This is the first chapter in Hailey Jones life and let me just say, I'm really really really sorry. I'm not going to lie I procrastinate a lot, but just tell me if this chapter is any good.

Written in the stars

A million miles away

A message to the maaaain Ooooh

Seasons come and go

But I will never change

And I'm on my waaayyy

We've been on the road for about 8 hours straight now. Forks, Washington… I wonder what it'll be like. It's a pretty small town, so I'm not expecting anything too terribly exciting. I just hope I can make friends. But that doesn't really make any sense since I'm only going to be there for a few months. At least that's what mom keeps telling me.

I glance over at my mother to see her staring straight ahead with a look of forced happiness on her face. Things have been really hard on her since dad died. Times have been hard on both of us honestly, but I'm just better at hiding it.

I can see the dark circles under her eyes, which are more prominent against her ivory complexion. Her red lips are curved upward into a too obviously forced smile. Her large, dark blue eyes are no longer puffy and red from crying, but they hold far too much sadness for me to be fooled by her 'everything-is-fine-and-we're-both-going-to-love-it-here-and-be-happy-like-before' attitude about the move.

"Isn't this exciting? We've never been outside of California before, have we? It's like we're pioneers, exploring a new land! Oh, it's going to be so much fun!"

I couldn't help but wince at the forced enthusiasm in her voice.

"Yeah mom, I can't wait to see the house and all the new people,"

I couldn't help but try to sound just as enthusiastic as she's trying to sound. And I was always a better actress then her. I'm afraid that if don't at least pretend to be happy and try to look on the bright side of this move, she may break down and lock herself up in her room and start crying again. And then who knows when she'll come out this time.

I am so sick of seeing her cry.

So I give her my best 'everything-is-fine-and-we're-both-going-to-love-it-here-and-be-happy-like-before' smile, and return my attention outside the window.

It's been 7 months since my dad died, but it seems like it happened just yesterday. I wish we could talk about it, but mom's so determined to put on a brave face and be strong she's pretty much forgetting how dad's death could possibly be affecting me.

I sigh, and curl a silky raven lock of hair behind my tan ear.

Now she's moving me over 2,000 miles away from my home and all my friends. She's taking me away from the only comfort I've had since my dad was taken away from me. I didn't have any say in that, any of it! And I know this move is more for her than for me. I mean, sure, she probably isn't going out of her way to hurt me and selfishly think only of herself, but it feels like that's exactly what she's doing. And it's not fair!

I mean I understand her need to get out of the place that holds so many memories for her. Memories from before I was even born. And she wants to get away from all that. And maybe it will make the pain go away? Maybe make it just stop?

Unlikely in my opinion.

But she still had to try.

But isn't the job of the parent to put the child's needs first? Isn't that like first instinct to them? So why is she doing this to me?

A glance in the rearview mirror tells me that my red lips are pursed, my nose scrunched up, and my eyebrows are furrowed together.

So I will myself to take a deep breath. In with the positive and out with the negative. Getting yourself all worked up won't solve anything, Hailey. It's only going to accomplish bringing your mood so low that your mom will notice and get upset herself and start to feel guilty. Which in turn will make me feel guilty for making her feel guilty.

Does that any sense?

Only in my messed up head.

So let's focus on the positive here. So I'm being isolated from everyone in the world who cares about me except my mom during the hardest time in my life. It doesn't have to be all bad.

Maybe this move will bring us closer together. Close enough for us to not only cry together, but talk to each other and be real about our feelings. Maybe we can be a family again.

I perk up as the idea become more and more appealing to me. Maybe we can be a family again. I feel my lips involuntarily curve up into a small smile at the thought. Hope bubbles up inside of me.

"Look sweetie, we're here!" My mother smiled with a bit of real happiness "Our new home…..temporarily!"

I don't miss the pause between 'new home' and 'temporarily', but I decide to ignore it.

Instead, I smile up at my mom and take her hand in mine.

"I think this move is going to be good for us," I tell her sincerely "I really, really do,"

She smiles back at me and squeezes my hand, her eyes beginning to shine with those tell-tale tears of hers.

"Yeah," she says this with more sincere happiness than I've heard in her voice in a long time "me to,"

Sorry it was so short and took me so long to update. But I wanted you guys to get a better feel of who Hailey is.