Chapter 1
“You can keep on wishing for that April, but it will never be true!” My mother yelled back at me. I was almost seventeen and my family was picking up and moving to some god awful place on the other side of the country. I grew up in California all my life and my parents were just ripping me away from everything I knew. Didn’t they know this would be hard on me? I don’t think they even cared. I am the only daughter of Mary and David Blooms. Yeah, yeah I know. I’m blessed with the lovely name April Blooms. I swear my mother and father did this on purpose just for something to make fun of.
All things aside, I did actually have very good parents, but I would never tell them that. They were very good to me. I think they were the way they were because I was an only child. My mother was in an accident when I was around three that caused her to not be able to have any more babies. There was talk about adopting when I was around ten, but nothing ever came from it. I was very active in sports at my old school. Volleyball is my best sport. I was hoping there would be room for me on the team at the new school. I wasn’t what you would call super popular, but I had a lot of good friends and I didn’t have any enemies. I could actually hang out with any group of people I wanted without any problems. I loved my life and my school. I was a straight-A student and I had a great life and some really close friends. It was killing me that I had to leave it all behind.
My grandparents lived in a small town in Maine called Rockland. I was told that only around seven thousand people lived there. I had only visited my grandparents maybe six times since I was born. They mostly came here to see us. I did love the ocean since I lived kind of close to it, but I remember the ocean in Main was my favorite. I hadn’t been out to my grandparent's home since I was around eleven. My grandfather just passed away and my grandmother was now living alone. My mother wanted us to be closer to her to help her out. My dad agreed for us to move and that was that. I remember my grandparent's home was a very large home that sat on the side of the ocean. There were trees all around their house and my grandmother always had a ton of flowers everywhere. We were moving in with her.
The night before our big move. My best friend Lisa, from preschool, threw me a big going away party. She lived out in the country in a big farmhouse. We had a lot of parties out there. Her parents really didn’t care what she did as long as she was out of their hair. My kind of sort of boyfriend Ricky picked me up that night. I say it that way because I really wasn’t into having a committed boyfriend. He has always loved me, following me around everywhere since we were in junior high school. He grew on me. It wasn’t like I didn’t care for him, but I wasn’t really into any other guys at school and I knew him well. He was also my first kiss. To be fair it was during a game of spin the bottle one night, but after that, we got a little closer. He would have just liked to have been a lot closer then I wanted us to be.
My best friend Lisa was a lot more promiscuous then I was. She was always into the boys and partying and drinking. I think most of that was just her way of asking for attention. Since her parents never gave her any. I still loved her though and tried to be there for her as much as possible. I had always thought that she and Ricky would make a good couple, but he seemed to only have eyes for me. We showed up and the party was already hopping. There were all kinds of people there. They had lit a huge bonfire and everyone was drinking and dancing. Lisa ran over to me and shoved a drink into my hand. She knew I never really cared for alcohol, but she always tried. “Come on, April it’s your last night with us. Live a little before you leave.” She pouted at me. I just shook my head at her and took a drink of god only knows what and smiled at her. It actually didn’t taste that bad. It was really fruity.
The rest of the night went on great. I danced and said goodbye to a lot of friends. I was having a great time. Ricky, of course, was up my butt most of the time. He was really sad to see me go and had been up my butt for the last week in a half since I had found out that I was leaving. Tonight I was just trying to enjoy my last bit of life and he was starting to get on my nerves. “Ricky, why don’t you go dance or something. I’m going to find Lisa.” I said to him. He stuck his lip out at me and I just rolled my eyes.
“Okay.” He said. He usually knew when it was time to leave me be. I really wasn’t going to go look for Lisa. I just wanted a few moments to myself. I started to walk around the property just having a few thoughts about leaving and I was really hurt. I really didn’t want to go. I felt the tears sting my eyes. I was far enough out that I could see everyone dancing and having a great time. I looked up at the sky and started to get worried about my new home. What if no one likes me? What if I lose all my friends here back home? I had to admit I was a little scared. “I wanted to ask you a question.” I heard Ricky say to me as he walked up. I looked over at him. “You and I have been together forever and I wanted to be with you before you left.” He said. I giggled a little to myself because I knew it wasn’t going to happen. “Come on, April it will be a great way to say goodbye.” He said.
