Rubbing my eyes intensely, I smash my defective alarm clock several times, waiting for the blaring noise to finally stop. Ah, Saturday. Finally, the few days of the week I lived for, with school being such a pain in the ass along with the heaps of training I did for the swimming gala held yesterday (which I must say I obliterated in) it felt good to finally drop back on to my bed and allow my aching muscles to rest. This presumably did not last long. My mother entered the room, an ecstatic smile lit up on her face.

"Honey, I think we found a lovely house in Japan! You simply must see it!" Her elegant speech matched the jewelled dress she wore. Now before you think my mother was going to some special event due to her choice of clothing…this was a natural part of my life. My father ran in to a lot of wealth during the end of his teenage years, wealth that grew incredibly causing me to live a…well, a life that never really seemed to suit me. I wasn't ungrateful, however it was certainly difficult to make genuine friends when they all see your mother come to pick you up in a matte black Rolls Royce Wraith to take you back to a 17th century, colossal manor. This in turn made me quite a shy person, never having much experience with meeting people who didn't want a bit of my wealth.

"Wha…what? new house…WHY?" my eyes darted to her, confused at the topic.

"In Japan! Your father and I found a great business opportunity, it would be for three months. We'd certainly make sure it was the nicest place to stay of course!"

"Mother." I sighed. "Why? You've never bought this up before, you can't just drop this on me like that!"

I sat up from the large bed, moving the patterned duvet away from me whilst my mother sat on a small cushioned seat at the end of my bed, still a smile on her face.

"But Ben...your father wants to buy a slowly growing company that looks like it could make us a fair profit…a tech company, don't tell me that doesn't sound interesting, you may even be able to help him...you're turning eighteen soon, it could be quite beneficial for your future." She said excitedly clearly showing a dearth in actual knowledge for the 'business' side of it. Her tone suddenly dropped to normal once again. "Anyway…we've noticed a lack of social skills you have…your teacher rang about an English-speaking presentation and told us you lacked the confidence to speak to your peers." She paused for a moment, her eyes meeting mine. As I opened my mouth to speak, I found I was cut off as she continued. "On top of this, your grades in general seem…lower than what we hoped for this month…we think a change of scenery may benefit you."

I held my head down, not understanding whether to be disappointed in myself or to be angry that my parents we're oblivious of why I was like this and that they seemed so blind of how I felt.

"Certainly seems like you've planned this before asking me anyways..."

My mother stood up, strolling back over to my door. "It would be seriously good for you Ben; can't you respect that this is an incredible opportunity for us."

My breathing was slow, irritation and sadness crawled through me. "I don't want to go, okay?"

"It will be-"

"I said no…"

She huffed aggressively, her arms crossed. "While your seventeen, you'll listen to me and you may be angry now, but you will seriously thank us later, this will do you good."

With that, she closed the door quickly, not allowing me to protest any longer.

I can't believe in the space of 5 minutes…a whole new life had just been dropped on me with the snap of a finger. From the United Kingdom to Japan…how do you even adapt to that.

I spent some time in my room pacing, fist clenched and pissed off with my lack of control. What about everything I had here? My swimming team…My studies. Then again, what did I really leave behind emotionally, not like I had socialised enough to make any good friends. It must have been hours in my room, just sitting there, thinking…Japan, why of all places? It is a unique culture, sure…but three months.

The day dragged slowly, I didn't bring myself to leave my room. I shut the curtains, allowing the room to go completely dark and spent it watching films. I had questions, yet I was too angry to speak to my mother.

This was until my father got home…

I spent the rest of the night arguing with both my parents, making snarky and aggressive comments towards the lack of consideration they held for what we had here. It must have been an hour of which we argued with one another until I finally gave up, slamming my door shut and flopping down on my bed.

We would be leaving on Monday…

And I'd have to accept this…new beginning.

Sorry this was so short ladies and gents, I wanted to get right in to the story however I thought a backstory was certainly in order as it will explain the protagonist's relationship with his parents and just give a very small insight in to how it began. I promise the chapters will be longer!