I walked out the back door and walked around in the back looking at my dad's little vegetable garden. I looked at it and thought about the summer I had been here and we picked green beans all day in the hot sun. I remembered pulling up carrots and ripping out the stems without getting the carrots. I remembered picking potato bugs off the potatoes and making my dad pick off the fat ones. I walked away towards the forest behind the house. There was a path going into it and I decided to walk into it. I walked along listening to the sounds of the leaves in the trees shaking and the birds calling to each other in the trees. I continued to walk until the path began to curve back and I found myself heading back in a circle toward the house.
When I came back, it was about 10:00. My dad was hunched over the plants in the garden picking green beans.
"Want any help?" I said.
"Sure" he said.
I kneeled down a little way away from him and began to pull the beans off the little bush and put them in the basket.
"Have you thought at all about colleges lately?" my dad asked.
"No" I said. I didn't want to go to college. My grades in high school were never very good so I didn't think I could get into a good one anyway.
"Well you might want to be thinking about that" said my dad. "Maybe you can even go to one here then maybe we could see each other more" he said.
"Yeah right" I said in my head.
To escape the awkwardness I said I was hungry and I was going inside for some food. I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich then I went upstairs to my room. I plugged in my laptop again for lack of a better thing to do. I checked my email again and had no unread messages. I messed around on the internet for a while wasting my afternoon away and before I knew it, it was 6:00 and my dad came in to check on me.
"Getting hungry?" he said.
"Sure" I replied not looking away from the screen.
"Burgers sound good?" he said.
"Ok," I replied.
He left, I heard him clomping down the staris. I checked my email again for the 10th time that day and this time there was an email from Vikki. It said;
Hey Libby!!! What's up? What are you doing with your dad? I wish you could be here, summer just won't be the same without you. OMG GUESS WHAT??? I got accepted into Julliard!!! I got my acceptance letter today. Anyway, Emily says hi...she's in Spain with her parents right now.
-Vikki
I shut my computer off. I knew it was Vikki's dream to be a singer and now she would probably acheive that goal. Vikki and Emily are my best friends, but I can't help but feel jealus of them sometimes. Vikki was always the pretty one of the three of us. She had curly reddish brown hair and green eyes with freckled pale skin. She was a straight-A student and was well liked by everyone at school. She was on the cross-country team and the volleyball team at school and was very good at both, but her real talent was singing. She had a deep soulful voice that sounded beautiful when she sat at her piano playing and singing away. I could relate a little more to Emily, she was more average. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She was really big into dancing. She had done ballet since she was 3 and still did it 14 years later. She was one of the nicest people I knew, I had never known her to insult anyone and she could see the good in everyone. It was a quality I wish I had. She just never let stuff get to her. She never got upset and she as just the most optimistic person ever.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Just so you guys know...
I wrote part 4 at like 3 in the morning or something, I was very tired and I really don't like that part so I'm going to rewrite it later, but I haven't come up with any better ideas for it. So sorry about that, it's lame and I know it. But I'll fix it! Also I know change tenses a lot, I'll fix that too.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Part 3 (first 2 parts below)
I fell into an uneasy sleep, strange dreams floated in and out of my head. First I dreamed that my mom flew down to see me and started screaming at me for leaving her. Then I dreamed I wen't back to Seattle and Vikki and Emily decided they hated me and hung out with all the popular people at school. They laughed at me in the lunchroom and halways. Then I dreamed that my dad came into my room yelling "The chickens are loose! The chickens are loose!" and when I looked out the window hundreds of thousands of chickens had overrun the yard...
I woke up the next morning not terribly well rested. The sun was streaming in through the thin curtains on my window. I squinted and got up. My matress squeaked and groaned as I got up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and walked downstairs. My dad was cooking banana pancakes on the stove.
"Morning." he said. "I'm making pancakes for you, I know they're your favorite.
"I'm not hungry." I said poking the banana peels on the counter. "And I don't like bananas anyway."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "There's cereal and stuff like that in the cabinet.
"I think I'm just going to go take a walk." I said.
"Ok" he said. "Just don't get lost."
