growing in the fifth grade. Oh well, a shiver runs up my spine, and I can feel the goosebumps on my arms. I decide to pull on my navy colored hoodie, and I am really glad that I decided to get it out of my suitcase before they took it. I wonder what London will be like. Will it be anything like Chicago? I wonder if the–

"Um, excuse me miss? It is your turn." I look up and notice that I am in front of the line. I look at the attendant, and I can feel myself flush.

"S-sorry." I manage to stutter out and give her my ticket. She looks it over and hands it back to my.

"Don't worry about it. Have a good flight miss." She waves my on through, and I give her a nod in thanks. I travel along the narrow hallway and cross my arms over my chest. I find my seat quickly, and I put my bag at my feet. I look around and notice that there is not many people on board yet. I settle back down in my seat, and I decided to send mom a text that we were about to take off. I do not know if she will answer but I should let her know that I will be there soon. Knowing her, she probably picked up extra shifts at the hospital. I can only hope that she has made some time for me, but I will give her space since she has been through a lot these past couple of weeks.

The pilot announces that we will be taking off soon, so I strap my seatbelt. I stare out of the window as the plane takes off, and when they announce that we can move around, I take out my IPod. I put it on shuffle and sink even further down in my seat. I start to drift off as 'National Anthem' by Lana Del Rey comes on.

'I thought heaven can't help me now…'

"He's so bad but he does it so well…'

"I said no one has to know what we do…'

I slowly start to wake up to the lyrics of one of Taylor Swift's songs, and I sit up straight. I look around and notice that people are getting their things together. I look outside to see that we are still in the air, and that it is still raining. I clasp my hands together and raise them over my head to stretch. I shut my IPod off and put it back into my bag. I run my eyes underneath my glasses and get ready for the plane to land. I check my phone for any messages from mom but there are none. Should have guessed, we have not had an actual face-to-face conversation since before she left. After everything is put away, I begin to think about what the future might hold. I know Hannah will be all right. She and dad have always been like one person. They have the same interests and the same personality. Except, Hannah knows what boundaries are, and she knows how to not fuck up her life or anybody else's. She will be fine. She has a crap ton of friends, and she even had a boyfriend. I feel a familiar spark ignite inside whenever I think of how popular my little sister is without even trying. I had to work hard to get the friends that I had, and even then, they do not even talk to me that much. Also, I would be lucky enough to have a boy glance my way.

I shake my head to cleat my thoughts. This is insane, I should be happy that my little sister has a great support system, and that she has so many people to talk to about how she feels about this whole situation.

I am shaken out of my thoughts when everyone else is getting up to leave. I had not even realized that the plane had landed, so I gather my backpack and get up to leave. As I am leaving, I glance back at my seat to make sure that I did not forget anything. I follow the waves of people that are getting off of the plane. After I depart from the plane, I make my way to the baggage claim area to wait for my red duffle bag. I only brought the essentials and enough clothes to last me for two weeks. I figured that would give my sister and dad enough time to send the rest of my stuff. It should not be hard for those two, since I had everything packed before I left. I see my bag on the conveyor belt, and I make a beeline for my bag. I was not expecting to run into someone.

"Watch where you are going!" I feel my cheeks flush again as I look up to the person that I had run into. He had light brown hair and brown eyes. He was really tall but everybody seems tall to me. So, he was probably average height. He seemed to be around my age, and he was dressed rather neatly. I was getting ready to apologize, but he was already walking away. I looked down at my shoes. I sighed and turned back to the belt, and I saw that my bag was all the way on the other side. I jogged along the conveyor belt to catch up with my bag. After I had retrieved my bag, I started to look around to see if my mom had come or not.

I had been looking around for about 20 minutes when I felt my phone vibrate. I dug my phone out of my purse. I was surprised when it was a text from my mom. My heart dropped when I saw the message.

'Sorry, honey! I can't come and get you from the airport because I had to work a double today. I will send you the address.'

I fucking knew it. Despite the fact that I knew this would happen, I could now help the anger from slowly creeping into my mind. I slowly shook my head and started to head outside to hail a taxi. When I stepped outside, I felt some drops hit my face. I put my hood up and started to look for a cab. After I finally hailed one down, I slid inside and gave the driver the address my mom had sent me. I am now really glad that mom had talked me into getting London's currency through our bank instead of waiting until I arrived. It took us about an hour to reach the house. I paid and got out of the cub with my bags. I turned around and looked at my new home. I stunned for a moment when I realized that it was a two story house. Why do we need such a big house for only two people? Oh well, I walk up the side walk and the three stairs. I lift the 'Welcome' mat and retrieve that key. After I unlock the door, I drop the key into my purse and make a mental note to attach onto my keyring later.

