• Chapter 2: Chicago

    After a long, six hour, drive from Mayfield to Chicago, I woke up from a nap and we were arriving in the neighborhood where our new house was. I saw a few little kids playing with a basketball, a few teenagers, and some adults. I was still sinking into the new look; The houses in the neighborhood were like mansions compared to the houses in Mayfield.

    We arrived at our new house. I looked up, and almost fell to the ground. The house was gigantic compared to our house in Mayfield. I walked inside and there was a staircase to the right that curved a little. There was an open hallway that lead to the Living room and kitchen. The kitchen had dark wooden cabinets, an island, and black appliances that stood out. The living room had light carpet, a few windows, like the kitchen, the windows were big; so they lit up the room. The carpet in the living room had a few stains in it. Mom told me that a big family lived in the house before us. After she told me, I decided to look at what was upstairs. I ran up the stairs, and almost tripped a few times. When I arrived at the top of the steps, I noticed three bedrooms, and a bathroom. I walked into a bedroom that was right by the stairs. It was a pretty small bedroom, but I could fit. I looked around, it had a square shape to it, one small window, and a small closet. I walked out of the bedroom and went to the next bedroom beside it. The bedroom was bigger than the other, it had a bigger window, and a little bigger closet. I thought about claiming it, but then I went to look at the last bedroom at the other side of the hallway. The last bedroom was bigger than the other too and I noticed it had it’s own bathroom. It had a walk-in closet, and a lot of open space. There were two windows in the bedroom, and one big one in the bathroom. I walked back into the bedroom I was in before and spun in a circle. It was perfect for me. I imagined a colorful space with all of my things in it.

    While I was daydreaming my new bedroom, my parents walked up the stairs and saw me in the middle of the bedroom.
    “Are you happy with this room?” My dad asked.
    “Yes, it’s perfect!”
    “We are going to have the master bedroom.” My mom added.
    “Ok. When can I start decorating?”
    “Tomorrow if you’d like.” My mom said.
    “Ok!”
    “Why don’t you go say Hi to the neighbors?” My dad asked.
    “Shy?” My mom added in.
    “No, just don’t want to right now.” I said in an innocent voice.
    “Ok, but you will tomorrow right?”
    “Sure..”
    “Thank you.” My mom replied.
    The next day, I started on my room. I got my bed out of the moving truck that was parked outside. The men that were with the truck had to carry it in for me though. Who would think that you could get a bed through a door, and up a staircase? I didn’t.

    Later, I took a walk outside. I looked around me at all of the houses. They were all the same in their own way. They all had the same style. Some had brick, some had stone, and some had siding like ours; but they were all in the same formation and style. They all had a door in the same place, windows on each side of the door, windows upstairs, and a garage. Some of the garages were open, I saw cars inside some, and some with just tools, bikes, and junk in them. As I was looking around at all of the houses, I noticed a person walking toward me. It was some girl in name brand clothes, curly hair, and light make-up. I passed her, but when I did, she turned around and hollered “Hey!” to me.
    “Hi?” I replied.
    “I haven’t seen you around here before.”
    “Yeah, I’m new. Just moved in yesterday.”
    “Oh yeah, I heard we were having a new teenager around here.”
    “That’s me.”
    “Cool, well I’m a teenager myself. I’m Meg.”
    “Well hi Meg, I’m Lauren.”
    “Am I the first person you have met here?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Oh! Well I can introduce you to other teenagers here. They won’t bite.”
    “Okay, thanks!”
    “No problem.”
    “Talk to you later?” I asked.
    “Sure, here is my number if you want to call me later.”
    Then she pulled out a sharpie marker from her pocket and wrote down her phone number on my hand.
    “Ok. Thanks again.”
    “See you later.” She said.
    “Bye.”

