New

My friend wrote this, and didn't title or Finnish it. But I wanted to put it on here for her. She's an excellent writer. And I wish she would Finnish this story

I watch my older sister, Noelle, rip the tape from the box with her teeth. She rolls her piercing green eyes up to mine and motions for me to kneel next to her and help. I squat down at her right side, and peel the tape off the top of the cardboard box. She opens it quickly, and stuffs her hand inside and digs around for something.

“What are you looking for?” I ask. She just grunts, and pushes the box away.

“Next box! Come on, Nikita! We haven't got all day.” She pushes me into the hall way of our new house.

“Actually, Noelle, we've got more than a day. We just moved in. Can't we just relax and not have to worry about finding your drugs right now?” I chuckle.

“Don't joke about drugs around the fam, okay? You know how mom gets.” She struggles to stand up. I offer my hand, but she waves me off. Noelle is always worried when I joke about drugs because our mom used to be an addict. About a year ago, Noelle joked to her friends about buying pot after school. The principal overheard, and immediately told my mom. Wrong choice. Noelle got smacked so hard across the face, she was as red as Elmo for a week. And that, my friend, is why Noelle doesn't want me to talk about drugs. She doesn't want me going around school with a red mark across my face. I guess it's sort of a sweet thought.

Noelle finally stands up (she usually has trouble because she wears skin tight jeans). She pulls up her pants by the belt, and wiggles in them. She has thin, layered, blue-black hair. It used to just be plain black- like mine and our younger sister, Nora- but she said it was boring and my mom offered to dye it a blue-black for her. Noelle, Nora, and I also have the same colored eyes- green, which sticks out on our tan skin tones. I love my eyes. They are as big as quarters and are the shade of a light green with speckles of blue in them. Nora, though, has sort of brown speckles in the middle of hers. Which is strange.

Nora and I both have little waves in our hair. Mine comes down to my shoulders. And Nora is growing hers. So far, it down to her butt. Noelle's is slick straight, and comes down right past her shoulders. We all hate how thin our hair is. We get it from our mom. But we get our eyes from our dad.

“Earth to Nikita!” Noelle waves her hand in front of my face.

“Yeah?” I mumble.

“You were in your little zone there!” She laughs, “Come one, Mom and Dad plugged the TV in. We have to watch The Sound Of Music with Nora.”

I follow her down the unfamiliar hallway. Our house is completely white. The walls, the wood flooring, and the furniture. Mostly everything is white. My freaked out when we walked in with our flip-flops on. She yelled at us, and told us that if there was any dirt on the white wood she would make us scrub it with our toothbrushes.

There wasn't any dirt.

Noelle sock-slides on the wood and crashes into the white wall. She laughs, and falls on the ground next to Nora, who is smiling at Julie Andrews on the television screen. Luckily my mom didn't see Noelle slam into the wall. We would've seen a show.

I sock-slide on the wood floor and slip right past Noelle and Nora who cheer me on as I spin around and leap into the air. I swerve around, and catch myself before smacking into the white table. I circle around the table, and toe-touch in the air. Noelle and Nora are clapping and whooping and hollering. I decide to do the grand finale. I curl into a sprint start, and than lift myself off the ground and slide gracefully...into the wall. My right cheek feels the most pain, and slides down with me onto the wood. Nora and Noelle are silent.

I look to the right and see my mother standing with her arms crossed at the tip of the hallway.

“Nikita, how many time do I have to tell you that you CANNOT touch the walls?!” She growls.

“Sorry mom, I didn't hear you the first time,” I cough.

“Well, you listen. And listen good. I don't want any of you little snots touching my walls. Do you hear?” She presses her fingers against her temples.

We are silent.

“DO YOU HEAR?” She repeats, only louder this time. I hate the way she said “hear”. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Like she was saying it as if we were stupid. I bite my tongue from revealing my thoughts.

“Yes, ma'am. We hear,” We say in unison. Only, Noelle says “hear” like Mom did. I could tell that she felt the same way I did. She wanted to give Mom the taste of her own medicine. I pray that my mom doesn't catch the tone in Noelle's voice.

“What are you watching?” My mom asks, when we turn to the TV.

I relax.

“The Sound Of Music,” we reply.