I start to roam around the house. The first thing that I see is the kitchen is straight ahead, and a bathroom is underneath the stairs. There is a little foyer with a set of stairs going to the second story, to my left was the living room, and to my right was the dining room. The living room was surprisingly simple for my mom's taste. There was a dark grey couch and a dark mahogany coffee table that matched the wooden floors that are in almost every room downstairs. The same could be said for the entertainment center that held the T.V., and it looks like she already got satellite installed. She had hung up some pictures of our family, but I did notice that none of them have dad in them. I go back to the foyer and head towards the dining room. There is a big table in the center of the room, and there is also a china cabinet against the further wall. I walk into the kitchen, and it is not much different from the one we had back home. There were the appliances and an island in the middle with stools on one side of it. The cabinets are dark in color, and the counter tops are a tan color. I noticed the all of the rooms are the same color as well; a cream color. There was a breakfast nook on the other side of the room and a door that led back to the living room. I walk through the living room and head upstairs. There are more pictures along the wall, but I do not feel like looking at them right now. There are three doors when I finally get to the top. To the right is my mother's room, and the middle is a library/office. I can see that mom has already placed all of her nursing books on a shelf, but she has left a lot of space for me. I do have a lot of books. There is also a desk in the middle of the room. So, by process of elimination, I guess the last door is my room. I gasp as I take the first look into my new room.

The walls are painted light green with dark brown trim. The carpet is white and soft to the touch. My bed is against the wall to my right, and the bed spread is also a dark brown color. I can see the sheets are the same light green as my walls. On the other side of the room, a tall dresser is in the middle of two doors. One being my closet and the other being a bathroom. The wall I am facing has a window in the center, and it has lights dangling off of the trim. The room is really bare considering that I have almost none of my stuff with me. I suddenly realize how tired I am, so I take off my glasses. I lay down on my bed and my last thought before I drift off is that living here might not be too bad.

"Sweetie. Honey, it is time to wake up." I feel fingers running through my ponytail as a listen to the sound of my mother's soft voice. I slowly open my eyes and sit up in bed. "How was your flight? Did everything go okay?" I just nod to her and get off of the bed. I pull my duffle bag onto the bed and start unpacking. My mom is silent for a few minutes while I finish up. "Don't forget that you need to stop by the school today to sort a few things out. I won't be able to come with you because I have to work." Of course.

I shake my head at her. "It's fine. I think I will manage. You said it was only a couple of blocks away, right?" She nods and gets off of the bed. She is almost out of my room when she pauses to glance back at me.

"When will the rest of your stuff be here?" She asks.

"Soon." I say. She sighs and walks over to give me a hug. I know what she is trying to say with this hug. She wants to reassure me that everything will be alright, but I am not so sure. When she leaves my room, I glance at the clock. It is 9:36 A.M. I should get moving.

It is another hour by the time mom leaves the house, and in the time I have showered, brushed my teeth, and gotten dressed. I have on a Nirvana t-shirt, some jeans, and my beat-up sneakers. I put my hair up in a bun, and I decide to put on my contacts today. I head downstairs and make some toast with strawberry jam. I grab my backpack and my keys and head out the door. Apparently, the name of the high school is Wammy's. What kind of name is that? I shrug and walk the couple of blocks to the school. I walk through the entrance and into the large foyer. The plain white tile floors and walls with reds strips. There is a sign that points to the administration office, and I follow the sign. Hanging off of the walls are red lockers, and every so often they are disrupted by wooden doors of classrooms. I reach the office and let myself in.

There are a few other students in as well, but I ignore them and go up to the elderly woman who is behind the desk. She has bright white hair and electric blue eyes. She is wearing a light pink dress shirt and a gold necklace with a heart on it. She peers at me over her glasses. "What can I do for you today, sweetheart?"

"Uh…My name is Sydney Koontz, and I am going to be a senior this year. I am new." I look everywhere but at the lady, but I can see her smiling from the corner of my eye. She types away at her computer and prints something out. She hands the paper to me and I realize that it is my class list. I glance over the list and stop when I get to physics. I totally forgot about that! I had failed it last year and had compromised with my parents that I would take it again the following year. Shit. I look back at the lady before turning red. "Is there any way that I could sign up for a tutor this early?" She gives me quizzical look before nodding her head.

"Sure. We can sign you up if you need to. What class is it?" She takes out a sheet of paper form a file while she waits for my answer.

"Physics." I reply. She looks at in understanding before writing my name and subject down on the piece of paper. She then takes a look at another piece of paper and looking it over. She must have found what she was looking for because she wrote something down on a piece of paper before turning back to me.

"Before you leave, I want you to double check all of you information. Also, you are in luck. We just got the list in for available tutors this semester, and one of them wants physics." I sigh in relief as she goes over my information with me. After we have finished, she gives me a map of the school and a student planner that has all of the schools major events in it. She also hands me a scrap of paper with a name and a phone number on it. I wave to Phyllis, the name of the kind secretary, and start to head back home. I take a look at the name and number that she gave me, and I cannot help stare at the odd name before my eyes.

L Lawliet

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