I sighed as I looked out at the landscape that we were blurring past. I didn't know where we were at the moment, but we certainly weren't in Kansas anymore. Not that I've ever been to Kansas…
My family was taking yet another cross-country road trip. I usually didn't mind, but I'd about had enough. You see, these road trips bring us to our new lives, our new house, our new school. I'd moved more times than I could count. At first it was about every five years, but now…it seemed like we were moving every other Christmas vacation.
In our trusty old Subaru Forrester, my dad took up the driver's seat, with my mom riding shotgun. My brother was in the back next to me. My dad, Marc, had a precarious job situation, so he started searching for a new one. After a month of grueling fly-in and phone interviews, he finally found a job. So we put our house in North Carolina on the market, sold in even though the timing was horrible, and were on our way to the lovely town of none other than Forks, Washington.
I'd adapted to moving a long time ago. I was usually up to a good change in scenery. Then my dad cluelessly told me the name of the town, to which I bounced up and down screaming. He, of course, was scared out of his wits. I'd had my deep-dark wish come true.
I read Twilight for the first time about six months ago. My best friend, Katelyn, let me borrow the first three books. Man, was I hooked. I read them ravenously until I could read no more. Well, maybe not that much. I was grief-stricken when I found out that the next book hadn't come out yet. I forgot about it, since I was too big of a fan yet, and then the time came. I joined in the clichéd Breaking Dawn madness, I'm embarrassed to admit. After I read the whole book in one sitting, I read the whole series again twice in one week.
My mom, Lillian, was oblivious to my obsession. Nobody could really tell... I just stayed up late re-reading my favorite passages and imagining what it would be like to live in a world like that of Edward and his awesomeness…
I, my dear friends, am Cynthia Van Dyke. I'm sixteen years old, and turn seventeen on October 15th. I'm about 5'6; have longer than shoulder-length shiny light-brown hair, scary pale skin, and thighs that rub together when I walk. I've got sparkling blue eyes with a dark ring around the outside of the color. I enjoy watching Dharma & Greg, and I live to buy Vera Bradley. I absolutely must do my best in school, or I lose all my self-confidence. I love art and writing, and my friends tell me I'm good at it.
Speaking of friends, Katelyn is my best. She reached out to me when I first moved to North Carolina, and we were attached from the hip ever since. We're complete opposites; she's outgoing and vibrant, while I like to blend in with the crowd. My other best friend, Vanessa, is kinda annoying. She's always wailing about how her feelings are nonexistent, and it kind of ticks me off sometimes. I can't help but love her, though. Except for when I think about the apple incident last year…Don't ask, it brings back bad memories. I have too many other friends to give awesome long explanations about. They all like me for my body, definitely.
Somewhere along this drive, I fell asleep. I was jerked awake when we reached our final destination: aka, new home. I hadn't seen any pictures of it, yet. Mom and Dad wanted it to be a surprise for me and my brother, Andrew. It certainly was a surprise. The house was beautiful! It looked enormous, and it was actually old. My mom doesn't like old houses, they scare her.
I however, can't get enough of them. So, I stepped right in. The inside wasn't as nice as the facades. It would definitely need some work, but that was probably why my mom chose it. She's always loved to make houses our own. She always starts with the bedrooms and works outward from there.
I heard my dog's claws clipping on the wood floor as he ran in to investigate. Fargo is a French bulldog that hasn't grown all of his ugly wrinkles yet. I patted his back as he trotted past me. My mom came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulders.
"So, Cynthia. What do you think?" she asked.
"I love it," I sighed dreamily. "It's perfect for us." Then, I looked at her with a smile, and said in my fake "French" accent, "Mother, would you give me a tour of our lovely new abode?"
She shook her head. "You and Andy have to fight till the death to pick out your rooms. Let me call him to start the race!"
I could already feel my heart racing with excitement. We did this every time we moved. Andy and I would run up the stairs and call dibs on the room we wanted, except for the Master Suite.
Andy came over to us when Mom called, and she started to count down. On "go" we both sprinted up the stairs, and started frantically opening doors. I knew it was love at first sight when I came to my bedroom. It was even before I noticed the added-on bathroom. It had a beautiful window with a built-in window seat. It would be perfect for my theme.
My bedrooms are always to the theme of classic Winnie the Pooh. When I was a baby, my crib was adorned in Piglets and Tiggers. It's always been very relaxing.
I immediately called out, "Mine!" to let Andy know that he had no chance with this one. I walked around in a trance, and came to a random door. After it was opened, I came upon a beautiful bathroom, with a full shower and Jacuzzi tub. How in the world had we afforded this? I wasn't complaining at all, though.
At first, I thought it might have been the Master, but I remembered Mom saying that it was downstairs. Yes!
Mom came in shortly after my call of possession. She looked around the room in satisfaction, obviously glad that I had snagged this room. "Great choice, Cee," she applauded.
"Thanks, mom," I replied, still in happy mode.
I tugged my mattress in and onto the floor after dragging in all of my boxes and furniture. It almost looked like a bedroom. I found the box labeled "Cee's Clothes", and opened it with my utility knife. I would have done it with my nails, but they're nonexistent. I chew on them too much for them to be useable.
