Prologue

The beginning of Katarina's summer

Katarina Rivera

          "I promise, this will be the last move for a while," Dad had insisted. I didn't believe him. For the past seven months, we've been moving from state to state in the U.S.continuously, and you can imagine my joy at that. Something about this new movie he's been working on must be super-duper important, because even Mom didn't complain at the moves. In fact, she's been encouraging. Mom  was always the complainer in  our family. It was just how our family worked, and how our family always would be. At least, that's what I thought--until now.

          People claim I'm a city girl, and it was true. From the sound of cars revving through trafficked streets to the tall buildings and busy pedestrians, I could always smell that home-like smell you could frequently detect when you enter a clean, warm house"mansion, in my case. I didn’t know if it were the car fuels that had finally gotten to my head, or if it was that one time when Mom accidentally dropped me when I was two because I was squirming too much, but I found out I was the only one who could ‘smell’ a city that way.

           I swear I'm not crazy.

           My family's more of a country family, even though they're obviously the typical, Hollywood stars. Something about the gross, animal feces odor kept them happy at a farm. One of the bonus points in moving. We couldn't settle in one place. I think I would have killed myself if I had to stay on a farm.

           Back on topic; it was safe to say I was a little bit more than annoyed at having to move from New York City to California. The bright side to it was we were moving to Malibu, California, and I heard we were temporarily settling on a beach mansion. And ten minutes from the beach, bingo. Shopping centers.

           Yet, it still didn’t compare to New York City. Nobody sided with me when I protested about the move, though. “This movie is important to us, Kate,” Mom would say, or Dad would argue, “The beach should be good for your health. Don’t you like to surf?” Surfing can’t even compete with shopping.

            Four months. That’s what I’d give them. I was willing to bet that we would only stay in California for four months, and then leave for another state. I heard there were only three major parts for the shooting, and four months should do it. It was short, yet a long enough time period for me to shop, make some friends, and enjoy the weather.

            Didn’t know so much could happen in four months, though.

 

Author's Note

Thanks for reading :)