My new home
I’m Emma. I’m fourteen, and my mom died in a car wreck last week. And my dad was in the army and died when I was Three. Now, I have to move in with my godmother.
She was my mom’s best friend — kind, patient, and always smiling. She has two boys: Jake, who’s sixteen, and Matthew, who’s fifteen. We’ve known each other since I was born. We used to have sleepovers, play video games, and sneak cookies from the kitchen when we thought no one was watching. They were always there for me — and I guess they still are.
When I arrived at my godmother’s house, the butler was waiting for me at the gate, just like always. My godmother is rich — really rich — the kind of rich where you know all the maids and chefs by name. Sometimes I used to get jealous of her life, but then I’d remember my aunt in New York, who’s even richer and still too busy to ever visit.
“Hello, Miss Emma. It’s nice to see you again,” Steve, the butler, said with a small bow.
I laughed a little. “Steve, I’ve told you before — you don’t have to bow. A simple hello is good enough.”
I never liked people bowing to me or doing whatever I wanted. It just made me feel… weird. Like I didn’t belong in that kind of world.
“Sorry, Emma,” Steve said quickly, straightening up.
“It’s okay, really. Don’t worry about it,” I smiled. He was teasing me — he always did. That was just his way of caring.
He walked me up to the front door, and as soon as he opened it, my godmother was standing there. Before I could even take a breath, she pulled me into the biggest hug of my life.
“It’s so nice to see you again, Emma. It’s been years,” she said. Her voice was warm and a little shaky, and she still had that just-got-home-from-work look — messy hair, tired eyes — but I didn’t mind. She was here.
And just like Jake and Matthew, she had always been there for me. My Step mother is Grace she always tells me to call her that. She sits me down on the couch and starts to talk about how life will be okay.
After a minute or two of talking to Grace I herd running from the stairs and shouting and it sounded familiar and when I turned around the smile on my face grew it was Jake and Mathew!