    Then we continued on to each other’s walks. I continued looking around the neighborhood. I saw more teenagers walking around too. A few of them stared at me when I passed them, but I just ignored it. Then, I saw a person pointing at me, then talking to someone. I didn’t like that, so I stayed still and looked at a house. I turned around, and the person was still pointing at me. I started walking back home, but then the person started walking in the same direction that I was. I walked a little faster each second. They kept the same pace, but I was scared. I started to jog, and I turned around to see if the person was still there. When I looked, the person was gone. I stood looking around me. The person was nowhere to be found.

    I reached home, and told my mom about the incident of the creepy stalker. My mom said that I was just being paranoid, but I don’t really know. Then, I told my mom about Meg. My mom got excited that I actually met someone new this quick.
    “That’s great Lauren!”
    “Yeah.”
    “Have you planned a play date?”
    “Mom, play dates are for eight year olds.”
    “Oh, sorry.”
    “It’s fine, but she gave me her numb-”
    “That’s Great!”
    “Yeah, and she is going to introduce me to some other people.”
    “Great.”
    “Ok mom, you don’t have to say great anymore.”
    “Oh, ok.”
    “Yeah, so I’m a little nervous to meet new people.”
    “Everyone is sweetie. You’ll be fine.”
    “I sure hope so.” Then I ran up to my room.

    In my room, I grabbed a hammer and some nails that were laying on my dresser. I put a nail in the wall right above my bed. I accidentally hit my hand a few times, because I’m not coordinated. I had a few bumps on my hands from where I hit them, so my mom freaked out while getting an ice pack. I told her it was fine, and that I was fine, but she insisted on getting me an ice pack. So, later, I went to go put my picture frame up, with pictures of me, Zoë, Tracy, and my parents. I thought about Tracy and decided that I would call her later. I grabbed my ice pack from off of my bed, grabbed my desk chair, and sat down, looking out the window. There were some people passing by, and some people across the street. I looked at all of the people down below me, and just thought. I thought of how they got here, how they live, how is their life going, etc. But, as I was daydreaming about people’s lives, I looked down and saw a group of teenagers. I looked at each one, Meg was in the group, a few girls, and a few boys. All of the girls were wearing name-brand clothes, along with the boys. I thought to myself, why don’t I wear name-brand clothes? So, I decided to go downstairs and ask.
    “Hey mom!”
    “Hey Lauren?”
    “Can I ask you something?”
    “Sure.”
    “Why don’t I wear name-brand clothes?”
    “Hmm.. I never really thought the name of clothes should matter. Also, they are expensive, and really thin. Why?”
    “Because it seems like everyone here wears Hollister, Abercrombie, American Eagle, Areopostle, all of those kind of clothes. I don’t have even one thing from any of those stores.”
    “Well like I said, they are expensive. Maybe you can get something from those stores because of my raise. We can go to the mall later, but we are going to the clearance sections.”
    “Thanks Mom!”
    “Your welcome sweetie, but-”
    “I know, this isn’t going to be a regular thing.”
    “Exactly.”

    Then I ran up to my room to call Tracy. When I talked to her, she told me what had been going on. She said that her and Jake are over, for the whole Trish thing. Now, Trish and him are dating. She said that she had been starting to crush on Travis. Also, that the school is getting a new principal. She said that she was excited to talk to me, and that she misses me already. She told me all of the latest gossip that happened in the two days I’d been gone. She told me that she had to go because Nick had jumped off of his bed again. So, I didn’t get to talk to Tracy long, she seemed very happy, I just hope everything goes fine for her. I’ll have to check on her every once in a while to see how she does.

    The next morning, I woke up to the alarm. My mom must have set it for me, she doesn’t like when I sleep in until two o’clock. But since she ever got me that dumb alarm clock, I can’t do that anymore. So, I rolled out of bed, grabbed a towel that was in a pile by the bathroom, and took a quick shower. I got dressed, ate a bowl of cereal, and brushed my teeth. I grabbed my phone and decided to take another walk. I thought to myself and decided not to be shy today. I was going to say “Hi” to everyone that passed me. So, I headed out the door, and went on my way.

