I stared at the piano in front of me. I placed my fingers on the keys, and tried convincing myself to play. I used to love to play-- before he left. I sighed, and tried again to play. I pressed the keys down in a familiar way, and played a few notes. Then my fingers stiffened and I stopped. I felt frustrated with myself, I wasn't the first kid to have her father leave. Just because he taught me how to play the piano didn't mean I had to stop.
I tried again; failing once again, I only played for about thirty seconds before I started getting the memories flashing back. I stopped, and turned to my mother who was sitting next to me on the bench. She was a wonderful person, I couldn't understand why my dad would want to leave her. She gave me an encouraging smile, and I tried once more.
It went on like that for another hour. Sometimes I played for little over a minute before I gave up, and my mom would try to get me to play again. It ended when she looked at the clock and saw the time.
"I'm sorry sweetie I've got to go to work." She looked disappointed, I knew she had made it her goal to get me to play a full piece.
"It's okay mom." I smiled at her, she worked at the police station, she was the only female police officer in Forks. "I was thinking, that maybe we could go to Port Angeles and we could get some new pieces." I offered, trying to make her happy. Her face lightened up right away with my idea.
"That sounds great! Lets go whenever I have a day off and then we can make a day of it." She knew I missed the city, and that I craved some of the craziness of the city.
"Kay." I was actually excited. I hadn't been excited since my mom told me we'd be getting very far away from my father and his second family.
"Alright. I love you." She said, kissing my forehead.
"Love you too mom." I smiled. She was just like my best friend. All we had were each other. I loved how that was enough.
She left a few minutes later, tying her black hair into a bun at the base of her neck. She grew up in La Push, the small town on the reservation; my home. We had spent a few summers here during my child hood. I actually liked it here, even though I have always lived in a big city. I never got rain where I lived before, here I got it all the time. Although I bet I'll miss the sun at times. I sighed, and walked to the bathroom. It was the only room that had been completely unpacked. I looked in the mirror and felt a pang of disappointment. I didn't look a think like my mom. She had long black hair, tan skin and brown eyes. No, I looked like my father. Blond, pale skinned with dull blue eyes. I had my dad's eyes, and every now and then I would see my mom staring at my eyes.
I decided I wasn't going to spend the day in the house, thinking about my life before the divorce. I pulled on my hoodie and walked down to the beach. It wasn't a long walk, we lived pretty close to it. Everything seemed gray, washed of color, but I knew that once the sun shone it was filled with every color imaginable. The beach usually had people from Forks High surfing or sitting around a fire. Today there was mostly local La Push people there. I kept to myself, I never was extremely sociable. I had a few friends but I just didn't deal with people very well.
There was a group of people walking near me, the guys were all tall with cropped black hair, and had a girl on their arms. One girl didn't seem to belong, what I mean is that she didn't look like the rest of them. She had bronze hair, and pale skin-- paler than me even. She was small, but beautiful, and she was holding hands with the biggest of the guys. Something about her was irresistible, I wanted to be her friend, and that never has happened before. But, I kept my cool and looked away; it was rude to stare. I heard them laugh, and joke around. I still didn't look at them though.
They walked by, and I noticed the guys all went barefoot and had a string tied around their ankle. I wondered what that meant, but didn't think much of it. Maybe it was their version of a friendship bracelet. The girl walked by, and her voice was like bells. It took everything I had not to stare at her. I wondered why these people seemed to take my attention. At least twenty other people had walked by, and I just ignored them, but it seemed impossible to ignore these people for some reason.
I figured that I had spent to much time alone and got up to go call LeAnn, my best friend. I walked inside the house, taking of my damp hoodie and my boots, then went into my bedroom. The floor was covered with boxes, I've been putting off unpacking. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the familiar number. It rang a few times before a girly voice answered.
"Wren?" LeAnn answered.
"Hey you." I said.
"I miss you." She told me.
"I miss you too." I replied.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine, I'm just a little damp."
"Damp?" She laughed.
"It rains almost every day here." I looked out the window, it started raining more, I wondered if that group was still down at the beach. They'd be crazy too.
"Ah. So, I've met someone." She gushed. LeAnn always met someone. She'd date that someone for a little while, and then they'd break up. And a new someone would come along, repeating the cycle.
"Tell me about him." I sat down, knowing this would be a while. His name was Anthony and he was two years older than her. He had brown hair, and tan skin, he was going to college early and had a great sense of humor. He also had a job, and a car. Already he sounded better than the previous guys.
"He sends me letters." She told me, I could practically hear her blushing.
"Don't you guys live near each other?" I asked confused.
"Yes, but he still sends me love letters." She sounded happy.
"I bet you have them in your lap, ready to read." I smiled, she was so predictable.
"You know me so well." She said, and began reading me the letters. They were sweet, and I even blushed at a few parts. He was smart, funny and kind; like she said. I was happy for her. "I can't rack up the bill." She said, disappointed.
"I know." I said frowning.
"I adore you." We always said this before we hung up.
"I adore you." I closed my phone. My stomach growled and I realized what time it was. Mom would be home soon, and I still needed to cook dinner. I got to the kitchen and pulled out a few ingredients. I was about to start cooking when the house phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Wren, don't worry about dinner." It was my mom.
"Why?" I was confused, we just had takeout yesterday.
"Cause we're going to go spend time with some of my old friends."
I groaned.
"Don't worry they have kids. Seth will be there." She added.
"Wait Seth? Seth Clearwater?" I asked, appalled.
"Yes Seth Clearwater, who else?"
"I hate him." I mumbled.
"Why on earth would you hate him? He's a sweetheart." She was a little offended.
"When you were around. He was the one that put the gum in my hair." I told her, When I was seven I got stuck spending time with the Clearwater's. Leah was alright, she reminded me of an older version of LeAnn. But Seth was a different story. He was a little devil. He used to chase me around his house with the dead fish his father caught. He put a huge wad of bubble gum in my hair, we tried everything; I wound up having boy hair.
"That was a long time ago Wren. Grudges cause cancer."
"No they don't." I said, my mom always loved pulling that sort of thing. She used to say secret's cause cancer. I believed her when I was little.
"Still, you're going over there little lady, and we are going to have a nice dinner with Sue, Leah and Seth." She was stubborn just like me.
"Fine." I gave up, I knew she wasn't going to budge.
"I'll be by to pick you up after my shift. Be ready." She hung the phone up.
I kicked an empty box on the floor, it went flying across the room. I didn't hate anyone like I did Seth. I have this irrational fear about fish because of him. I went to go change. I put on a black and white long sleeved shirt. I kept the cargo pants I had on, and went back to the kitchen to put the food away. Mom pulled in front of the house and honked her horn. She had a change of clothes on, wearing a purple shirt and black pants. I locked the door behind me.