“Ricky, I love you, but I’m not in love with you,” Something I’ve already told him.
“So what April, at least we know each other and it will be a nice memory we can have.” I just smiled at him.
“I’m sorry Ricky, but it’s not going to happen.”
“Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.” I smiled at him. I did really care for him he was one of my closest friends. I wish I cared more for him, but I just didn’t. He gave me a big hug and we made our way back to the party. I woke up the next morning to the alarm going off. I was laying in a sleeping bag in the middle of my empty bedroom. UGH, I said to myself as I sat up. Our plane left at eleven am and we had to leave for the airport in an hour. All our things were already on there way to Main. I took a deep breath and went into the bathroom to try and make myself look better.
I never really prided myself on my looks. I was always told that I was beautiful, but I just thought I was plain-looking. My mother always told me that I looked much older than I really was. I was tall for my age. I had long dirty blond straight hair and blue eyes. I was slim but not real slim I had a round butt, that I always thought was too big and I sported a full C cup breast. I also had a nose full of freckles that I got from my father. All and all, I just felt plain. I felt average, not beautiful, not ugly, just average.
The plane ride was a long one and we had to change planes twice. I hate planes and don’t care if I ever get on one again. Finally, we arrived, but we still had to drive three hours from the airport to get to Rockland. My mother got us a rental car, my father drove the family car. He wouldn’t be to Rockland for three more days. We pulled up in front of my grandparent's home. My grandmother came out onto the porch to greet us. I did miss her so. Sometimes I thought she was the only person in the world that I could talk to without total judgment. She really knew how to listen to one’s problems.
The house looked just like I remembered it. Full of flowers and trees. I loved how her home was right on the water and I could see it at all times. I noticed my grandmother was not alone. Sitting on the porch with her was a young girl, who looked to be around my age. She was short with short black hair. My mother and I got out of the car and I ran to my grandmother’s arms. “April, my blooming little flower.” She said to me as she hugged me back.
“Hello grandmother, how are you?”
“I’m wonderful now that you're here.” She said. “April, do you remember Little Miss Rosey here?” She asked me. I looked over at the girl and I just couldn’t place her.
“I’m sorry I don’t,” I said. The girl smiled at me.
“When you used to come to visit. You and her would play together." My grandma said. The girl jumped up and walked over to us.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember it was a long time ago." She said. “Well anyways, Hi I’m Rosey and your grandmother thought it would be nice if I showed you around some. Not like it’s a huge place to see, but at least I can get you familiar with the place.” Boy, this girl could talk a lot. I said to myself. I smiled at her. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I was very tired after our trip.
“Sounds like a plan Rosey, but can we start this adventure tomorrow? I’m really very tired.”
“Of course, I’ll stop by tomorrow around the afternoon. See how your feeling.” She said. “Oh, and April, welcome to Rockland. I’m sure your going to love it.” She said as she waved and took off. I stood on the porch and watched her walk away. We got the car unpacked and my grandmother had one of her famous soups cooking on the stove. The house smelt so good. I missed her cooking. Lucky for me, my grandparent's home was a four-bedroom house. My grandma moved out of the master bedroom and gave it over to my parents. I was lucky to have two rooms to choose from. I took the bedroom that faced the ocean. I also picked it because it had its own bathroom. It already had a queen-size bed and two dressers. My parents sold most of our furniture before we moved. We didn’t really need it as my grandmother’s house was already furnished. Our things were set to arrive in two days, so I took the time to pack up most of my grandmother’s things that we’re still in this room so that I could make it my own.
Once I was done taking the boxes to the storage shed. Dinner was done and I joined my mother and grandmother on the back porch. “Are you excited to start your senior year in a new town?” My grandmother asked me. I just gave her a look. She smiled at me. “You’ll fit right in and have new friends before you know it April.”
“I’m sure your right,” I said and took a bite of my soup. The problem was I didn’t want to make new friends. I wanted to go home and start my last year of high school with all my old friends. I missed them all so very much. I took a deep breath and just watched the waves out in the water.
