1: New Town
On June 30th, the day of my birth I was given the name Gaia Taylor. I inherited my mothers pretty big brown eyes and light brown hair, yeah it may seem bland and basic to others but to me brown is beautiful. I didn't look much like my father in that sense I was glad. I didn't have a good stable relationship with my father. He was too busy in and out of jail. It's always been me and my mom, I liked it that way. Sometimes I would casually hear my mom talking to men over the phone and staying out late over the past years. Perhaps going on dates, but it didn't matter to me as long as she was happy I was happy.
My mom had decided to move in with a guy she's been dating for a while now. Although I didn't know much about the guy, I only met him once and it was over facetime and apparently, he had two kids. She thought it would be best to do it over the summer since I wouldn't be in school.
Unfortunately, I had to leave my friends behind, I didn't have too many I wouldn't say I liked conversating with people in general anyways I preferred staying inside but I knew deep down I wanted to go to parties and have a lot of friends. I liked being alone but sometimes it's tiring constantly wanting to do other things. I'm starting my junior year this upcoming school year, and I just knew I had to get out and do something before I regretted it.
"You still have two more months of freedom, think about what you want to do. I'm tired of seeing you cooped up in your room and making my house stink of pot." My mom said with a defeated look.
"New area, new me I guess" I said playfully grinning at her. I slipped on my headphones and played Take Me Home by PinkPantheress. This was going to be a long trip, 5 hours exactly.
When we got there, we were greeted by my mom's boyfriend. His name was Mike, a really basic-looking guy he was bald and scarily tall. "I told my kids you two would be arriving soon, but then they had took off somewhere." Mike said sighing. My mom chuckled. "Oh, that's alright Mike we can just move the stuff tomorrow it's been a long trip."
It was a big house, almost luxurious. I was not used to any of this my room was big for one. A bunch of thoughts came to mind on how to decorate my room but I was too tired. I took a shower and slipped on some sweats and an oversized t-shirt. I rolled a joint and decided to smoke on my balcony before I headed to bed. It helped me sleep.
It was about 11 am when I was woken up by the smell of eggs and bacon. I quickly brushed my teeth and headed downstairs. Where I was greeted by my Mom and Mike. "Morning sleepyhead." my mom said teasingly. "How'd you sleep?" Mike asked with one eyebrow up. I couldn't help but laugh a little he reminded me of the rock. "I slept great, so is the food done? I'm starvingggg.."
"Yeah I'll make you a plate." my mom grabbed a plate and started picking out food and putting it on my plate."How do you like your tea?" Mike asked while shuffling through mugs. I replied, "sweet, thanks."
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and turned my head to face a guy and a girl they looked almost as if they were twins. The guy had long black hair with dark eyes and the girl had black hair and bright doll-like blue eyes. "Nice of you guys to join us." Mike said with a stern face. They both rolled their eyes heading towards the plates that were laid out.
"So, this is Leo & Lea, Lea & Leo this is Jessica and Gaia." Mike said pointing at me and my mom. Leo just upward nodded while Lea smiled. She had the prettiest smile.
"Hey is there a park nearby?" I asked looking to see if anyone would answer. "Yeah, there's one couple blocks from here, I can send you the direction if you want." Lea replied. "That'd be great actually." I gave her my phone so she could put her number in to send me the directions."Thanks." I said.
I headed upstairs to change my outfit, I decided to wear baggy jean shorts and a long-sleeved cropped top. Then headed back downstairs to put my converses on. "Well mom, I'm gonna head out." I said while grabbing my headphones, and my mini dickies backpack. "Okay well, don't be out too late!" she yelled as I was reaching the door. "I won't be out that long." I said laughing reassuring her.
It didn't take me long to get there, about ten minutes. I was relieved that there was nobody here. I found a swing set and decided to sit there for now. I took off my backpack and unzipped it pulling my headphones, an unfinished joint out, and a lighter.
I put my headphones on and played one of my fav Deftones songs. As I started relighting the joint, I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and was faced with Lea and Leo. "Oh, hi" I said a little frightened while taking off my headphones. "Sorry, can we join?" Lea said while chuckling. "Your mom said she was worried you'd get lost even if you had the directions."
Leo was quiet, seemed like his mind was elsewhere. "Yeah, I don't mind." I said. Actually, I was quite excited my previous friends were against smoking so It was just me, myself, and I. Lea sat on the swing next to me, while Leo stood against the pole that was holding the swings.
I took a hit and then passed to Lea. I was kind of curious about this town so I worked up the courage to ask. " So what's it like here? I haven't seen any crackheads yet. That should be a good sign. Right?." I said laughing a little.
