Shades of Life ||Chp2|Claremont High|pg5 - Page 3

Chapter 1: Hello Claremont

I had no idea how to react to the situation. I would be going to Claremont next week, leaving behind my school and my friends. Okay, my ex-boyfriend too. However, I had no idea if I would miss them or not, since I wasn't quite feeling anything at the moment.

"Elaine!" my mom yelled from downstairs. I didn't respond though. I was quietly packing stuff, and doing some tidying up here and there. "Elaine?" she called out again, as she climbed upstairs. I still didn't reply. "Elaine, it's your call." I suddenly heard my mom's voice very clear and loud. I turned back to the door. There she was, standing at the door, holding the phone in one hand.

"Thanks" I said, taking the phone from her, my voice hardly audible. My mom went from my room, closing the door with a loud bang behind her.

"Hello?" I said.

"El, you're going next week?!" Amanda asked anxiously on the other line.

"Yeah. I thought you knew." I said, anxious to cut out the conversation. There was no way I would answer Amy's constant nagging about how I was such a bad friend, and I never cared to tell her anything.

"Yes I knew, but certainly not from you!" Amy said angrily.

"I'm sorry Amy. I'll make sure I tell you each and everything from next time." I apologized.

"So, how long will you be gone?" she asked, trying to lower down her anxiousness.

"I don't know." I replied. "Amy, I'll call you later. I've got packing to do. Bye" I didn't give her a chance to speak and just hung up. I threw the phone on my bed. Okay, I really would miss Ohio, and the people here. I would miss my school, friends, teachers and every single shopping mall. I tried hard not to think of Steve, but every time I did, my heart would simply give in. Okay, I was still in love with Steve. Not that I regret the breakup, since I hadn't done it anyway. "Let's end it here." He had said, and that's how everything ended, so abruptly. After all of that, I had made one thing certain to myself; there was no way I was going to fall in love again. At the end of it, no matter how beautiful it might have been, it always hurts. I was talking through experience, and maybe I was becoming too philosophical about it.

A new high school, starting things all over, making new friends, interacting with new people, new teachers and so on, all of which made me shudder at the thought. There was no way I could start all over again. It had taken me about half a year to make good friends here, and now I had to leave all of them.

I silently packed the tiny things, so I needn't rush with the packing when it was time. Mom was busy in getting the dinner ready, and Karen, my younger sister, was out with her friends. Suddenly a thought struck my mind. What about Chester? Where was he going to go? Was he going to come with us, or would he be sent away. You bet, Chester was my dog, a Retriever. I had Chester as a birthday gift last year, and since then, we've had him. The thought of leaving him and going was upsetting me. There's no way I could leave him.

I hurried downstairs, to confirm my fear. Mom was busy setting up the dining table, when I came rushing through.

"Mom, what's going to happen to Chester?" I asked, panting as a result of all the rushing down I did. Her smile suddenly faded and her expression turned apologetic. I knew there was no point in asking, since I already knew what that meant. But I still waited patiently while she composed her expression and began speaking.

"Honey, Chester will be staying with our neighbors, The Rileys'. She said softly.

"What? Mom, the Rileys' won't take good care of him! They're dog haters!" I yelled, tears dripping out of my eyes.

"Honey, they'll take fantastic care of him. Don't worry. I'll be in constant touch with them and keep inquiring about Chester. And I promise you, I'll get you another dog as soon as we go there." My mom comforted.

"Yeah, but he surely wouldn't be Chester." I ran upstairs, wiping the tears that streamed down my eyes. There was no way I would let any other dog take Chester's place. Okay, I know I was getting too emotional with that, but those who owned a dog, would totally understand what I felt. Chester had been the only distraction when I was dealing with too many hurtful things. No more distraction time, cause I had to go work on my Book report. Apparently, the last book report I would be doing in this school. I was doing Romeo and Juliet, the book I once loved, but now I hated it to the core. Midway working on it, I had the breakup and all, so since then, I'd become allergic to love stories.

I had barely one week to finish all my packing, finish my book report, prepare myself for a new school, and prepare to leave all my friends and most important, Chester behind. It was really going to be a painful thing to do. But one thing that I had decided, to make things easier-I had promised myself that I would never fall in love again. This was something I was very confident about, because I knew that I could always keep my promises.

I left everything as it was, and went to my study, to work on my book report. I was already done reading the book, and now I had to write an entire report on it. Just then, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"El, could you meet up?" It was Amy again. She certainly wasn't going to give up.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, could say a farewell sort of thing." Amy replied.

"Alright, why don't you come over then?" I suggested. I was in no frame of mind to step outside the house.

