A New beging

[pic] Emma was walking down the quiet street of Appleview thinking out loud
to herself. She did not care if somebody walked beside her and thought that she was crazy. Everything in her life was crazy and going wrong, especially with her new friends. She felt like she did not fit in anymore just when she was beginning to like this place. She remembered how she had dreaded moving to the small town of Yellow Hill, thinking that she was never going to fit in. She had so easily made two new, best friends, Kelly and Alex who were just the beginning of her new life here in this small and lifeless town.
She took a right on the corner of Valley Road, her long dark hair blowing in the wind. She could not help, but feel awkward walking at 5:00am in the morning, alone. She pictured everything that had happened in her mind since they had moved from Georgetown, Montana to this small town in northern Minnesota. At the end of her eighth grade year, her father had passed away in a plane crash during a business trip. She could still remember how her father had promised to bring her a replica of the Eiffel Tower from his trip to Paris. Her mother could not take care of her for the whole summer so she was to go live with her grandma in the Ohio countryside. When her mother finally regained herself, she could not stand living in the same house, so they started to look for another house and then her mother's favorite brother passed away in a car accident, while driving to their house. Her mother changed from that point on. She chose to live in a small town like this so she could get away from everybody and most of all, to get away from Ohio because she thought that Ohio was a cursed state.
Emma on the other hand did not want to move because she knew that her father loved Ohio and would not have wanted to leave and besides, she really hated changes and starting all over. In October of her ninth grade year, she had started school in the only school in Yellow Hill, where everybody knew everybody. During the first week of school, she had felt awkward and out of place with everyone paying attention to her, as she was the "new" kid in school. By November, she had really become close friends with Kelly and Alex. Kelly was the pretty girl, with long blonde, beautiful hair and blue eyes. Alex, too was pretty with her dark, curly hair and big brown eyes. Unlike Kelly with the thin tiny body, Alex's was curvy and just right maybe it was due to all the sports she played. Next to them, Emma felt odd because she was not really fat or skinny but did not really have a body shape. She only had long brown hair, hazel eyes and rough skin. She was taller than Kelly, but was shorter than Alex and unlike both of them, Emma did not really have any interests. Kelly just love to dance and do gymnastics and even Emma was surprised that she was that good yet stuck in this little town.
Then there was that cute guy Emma had a crush on. Kory Bryant was just so good looking that it was hard for anyone not to notice him. To her surprise, Kory had asked her out by mid-January. She could even remember how shaky she had gotten and could not even answer a simple yes. However, she had grown used to Kory being around and even being her boyfriend.
Emma had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had not realized that she was finally standing in front of her house. She knew that she could not risk being heard by her mother while sneaking back in. That would mean a fight that she was not ready to have especially with her mother. Her mother, who was having some trouble with her dreadful boss, would not deal with Emma sneaking around. She couldn't help but remember about a week ago when her mother came home crying because her job was starting to get to her and she could not handle the stress and her boss had said he would fire her if she doesn't improve. As Emma walked around the house, opened the downstairs window into the laundry room, got in slowly, and steady, she could hear her mom's frantic voice in her head. "But I didn't do anything wrong!" she screamed. "It was that evil Frank the cook who gave me the wrong order!"
Her mom worked as a waitress in Daves Faves one of the three restaurants in town that had a thing for rhyming and it was all over there menus, which is why Emma hated to go there. Emma's mom was petite with the same dark hair and big hazel eyes and it was clear where Emma inherited most of her physical traits.
Emma quietly walked up the stairs, skipping two of the centers steps that she knew were squeaky and into her room. Inside their small house, it was warm, cozy and comfortable. She really loved her house because it was the only place where she did not have to worry about the problems she was going through in life. Instead, it was where she could think and come up with how she could fix her life to make it better. Her house was where she could run, hide, cry, and laugh. But most importantly, it was where she could sit on her mother's lap and let her hold her. She sat on her bed to relieve everything that had happened to her.
On Monday, everything had been normal and fine. On Tuesday, that is when everything changed! The first thing that happened was her boyfriend Kory had broken up with her. She tried to get over it but then she notice her friends were acting weird and not talking or listening to her. She tried to ignore it but then again, when she went to the lunchroom, Alex and Kelly were sitting in a different lunch table across the room talking to Jessica Peterson. The Jessica Peterson! Then they started talking to Katie Moss while giggling and looking at Emma's direction. Emma felt so stupid and embarrassed that she jolted out of the cafeteria, and into the girl's bathroom weeping. She did not care that all eyes were on her. For the rest of the day, she stayed at the nurse's office faking illness.
