Willow
2009-12-06 14:16:32 UTC
Most kids freak out when their parents get divorce, especially when you are old enough to grow attachments to both your parents. However, the divorce between my mother and father was the best thing that had ever happened to me. My father was a drunk, an abusive one at that. He would come home, beat on my mother, and yell at me. I had gotten tired of it, and when the divorce happened, I felt free. However, my mother still is getting over the whole thing, and has not dated since. I am not bothered by it all. Though I coped fine after the whole thing, I still am not ready to try to have another father in my life.
*****
I woke up early in the morning, enjoying the feeling of being able to lay in bed without a worry of being late for school. I think this was what I loved most about summer, sleeping in. Though I would have loved to lie in bed for an eternity, my stomach had other ideas. By the time I was dressed and had both my lip rings in, I was completely awake
I glanced outside the kitchen window after slipping some toast in the toaster. The usually empty house next door was alive with movement as two men struggled to carry a couch from a large moving van into the house. Suddenly a tall man with blonde hair walked outside from the house to grab more boxes. A short girl with brown hair and blue eyes who did not look happy followed him. Her eyes flickered over to mine. I diverted my own eyes toward my toast, watching it slowly brown and start to blacken before popping out. Forgetting the fact that the toast was hot, I grabbed it.
“Son of a biscuit!” I yelled, dropping the two pieces of toast on the ground, jumping backwards. My eyes skimmed the window, catching a quick glimpse o the girl. Though it was only a quick glance, I still could swear that I saw a faint smile play across her lips. I scowled and threw the toast away, grabbing a box of Cheerios.
After finishing my breakfast, I decided to go outside with my sketchpad. Normally it is too rainy and gray to go outside, but today was warm and dry and it was a perfect time to go sit up in my tree and sketch anything I could find. It took little to no time at all to hop up onto my favorite branch and look out, searching for something easy to start out sketching. I finally decided on a plump little bird resting in a nest only a few branches away. Starting with the shape of her head, I let myself go. Drawing came so natural to me that half the time, I did not half to think much about what I was doing. Instead I would focus on other things, like enjoying the warmth of the sun that shone through the leaves of the tree.
Suddenly a felt as though I was being watched. I looked around, hoping that it was not who I thought it was. I glanced over toward the house next door and sure enough the girl was sitting in the small swing in the front yard. When she saw that I was looking back she quickly looked down at the ground, her hair falling in front of her face. I shrugged it off and returned to my drawing. When I looked down at the paper I nearly had a heart attack. Though I did not have a heart attack, I did jump enough to fall out of the tree, my sketchpad landed a few feet away.
“Ah!” I yelped. Sitting up carefully to inspect myself, nothing broken. I sighed with relief.
“Are you ok?” a quiet voice asked. I looked up and saw that the girl was standing in front of me, holding my sketchpad out to me.
“Uh, yeah, I think,” I said, a little unsure.
“What happened?” She asked.
“I don’t really know. I guess I was a little surprised,” I answered. I quickly reached out for the pad, hoping that she hadn’t looked at it.
“Oh. My name is Amy,” she said, holding out her hand.
“Brandon,” I replied, taking it. She pulled me on my feet and smiled.
“So what were you surprised about. Must have been a big surprise to make you fall out of a tree.”
“Well, I…” I stuttered. I could not tell her the truth but I was no good at lying.
“I was just startled,” I admitted.
“Does it have to do with your drawing? Did it turn out bad or something?” She asked.
“Not bad….” I trailed off.
“Really good?”
“I guess you could say that,” I chuckled.
“Anyway, I just moved here and I don’t really know anyone here so I was wondering if you would want to hang out sometime. I mean unless you would rather fall out of trees all day,” She giggled.
“Yeah it’s a hobby of mine,” I joked, “Yeah sure.”
“Well I had better go to unpack before my dad flips. Nice to meet you, Brandon” Amy turned and to leave.
“Nice to meet you to. Guess I’ll see you around” I said as I watched her walk away.