    I walked down the front steps and made a turn around the corner to start my walk. I saw a mom and a small kid coming toward me. They came closer and I waved and said “Hi!” The mom gave me a funny look at first. But, then she smiled and said “Hello. How are you?” I replied “Good. You?” Then she said “Fine” and her and her kid walked off.

    Then next person I saw was a teenager. The teenager was a boy. He was tall, slim, wore a plaid shirt, tight jeans, and small glasses. He had scraggily, dark brown hair that started to come over his eyes. He came close enough to me that he could hear me, so I said
    “Hello!” I smiled at him.
    He examined me, from top to bottom. Then he stopped walking and stood in front of me.
    “Hi.” He smiled. He had dark braces covering his pearly white teeth that were a little crooked.
    “How are you?” I asked.
    “Good.” He had a high voice, that sounded like he had a tickle in his throat.
    “That’s good. What’s your name?”
    “Timothy, but you can call me Timmy, or Tim if you’d like.”
    “I’ll call you Timmy.” I said with a smile.
    “What’s your’s?” He asked.
    “Lauren.”
    “Nice to meet you Lauren.”
    “Nice to meet you too Timmy!” I smiled and held out my hand. He just looked at my hand and did nothing. Then he caught on, and took my hand. Then he shook my hand, including my whole body along with it. I started to walk off and Timmy continued standing in the same place. I turned around and saw him, but he then realized what to do, and he started to walk away In the other direction.

    I continued on with my walk. I said “Hi” to a lot of people, mostly parents with their kids. Most of them gave me a weird look, but a few were polite and said “Hello!”

    I turned back around to head home. I was a few houses away from mine, and I saw a boy sitting on some front stairs of a house. He met my eyes, and I waved to him. He held up his hand, stuck out two fingers and did sort of a half-wave. I examined his style, his face, and hair. He had dark brown hair, almost black that almost touched his eyes. He had deep blue eyes that sparkled with the sunlight hitting them. He had a smile that could make a girl faint. It was a half smile that was perfect. He had a jaw line that looked a little muscular, but not too much. He wore a dark blue Hollister shirt that brought out his eyes. He wore a pair of skinny jeans, but they didn’t look too tight on him. He also wore a simple pair of black converse. He had muscular arms, but he didn’t look like he took steroids or anything. I whispered to myself. “Don’t be shy, just go talk to him.” I tried to make sure I wouldn’t use my accent. I thought to myself, “Just talk like he is a regular person, he is not some god looking guy that dropped from Heaven.” I looked at myself to make sure I looked presentable. I had a small stain on my T-shirt, but I just hoped that he wouldn’t notice.

    I walked over to him, and he scooted over a little so that I could sit next to him. I sat with him and he opened his mouth to speak.
    “You’re the new girl right? Lilly?”
    “Lauren.”
    “Oh. Sorry, I’m bad with names.”
    “It’s fine.”
    “I’m Landon.” He replied with a smile. Then, it got silent.
    “How do you like Chicago?” He said filling the silence.
    “It’s great!”
    “That’s cool.”
    “Yeah.” Then, I noticed that I accidentally used my small southern accent.
    “You from the south?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s cool.” He said nodding his head.
    “Mmhmm.”
    “Well, I’ll see you around?”
    “Defiantly.”

    I walked home, and my mom wasn’t home. I went to the fridge looking for a note. I didn’t see anything around but my dad asleep on the couch in the living room. I looked at the coffee table and saw a small piece of torn, notebook paper. There the note was.

    Lauren,
    Your father is probably asleep right now, so can you do the dishes for me? I
    Hope You had a good walk. Tell me all about it when I get home. I should be
    home around 11. See you then! Love you lots.
    -Mom

    I laid the note back onto the coffee table and walked over to the kitchen. I did the dishes in a matter of minutes and decided that it was time for bed. It was only nine o’clock, but I was tired. I put on my pajamas, and laid in bed. I snuggled up in my sheets and comforter; then I whispered to myself, “I think I’m going to like Chicago.”