I went into the bathroom and washed my face and brushed my teeth. I looked in the mirror at myself. I had never been anything too special to look at. I was never one of the pretty popular rich girls at school. All of them had beautifully flawless skin and shiny hair. Their bodies were thin and they dressed them in fashionable clothing. I looked at myself again. I had long blonde curly hair that was unruly and never did as I wanted it to. My skin was relatively pale, but tanned nicely although slowly in the summer. I had blue eyes which I actually thought were quite nice even though I wasn't the happiest with my appearance. My nose was small and pointed. I remember in seventh grade the girl who sat across from me always liked to say; "Your nose is so pointed you could stab someone with it!" then laughing at her witticism. I had small thin lips. My mother said they were "angel lips" but I never understood that. I suppose they were more colored than most peoples. I had a rather square face which I always thought disproportioned my face making my already small nose and mouth smaller. My body was something I had struggled with over the past few years. Now, I wasn't fat, I just had little pudges here and there. I also inheireted my mother's eastern european legs which apparently she got grief for as a teen being as they were larger than average. No one ever said "Look at that fat girl" in the halls to me or anything, I was really the only person who was convinced I was too fat. I suppose all girls feel this way at some point or another. I blame my mother. She's an amazing cook and it was just hard to say no around food at home.
I used to be on a swim team in middle school, but I quit when my coaches expected me to go to four, three hour practices a week. I'm a very lazy person. Sometimes I think back on it wishing I had never quit. I was really good at it. I was better than some of the older kids there. It was a good team over all too. One guy almost went to the Olympics, but he had a swimming accident and was paralyzed. I remember that, it was so sad because he was so good, then he could never swim again. The coaches were crying and some of the other people who knew him cried too. Also once I swam on a relay team with a girl who had set several world records in girls swimming in her age group. It was a really neat thing, and I really do regret giving up.
More soon!!! (I've gotta go eat dinner)
I woke up the next morning not terribly well rested. The sun was streaming in through the thin curtains on my window. I squinted and got up. My matress squeaked and groaned as I got up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and walked downstairs. My dad was cooking banana pancakes on the stove.
"Morning." he said. "I'm making pancakes for you, I know they're your favorite.
"I'm not hungry." I said poking the banana peels on the counter. "And I don't like bananas anyway."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "There's cereal and stuff like that in the cabinet.
"I think I'm just going to go take a walk." I said.
"Ok" he said. "Just don't get lost."
I went into the bathroom and washed my face and brushed my teeth. I looked in the mirror at myself. I had never been anything too special to look at. I was never one of the pretty popular rich girls at school. All of them had beautifully flawless skin and shiny hair. Their bodies were thin and they dressed them in fashionable clothing. I looked at myself again. I had long blonde curly hair that was unruly and never did as I wanted it to. My skin was relatively pale, but tanned nicely although slowly in the summer. I had blue eyes which I actually thought were quite nice even though I wasn't the happiest with my appearance. My nose was small and pointed. I remember in seventh grade the girl who sat across from me always liked to say; "Your nose is so pointed you could stab someone with it!" then laughing at her witticism. I had small thin lips. My mother said they were "angel lips" but I never understood that. I suppose they were more colored than most peoples. I had a rather square face which I always thought disproportioned my face making my already small nose and mouth smaller. My body was something I had struggled with over the past few years. Now, I wasn't fat, I just had little pudges here and there. I also inheireted my mother's eastern european legs which apparently she got grief for as a teen being as they were larger than average. No one ever said "Look at that fat girl" in the halls to me or anything, I was really the only person who was convinced I was too fat. I suppose all girls feel this way at some point or another. I blame my mother. She's an amazing cook and it was just hard to say no around food at home.
I used to be on a swim team in middle school, but I quit when my coaches expected me to go to four, three hour practices a week. I'm a very lazy person. Sometimes I think back on it wishing I had never quit. I was really good at it. I was better than some of the older kids there. It was a good team over all too. One guy almost went to the Olympics, but he had a swimming accident and was paralyzed. I remember that, it was so sad because he was so good, then he could never swim again. The coaches were crying and some of the other people who knew him cried too. Also once I swam on a relay team with a girl who had set several world records in girls swimming in her age group. It was a really neat thing, and I really do regret giving up.
More soon!!! (I've gotta go eat dinner)
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Here's some more of my story...PLEASE COMMENT!!!
I lay on my bed staring at a crack in the ceiling. I'm not really in the mood to unpack. I let the sweltering heat engulf me. I close my eyes and think of my home in Seattle. It was a little apartment in an old hotel. Me and my mom lived there even since my dad left when I was only 7 years old. I remember that day so clearly. I was very close with my dad when I was little, we would go places together, he took me to school every morning, I told him everything and I would cry for about an hour every time he had to leave on business trips. Things have changed since then. I used to call him every day and send him emails telling him all about what was going on in my life. But when I was about 12 I stopped calling. He tried to keep our relationship together, but eventually he just gave up.
