New Places, New Faces

Chapter Two

A rough bump knocked my head against the window and woke me from my apparent nap. My parents were sitting in quietly, contently listening to some old people radio station. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up. "Where are we?" I croaked.

"We're about half an hour away." One of my parents responded, but before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep again.

The slamming of the driver and front passenger doors roused me again. It seemed we had arrived. My mother was opening the front door when she gestured to me to come in. "Jiraiya, come see your room." There was perhaps a little too much glee in her voice for my irritated mood. I followed her in and up the stairs, dragging my feet the whole way. "Here we are!" She said, just as cheery as before. She opened the door to a very small… I wouldn't have described it as a room so much as a large closet. Inside was a sofa, a TV, with a console and a ladder. The ladder, at that point, was not on my radar as I looked directly into my mothers' eyes, with a look of thorough disappointment.

"What is this? Where am I meant to sleep; meant to put my stuff?" I was a very dumb kid.

"Jiraiya…" She pointed to the ladders, "What do you think that is?" And climbed the ladders, I followed sheepishly. The result of an attic conversion; before me was a fairly spacious room, with a nice little window box. I tried to envision what it would look like with my things in place.

"So… do you like it?"

"Yeah, I guess it's cool." I mumbled, trying to hide my satisfaction.

"Good!" She beamed. "Let's get unloaded then."

It took the rest of that day to get all our furniture into the house with the help of the movers, and then we spent the following day emptying the boxes; fitting our life into the new house. My parents took a walk to find a good local takeout in the evening, leaving me alone in the strange new building. I wandered around, still unsure of the place, opening doors and closing them again, not really sure what I was looking for, or what I was hoping to find. Everything seemed so clean and sterile, even my room did. It wasn't much of a retreat or refuge yet, but it was where I went. I sat, on my sofa in silence; too lazy to climb the ladder, too lazy to turn on the TV. Now I'd been given the time to think, I realised this was, perhaps, a new chance for me. I'd always wanted to be a fitness trainer or a physiotherapist, and after the last year of bad grades, maybe I could make it up, get the right grades and prove myself before the exams, since I'd been doing so badly in the assessments. Perhaps I could make something of myself; perhaps I could make my parents proud after all. My mother shouting up the stairs brought me back from my thoughts.

I joined my parents at the newly erected dining table, my mother deciding that moving house was a fabulous excuse to buy a new one, and looked at the bowl of curry placed before me. It smelled fantastic. We ate in an uncomfortable silence; I had the feeling that my Mum and Dad were hiding something.

"I-is something wrong?" I tried. To no response and we sat in silence once more.

"We have a meeting at your new school tomorrow." My dad said.

Great, they assumed me so immature and such a shitty kid, that I didn't want to deal with or expect that I'd have to go to a new school. "Well, I assumed as much." No response again. "I was thinking, maybe I could try this time." No response. "Fine, I'll just dick about some more then!" I yelled and ran to my room.

I sat on my bed, looking at my hands. There was too many little scars and nicks for a kid my age. I'd had too many broken bones in my life. I'd been in too many fights. I was so much of a disappointment that my own mother and father didn't even believe me when I said I would try. I remember crying that night. So ashamed of myself, hating the person I was, unsure of how my life would end up. Then, as I lay in my bed trying to sleep, I was just angry… with my parents, with everyone…

I woke the next morning to the sounds of steps on my ladder. It was my mother trying to delicately sneak into my room, to leave some nice clothes in my bedroom. Like only a mother could, she noticed I was awake, or I think she did. "I hope you were serious last night baby." She whispered as she hovered at the foot of my bed. Then she left again. I got out of bed when I heard the door below close behind her. The clothes she'd left were typical, nice, neat and smart casual. A new pair of jeans, bought specifically for this occasion, and a white dress shirt, actually bought a few months ago for the start of the new school year, but it could have been brand new for how little I'd actually worn it. After getting washed and dressed, I headed down to my parents sitting at the breakfast table, evidently waiting for me.

"Good morning honey."

"Hey mum."

And that was our morning greeting. My dad turned around to inspect me, completely disappointed once more. "Can't you even put on nice clothes properly?" He chided me. "Your clothes are brand new, how can you manage to look so untidy in new clothes?" I sat down, picked up a slice of dry toast from the rack and took a single bite. I sat head down, and ignorant to everything else until it was time to leave.