“Oh, I love that movie,” she smiles, and makes her way towards us.

I swear she's bi-polar.

We order pizza, because we don't have groceries yet. My mom doesn't like to cook, but my dad does most of that. I help sometimes, with cooking. Nora and Noelle down enjoy it much. But I find it interesting- how you have to have the exact amount of a certain ingredient to get the recipe just right. I love tossing salad. My dad makes the best salad- tomatoes, onions, cucumbers. And he only makes the salad if we have the exact amount of ingredients. He won't make it if we're out of cucumbers.

Noelle hangs up her cell phone, and shoves it in her pocket. She finished ordering the regular- half-vegetarian (because Noelle doesn't eat meat) and half barbecue sausage. Yum.

“I'm gonna call Chuck,” she flips out her cell phone again.

Chuck is her boyfriend of seven months. When she found out that she had to leave the city (San Francisco, to be exact) she cried on the phone with him for two hours. Even more weird, he was crying too. I know because I was in the room with her, and she put the conversation on speaker phone. He wanted to talk to me as well, because he thinks of me as his little sister. I see him that much. He's over the house 24/7 and occasionally sleeps over (on the couch of course), and my parents love him. He's pretty handsome too. He's got hazel eyes, curly brown shaggy hair, and a white-tooth smile. He's perfect for Noelle. But I just think they were a little too dramatic when Noelle announced the news to him. Noelle says I'll understand when I'm in love.

That's another thing, I mean it's one thing to have a relationship when your my age. But it's another to be “in love” at my age. I think it's all pretty ridiculous. How can you say you're in love with someone when you've only been dating them for two week? Not possible. Noelle begs to differ. I just think that guys don't really know how to treat girls at our age. I mean, they don't really mature until college. Not even, maybe after college. So why should we waste our times moping about not having a boyfriend? We should be looking on the bright side! At least we're not with some perverted freak who shouts “penis” every five seconds of the day. I'd rather be single that have that one hanging around me.

Noelle motions for me to follow her to a different room. I look at my parents, who's eyes are glued to the tube. I shrug, and collect myself from the ground. We turn into another white empty room. She sits down in the middle of it, and sets the phone down in front of her. I sit across.

The phone rings once- and than of course Chuck answers.

“Hey babe. How are the 'burbs?” he asks. “'Burbs” is apparently a cool way of saying “suburbs”.

“Fine. Our house is the most f*****g white thing you'll ever see,” Noelle snorts.

She swears a whole bunch too.

“What a f*****g drag. I'm sorry, m'lady. I wish I was there with you.”

“Nikita, say 'hi' to Chuck. You're too quiet!” she winks.

“Hey, Charles. How are you?”

He laughs, “Been better. How 'bout you? Any hot guys there?”

I laugh at the thought, because I could barely count there were so many.

“Nah.”

“Oh, so there isn't a chance that your sister will find another lover?” his voice perks up. I know he's kidding because him, Noelle, and I both know that there is no one else. No one.

“Nope,” I smile.

“Good.”

I stand up, because I see in Noelle's eyes that she wants to be left alone to talk to Chuck. I walk out and than I immediately hear Noelle and Chuck crying. And now, I kinda want someone to miss me that much.

I wake up, in the middle of the living room with the sound of Nora rolling around in her sleeping bag. The sun is leaking through the curtains, and is poking at my eyes. I rub them, and look over to see Nora's eyes closed but moving her whole body moving wildly. Another nightmare. The ones that she keeps having even since we were all packed up to move here.

I snap up, and run over to her Care Bare sleeping bag (she is ten, and personally, I think it's time for the sleeping bag to retire). I push the hair from her face, and look downwards at her. She relaxes a little bit, but her eyebrows are scrunched. Like she's confused. Her eye lids flash open, and she looks around the room.

“Nikita! What are you doing?” she gasps, as if I appeared out of nowhere.

“You had another nightmare. I was trying to keep you from moving so much,” I say. She nods, and than rolls over on her side.

“You okay?” I offer.

“Sure. It was only a nightmare.”

“What was it about, Nora?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell...me.”

