1. Leaving

Summer POV

"Goodbye."

"Bye." I awkwardly hugged Mum before stepping back. Awkward because I was trying to hold a thousand bags while fiercely being embraced by my tearful mum.

"We won't miss you." My sister spared no time in convincing me that my departure was no concern to her. Not that I ever doubted she wouldn't miss me. She'd probably convert my room into a second wardrobe or something of the sort.

"Yeah, we won't!" My brother doesn't hesitate to join my sister in reassuring me that my absence would be greatly appreciated. Though, of course, he always does what my sister does. He's incapable of having an opinion of his own.

"Summer," Dad said, "we will miss you, no matter what those two say. Don't ever forget that we love you. Don't worry; it's only for a little while anyway and then you can come back, okay?" It wasn't for 'a little while'; it was for a whole year. But I guess Dad was trying to say that 'time would pass quickly' and stuff. Yeah, right. He smiled at me and I smiled tightly back. No point wallowing in my misery. But I felt tears well up in my eyes anyway and had to turn around.

"Summer?" I heard a soft voice from behind me. I plastered a huge smile on my mouth. There, standing as if ready to be photographed for a magazine, was Luke. Luke Kelly, my boyfriend. We'd been together for a grand total of -wait for it- two months, but it seemed so much shorter! I still couldn't believe he chose me, Summer Fischer-McBride, to be his girlfriend. I mean, he's really, really popular and everything. Why choose me, when there are far more beautiful and logical choices like Saskia Jones, the prettiest girl in, well, in a lot, or Marisa Kranz, the girl who won the marathon last year and also has the prettiest naturally white teeth I've ever seen? Ah well, I wasn't complaining.

"Luke." I whispered. Now the tears really came. I had to leave everything- friends, family, Luke- all because of that one incident with the chocolate pudding.

I blamed Kym McBride, my cousin on my mother's side. She's a pain in the arse, I'm telling you! My family and I lived in Germany but Mum was actually from England. We had a lot of relatives. Dad was German and because of his work, Mum and Dad decided it would be better to live in Germany. But every so often Mum's sister, Jenny, and Jenny's husband Mark, would come around to visit with their two terrible children in tow. I don't know how it happened; Jenny and Mark are lovely and really nice but Kym and Ryan...I don't know. It's like they were injected with evil when they were born.

This particular visit was during Christmastime. We all sat down to have a lovely delicious Christmas dinner. It was all yummy (because Mum had prepared it and she's an excellent chef) and Kym and Ryan behaved themselves right up until dessert. That was when it started. Mum had made a huge chocolate pudding because we're not really fans of the traditional Christmas dessert; sherry trifle or Christmas pudding. Instead we adore Mum's chocolate pudding; it's creamy and rich and just absolutely lovely!

Now, Kym and Ryan had never had Mum's chocolate pudding because they were used to having Christmas pudding and sherry trifle and stuff that Mum is quite simply incapable of making. I served the pudding. It was delicious, as usual. But Kym was looking at hers as if it were a dead rat. Then, in a really snotty voice, she said, "This is supposed to be food? It looks like...rubbish." She shoved a bit of the pudding around with her fork.

"Kym! How could you? This is something that Rebecca (that's my mum's name) made for you! How could say that! Apologise immediately!" Jenny half-shouted at Kym. But Kym just giggled and continued staring at her plate. All through this, I had been contemplating what to do. Mum looked mortified while everyone else was trying to pretend they hadn't heard the conversation. It was dead quiet. I had to do something. God, I hated her. How dare she say those things about my mum's perfect cooking! How dare she insult my favourite food in the whole world! I was, fortunately, sitting right next to Kym and nothing could stop me. Half a second before I moved, Mum shouted, "No!" She'd seen what I was about to do.

"Well, you haven't even tried it. I bet you'll love it once you've had a taste!" Before she could react, I stood up abruptly, grabbed the plate, and dropped the dessert onto her head. I still remember the look on her face; absolute horror mixed with embarrassment. Ah, justice.

Dad, sadly, looked at it quite differently. He sent me to my room and confiscated my Christmas presents before I even had a chance to open them. Then, once our guests were gone, he made me clean up everything.

"But, Dad, she was so mean to Mum! Why did you just sit there and do nothing! Didn't you care?" I asked him. But he'd remained silent and handed me the mop.

That basically sums up why my parents decided it best to send me to a strange place called Wrickenridge, where all everyone does is ski or look at the mountains. They thought that I needed to sort out my 'anger issues' and that it was the 'best place to do it'. Not that I had anything against skiing or snow. I'm actually really good at skiing. Extraordinarily good at it, actually. But I'm not boasting.

Dad's half-brother, Noah, and Noah's family of ten lived in Wrickenridge. I'd never actually met them so I was pretty scared, to tell you the truth. Noah lived with quite a lot of people but he was really rich as well so he had a really big house.

Meanwhile, Luke was hugging me and trying to comfort me.

"Hey, don't worry. It'll be fine. And I'll send you an e-mail and everything. Eh? It's gonna be okay." He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. I was still crying but his words were slowly calming me down. I nodded and stepped back, holding him at arm's length. He was only slightly taller than me because I'm really tall. I smiled and wiped the last of the tears away.

"Summer, I'll always look out for you, okay? And I'll visit whenever I can." he told me, cupping my face in his hand and looking me in the eyes. I loved Luke's eyes. They were pale blue but I couldn't be too sure because they always changed colour. Let's just say that they were blue most of the time.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see my dad's smiling face.

Time to go.

Okay.

I sniffed and picked up my bags. The taxi that was going to take me to the airport had arrived. I stepped forward -one, two, three- and Mum opened the car door for me. I threw the suitcases onto the seat beside me (is that allowed?) and fastened my seatbelt. I leaned back in my seat and looked out of the window. Winter and Fynne (my fourteen-year-old sister and my twelve-year-old brother) waved at me and I waved back. Behind them, Mum and Dad were trying not to cry and behind them was Luke. I love my family, but I would miss Luke the most.

Bye! Bye, Summer!

I didn't mean it, Summer! I change my mind; I'll miss you after all!

We love you, dear.

Please, please visit!

I love you.

The last one was Luke. I smiled as the taxi rounded the corner and they disappeared from my view. I wouldn't be seeing them for a long time.