Lydia's POV
Chapter 1- Leaving the Only Home I've Ever Known
"I still can't believe you're doing this to me," I said to my mother.
"Maybe the change of scenery will do you some good," my mom sighed.
We had been through this argument several times before. I could tell she was already sick of the conversation, even though it had just started.
"Moving me across the country, away from my friends and everything I've known, is not a good thing."
"I know this isn't easy for you, honey, but the job I got in La Push is really good. It pays better than the one I have here and has the job security that I've always wanted."
My mom had worked as a librarian at a local library but had received an offer to become a professor at a local community college in La Push. She had been a professor at a community college in New York, but had lost her job last fall, leaving her to get a librarian job that she had hated.
"I know but did you really have to uproot me from my home, the summer before my senior year?"
I remembered when I first told all my friends I was moving. Our last year together before we were all separated. Sammie, Alex, and I had been inseparable since third grade. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if the three of us would last in college. I had always hoped we would, but I knew the reality of my hopes. I thought our senior year would be the last hurrah for the three of us. Unfortunately, that hurrah was cut short this summer after my mom had told me we were moving. I guess it was like my first year in college, the three of us millions of miles a part, only a year early. Sammie and Alex had sworn we would all stay in contact but I knew that wasn't true. We would soon be applying to colleges, shopping for prom dresses, and graduating. We'd all be busy and as much as I would like to think we'd stay in contact, I wasn't hopeful.
"I know the timings bad, Lydia, but think of all the new friends you can make and the new experiences you'll have in Washington."
I crossed my arms over my body, "I don't want new experiences with people I'll be leaving in a year, anyways. I just want to spend my last year of adolescence where I'm comfortable!"
I realized I had raised my voice more than I intended to when my mom and I fell silent.
"Could you just hand me one of the other boxes over there," my mom said, breaking the silence between the two of us. She pursed her lips, her tell that she was upset.
I obligingly complied. Only because I wasn't in the mood to get into another screaming war with my mother. My voice was still strained from the last one.
"The moving truck is coming in an hour, so pack up the rest of your things, please."
"I'll go get the rest of my boxes in my room."
As I entered the room I had grown up in I started to get a sinking feeling. I was leaving the only home I had ever known. Sure it was sort of small because of the limited affordable apartments available in New York, but hey-it was home for me. My seventeen years had all been spent in the same place and suddenly, things were changing. I glanced at the only thing I hadn't packed away, a photograph of Sammie, Alex, and I. The picture had been taken last year at prom. The three of us were all squished in together in a three-way hug. I was in the middle, my bright smile glowing between Alex and Sammie's tight hug. I wiped away a stray tear that had escaped from my eyes.
That was all before. Before I had known I'd be ending high school without my two best friends.
I was moving on in the world, alone.
"Lydia!" I heard my mom call from the living area, "Do you have your boxes ready?"
I placed the photograph into an open box nearby. "Yeah!" I yelled back after taping the box closed and labeling it 'Lydia's Room'.
After all the boxes had been loaded onto the truck, I went to my room for one last look before I left it forever.
I took out my phone and snapped a quick photo of the room. I glanced at the photo and saw a blank room staring back at me. All the memories I had created in this room, the endless sleepovers, the movie nights, even the late studying sessions, felt like they had never existed. Without my furniture and décor to fill the room, those memories had been erased. Like the room I was leaving behind, my new life in La Push would be spotless, a blank slate I was expected to fill.
It was then I decided how my new life would be. I would not make friends, I wouldn't try to fit in. It would only hurt too much by the time I left for college. It would be better if it was just me my senior year. There was no point anymore.
With a heavy sigh I closed the door on my room, ending my life in New York, but also the life I had that was so comfortable and so familiar. I knew that soon enough, the New York I had known like the back of my hand, would be a foreign memory. A concept I had once understood, but now knew little about.
Sorry if this chapter seemed a little melodramatic. I just wanted to show how Lydia was effected by moving across the country. It helps to build her reasoning of why she doesn't want to make friends at her new school.
If you guys are wondering when Paul will appear, he will be within the next two chapters. I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter. It would be great if you could review for me. Reviews are like nice little virtual hugs. Seriously, give me any kind of feedback. I take constructive criticisms really well and it's widely appreciated. Give me any ideas you may be having or thoughts about the story. The first person to review will get a shout out in my next chapter! :)