She hesitates. “I was in this room. It was white. It wasn't a house, it was a place for scientists or something. And...mom was there. She had no eyes, but she was just standing there. Her hands around Noelle's neck. And I was trying to find you...but you were on the ground against the wall. I ran towards you and poked at you. But you didn't move. So, I turn around to save Noelle. But mom is right behind me. And she chokes me. Nikita. She chokes me.”

“Is that it?”

She nods. And than there are two clear streaks that run down her cheeks. “I feel bad. 'Cause I don't want to think of mom like that. But, she's hit us before...I'm scared what she'll do if we make her really mad.”

“Nora, she won't do that. She loves you. And me...and Noelle,” I whisper.

“If she loves us, than why does she hit us?” she whimpers.

“It's just...tough love.” I say.

She coughs, and than closes her eyes. And, after moments of silence, she is asleep again. And I hope that she doesn't have another nightmare.

Because I don't want to have to lie to her again.

The first day of 8^th grade in the middle of the year isn't supposed to be pleasant. So, why am I so happy? I actually can't wait to meet new kids. I think it's exciting. Noelle, on the other hand, is moping in her new room (the smallest room, I am happy to say that I claimed the biggest one). She is wearing sweatpants and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. That's her back-to-school outfit. The sweatpants aren't even clean.

I, on the other hand, am wearing skinny jeans, a black-and-white plaid tank top, and black boots. I let my hair loose, and applied some mascara and black eyeliner around my eyes. The eyeliner doesn't look good, because my eyes are too big. So I wash it off and re-apply the mascara. Now, I look good.

Nora is excited, and decided to wear her yellow dress, with a big yellow bow in her long hair. My mom isn't happy about Noelle's getup.

“Noelle, you can't go to school like that. It'll make a bad impression,” my mom snorts.

“Too bad. I miss the city, and I hate the suburbs. I'm taking a stand. A fashion statement, if you will.” Noelle grabs my arm, and pulls me to her green truck.

We wave goodbye to our mom, and Noelle starts the engine.

We drop off Nora first, because her school is just down the road. She waves goodbye to us, and than skips to the play ground. Noelle starts the car and turns on the radio. “Testify” by Rage Against The Machine fills the speakers. Noelle turns it up all the way, and head bangs.

“Now testify! Now testify! It's right outside your door!” she shouts the lyrics to the song, and the seats are vibrating in her car. I look over, to scan her face. And there are tears rolling down her cheeks. She wipes them off immediately with her green sweatshirt. It's Chuck's.

Her makeup is running, and she looks like a raccoon because she put so much on. I know she doesn't care. And than doesn't bother me. She grips onto the steering wheel so hard; her knuckles are white.

We pull up to the school, and she drops me off in the parking lot. Kids turn their heads towards Noelle's truck. I'm guessing because it's because the campus is so quiet and the radio in Noelle's truck is playing so loud- that the car is vibrating.

I jump out, and before I can slam the door- Noelle stops me.

“Don't let anyone screw you over. Ya' hear, Nikita? Don't let anyone step on you.” She wags her finger.

“Uh...okay?”

“Promise?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

And with that, I slam the door and Noelle backs up. I can still hear the radio when she is about a mile away.

I turn around, and I see that everyone in the front of the school is staring at me. They watch, as I sling my backpack over my shoulder, and pull a piece of gum out of my back pocket. I stick it into my mouth, and try not to watch, as they stare.

Some of them whisper, and some of them laugh. I feel like a rat running through a maze- looking for which way to turn. To find the exit.

My thoughts are interrupted by a group of girls who come out of nowhere, and step in front of me. Blocking my path.

On of them, (who is extremely tall) has long curly blond hair, pretty blue-green eyes, freckles speckled around her cheeks and nose, and full pink lips. There are two on each of her sides: one has brick red hair styled into a modern pixie cut, she has dark green eyes, a small mouth. The other, has dirty blond hair that is pulled up into a pony, gorgeous hazel eyes, and small, square lips. Each of them are wearing purple tank tops, white sweaters over that, light blue skinny jeans, and purple boots. They all smile.

“What's your name?” the tall one asks.

“Nikita Stratford,” I reply.

“Stevie Meyers,” she points to herself.

“I'm Emma Hennings,” the one with the pony tail smiles.

“I'm C.K. Green,” the one with the pixie cut nods.