I saw him for 2 weeks every summer and as I got older I started dreading those 2 weeks more than any other time of the year. I would fly down to the heat of Georgia and help my dad with chores around his little farm. We hardly spoke to each other for those 2 weeks. We had gone from best friends to awkward comrades, our visits forced upon us by my mother.
I open my eyes and look back up at the ceiling. I feel my eyes begin to water. I never cry. My dad always told me; "crying about it won't solve anything." I tried to stop the flow but I cried anyway. Tears leaked out of the sides of my eyes and down into my hair. I drew a rattly breath and sniffed.
"Libby! Dinner's ready!" I heard my dad yell up the stairs.
I sat up and looked in the mirror on the little cabinet. I dry my face and hope my eyes aren't too red. I walk down the stair into the small kitchen.
"I thought we'd eat in the dining room tonight" declared my dad. "After all it's a special occasion I suppose."
I nodded and followed him into the dining room. It's a rather dark room, it used to scare me when I was little when I came down here. I always thought that there might be monsters lurking between the chair legs. There's a long wooden table down the middle with wooden chair all around it. The window facing the front of the house is open to let in the fresh air. I sit down and let the smell of tomato sauce and deliciously seasoned meatballs waft up my nose.
"Smells good." I said.
"This used to be your favorite," said my dad as he serves me a heaping portion of noodles and a ladle of homemade spaghetti sauce along with 3 huge meatballs.
"Some things never change I guess," I said.
He smiles and hands me the plate.
"We canned these tomatoes last year together, remember?" he asks.
"Oh yeah," I said. That was another miserable experience that came with visiting the farm, canning. Fist picking the fruit or vegetable you wished to can in the hot sun all morning long then the actual canning process in the kitchen which involved boiling water to sanitize the jars and make the room so unbearably hot that you just wanted to dunk yourself in a bucket of ice. My dad had no air conditioning except for noisy fans like the one in my room. In the winter, although it never got that cold, he heated the house with a wood-burning stove so nights could get pretty chilly even with the space-heaters.
He sat down across from me after serving himself a plate of spaghetti. We ate in silence not really knowing what to say to each other.
"Big senior next year!" said my dad. "Exited?"
"Not really," I said staring down at my plate.
"Never know," he said.
That was about the longest exchange of words that we had over the course of dinner. He asked me a few questions about school, my friends, my mom and other things that I replied to with short 1 or 2 word answers. After dinner while my dad was washing dishes (he said he wouldn't make me help clean up on my first day here but that that would soon change) I plugged my laptop into the wall and checked my email. I was glad my dad had wireless, he probably installed it for me before I came. I had two unread messages. One from my friends Emily and Vikki who had emailed some pictures from our sleepover we had before I left. Most of them were just pictures of us distorting our faces in strange ways and sticking our tongues out, but there was one nice one of the three of us laughing at something. I decided that I would print it out later and get a frame for it so that I could remember my friends from back home. The other email was from my mom (go figure). She asked how I was and all the other typical mom stuff. I shot back a quick response and went back downstairs.
My dad was watching T.V., when I came into the room he said "Hey Libbs, want to watch a movie?"
"Sure," I lied.
I sat on the recliner across the room from where my dad was sitting on the couch. We found some old black and white movie that was thoroughly uninteresting, but I watched it to make my dad happy. After the movie, it was only 10:30, but I told my dad I was going to go to bed.
"Good night sweetie. I love you," he said when I got up to go to my room.
"Ok," I said.
I saw him for 2 weeks every summer and as I got older I started dreading those 2 weeks more than any other time of the year. I would fly down to the heat of Georgia and help my dad with chores around his little farm. We hardly spoke to each other for those 2 weeks. We had gone from best friends to awkward comrades, our visits forced upon us by my mother.
I open my eyes and look back up at the ceiling. I feel my eyes begin to water. I never cry. My dad always told me; "crying about it won't solve anything." I tried to stop the flow but I cried anyway. Tears leaked out of the sides of my eyes and down into my hair. I drew a rattly breath and sniffed.
"Libby! Dinner's ready!" I heard my dad yell up the stairs.
I sat up and looked in the mirror on the little cabinet. I dry my face and hope my eyes aren't too red. I walk down the stair into the small kitchen.
"I thought we'd eat in the dining room tonight" declared my dad. "After all it's a special occasion I suppose."
