3~ New Places

     The sun shined a brilliant orange through Rosalie’s uncovered bedroom window and her eyes flickered drowsily open. As she sat up her eyes watered from the punishing light that engulfed her dark-accustomed vision. Once she could see, she became slowly aware of where she was, but more importantly she gained awareness of her body. Her hands were stained with blood, along with the blanket Amanda had laid upon her after Sean carried her and set her on the floor of her new room. Her shoulders were sore from sleeping on the ground, there were imprints of the carpet on both of her arms, there were bruises on her ribs that looked like they were from someone’s hands, and similar bruises were on her upper arms and right under her knees. Glancing around she took note of the array of boxes and bags and furniture cluttering the large room. The walls of the room were a dark blue, almost black, along with the ceiling, there was a single plum purple, detail-less tree painted on one wall that gave the room a dark, calm feel.

     Rosalie pushed the blanket aside, stood up, stretched, and started searching for the bathroom. She hated not knowing where everything was and she particularly hated trying to search for things while she was only half awake. She wandered down a dimly lit hallway, opening one door on the left of the hallway, opposite her room, to find a closet, empty and dusty, and another on the same side as her room to find a room smaller than hers. She wandered up a flight of stairs and turned into a dark hallway, opening the first door that she saw, and, thankfully, it was the bathroom. She flipped on the switch, washed her hands thoroughly with hot water, and began searching through two large boxes that sat on the spacious marble counter. She managed to find shampoo, body wash, and a clean towel, which she set on the toilet beside the shower while she slid off her clothes. She turned on the hot water after fiddling with the knob for a moment to find out how it worked, then after about a minute, balanced the hot water with cold water so she could get in. Her hands burned and the water pressure on her shoulders and ribs hurt, so she made the shower a quick one. She washed her hair and her body, got out, dried off, and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

     By the time she had finally reached the kitchen she realized they had just moved in and there would be no food waiting for her. So, hungry from crying in her sleep, she searched the house for Amanda’s car keys. They were lying on a box near the front door and as Rosalie picked them up she thought, I’m so glad I got my drivers license last month. I hope it still applies in Washington. She took the keys with her as she went upstairs to get clothes on. She had to think of something that would fit Rose more than it would fit Rosalie. She took out every single outfit she owned, which filled over three large boxes, and spread them across her cluttered room. She looked at every combination, and decided on a black long sleeved V-neck top, tight, dark blue skinny jeans, a studded belt, a simple black choker, and basic black stilettos. She searched Amanda’s makeup bag, which had been carried on the plane with them, so it was relatively easy to find, and took out a pair of sunglasses that would hide her eye color; it was very important to her that her eyes not be seen until she got her colored contacts, which would make her eyes an extremely dark brown. She wanted no similarities left between herself and the negligent woman from her nightmares. Satisfied with her appearance she crept out the front door and into the small silver car she had been practicing in since she was fourteen, up till she was sixteen, when she got her license. She felt tired and worried about not knowing where she was going as she slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. The radio blasted some rap song she didn’t want to hear and she put in her Vienna Tang CD and sang along to her favorite lullaby. She backed out of the driveway and began to just drive around; getting a feel of where everything is and where she should go to find breakfast.

     As she found a less sub-urban-looking part of Sumner, she started thinking about when she’d be starting school and what she’d be acting like. She decided it was time to go shopping for makeup and get her hair cut, but not before she got her colored contacts. She stopped by a McDonalds and got an Egg McMuffin with a medium coke, and continued to drive around, making mental notes of all the different stores she passed. She didn’t see many clothing stores, yet she saw uncountable food places. Where on earth these people shop, she thought, more as a comment then a question, and not really expecting to come up with any sort of answer. People walked around in groups on the sidewalk, they all looked to be teenagers, judging by their clothes at least. One guy in particular caught her eye though. He looked formally dressed, but somehow turned the formal look into a hot, bad-a*s look. He walked with a sort of confidence that said “I know you’re looking at me.” She blushed when this came into her mind and focused on the road more intently than she had before. Soon she came upon the school she would soon be going to; Sumner High School, the place she had only recently heard of. She pulled over then, and she just stared at the school. It seemed nice enough, big and inviting, with so many entrances it seemed unnecessary. Every door seemed to be made of glass, and she decided she liked it so far; but would she feel the same about the students? She decided to stay there until she had finished with her breakfast, which only took her about ten minutes, before pulling away and backtracking to the place she had to make her home.