I pulled out all of my shirts and hangers, and made my way over to the closet. When I opened it up, I was stunned yet again. Was everything in this house so huge? I would never have enough clothes to fit into this thing. We never had enough money for me to go fashion shopping; I always had to wait until Christmas or my birthday.
After nestling my clothes carefully into their new home, I flopped down on my floor-ridden mattress, and somehow fell asleep again.
~xoxoxo~
I woke up not to a sound, oh no, but to the feeling of a slobbery dog tongue on my face. Yucky. I was reluctant to get up until I remembered my position. I was in Forks, and I was starting school today!
I jumped out of bed, and ran into my sparkly new bathroom. While unpacking yesterday, I'd remembered to take out my toiletries and shower stuffs. I jumped into the freezing stream of water, and quickly washed the film of car traveling off of me.
After scrubbing myself thoroughly, I jumped out, and loved the warm air of the bathroom. I wrapped myself up in my fluffy light blue bathrobe, and put my hair up in a loose bun that I'd fix later. I applied the little amount of makeup that I usually wear, some Bare Minerals, and picked out some random pink eye shadow. I let my hair out, and took about twenty minutes blow drying it. I left it down, in its normal straight style.
I journeyed out to my bedroom to find some clothes for my first day good impression. I ended up picking out my favorite pair of jeans that don't make my thighs look too ginormous, and a button-up pink flowered shirt. I grabbed my winter jacket and my book-bag, and headed downstairs.
When I got down there, I started my normal kitchen routine. I found our strategically placed lunchboxes, and started getting out the materials. I'd been making my and Andy's lunches since forever. Since Andy is two years younger than me, of course I'd get the responsibility. I made a peanut-butter sandwich for Andy, and did the same for me with some jam. I took out two little puddings, apples, and the bag of carrots. My parents are health nuts, so we eat healthy. I secretly enjoy it.
I finished up the lunches before anyone else was downstairs. I started making some eggs for everyone but Andy, who is an extremely picky eater. I took out his bowl and cereal for him. As the eggs were sizzling in the pan, my family slowly started coming down the steps.
Dad sat down right as I put his plate of eggs and sausage in front of him. I put my mom's plate across from him, and sat down next to that with my food. Andy made his cereal, and Mom sat down next to me.
"You guys ready for school?" asked Dad cheerily. He loves educating us.
"Nooooo!" moaned Andy. He never enjoyed school. Especially since he started getting F's in his classes.
"I sure am. I can't wait to meet the teachers," I said. I felt like such a weirdo saying that. I don't care about socializing with people my age. Oh, no. I make friends with the teachers, who hold intelligent conversations with me.
"Cee, you've got to start hanging out with people your own age," said Mom, reasonably.
"Yah, you don't want to mature too fast, do you?" asked my dad.
"I know guys. Just give me a chance to break out of my shell. Who knows, Forks worked for Bella, why not for me?"
My mom rolled her eyes, used to my prattling about everything Twilight. She knew the whole story without reading the books. She figured that she'd be getting more of that now, since we lived in the small town that Bella resided in.
"Well, lets go," said my dad when everyone was done. I didn't have my driver's license yet. My mom insisted that since she got hers when she was a senior, I'd have to wait too. My dad didn't agree, but it was a lost cause fighting against mom.
"Love you mom," I said, kissing her on the cheek. "Force Dad to plug in the TV today, we don't want to miss an episode of Lost!"
My mom is the ultimate fan girl of the abc show, Lost. From Sawyer's background story to Richard Alpert's eyeliner, she can tell you just about anything when it comes to that show.
We all (Me, Andy, and Dad) got into the car. We got to the middle school in no time, where Andy and my dad went in for a few minutes. My dad came out, and we started towards the high school.
"You know I was kidding earlier, right?" he asked. I knew he was talking about my poor socializing skills. Aside from my few friends in NC, I didn't really talk to anyone…unless they were a teacher.
"I know, Dad," I said, ending the conversation.
We pulled up into the visitor's lot at the school. Dad came into the front office with me. It was uncanny how much this looked like Myer's description in the book…right down to the cloudy sky…
He opened the door for me, and we walked up to the front desk. The lady there was nice looking, with glasses and a kind smile. My dad introduced himself, and me, high on my nerves, didn't catch her reply.
"This is my daughter, Cynthia Van Dyke. Is her schedule all set up?" he asked.
"Oh, yes. Here you go," she handed it to him, and he in turn handed it to me. I looked over my classes surprised to see that I had some teachers whose names looked quite familiar. I had Mr. Banner for Biology…coach Clapp for gym…I was thinking about how uncanny it was when the secretary addressed me.
"Does everything look good, dear?" she asked with a smile.
"Yes thanks, Mrs…?" I ended the sentence realizing that I didn't know her name. I smiled at her apologetically, and she seemed to get it.
"Mrs. Cope, dear; it was no problem. I really hope you enjoy it here." I didn't really catch the rest of what was being said, or react when my dad said goodbye. I walked to my first class, which happened to be in building three…which had a big three on it. I was too stunned to think, so I took my seat, and got ready for the rest of what seemed like a crazy day.
I know I really shouldn't be starting another story…but I couldn't help myself with this one! I got inspired, and I wanted to broaden my creativity. I know people have done these kinds of stories before, but I'm hoping mine will be unique among the rest. I hope you enjoy. Please review!