“Where'd you come from?” Stevie snaps.

“San Francisco,” I proudly say.

“Oh, I hate it there. It's so dirty and gross. With all those homeless people. It's like, 'Hello,we live in Cali!'” Emma snorts. Stevie shoots her a look.

“Don't be such a b***h, Em.” C.K. slaps Emma's arm.

“Well, I grew up there. So I'm used to it...” my voice trials off. Stevie stands up straight and and flips her hair behind her shoulder.

“Maybe we'll see you around, Nikira,” she says coolly.

“Nikita,” I grumble. She ignores me, and pushes past me like I'm not even there. The other two do the same. And I have a feeling that I'm going to break the promise that I made with Noelle.

The science rooms aren't like they were back in San Francisco. The table were clean- no gum pressed up against the bottom of them. Nothing writing in Sharpie. Everything is wiped clean. Even on the counters, bottles of Germ-X are placed between each sink. It's so...clean.

My science teacher, Mr. Row, walks into the room rubbing his hands together. He has a hunch in his back, from what I can see from where I am sitting. His eyebrow brown sticks out from his forehead, and he has buggy green eyes. He is wearing sneakers, a blue plaid shirt, and light brown slacks.

“Good afternoon, class. I would like to introduce our new student-” he pauses and than shuffles around his papers, and pulls out a pink slip “-Niki Stranford!”

Everyone peers around the room, in search of the new girl. I gulp and say, “Nikita Stratford. I don't shorten my name”. Mr. Row adjusts his glasses, in search of me too. He fixes his eyes on me, and than smiles, motioning for me to come to the front of the room.

I sit up from my chair, leaving my lucky pen on the black table. I stand next to him at the front of the class room. Everyone is looking.

“You have the most beautiful green eyes!” Mr. Row exclaims. My face gets hot.

“Thanks,” I mumble. The class snickers.

“Where did you come from?” He smiles.

“San Francisco.”

A wave of whispers fill the classroom. Than they get louder, and louder...and than Mr. Row rings a small bell that he has on his desk. The whole class shuts up.

“Tell us something about yourself,” he steps away from me- like he's giving me the microphone at a concert.

“Uh...my birthday is December 4^th. So, I am fourteen already. I love the cold, and the smell of rain. I hate math and science-” Mr. Row shoots me a look, but I continue, “-And I've never touched a Germ-X bottle in my life.”

The class laughs. But it's the truth. I return to my seat, and the kids at my table are smiling at me. When I first walked in, they gave me dirty looks and continued on with their lives like I wasn't even there. The guy across from me has long curly blond hair, blue eyes, and peach skin. Next to him, is a girl with chestnut hair, small brown eyes, and olive skin. And next to me, is a guy with long straight black hair, I can't see his eyes so I don't know the color, and very pale skin.

They start throwing questions at me. The guy with the blond hair is Tom, the girl next to him is Frida, and the guy next to me is Luke. They seemed interested with the fact that I'm from the nearest city.

I think I'm going to enjoy it here.

Noelle runs up the steps to the porch, and throws her backpack against the white door to our house. She picks it up from the ground, and than turns the doorknob and steps inside. Nora already has a crush and two friends. Noelle refuses to talk.

“What happened today?” I ask, as she herself a glass of orange juice.

“Horrible,” she mumbles.

“Why?”

“Because-” she pauses, looks at the glass in her hand and than back at me. She slams the glass down on the counter. “I love it there.”

“Huh?”

“Yup, Nikita. I love it there. Everything is so clean. Everyone is so nice. It's hard not to make friends!” she throws her hands up in the air.

“So...what's the problem?”

“I'm not supposed to like it! I'm supposed to think the place is a hellhole. But I love it! It's supposed to be one of the movie clichés! Where the girl from the city moves to the suburbs and hates the f**k out of it until the end of the movie!”

Noelle doesn't make much sense to me sometimes.

“You scare me. Did you make any new friends-”

She hold out her cell phone and I see that where there used to be only 56 contacts...that she now has 108. I jump back and laugh. She nods, and than her phone vibrates in her hand. I'm assuming it's Chuck because he's the only one that calls Noelle 24/7 instead of just texting her.

