1. Starting Over

A Chapter by Mel

Julia Wright- Rachel Bilson Anna Wright- Selena Gomez Mrs. Wright- Courtney Cox Mark- Adam Brody Ben- Chord Overstreet Vanessa- Debby Ryan Erick- Gregg Sulkin

Love is a waste of time.

Love, the one emotion that everyone cared about the most, the one that can make people crazy is unfamiliar to me. I didn’t want to be familiar with it. Looking at everyone else while growing up, especially at my runaway sister and her boyfriend I realized that it only slowed people down. They get blindsided and knocked off course and in the end all that’s left is a broken heart and ruined life. Take my sister, for example, she used to be an honors student, always focusing on school and getting high marks throughout high school just to drop out right before graduation because she fell in love, Mark. They met while my sister was doing volunteer work at the school’s blood drive. He came in with flip-flops and beaten up shorts that were so strained it was impossible to tell what color the jeans started out as. While my sister, Julia, was registering him they started making small talk. Apparently Mark was one of those world traveler activists and gave my sister a speech about giving back and enjoying life while you still can. Julia was surprisingly astounded by his speech and joined him with some volunteering while he was resting in California with some friends. Soon enough they fell in love and my sister turned into a hippie too. Mom wasn’t impressed but her constant ranting wouldn’t go through Julia. Once day, exactly 3 weeks from graduation my sister informed us she was leaving during dinner.

“This is the moment I’ve been waiting for all my life. This is it, you guys have to understand”

She said with eyes big and bright, as if smiling. Mom was furious.

“Why would you throw all that hard work away just so you could pet some dolphins or feed some strangers?”

“High school is society’s way of turning us into robots. They want us all to turn into some type of human calculator so we could build high-tech space ships to fly to the moon. I’ve been wasting all these years in school pretending to be someone I’m not and then Mark came and saved me. He introduced me to myself. I was miserable, mom. Now I feel like I am finally living!”

My mom was in tears by now. She usually wasn’t one to cry, so we knew how disappointed she was in Julia.

“Is it because of you father? Is that why you’re acting out?”

Dad died 4 years ago. He had committed suicide while out on a business trip in Boston. No one saw it coming, especially mom. Dad was never the happy type. He was always serious and protective, especially of mom. He left a note for us, apologizing for letting us down and giving up. He wrote that he hated his job and hated his friends. We were the only reason he was still alive. He thought he could handle it but the new deal he was singing in Boston was going to change everything. It would bring a lot of money, which meant more work, and dad had had enough. I cried for a week straight after the funeral and swore to never love anyone too much because all they do is let you down, even family. I think I ran out of tears after that because I haven’t cried since. I went from a naïve 13 year old to a heartless 17 year old, which was all for the best. Julia and mom refuse to move on and mention him every once in a while, as if it made a difference.

“This has nothing to do with dad. Mom, actually, I think that dad would be proud of me, for taking a stand and doing something I love”

“All that work, all those years, all those essays, just so you could give up.”

I started to get up and head to my room but mom stopped me and told me to sit back down, this was a family matter.

“I’m not giving up. I’m starting new. Please understand. I’m 18 now and I’m leaving whether you want me to or not. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Sorry mom, but it’s for the best”

Julia cleaned up her plate, washed it and headed upstairs to pack for Australia. Mom sobbed while I sat silent for hours. I felt like I should walk over to mom and hug her, or tell her everything was going to be okay and that she still has me but I couldn’t because then I’d be lying. I planned on leaving for college as soon as I could. Instead I stayed silent until mom finally got up and went to bed, her red puffy face seemed a thousand years older as she walked up the stairs dragging her feet along.

I wasn’t angry, or sad, or happy. I didn’t care. All I could think about was, another let down.