"Instead, why don't' we meet up at the caf?" Amy suggested. It was really hard to get your way when you were dealing with Amy.

"Sure" and I hung up. I went to change into a better pair of jeans and a comfortable tee. I left in about fifteen minutes, without informing mom. I wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting Amy, since I wasn't really waiting to answer her questions. She would surely take out Steve somewhere in the conversation, which I certainly didn't want.

I reached the caf, and was surprised to see Amy already waiting for me. I waved to her from a distance, and moved ahead.

"Hey El" She said, as we sat down at the table.

"Okay, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" I asked.

"Nothing specific. Look, I just wanted to talk, that's it." Amy said defensively. "Okay, so you won't forget us, will you?"

"Of course not." I said, being truthful for once.

"We'll all miss you. And '" Amy started, but stopped immediately when she knew where it was going to lead to.

"Go ahead" I insisted.

"Steve wanted to meet you before you leave. So I, I called him over too." Amy said hesitantly.

I just sat silently, trying to decide how to react. Just then, Steve came and stood right in front of me.

"Hey El," he said.

I just stared up at him and after a long pause, I finally managed to speak. "Hi" was all I could manage.

"Look El, I know we broke up, and I know we can never be together, but can we just be friends?" he said, looking at me in anticipation.

I had no idea what to say. If I said yes, I would end up falling for him all over again, and if I would say no, I would regret it sooner or later. Both ways, it was me who would suffer. I didn't have the courage to face pain, not when I already was going through a lot.

"Steve, I'd rather not have any kind of relations with you. I'm really sorry." I said, controlling the tears in my eyes.

"Why?" he looked rather taken aback or maybe disappointed, I just couldn't guess.

"Because, I really need to get over the break up. It's not so easy, you see. I have been trying hard enough already, and your friendship would make it impossible." I explained.

"Alright, then we'll pretend we never knew each other." He said.

I nodded, because I knew, if I would try to speak another word, I would not be able to hold back my tears. But I failed any way, because they streamed down, right that instant. Steve came over to me, and hugged me tightly. I didn't know how to react.

"Sssh, it's nothing more than just a farewell hug. Don't get it wrong at all. I'll still care for you, but like a friend." Steve said, as if he were reading my thoughts. Why was I letting him do that? I knew it would take me ages to get over him, but still I was letting him hurt me. This really hurt, hugging him, even though I knew I could never get him back. Most of the teens out in the caf were all staring at us. The hug seemed longer than usual, longer than what it used to be when we were together. After around half an hour or so, at least that's what I thought, we moved apart. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and managed a timid smile at him.

"So, I'll take that as a yes then" he said, grinning. I nodded, and smiled. No one, not even Amy, could see the pain in my eyes. I tried real hard to pretend I was cool with it, but who was I fooling? I just gave up, and my smile faded. "See you then. I'll miss you El" he said, and then walked away from there.

I stood there, staring at him as he walked away. Amy looked at me, and as I met her gaze, she hugged me tightly.

"I'll miss you" she said softly, and I could guess she was crying because her voice was shaky.

"Hey come on, we'll of course keep meeting right?" I said to cheer her up. Amy simply shook her head. She walked away from there, leaving me wondering again. Why was everyone getting so emotional? I still had one week right? I had a whole week to be with them. Just then, my mom called up.

"Hey mum" I said.

"Elaine, I need you to come home right now." She ordered. I'd never heard mom order me for anything. It didn't quite seem like her. I simply hung up and did what she said. All the way home, the thoughts just came up to my mind. Why did Amy shake her head when I said that we would meet? Why did Steve suddenly come to tell me that he would miss me? That was the last thing I wanted. That was enough to make me think that he still loved me, when actually, he didn't.

I reached home, and saw my mom waiting impatiently at the door step. What did I do?

"Elaine, thank goodness you're here." She sighed in relief.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your dad called up."

"Called up? For what?"

"He says we have to move as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"Because your school there starts next week, and we can't afford to put you in late, since the orientation is day after tomorrow."

"So, does that mean we're leaving tomorrow?"

My mom simply nodded her head. We were leaving tomorrow! We were leaving tomorrow. How could this be possible? "But, what about my assignments and all of my packing that's left?" I asked.

"You needn't submit any of the assignments honey. And as for your packing, I finished that for you. You just have to add in the stuff you want." She replied. "I've spoken to Amy before I got to you, and she said she would come to the airport to see you off tomorrow."

"You spoke to Amy about it?" I repeated in disbelief. "That would explain her strange behavior today." "Mom, I don't need her to come to the airport. I don't want any one to see me off." We were leaving tomorrow, and the last thing I wanted was more pain. The pain of bidding a goodbye to my friends forever.

