Okay, so I lied, I'm posting everything now before I forget or get too busy. Here's the next chapter, Dae is pronounced "day."
{Dae POV}
The airplane was cramped and the air was dry. My feet were being squished beneath my carry-on, which was just a little too tall to fit underneath the seat in front of me. The woman in the seat beside me was leaning on my shoulder snoring. If she didn't talk incessantly when she wasn't sleeping, I would have woken her up. My mom wasn't able to find two seats next to each other, and the closest one was three rows back.
I am not happy, and my current position wasn't helping. We're moving to Washington to live with my uncle Jay; we move around a lot, this time is from Michigan. I hate that we keep leaving, I really want to just settle down.
The one thing I was looking forward to was spending some time with my uncle, my mom's brother. He visits us often, but we never get to really have a good time before he has to leave again. One day when I got back from school, I found my mom on the phone with him, a big smile on her face, with a few tears rolling down her cheeks. She said, "Thank you so much, Jay. I'll let her know and we'll get packed. She'll be so happy."
So here I am, getting off my plane from Michigan to Seattle, Washington to live with my mom and uncle.
"Winters! Lilly, Dae!" I looked around, trying to find the source of the shouts. I quickly spotted my uncle's head and shoulders above the crowd. I picked up my bag and started working my way towards him, my mom following just behind me.
"Hi, uncle Jay. Thanks for inviting us," I said, wondering what it would be like to live with a man in the house. It's only ever been me and my mom. He smiled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling up. I noticed how much older he was than the last time I'd seen him.
"Of course! I think your mom was getting too settled in, needed another move, don't you think?" He winked at me. My mom is notorious for only staying in any place for a little while before moving again, usually to a different state.
I nodded, laughing a little. I love Uncle Jay, and I think this will be good for all of us.
"Lills, welcome home, let me get your checked bags and then we can head out."
Home. What did that word mean now? I didn't think that anywhere was going to seem like home for a long time. But while these thoughts were going through my head, we had gotten through the windy, wet air and packed all our suitcases and stuff in the trunk. Uncle Jay started the car, and we drove to La Push, Washington: my new home.
My light skin in stark contrast against the tanned teens around me. It's always been odd to me that such a sunless place can have such dark people. It's from their roots on the plains, before they were all collected together onto this damp reservation. Uncle Jay was close friends with Billy Black, who is on the Quileute counsel, and although he is technically white, he blended into the natives with his dark tan. I would have to work hard to get my skin that dark without getting a healthy share of skin cancer.
When we arrived at the house, I was surprised. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting everything to look exactly the same. It was like time stood still in this little piece of the world. We dumped our stuff in the two spare rooms Uncle Jay had cleaned out and put beds in. I was glad I wouldn't be sharing a room with anyone, I value my private space. I still don't know how my uncle could afford such a big house, whenever my mom would ask, he'd just say it's a thank you from Billy.
My room's walls will need to be decorated, though. Maybe I can befriend an artist at school to do a small mural for me. That would be ideal, and they would probably appreciate the larger canvass.
Project 1, unpack. Project 2, breathe some life into this room. Project 3, make this room mine. When will all of these get done? Who knows. We may even move out before then. But those are still my personal projects.
XxxxX
The next day at school, I wasn't particularly interested in anything the teachers had to say, even though I'm usually a good student. I wrote down whatever I picked up, but I only used half a page rather than 2.
Homework will be a struggle. I was very glad when the bell rang after last period and I left. My mom was still out, she's working as a housekeeper for a wealthy family that have their daughter living in a house by herself? That seems like a bad idea, but hey, she's their kid. I decided to drive down to La Push beach. It's been awhile since I've seen the actual ocean instead of a lake. There were a few kids on the beach, so I drove a little farther. I hopped out of the car and ran down to the waves in bare feet. It was a little startling to see people jumping off cliffs into the ocean below, but they look like adults, I figure they know what they're doing. I rolled up the cuffs of my pants before walking to the water's edge. It was quiet and peaceful with the water just hitting the shore; I felt like I could be perfectly happy just sitting around here all day.
But nothing is ever that simple. There I sat, soaking up the surrounding calm, when I heard laughter. Boys. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back just a little, hoping to look like I was meditating or something, just to make them pass me by. They were definitely headed my way. I was perfectly still. The laughing stopped. I didn't move. Nothing around me moved. Finally I opened my eyes and looked around, thinking they went the other way. I started a little when I saw them, but thankfully managed to turn it into a fluid movement. There they were. Big, brown, shirtless boys. Yay.
"We don't mean to intrude." One of them held up his hands, politely stepping back.
"Thank you," I said, hoping my cold tone meant stay away. I hate boys. I hate men and I hate boys. They were so out of control with their lusts and desires and it wasn't rare for me to fall prey to them. My uncle was the sole exception to this rule: the perfect picture of a gentleman. So the last people on earth I want to befriend is a group of rowdy shirtless boys.
