Chapter 4

We didn't end unpacking until 11:00 at night…and we still hadn't finished. I was so glad it was Friday and I still had two days to get settled. Maybe I could wiggle out of Monday too, I'll see. After all the packing I had memorized the house already. Being as the house was so small, there were only six rooms in the house: a kitchen, a TV room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. I was glad I had my own bathroom.

When you walked into the house there was a hallway with an entrance to the kitchen on the left and straight ahead was the TV room. From the TV room led a staircase upstairs. On the right was my bedroom and further down the hallway was Renee's bedroom. Everywhere was mustard yellow shag carpet, except for in the kitchen which had peeling and moldy linoleum. Only the stove worked, so for dinner we had soup. The bathrooms were rather disgusting, with moldy showers and sinks and stained toilets. Renee had assured me that after about a month of work they would be able to afford to remodel the house a bit.

I was so wiped out; I just skipped a shower and got into a pair of sweats and an oversized T-shirt. While brushing my teeth, I heard my cell go off.

Funny, who would be calling me at 11:00 at night? I wondered. I swished out the toothpaste hurriedly, and rushed to my phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, its me Will."

"Oh, hi! Why are you calling so late at night?"

"I couldn't sleep without hearing your voice. I miss you so much already." Aw, he was so sweet.

"I miss you too!"

"Were you guys able to unpack?"

"Umm…mostly. We still have some stuff to do, and like 90 percent of the stuff here doesn't work. Will, its so hard going from really wealthy to really poor in a matter of a few weeks. I'm so stressed. And I can't believe my parents are divorced. Its just so hard!"

"Oh, I know baby. I understand. I mean no actually I don't because my life isn't like that. But I give you TONS of sympathy."

"Hmm thanks. I love you."

"You too."

"Well I'm so sorry I wish we could talk all night but I swear I'm gonna fall asleep right now. Not that talking to you is boring or anything. I'm just so worn out."

"I know that's ok. I'll call you tomorrow ok?"

"Alright, I would love that. I love you again."

"Bye, love you too again!"

"Bye." I closed my phone and put it on the floor near my luggage, which still held my clothing. I was sleeping in a sleeping bag tonight because bringing my bed up was just too much. Renee was in the same situation. As soon as I turned out the light and settled in my bag I conked out.

I woke up the next morning at about 8:00 to the steady pit-pat of rain. Of course. Sighing, I pulled out a pair of old jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. I hated my clothing. Back, when I was uh…richer, I had two walk-in closets filled with designer clothing. But I had to sell everything. Now all my clothing came from classy up-class thrift stores (heavy sarcasm).

Running a brush through my long dark, brown hair I started up the shower. Yellow water came out for a few seconds. I grimaced, taking off my PJs and stepped into the shower. The water was never a good temperature, either scorching hot or freezing. It was probably the shortest shower I had ever taken. I wrapped my hair in a towel and got dressed quickly. All I needed for makeup was some mascara, blush, bronzer, and lip balm/gloss.

My stomach growled as I headed downstairs. Renee was sitting at the left behind table and munching on a bowl of dry cereal.

"I'm sorry honey. This is all we have since the fridge doesn't work and we're short on groceries."

"That's ok. Don't worry about it." I grabbed a bowl and a box of Cheerios. I inhaled the cereal, and headed upstairs to brush my teeth. Renee poked her head inside the bathroom and said,

"When you're ready let's start to unpack again."

"Ok." I went back downstairs and saw Renee opening some boxes. She looked up and saw me.

"Let's start by really cleaning this place up. But of course we don't have a vacuum or a duster or anything." Just then the doorbell rang. I went to go answer it. I opened the door and saw a girl of about my age, 17 or 18.

"Hi, my name's Bella. I'm your neighbor. I live with my dad Charlie. I saw that you guys were moving in and I thought you might like some help. Oh and I brought this too." I glanced at the object she was holding. It was a batch of brownies.

"Oh, wow that's really nice of you. I'm Avery and…mom!" I called to Renee.

"Yes who is it?" Renee came over to me. "Oh, hi. I'm Renee, Avery's mother."

"Oh, hi, I'm Bella your neighbor. Here are some brownies for you guys if you would like. You know Renee is my mother's name too. Except she lives in Phoenix, Arizona."

"Oh, thank you. That's so kind. That's neat that your mother had the same name as me. Its not too often when that happens," Renee said happily.

"I also would love to help you guys, if you want."

"You know if you wouldn't mind, we would absolutely love the help. This place is a dump."

"Yea, sure," Bella said enthusiastically. She seemed like a really nice person. She had brown hair and eyes and rather pale skin. Her eyes were very warming and kind.

"Umm, come on in. We were just gonna start to really give the place a good cleaning," I said.

Thankfully Bella had all the stuff we needed, like a vacuum, a duster, etc. We started off by scrubbing the kitchen floors and then vacuuming the carpet really well. We then disinfected the bathrooms, washed the kitchen counters and dusted all surfaces. By then, we were all starving.

"Hey, do ya guys wanna come over to my place and have lunch there?" asked Bella.

"Sure, that would be great if you don't mind," replied Renee. We gathered up our shoes and sweaters and headed over to Bella's place. It was just as cozy looking, except in much nicer condition. There was an old red truck sitting in the driveway.

"Now, my dad isn't home right now because he's at work. But how about you guys all come over for dinner tonight and you can meet Char-, err my dad."

"Oh, Bella that sounds wonderful. That is so very kind of you. Avery and I would love that," said Renee grinning from ear to ear. It was really nice to have great neighbors. For lunch we had pizza, a salad, and some Root Beer.

"So Avery, do you know what school you are gonna be going to?"

"Umm, yea. Forks High."

"Ooo, cool. I go there too. I can show you around and maybe we'll have a lot of classes together. And I'll have to introduce you to my friends and boyfriend. They are so amazing. But I have to warn you, they seem a bit…umm…different." I looked up at Bella, confusion swirling in my mind now. Again I felt like I was missing out on something. I glanced at Renee, but she didn't seem like she noticed anything. I shrugged it away, taking another bite of my pizza.

"Yea, that sounds really good. I'm glad we both go to the same school. That's gonna be a lot better. Are the people there nice? Because it must be kind of weird having someone come in on their senior year."

"Oh, yes the people are so nice. And don't worry; I came in the middle of my junior year. Its not that bad."

"So you're a senior too?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. You guys seem like you have a lot in common," Renee said approvingly.

"I saw your guys' cars out there. Did by chance someone named Jacob give them to you?"

"Yea, he did. Why?"

"Oh he's just a really good friend of mine."

"Cool, he seems really nice."

"Oh, he is." We finished up our lunch and then headed back to my place. Finally after about three to four hours of working, we got all the furniture in its rightful place. Turns out the roof was just old and wasn't going to leak anytime soon. That came as a huge relief for both Renee and I. By then it was maybe 5 o'clock and we were all exhausted. But all the work was done and that lifted off a huge amount of stress on us.

"Well, I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help Bella. That was amazingly kind of you to help us like that."

"Oh sure. Anytime I loved meeting you guys and I'm happy I have someone else who goes to my school. Umm…how about you guys come over in maybe forty-five minutes for dinner?"

"Yea, that sounds great!" Renee answered.

"Ok, see ya."

"Bye."

This is the forth chapter (duh). I hoped ya liked it! Review!!