"Karen is really excited about the trip." I heard my mom say. It was certain that she said it to cheer me up. But there was no way I was going to cheer up, because I couldn't even dare imagine how much it would hurt to leave everything behind and just go away.

Just then, Karen came running inside, hopping and jumping, as if to show, how happy she was! "Did you just say we're leaving tomorrow?" she asked anxiously.

"Karen, you were the first to know it!" I snapped.

"Yeah, just checking. Mom?" she looked at mom, expecting her to repeat what she said this afternoon.

"Yes honey, we are." Mom said and smiled. How could she be so cool about it? How could Karen be so happy about it? Wasn't anybody feeling bad that they would have to leave their old friends and go? Didn't that bother them at all? Karen simply yelled in happiness. Maybe I got the answer to my unasked question. Maybe I was just over reacting. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal. It wouldn't be like I would meet some mean girl out there in Claremont High. Oh, I didn't mention that, did I? The new school I would be studying in was called Claremont High. It was situated in Claremont, in Los Angeles. For an instant, I actually felt grateful that I was leaving. But just the next, the pain returned. How was I going to cope with that? Maybe I just needed to give myself some time. We had to leave early in the morning the next day. I wasn't able to sleep all night. I just kept getting dreams or you could call them nightmares about my new school. It was like, there's this mean girl who kept troubling me and insulting me in front of the entire school. I just decided not to sleep, to avoid the nightmares coming. I didn't want a mean girl spoiling the rest of my school life.

At around 4 in the morning, I could feel the excitement flow through me. I really was excited to go. After all, we were going to Los Angeles. And all the credit would go to dad, who convinced his boss to let us move in with him too. Initially, we were to move next week, because dad had to finish off some of his work left in Texas, but he arrived a week earlier, and here we were, all set to leave in the morning. Sometimes plans change so abruptly! I don't know when I fell asleep, because my eyes suddenly opened when I felt something cool on my face.

"Elaine, wake up!" Karen shouted. I closed my eyes back for a minute, trying to think. "Elaine, wake up!" I could hear Karen repeating and then felt something cool hit my face again. It was only later that I realized she was splashing water on my face to wake me up. I got up with a start.

"It's time already?" I asked sleepily.

"Yes it is!" Karen shouted back.

"Karen stop yelling! I just slept an hour ago." I moaned.

"I DON'T CARE! NOW WAKE UP!" Karen would really behave impossible when she was so excited about something.

"What's with all the yelling?" mom interrupted. Just then, Chester came running into my room and jumped on to my bed. "Look, you woke up poor Chester." Chester was busy licking my entire face and insisted that I put him on my lap. A huge dog that he was, he still had all the baby needs. I put Chester on my lap, and he perched himself comfortably, licking my face.

"Mom, I don't think he's upset about that." I giggled. No one could help but laugh at the silly actions Chester did. He was really a darling. I hugged him tightly. "I'm really going to miss him." It was true. There was no way I couldn't miss Chester. Chester was the most important part of my life.

"Are we dropping him at the Rileys' now?" Karen asked.

"No, Lisa will be coming here any minute. We had planned that when Chester was asleep, she would take him. But now that you woke him up, it's not going to be easy to send him away." Mom replied.

"Send him away! It's not like we're trying to get rid of him!" I protested.

"Elaine please don't start it again." Mom sighed.

"Start what mom?" I complained. My mom was about to say something when the doorbell rang.

"Okay, Lisa is here. Please behave." Mom said, glancing at me. Clearly the last phrase was for me.

"Yeah whatever" I muttered. Mom hurried to the door as it rang the second time, and I quietly followed.

"Hi Lisa," mom greeted.

"Hello Emily" Lisa, our neighbor replied. Lisa wasn't an old lady as most might have predicted. She was in her early twenties and a really pretty girl. I can't count the number of my guy friends who came to my house, just to look at her. Jackson, as he claimed, was in love with her. Yeah, like she was interested in a seventeen year old boy. Anyways, she always had that cute smile on her face that charmed all my guy friends and that's the reason why they used to just keep talking to me about her. Lisa was still smiling. How could she keep smiling all the time?

"Hi Lisa" Karen greeted her with all the happiness and excitement in her voice.