I nodded and followed him into the dining room. It's a rather dark room, it used to scare me when I was little when I came down here. I always thought that there might be monsters lurking between the chair legs. There's a long wooden table down the middle with wooden chair all around it. The window facing the front of the house is open to let in the fresh air. I sit down and let the smell of tomato sauce and deliciously seasoned meatballs waft up my nose.
"Smells good." I said.
"This used to be your favorite," said my dad as he serves me a heaping portion of noodles and a ladle of homemade spaghetti sauce along with 3 huge meatballs.
"Some things never change I guess," I said.
He smiles and hands me the plate.
"We canned these tomatoes last year together, remember?" he asks.
"Oh yeah," I said. That was another miserable experience that came with visiting the farm, canning. Fist picking the fruit or vegetable you wished to can in the hot sun all morning long then the actual canning process in the kitchen which involved boiling water to sanitize the jars and make the room so unbearably hot that you just wanted to dunk yourself in a bucket of ice. My dad had no air conditioning except for noisy fans like the one in my room. In the winter, although it never got that cold, he heated the house with a wood-burning stove so nights could get pretty chilly even with the space-heaters.
He sat down across from me after serving himself a plate of spaghetti. We ate in silence not really knowing what to say to each other.
"Big senior next year!" said my dad. "Exited?"
"Not really," I said staring down at my plate.
"Never know," he said.
That was about the longest exchange of words that we had over the course of dinner. He asked me a few questions about school, my friends, my mom and other things that I replied to with short 1 or 2 word answers. After dinner while my dad was washing dishes (he said he wouldn't make me help clean up on my first day here but that that would soon change) I plugged my laptop into the wall and checked my email. I was glad my dad had wireless, he probably installed it for me before I came. I had two unread messages. One from my friends Emily and Vikki who had emailed some pictures from our sleepover we had before I left. Most of them were just pictures of us distorting our faces in strange ways and sticking our tongues out, but there was one nice one of the three of us laughing at something. I decided that I would print it out later and get a frame for it so that I could remember my friends from back home. The other email was from my mom (go figure). She asked how I was and all the other typical mom stuff. I shot back a quick response and went back downstairs.
My dad was watching T.V., when I came into the room he said "Hey Libbs, want to watch a movie?"
"Sure," I lied.
I sat on the recliner across the room from where my dad was sitting on the couch. We found some old black and white movie that was thoroughly uninteresting, but I watched it to make my dad happy. After the movie, it was only 10:30, but I told my dad I was going to go to bed.
"Good night sweetie. I love you," he said when I got up to go to my room.
"Ok," I said.
Here's the first part of my story which I doubt anyone will read...
I'm sittin in the car next to my mom in the front seat of a large red Buick rental car. MY legs stick to the leather seats as we speed down the highway. The windows are cracked just a bit to let the cool Georgia air whip across our faces and we move along. The wind tousles my already messy hair. I let out a long sigh.
"Libby" my mother says.
"What?" I snap back.
"I know that you don't want to go live with your father, but it's reall for the best. I think that you'll have fun there. Make some new friends and enjoy yourself. I'm not trying to torture you." She said with a smile.
I roll my eyes. "Yeah right mom, I'll have a blast in 100 degree weather sweating myself to deeath with nothing to do at all while you have fun back in Seattle with Randy."
Her lips tightened at these words, Randy was her boyfriend and it was no secret that I despised him thoroughly.
"Now Libby, Randy has always been very nice to you, I understant that you may feel a little uncomfortable with our relationship but...
"You don't understand!" I exploded. My mom stopped talking. "I hate it when he's around! He takes you out on dates and you don't come home till 3 am! All you so is talk to him on the phone and you never let me go anywhere or let me do anything becasue I have to stay at home to spend time with you and Randy!" I screamed at her.
"Ok honey we'll talk about it later, we're here now." my mom said.
I scoff and get out of the car slamming the door as hard as I can behind me. I get out and stare at the big white farmhouse. I wrinkle my nose at the scent of chickens. I already miss our house back in Seattle.
"Come on Libby" said my mom.
I follow her up the stairs to the front porch which creaks under our weight. She knocks on the door and after hearing a few footsteps my dad opens the door.
"Come on in" he said. "Good to see you Libbs! How's it going? How are you Marie?"
"Oh ok." said my mom, "It was a long drive from the airport in that crazy renal car." she said placing a hand on my shoulder. I grimaced and pushed it off.
