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Prologue: Escape

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Why? Why did this happen? Why couldn't I have just been a bit older? Why couldn't I make my own decision before coming here? Why do I feel like I'm so chained to my family? Why couldn't they have left me alone back there? Why did they take me with them? Why am I here? Why...

I've been asking myself these questions over and over again as I want home one musky smelling,rainy day. All I could think about were...these questions. My mind has been blank since I came here with my family...And ever since I came it's been hell...

Oh! Sorry,where are my manners?...Fuck,I forgot. I left them back where I came from. But,still I'll introduce myself nonetheless. I'm Jessica Perez. I'm 17 years old,a girl as you can tell from my name,a daughter,big sister,oldest kid in my household,novelist-to-be,and a damn junior in high school... my life pretty much it started to suck even more about to months ago.

You see,I used to live in Elizabeth,New Jersey. To most people it's not that good of a place to live. To me,it was ok.I don't want to say it was heaven because then people will think I'm crazy calling a place like that heaven. But that's how it felt like to me. I mean,I had everything I cared for there. Friends were mainly what I cared for. I used to hang out with my friends all the time. I even got in trouble with my father because I hung out too late with them. Though it didn't matter what time it was as long as I was having fun. Boy,did I have fun with these were crazy!

I mean,they always did the most funniest at school,my friend Luis would always throw himself on a ramp in the hallway and just roll ! And the time when my friend Mat was playing fighting with my other friend Kevin and Mat ended up ripping his pants! I laughed so hard that day! And the time when my friend Jose kept humping everyone's leg!

...Those were good times...And those were times when I used to laugh and laugh...But,I can't anymore. I can't even crack a damn smile. I used to be the most jumpy,giddy,cheerful person. I loved my friends...They were everything to me...They were my life...And I lost that life in two-seconds flat...

I came home one day from school and saw that my dad was happy as all balls. I thought that maybe it had something to do with our family or something like that. I don't bother with asking my old man about stuff like that. I've never seen him like that so I went and asked...Mind you I'm Hispanic so this conversation was in Spanish. I'll translate what it was.

Flashback

"Hey,pops! You seem very happy. I haven't seen you like this since you bought your boat. What's up?"

My dad turned around and looked at me and held up a piece of paper to my face. I looked at it then my dad. The paper looked nothing special to me. It was to my dad.I was about to ask him what it was when he was one step ahead of me.

"That paper right there in your hands is the very paper that I've been wanting to see since I came back from my vacation in Cuba."

I kept looking at him. I was dense at that moment,I didn't like it when people beat around the bush.

He sighed."Damn it,Jessica! It's the real estate papers! I was finally able to sell this house! The owner of Coco Bongo called and said he'd buy the house! Now we can get out of this hellhole called New Jersey and move to Florida!"

End of flashback

In all the 17 years I've lived on this earth I've never thought I could hate life so much. Three days later we had to move. I went to school to say my good-byes. I got most of my friends e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Some of my friends cried,some hid their tears. At least I knew that I meant a lot to them.

I really didn't want to leave,but it couldn't be helped.I was still under-aged so wherever my parents went,I had to as well. And that really sucked! I didn't want to be tried down by my family! I wanted to stay!

Even after all my whining and pouting I ended up playing along with this whole thing. About two days we arrived in Daytona Beach. Damn place was hot,but not so much that we couldn't unloaded our stuff. My old man kept saying how everything's gonna be. We're gonna live a better life,with better things to come our way. We can start all over again.

I twitched at that sentence that my dad said. Start all over...That was the thing that I didn't want to do. I don't want to start all over. It was hard getting the friends I had and I went through a lot of things to get where I was. To start all over is like saying 'I give up.'

I don't want to start over...I don't want 'new' friends...I want my old friends back...I don't wanna be here...I wanna go back to Jersey...I want my life back...I wanna...I wanna escape from here...I wanna escape...