"Hi Karen" she said. She looked at me and smiled again. "Hi Elaine"

"Please take good care of Chester." I said almost in a whisper. Maybe it was the result of me trying to push away the tears that wanted to come out so bad. She again smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll look after him 24/7 because I really love dogs. You have a great time in Claremont." She looked at all of us and then took Chester with her. Chester started barking loudly and I simply couldn't hold back my tears. "Goodbye Chester" I said to myself. Mom hugged me tightly as if to comfort me. If she was trying to, then it wasn't working one bit. I sat down on the couch and began crying. Hadn't I cried enough already that I was being hurt again. Couldn't I just have happy moments for sometime?

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"Elaine, it's time to leave." mom called out. I wiped out the tears and went towards the door. I was surprised to see Amy waiting at the door. "Amy?" I said.

"I'm not alone." Amy said, grinning. I tried to look here and there. Then I suddenly saw Steve standing a few feet away, grinning too. "Steve?" I was really surprised. What was he doing here?

"El, I came to see you off at the airport." Steve said, as if he understood what I was thinking.

"I know you didn't want me, uh, us to come, but we couldn't help but come. We wanted to meet you one last time." Amy interrupted.

For the first time, I smiled. I actually smiled. I wasn't faking it, but I really was happy. At least someone I knew cared for me.

"Thanks so much" I said.

Karen went ahead with mom, and I was with Steve and Amy. I still felt really uncomfortable about Steve being around because I hadn't still gotten over him. You know how difficult it could get! Throughout the drive, all the three of us were silent. I looked at Amy once, and she understood what I was thinking. She looked at me apologetically.

"Hey Amy, we have only 45 minutes left to be with El, so let's do something fun." Steve spoke up, breaking down the awkward silence. "Elaine, so what's your new school going to be like?"

"I just hope it works out fine for me. I really don't want the mean girls surrounding me." I said sarcastically. Steve laughed and Amy smiled at me. I really appreciated the effort both were making to make me happy. We talked about the funny experiences that we had. Steve took out a topic of us which created awkward silence again. I had completely lost track of time. Steve suddenly stopped driving and looked back at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"We've reached" Amy replied. Steve was grinning at me. I looked here and there and was actually shocked to see that we had reached already. "Oh" I said sadly.

"We'll miss you a lot." Amy said, and Steve nodded in agreement.

"You're not coming in?" I asked.

"We won't be able to handle that." Amy said shakily. I understood that they were feeling the same thing I was. I nodded and got down from the car. The entire luggage was with mom. She was standing outside with Karen who was really impatient. I looked back to Amy and Steve and waved out to them. They waved back, and then drove away. I was almost running towards mom.

"Hey, they aren't coming?" she asked.

"Nope." I replied. We went in, and got all the stuff done. 'stuff' as in, all those customs we have to go through before boarding the flight. We had our boarding passes too. Now we just had to board the flight and we would be off to Claremont. The announcer finally made the announcement and we headed off to the flight.

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The flight journey was quite slow. It would take us 4 hours and 50 minutes to reach, and only one hour had passed till now. I listened to my mp3 player and fell asleep. I don't know how long I slept because when I opened my eyes, we had reached. I glanced at my watch and was surprised to see that it was 1-00 pm already.

"I've been sleeping throughout the journey?" I asked. My mom nodded. I stared at her for a minute, and then we got off the flight. I folded my arms and looked around the airport. We were at the Claremont airport. We were in California, if that's where Claremont was situated. My geography is always bad. I saw people greeting their relatives or maybe friends on their arrival. I looked around at all the people awaiting the arrival of their friend or family member and suddenly my gaze stopped at a man. He was in his early forties, with dark hair and a streak or two of white. He was fit as a fiddle and looked really handsome.

"Dad?" I guessed. The man met my gaze and happily waved out to me. "Dad!" I repeated, louder this time and went running to him. I stopped where he was standing.

"Ellie baby" he said and hugged me tightly.

"Dad" I repeated.

Karen saw dad and came running as well. "Dad, we missed you so much." She said. She hugged him too.

"I missed you too my little pie." Dad said.

He had kept nicknames for us. I was called Ellie Baby and Karen was called Little Pie. I don't know why he called her little pie. She isn't like a pie! Mom came a few minutes later, struggling with the bags. She smiled at dad and then struggled again. Dad went ahead to help mom with the bags while me and Karen hopped into the car where it was parked.

"Dad hasn't changed one bit." I told Karen.

"Of course he has!" Karen said. I gave her a confused look. "He has got another streak of gray!"

Mom sat in the front seat, while dad put the luggage inside the car.

"So Elaine, Karen, how do you feel? We're here in Claremont!" she said, rather excited.

"Awesome!" Karen exclaimed.

I just looked out of the window. "Hello Claremont."

I know its too long, but hope you liked it. If you do, only then I'll continue.