Walking After You Chapter 1
As you read this story, the girl you are about to get acquainted with
is long gone. Where did she go? Truthfully I dont know & neither do I
know if she will ever be comming back. All I can do is tell this
story to the best of my knowledge & hope that it interests you, the
reader, enough to see it through to the end. I can tell you that 99%
of what I am about to tell you is the truth from my point of view.
The story begins in Cameron, North Carolina & it all started over 15
years ago. Wow! 15 years looks like a life time when it is written
down, but to me it doesnt seem that long ago at all! I am about to
tell you a story about a young girl, we'll call her Gemma, And the
highs & lows of the last 15 years of her life. When I say 'last' I
dont mean that she is dead (although technically she could be!) These
are the more significant years of her life & I hope you will come to
lover her as much as I do.
Gemma was only 8 years old when she moved to the old farm house in
Cameron with her father & 2 of her brothers, Pat & Chris. It was a
traumatic time for the whole family, but Gemma was the youngest &
found it hard to come to terms with her family suddenly being divided
in two. Her parents had divorced a year earlier & after endless court
appearances, arguments & sleepless nights it was ruled that her two
eldest brothers were to live with their mother in Australia. Gemma's
father had been offered a job in his old hometown in America & found
it was an offer he could no longer afford to refuse. So, that's how
they came to be in Cameron.
While her brothers made new friends easily, Gemma found it a constant
struggle everyday just to hold back her tears until she could run up
to her room & hide in her pillow. At school the kids would make fun
of her australian accent to such an extent that she simply stopped
talking unless it was to answer a teacher's question. At home she
would gaze out of the window at her brothers kicking up the dirt in
the yard with their army of new friends. All Gemma wanted to do was
go home. She wanted her mother, she wanted to see familliar faces &
wanted to go back to her old school. Life was unfair. She hated it!
Dont get me wrong, Gemma adored her father & even at such a young age
she understood that he was trying to make the best of a bad
situation. He worked hard to build a new life for the four of them &
so she decided not to bother him with her problems.
However after a year in America things began to get a little easier
for all of them. Her Dad had found himself a girlfriend who Gemma
really liked & most of the teasing at school had gradually faded
away. The kids got tired & moved onto another target. The taunts
of "Kangaroo Face!!" and "Boomerang Butt!!" eventually fizzled out!
Gemma was starting to enjoy school although she still didnt have any
close friends to speak of, she kept herself to herself & almost
everyone else did the same. All but this one guy called Adam! He was
a real smartass! He tripped her up everytime she passed his desk,
pulled her hair, called her names - all the typical 9 year old boy
stuff! She told her brothers but she quickly found that anything they
did to Adam she got back ten fold!
One day in particular he was full of it as usual & Gemma had had it
all day from him! He didnt even let up after school. He waited for
Gemma outside of school & pelted her with raw eggs! She was literally
covered in yolk & pieces of egg shell & where every egg had hit her
it left a sting that she would be able to feel all night! She had had
enough! All her anger at the world was vented at Adam that day! She
whirled around & while he was still finding the whole thing
hysterically funny, she smacked him in the face & kicked him to the
floor! Then she simply straightened her shirt, smoothed her hair,
picked her books off the ground & strode off down the road! It had
felt great! It was the first time in 14months that Gemma had felt
good about herself! She was so pleased with what she had done she
even forgot to wait for her brothers to walk her home!!
She was almost home & still laughing to herself when she heard a
shout from behind her.
"Hey there slugger!!"
She turned to see a guy running towards her that she recognised,
although she had never spoken to him before. She had seen him around
school, knew his name was Jeff & also knew he had an older brother
that half the girls in her class would die for!! She politely waved &
said "Hey!" back then continued to walk home. Jeff caught up with her
& they had a conversation that is now lost in the mists of time
although she recalled most of it centered around her outburst at Adam
at the school gates!! And, unbeknown to both of them at the time,
this would be the first conversation of many & it would be the
beginning of the best friendship either of them would ever have in
their lives.