I suddenly think of how much nicer my mom used to be when we lived in the city. How she would always laugh with us when we sock-slided into the walls. How she and dad would kiss under the mistletoe every Christmas and tell us that one day we will have someone special. But now,since times are “hard” and ever since we started packing for the move, she's become stressed and angry all the time. And I wish we could rewind to the time when things weren't “hard”. Because I really miss my old mom. I really do.

“Excuse me.” I hear a small voice chirp.

I continue unwrapping my lunch.

“Excuse me!” the voice spits.

I turn and look up only to find a small girl right above my head. She has thick eyeliner on, crimped brick red hair tied up in high pigtails, one lip piercing, and dark red lip stick. Her eyes are a green brown color, and her skin is as pale as snow.

“Yeah?” I ask, sitting up straight, bracing for whatever's next.

She leans into my face, and whispers. “You're in my spot.”

I narrow my eyes and she does too. I don't budge. I remember what Noelle had told me. Don't let anyone step on you. I keep replaying it in my head over and over again.

She grips the back of my chair and tried to tug it out from underneath me.

“I'm not moving.” I state.

“This is my seat. I sit here all the time for lunch. You're a new girl. You don't over power the old students and their spots at lunch,” she whispers softly. “NOW MOVE YOUR A*S!”

She screams it so loud that the whole cafeteria turns and stares. She doesn't care, and just keeps looking in my eyes. I know for a fact that she thinks she can break me.

“What's your name?” I inquire.

“Lacey.”

“Okay, well. Lacey. Why can't you just sit across from me?” I point to the empty red chair.

She glances over at the chair and than back at me, “I guess that's an option. But where's Elliott gonna sit?” She tilts her thumb towards a boy with long brown hair, a black leather jacket, and ripped jeans. He smiles and waves at me innocently.

“Pull up another chair. I'm not moving.” I declare.

She nods, and than drags the boy over. She slams her combat boot on the red chair, and ties her shoelaces before she sits down. Elliott pulls out his lunch; which is a cheese sandwich and a bag of M&M's. I watch him lean into the sandwich, and take a huge bite out of it. His eyes roll up to mine, and he smiles.

“Your name?” his mouth is full.

“Nikita.” I reply.

“What a pretty name!” he says.

“Yet such an ugly attitude,” Lacey snorts. Elliot shoots her a look and she just shrugs. She sits down now, and pulls out a thermos. She twists off the lid, and steams rolls out from the top. She looks in, smiles, and pulls out a spoon from her jacket pocket. I watch her dig in, and sloppily eat the green liquid in her thermos. Elliot is silent, pouring the M&M's on the table, and color-coordinating them.

Suddenly, I spot familiar blond curls from across the lunch room. It's Stevie. And along side of her is C.K. with her pixie cut, bangs hanging over her dark green eyes. She shakes them out and smiles at Stevie. Emma is nowhere to be seen, and the girls keep on moving with their trays presses against their non-existent stomachs. They each walk at the same pace, right left right left-

They come to halt. At my table with the rebel and the outcast. I want to crawl in a hole and die.

Stevie smiles- her teeth are so perfect, “Hi.”

Lacey looks up and makes a wry face. “What the f**k are you two doing here? Where's your triple threat? Emma?”

“She's doing drills with Aaron. If you catch my drift,” C.K. winks.

“Oh I get it. So she's making out with him in the janitor's closet. You three are so cool,” Lacey smiles.

Stevie doesn't seem to notice Lacey. She just looks down at the M&M's Elliot organized. She reaches down and plucks a green M&M from the it's pile, and places it in the orange pile. She leans into him.

“A little OCD, don't you think?” She whispers a little too loudly.

Elliot mumbles something under his breath.

“Leave him alone. It's not as weird as your coordinated outfits. Do you three plan it out on a calendar, or call each other the previous night?” Lacey snaps.

“Call.” C.K. nods, “It's okay Lacey. You don't have to be jealous.”

“I'm not.”

“Well, we're out of here. Nikita, care to join us at lunch tomorrow?” Stevie sighs.

“I don't know-” I begin.

“Good. We sit at that table over there,” C.K. cuts me off, and points to the table in far corner of the lunchroom. She winks, and Stevie blows a kiss. They strut away, leaving their trays here.