"Well, I've got to go" continued my mom. "I'll help you get your stuff out of the trunk." All three of us walked out ot the car and grabbed my three heavy suitcases; I figured if I had to spend my whole summer here I might as well just bring practically everything I own to keep myself occupied for ten weeks. We lugged the suitacases in and up the steep stair to my room.
"This will be your room Libbs" said my dad.
It was TINY. There was a single bed in the corner with a white quilt embroidered with red, blue and green flowers and there was a nightstand next to the bed and there was a small wooden bookshelf in the opposite corner form the bed with a little cabinet that matched the bookshelf. The room was painted a light washed-out pink and had several paintings on the wals. I put my stuff down and turned to my parents.
" Well I've got to run" said my mom checking her watch. "Bye honey" she said wrapping me in a tight squeeze and kissing my hair. I pushed her off.
"Bye" I said. She left the room leaving me and my dad alone. I heard the large noisy rental car start up and drive away down the long grave driveway.
"I'm going to let you get unpacked and go make dinner. Spaghetti sound good?" said my dad.
I nodded. He to left the room. I glanced around and sat on the bed. It sank about a foot with my weight and I toppled off of it in surprise. The room was unbearablyhot so I got up and turned the fan on in the corner. With a sound like a jet engine it turnedon blasting me in the face. I turned it off quickly, the sound was unbearable. I sat down on the bad more carefully this time and groaned.
This was going to be a long summer.
"Libby" my mother says.
"What?" I snap back.
"I know that you don't want to go live with your father, but it's reall for the best. I think that you'll have fun there. Make some new friends and enjoy yourself. I'm not trying to torture you." She said with a smile.
I roll my eyes. "Yeah right mom, I'll have a blast in 100 degree weather sweating myself to deeath with nothing to do at all while you have fun back in Seattle with Randy."
Her lips tightened at these words, Randy was her boyfriend and it was no secret that I despised him thoroughly.
"Now Libby, Randy has always been very nice to you, I understant that you may feel a little uncomfortable with our relationship but...
"You don't understand!" I exploded. My mom stopped talking. "I hate it when he's around! He takes you out on dates and you don't come home till 3 am! All you so is talk to him on the phone and you never let me go anywhere or let me do anything becasue I have to stay at home to spend time with you and Randy!" I screamed at her.
"Ok honey we'll talk about it later, we're here now." my mom said.
I scoff and get out of the car slamming the door as hard as I can behind me. I get out and stare at the big white farmhouse. I wrinkle my nose at the scent of chickens. I already miss our house back in Seattle.
"Come on Libby" said my mom.
I follow her up the stairs to the front porch which creaks under our weight. She knocks on the door and after hearing a few footsteps my dad opens the door.
"Come on in" he said. "Good to see you Libbs! How's it going? How are you Marie?"
"Oh ok." said my mom, "It was a long drive from the airport in that crazy renal car." she said placing a hand on my shoulder. I grimaced and pushed it off.
"Well, I've got to go" continued my mom. "I'll help you get your stuff out of the trunk." All three of us walked out ot the car and grabbed my three heavy suitcases; I figured if I had to spend my whole summer here I might as well just bring practically everything I own to keep myself occupied for ten weeks. We lugged the suitacases in and up the steep stair to my room.
"This will be your room Libbs" said my dad.
It was TINY. There was a single bed in the corner with a white quilt embroidered with red, blue and green flowers and there was a nightstand next to the bed and there was a small wooden bookshelf in the opposite corner form the bed with a little cabinet that matched the bookshelf. The room was painted a light washed-out pink and had several paintings on the wals. I put my stuff down and turned to my parents.
" Well I've got to run" said my mom checking her watch. "Bye honey" she said wrapping me in a tight squeeze and kissing my hair. I pushed her off.
"Bye" I said. She left the room leaving me and my dad alone. I heard the large noisy rental car start up and drive away down the long grave driveway.
"I'm going to let you get unpacked and go make dinner. Spaghetti sound good?" said my dad.
I nodded. He to left the room. I glanced around and sat on the bed. It sank about a foot with my weight and I toppled off of it in surprise. The room was unbearablyhot so I got up and turned the fan on in the corner. With a sound like a jet engine it turnedon blasting me in the face. I turned it off quickly, the sound was unbearable. I sat down on the bad more carefully this time and groaned.
This was going to be a long summer.
By the Way
I started this story on January 1st and it's my New Years Resolution to finish it by December 31st so I have 1 year...wish me luck!
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