     Amanda and Sean were still sleeping when she got home, so she decided to feed Prince, who was now old and going blind, and start unpacking her room. First she had to put all of her clothes back into boxes so that she could move her dresser, bed frame, nightstand, and entertainment center where she wanted them. All of the boxes she fit into her walk-in closet, though not before discovering that she had a bathroom in her room with a rather nicely sized bath tub and a shower with a glass sliding door, something she’d always wanted. She decided the head of her bed would go off to the side of the deep purple tree on the wall across from the door, along with her nightstand right beside it. She pushed the dresser to the wall towards the foot of the bed, and the entertainment center at the wall right beside it. Satisfied with the set up, she began to put things where they belong, starting with the boxes-spring and the mattress. She put her black sheets and black comforter on her bed, placed the black pillow cases back on her pillows and placed them on her bed. She took all of the boxes out of her closet and hung up all her shirts, jackets, and dresses, placed her shoes on a low shelf in the back of her closet, and arranged all her skirts, shorts, and pants in her dresser. She sat on her bed and looked at the remaining boxes, biting her lip and lost in thought. She needed to bring her laptop, T.V, and stereo system upstairs, but she decided to wait until Sean was awake to help her hook everything up. She opened up the boxes and took inventory: several glass decorations, at least twenty porcelain dolls, throw pillows for her bed, her old stuffed rabbit, extra pillow cases and sheets, at least eighty books, Prince’s bed and toys, his collar, and his dog dishes. She set up his things at the foot of her bed, where he’d always slept, and tried not to think of how old he was getting. Prince was now extremely old for a dog, fourteen to be exact. He was going slightly blind, almost never walked around, or got up for that matter. Amanda and Sean had been talking about getting a new dog, since Prince would soon pass on. They hadn’t yet told Rosalie about it though; they figured she’d be upset about getting a replacement for Prince before he even dies.

     Rosalie heard someone downstairs and went to see who was up, and as she guessed, Sean. He was always up before Amanda; he liked to have breakfast ready for her when she woke up. She sat on the counter behind him silently as he groggily plugged in the coffee machine.

     “Not going to the store to buy some breakfast foods before Amanda wakes up?” Rosalie said, fighting a smile; she knew Sean had no idea she was there and talking would startle him. Sure enough, Sean dropped the cup he was holding onto the counter and put his hand to his heart, which was now racing. He spun around and gave her a half-hearted glare, while she laughed silently and hopped off of the counter, walking back upstairs. “Never gets old.” She smirked as she left his sight.

     “Teenagers,” Sean grumbled to himself as he examined his cup, making sure he didn’t crack it when he dropped it. Satisfied that the cup was fine, he placed it on the counter, pushed the “start” button on the coffee machine, and followed Rosalie upstairs, poking his head cautiously into her room as she reached it.

     “Yeah?” She said, meaning “Come on in.”

     “You sure settled in fast,” as Sean walked into the room he looked around, admiring how quickly Rosalie liked to do things. She was never one to waste time.

     “You knew I wouldn’t just leave everything sitting around like that. I need to build shelves in that corner,” She pointed to the corner opposite the dark tree, “for my porcelain dolls, and some in that corner,” she pointed to the one right beside the tree, “for my books.”

     “Don’t tell me you’ve been up all this time just planning out your room and unpacking.”

     “Of course I haven’t, I went and explored the town for a bit,” she tossed him his keys and he frowned slightly.

     “And you didn’t get breakfast food for me to make something?”

     “No, I figured Amanda would want to go out for breakfast this morning. I already ate though, so I’ll stay here and set up the house. After you hook up my electronics, of course.”

     “Are you telling or asking?”

     “A little of both I suppose.”

     “Well, at least you’re honest. Help me bring it all up and WE can set things up.” With that he began to walk downstairs to bring up the T.V since Rosalie wasn’t strong enough to carry it, and it was really the only thing that stopped her from taking all of the electronics upstairs herself and trying to hook them up without him, which Sean was thankful for. He liked feeling useful to Rosalie, since she’d rarely ever needed his help since she moved in with him and Amanda. Soon all of Rosalie’s electronics were in her room and set up, and Amanda was searching the house for something to eat. Amanda had always been one to eat as soon as she woke up.

     “Sean, are we going out for breakfast or going to the grocery store? We forgot to get breakfast food last night before we got here.” Amanda’s voice, still hoarse from sleeping, like it was every morning, echoed through the large house.

     “You and I are going to go see what good restaurants are around here; Rosalie has already eaten and explored this morning.” Sean’s deep voice echoed right back as he traveled down the stairs, hoping Amanda would be ready to go; he hated to wait around for her to prepare to leave the house. She took, what seemed to him, forever to get ready. Amanda was the type to refuse to leave the house without looking “perfect”.

     “All right, give me five minutes and I’ll be ready!” She all but shouted from the downstairs bathroom. Sean sighed and relaxed in one of the recliners; “five minutes” meant an hour. Sure enough, an hour later she emerged from the room, fully dressed, hair done, and makeup flawless.With that they left the box filled house, leaving Rosalie to think and unpack on her own.

     She went through box after box, setting things appropriately about her room, on shelves, in drawers, on hangers in her closet, the rows of high heals that lined the bottom of her closet reminded her that she still needed to go shopping for new outfits. That made her stop unpacking, though she was only two small boxes from finishing the work that needed to be done in her room, and stand in front of the full length mirror that hung on her bedroom door. She imagined herself as a punk kid, skater, cheerleader, band geek, math nerd, she even tried out hard core Christian, but nothing seemed to fit. Finally she decided to imagine herself as that dark girl that everyone wonders about, the one guys seem to flock around, even though she doesn’t seem to have much to say, she’s pretty but looks like she doesn’t know it, or at least doesn’t flaunt it. That look fit, she could pull off the attitude without much of a hassle; it was perfect. In two days she would start in her new school, that afternoon she would shop and get her hair layered and get bangs that went straight across and covered her eyes slightly, and then she’d be golden.