On Wednesday, nothing good happened but instead it had gotten worse. She could hear rumors and murmurs here and there about herself being dumped. Kelly and Alex had dramatically changed and looked to what Emma decided were Jessica and Katie's twins. They wore new, expensive clothes, lots of makeup and jewelry and just like Jessica's blonde hair, they let their hair wave and had it down at all times. The only difference was that Jessica had all the pretty colors and they had the same dull colors. Then that night her mom had almost been fired again when Frank the cook had given her the wrong order again, but her mom's boss did not care nor listen to her, which made her mom angry. Kory her ex-boyfriend had fallen for the spell too, and was carrying Jessica's books in the hallways. What was wrong with everybody anyway? Emma wondered over and over again.
On Thursday, Jessica had spread rumors that only nobody could have find out about her except the only two people she told, Kelly and Alex! They were filling Jessica in on the dirt just to embarrass her and to impress the Queen Bee. Some of the rumors were really hurtful like the fact that Emma and her mother lived on the west side of town in the tiny house along the edge of the forest and her mother was a waiter who couldn't even serve people what they wanted and all she was, was a poor, skinny, old waitress. The rumors progressed to a point where this was just way too much for Emma but she knew that her dad would have been strong and would have told her to be strong so, she held her self together. Her mom had other things to worry about and only told her that she would make it. During lunch on Friday, Emma was walking towards the bathroom where she caught the waft smell of disgusting, overused perfume. Then she heard her name being called and turned to face the hard, painted face with the bright red lipstick of Jessica Peterson. Besides her stood Kelly, Alex and Katie looking very much the same. Kelly started in her snide voice. "This is so fun. Don't you think?" Before she could answer, they took turns throwing insults and teasing her. "You should have stayed in Ohio" "Nobody likes you and you should pack and go back home." "And tell you're scrawny and weak mother that she doesn't have any taste in food." "You're so in vain and worthless just like your mama!" "Are there rats in your house? Oh, wait! You probably sleep next to them!" "And your dead father probably died because he was ugly, hideous, fat, and deserved it!"
Now this was crossing the line! "I told you not to say anything about her dad, it's too personal!" Alex exclaimed at Jessica in shock. Almost all the ninth graders had gathered around them and every one of them held their breath and waited to see what would happen next. Emma stood their shaking unable to talk or move. Nobody could say anything about her daddy like that. "Chill! Who cares anyways, her father is dead and it doesn't even matter at all!" Jessica shot back. "If you wanna be in my clique, what I say is what you do!" "You can't talk to my friend like that!" Kelly said in awe. "Yes she can, and your not her mother." Said Katie trying to be loyal for Jessica. Finding her voice finally, Emma took a deep, big breath and slowly made her words out. "Jessica, why are you so mean to people? Why can't you just leave me alone and stop talking about people behind their backs like the way you talk about Katie and all. I bet she doesn't want to be in your stupid clique anyways!" Jessica stood stiffly searching for words but Katie who made a face as if she was about to disagree asked, "You talk behind my back?" Jessicah did not know what to say but stare and soon everybody was contributing to the situation making it worse for her. "She uses other people." "She had her brother destroy my bike because it was better and cuter than hers." "She made me give answers to her on all her tests." "Her mom pretends to be a good singer and she's not."
Soon, Jessica could not take it and ran out of the hallway to wherever she went. "Thanks to Emma, I think we have all learned an important lesson today. To stand up against bullies!" Said Kory loudly with pride and held Emma's hand in the air in a victorious way. Emma did not know what to say, but just smile.
Now back in her room Emma could clearly remember why she had taken that long walk in the dark, it was to erase the past memories of the last week. It was also for starting over and for being bully free even though she did not have a clue if Jessica would have to move, in order to live. She had done a lot to people especially Katie and deserved whatever came to her. She was thankful for having both of her friends again and Kory was back in her life although she did not know what role he was going to play now. Most important though, it was for her dad. She stared at the picture of her mom, dad, and herself when she was twelve and their golden retriever, Winnie, who had also died a week after her dad due to old age. They looked happy then smiling against the glint of the sun. One thing was for sure though; she would visit Ohio this summer. She cried but they were happy tears this time.