Chapter - 1
I stood there in front of my doorstep with one big suitcase, two cabin bags and one backpack that is clinging uncomfortably to my shoulders from the back; forcing myself to not look back. Dad is taking the car out from the garage and Mamma is packing almonds and walnuts for me in the kitchen. Ethan is getting ready in his room; I am starting my college life in like two hours and I don't know how I should feel. Sad because I will be away from my family, the neighbourhood and everything that made me who I am today or excited because I will be starting a new phase in my life. This question triggers because either way I feel guilty. I have this feeling, something inside me is telling to be sad because I am going to be away for a while. I always have been excited for college when I was young and when the time for college is finally here, I am confused about how I should feel. I am going to miss a lot of things here, that once annoyed and irritated me. I guess goodbyes can make you miss those things you thought, would be better, gone. I don't mean that it is a permanent goodbye but yeah, it is a goodbye to my home for the first time for a while. A temporary one.
My arms are crossed when suddenly I feel something on my left lower arm. I look down and I see a drop of tear on it. I was crying and I wasn't even aware of it. Now that makes it clear. I wasn't excited or looking forward anymore. I was clearly sad. I think that I just didn't want to accept the fact that I was sad when I should be excited instead because I have been looking forwards to this day since like I was ten.
I was lost in my melancholic thoughts when I hear a honk, startling me. It was Dad, signalling me to bring all my bags to the car. Dad comes out of the car to help me load my bags and stuffs.
"Honey, come on. Don't ruin your mood because of these couple of months. You will be back in no time." Dad suddenly says.
"How do you know how I was feeling?" I ask.
"I can see tears from the corner of your eyes and I am your Dad, I am supposed to know. Doesn't matter if the tears are there or not." Dad says.
I smile and he gives me a hug. A long tight one which seems to say 'You will be just fine'.
He pulls away from the hug and gives me a warm smile and holds me on both of my shoulders before saying, "Summer, you've got this." He says this with so much of confidence and believe in his eyes that no one will be able to still feel bad. I search for any clues or hints that could prove me that he said those words just to comfort and cheer me up. I find nothing. Just confidence and trust. Suddenly I just am not scared and sad anymore. I start to feel relieved as if I know for sure that I have really got this. It seems Dad saw I am starting to feel better and I wasn't scared anymore so he gives me a smile.
"Thanks Dad." I tell him.
"I didn't do anything. It's you that made yourself believe that you can do this. But now, please do me a favour by going inside and calling your mother and your brother. We are running late. Virginia is two hours away and we have to reach there by one latest. It is already nine fifty five."
I smile and nod and sprinting back inside, I meet Ethan in the front room, all ready, sitting on the sofa using his phone.
"Ethan please hurry up. We are running late."
He doesn't reply. I'm not surprised. I turn back to call mom when I see a plate with pancakes on it on the dining table and we had pancakes for breakfast.
"ETHAN! YOU STILL DIDN'T EAT YOUR BREAKFAST?"
He still does not reply.
"FOR GOD SAKE REPLY! ARE YOU DEAF?!"
"What.Do.You.Want?" He says after like one minute later.
I glare at him angrily.
"If you going to glare at me like that the whole day, you are going to make us late. Not me." He says smiling.
"Oh so you heard what I said. I am so surprised! I am going to put this in the newspaper whenever I come back that Ethan finally heard what I said."
"I heard everything that you said okay? It's just that I think answering your 24/7 blah blah blah isn't a useful thing. You know, saving my energy." He says, still on his phone.
I fold my arms and I keep on glaring at him angrily. He rolls his eyes at my reaction.
"Now which war is it?" Mamma says suddenly and angrily, coming out of her room.
"The same old one. Your daughter shouting at me for useless things." Ethan says.
"Yeah right. Telling him to hurry up and getting angry at him for still not eating his breakfast when we are running late is useless, right?" I say.
"Ethan, you will never take anything seriously, right? We are running late and if you don't eat your breakfast in like five minutes, you are going stay back." Mamma warns him.
"Fine."
I feel satisfied now. He walks up to the dining table and starts eating his breakfast. Mamma leaves and joins Dad in the car after saying, "Summer, wait for your brother and come together. You two better hurry. It's already 10:10 and lock the house after you. I am leaving the keys here on the table." I nod and turn to Ethan, who is still on his phone while eating his breakfast. I roll my eyes seeing that but you know, walls don't obey you because they don't hear.
"By the way, you are so into your phone. Who are you talking to? Psycho Chloe?" I tease him.
"I have told you many a times that we broke up." He answers, annoyed.
"Yeah I know. I just didn't believe she let you go. She was so in love with you."
"Please, I was never serious with her. She loved me? That sounds like a joke. She was hooking up with many of my classmates behind my back."
"Oh. Then I take back what I said. Instead I will say this. Witches never let their victims go and she let you go. You are lucky, bro."
He gives me an annoyed look and rolls his eyes. I laugh.
"You know what, I'm seeing someone else." He suddenly says.
My eyes goes wide.
"WHO?"
"Calm down bro. Her name is Evelyn Sinclair. She lives three blocks away. She moved in ten days back from Philly and she joined our school like five days back. I've had my eyes on her since like the first day."
"Is she is a witch and a slut too just like your previous groupies?"
"What? No! She is different and that's what made me like her so much. At first, I just wanted what I wanted from other girls. Then I started talking to her two days back and realized she isn't like those girls. She is very decent and very simple and sweet and very herself. In short, she isn't fake and that's what made me fall for her. All I have ever looked for in a girl is being true to oneself and she has it." He says shyly.
"Damn. My brother is serious with a girl? That sounds almost impossible. I'm sure she is something."
"She is." He says, blushing and still eating.
"Tell me more."
"Not now. I'll tell you in the car. If I continue now, I am not sure I will be alive to be with her."
"Okay, I get it. But I should be the first one to know if something ever happens."
"Geez, okay fine. Now let's move. I don't want to die."
I nod, happy that he agreed. We fight a lot, precisely at the least five times a day but sometimes, we get along just fine. It's a siblings thing and our fights never affect us because deep down our hearts, we both know that we have got each other's back. Always.
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