They were still there. One of them staring into my face intently. He wasn't close enough for me to see what he was looking at. His friends were watching him cautiously.
"Have you never before seen a girl? Or is it my white skin blinding you?" I say rudely.
"No! Sorry, we'll leave. Paul-"
"No." I heard him say very quietly, turning to the guy next to him. "I'm gonna talk to her." He almost whispered.
"I can hear you."
The spokesman said sorry again with his eyes, and all but Paul left. He came up and sat down beside me, offering a smile.
"Hi, I'm Paul Lahote."
"Hi Paul."
"What's your name?"
"Amy." No way am I giving a random dude my real name.
"Nice to meet you, Amy. What brings you to this beach?"
"It's relaxing. I don't like people." I say as harshly as I can. He ignores my tone and continues.
"I like coming down here to think and straighten my thoughts out. It's a nice comforting silence."
"Yep."
"You like the quiet?"
"Yep."
"Do you want me to leave?"
"Yep."
"Kay." He stood quietly. I don't feel bad at all for being so rude. Wait... Nope. No, I don't.
"Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime. Seeya, Amy."
"Bye."
He left. Well, now I'm in the silence again. But now, there's something dirty about it, like I kicked people out just because I want something. Now I can't enjoy it. Stupid boys ruined my beach.
I grabbed my bag and went back to my car, dusting off my pants on the way. I picked my mom up from the girl's house.
"I can't believe they have their 18 year old living alone. Ridiculous... A girl needs a family."
"She's just there by herself all the time?"
"Mhm. She has a few friends that come every now and then, but they're mostly parasite girls. You could come with me sometime and meet her, she's a nice girl. A little... neglected, she has no idea how to dress but she's very smart and respectful. So what did you do at the beach?"
"Ugh, I still have sand everywhere, don't I?" We both laughed.
"I just sat around until it was time to get you."
"Did you meet anyone, or was the beach just empty?"
"It was empty for the most part. Well, the area I went to was. I had to go a little farther than the biggest part though."
"Who did you meet? Spill, you're frowning."
"Some guys were walking around. Only one introduced himself. They were really big. The guy's name was Paul."
"Paul? Really? Our neighbor has a nephew named Paul, I haven't met him yet. Her name is Ava Lahote."
"Paul Lahote, that's the bitch." I grumble. "I hope they mind their own business."
"Honey I know you've been hurt by men in the past, but there are some very nice men out there."
"Yeah, like dad? I've never even met him. You were assaulted and raped by a random dude in an alley, then I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. I could've had an accident baby just like you did, and I was only 16. I could've had a little girl who would never meet a man she should call Daddy." I spewed bitterly. It's not often, but sometimes the facts smack me in the face and I get angry about our situation.
"I'm so sorry, Dae. I wish so often that you had a dad. My dad was such a sweet man. I wish he was still around. You would've loved him so much. I hope that living with your uncle will help you see that not all men are bad." I had once again made my mother cry.
"Mom... Mom. It's okay. We'll be fine, we're two girls starting brand new. New state, new town, new house, new neighbors. Again."
That didn't seen to comfort her much, and I wasn't feeling the tears. So I just let the silence hang in the air between us. When we got home, I got out and she slid over to the driver seat.
"I'm meeting with Ava in town for some shopping, do you want to come?"
"Nah. I have homework to do."
"Okay. See you later, gator."
"Bye mom." I rolled my eyes as she shut the door and drove off. I went inside.
I wasn't sure what to do when the phone rang. I didn't know anybody... But I guess this is my house too now, so I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, is this Lilly or Daenarys Winter?"
"Daenarys speaking. Who is this?"
"This is Bev, from Colorado! Remember me?"
"Oh my gosh, Bev! What have you been up to? And how did you get my number?"
"Well I was looking through my address book from when we were little, and I found a collection of your old numbers. I called the most recent one, and they gave me the number you gave them in case anyone ever called for you!"
"Wow that's crazy! I'm so glad I did that, I thought of that right as we were driving away. How've you been?"
"Busy, I graduated early, you know, so now I'm working on college apps. I'm taking this year off school though, so I can scrape together a little money for tuition."
"Wow, what am I doing with my life?" I laughed.
"Oh stop... Your artwork is still up in the study hall of junior high. Remember that?"
"Yeah, that was mortifying. They just told me my work was 'so impressive' they were going to display it. I had no say..."
"You really could've charged them..."
"I know, I should have..."
We talked for hours, catching up on the years that had passed since I was in Colorado, the state before Michigan.
Finally we said goodbye and hung up. I was disappointed. I had thought that talking to an old friend would bring me back to my usual self. But it didn't. In fact, I felt even more brain dead than before. It must be this dismal weather.
I sat down at my desk and started my homework.
Thoughts? Questions? Please leave me a review with them!