As you read this story, the girl you are about to get acquainted with
is long gone. Where did she go? Truthfully I dont know & neither do I
know if she will ever be comming back. All I can do is tell this
story to the best of my knowledge & hope that it interests you, the
reader, enough to see it through to the end. I can tell you that 99%
of what I am about to tell you is the truth from my point of view.
The story begins in Cameron, North Carolina & it all started over 15
years ago. Wow! 15 years looks like a life time when it is written
down, but to me it doesnt seem that long ago at all! I am about to
tell you a story about a young girl, we'll call her Gemma, And the
highs & lows of the last 15 years of her life. When I say 'last' I
dont mean that she is dead (although technically she could be!) These
are the more significant years of her life & I hope you will come to
lover her as much as I do.
Gemma was only 8 years old when she moved to the old farm house in
Cameron with her father & 2 of her brothers, Pat & Chris. It was a
traumatic time for the whole family, but Gemma was the youngest &
found it hard to come to terms with her family suddenly being divided
in two. Her parents had divorced a year earlier & after endless court
appearances, arguments & sleepless nights it was ruled that her two
eldest brothers were to live with their mother in Australia. Gemma's
father had been offered a job in his old hometown in America & found
it was an offer he could no longer afford to refuse. So, that's how
they came to be in Cameron.
While her brothers made new friends easily, Gemma found it a constant
struggle everyday just to hold back her tears until she could run up
to her room & hide in her pillow. At school the kids would make fun
of her australian accent to such an extent that she simply stopped
talking unless it was to answer a teacher's question. At home she
would gaze out of the window at her brothers kicking up the dirt in
the yard with their army of new friends. All Gemma wanted to do was
go home. She wanted her mother, she wanted to see familliar faces &
wanted to go back to her old school. Life was unfair. She hated it!
Dont get me wrong, Gemma adored her father & even at such a young age
she understood that he was trying to make the best of a bad
situation. He worked hard to build a new life for the four of them &
so she decided not to bother him with her problems.
However after a year in America things began to get a little easier
for all of them. Her Dad had found himself a girlfriend who Gemma
really liked & most of the teasing at school had gradually faded
away. The kids got tired & moved onto another target. The taunts
of "Kangaroo Face!!" and "Boomerang Butt!!" eventually fizzled out!
Gemma was starting to enjoy school although she still didnt have any
close friends to speak of, she kept herself to herself & almost
everyone else did the same. All but this one guy called Adam! He was
a real smartass! He tripped her up everytime she passed his desk,
pulled her hair, called her names - all the typical 9 year old boy
stuff! She told her brothers but she quickly found that anything they
did to Adam she got back ten fold!
One day in particular he was full of it as usual & Gemma had had it
all day from him! He didnt even let up after school. He waited for
Gemma outside of school & pelted her with raw eggs! She was literally
covered in yolk & pieces of egg shell & where every egg had hit her
it left a sting that she would be able to feel all night! She had had
enough! All her anger at the world was vented at Adam that day! She
whirled around & while he was still finding the whole thing
hysterically funny, she smacked him in the face & kicked him to the
floor! Then she simply straightened her shirt, smoothed her hair,
picked her books off the ground & strode off down the road! It had
felt great! It was the first time in 14months that Gemma had felt
good about herself! She was so pleased with what she had done she
even forgot to wait for her brothers to walk her home!!
She was almost home & still laughing to herself when she heard a
shout from behind her.
"Hey there slugger!!"
She turned to see a guy running towards her that she recognised,
although she had never spoken to him before. She had seen him around
school, knew his name was Jeff & also knew he had an older brother
that half the girls in her class would die for!! She politely waved &
said "Hey!" back then continued to walk home. Jeff caught up with her
& they had a conversation that is now lost in the mists of time
although she recalled most of it centered around her outburst at Adam
at the school gates!! And, unbeknown to both of them at the time,
this would be the first conversation of many & it would be the
beginning of the best friendship either of them would ever have in
their lives.