CHAPTER ONE

I have moved once before. I was five then, so it really wasn't a big deal. Now I'm sixteen, and going through the second move of my life, and the deal has gotten a lot bigger. Not only is it such a hassle to have to pack away every single bit of your belongings into boxes or a truck, but you are torn from your normal, happy life and thrown into a new, awkward life. Something that dramatic could drastically change a teenager. Fortunately, I'm good at adapting. It is one of the only things I am good at.

I guess the new house is not so bad. It is definitely bigger than our old one. Why my grandpa, who lives alone, has a bigger house than my family of six, I'll never know. I guess it works now, though, since we're moving in with him.

I'm sure that if the house were in Lake in the Hills, Illinois, I would love it. Unfortunately, its in Maywood, New Jersey, the town my mother grew up in. I think I could even deal with the fact that I am going to be a New Jersey resident, if I could bring my best friends along with me. I'm going to miss Lindsey and Chris more than anything.

"All right, Eb, out of the car, you have to go say hi to Grandpa."

I looked at my mother through the car window, motioning me to come outside. I hadn't realized I had been sitting in the car, just staring at the new house for so long. I got out and followed my mom and sisters to the door. Gramps was there to greet us.

"Oh, its been so long!" he exclaimed. I think it had been close to three years since the last time I saw him.

"Oh, Nida, you're so big!" Gramps hugged my youngest sister, who was now eight years old. "Meghann, Rachel, you've turned into such beautiful young women." He hugged my twin sisters, who were thirteen.

And then I was left. "Ebony, its so good to see you again."

"You too, Grandpa," I said with a smile, then I got a hug as well.

Gramps hugged my mom last, then motioned for us all to come inside. "I'll show you to your rooms."

"I'm going to go start unloading the truck," said Mom. "Show the girls where they'll be staying."

"Follow me," said Gramps. He led us into the foyer and living room, then up a flight of stairs to our right. The first door on the right side, by the stairs he gave to Meghann and Rachel. The room on the left he gave to Nida.

"This is the bathroom," said Grandpa, pointing to the door next to Meghann and Rachel's room. I followed him further down the hall and he pointed to a room on the left. "That will be your mother's room. And the room on the right is mine."

"Okay…" I said, since we were at the end of the hall and all that was left was a linen closet. "Where's my room?"

"Well, I thought you might like this room." Gramps opened the linen closet. It was a walk-in, surprisingly.

"You want me to live in the linen closet?" I asked confusedly, I wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

"Of course not." He walked into the closet and reached up to a rope hanging down from the ceiling and pulled down a small flight of stairs. "I was thinking you could live in the attic."

I frowned. Our old attic was just beams of wood with fiberglass all around. It was definitely not a livable space. But I followed Grandpa up the stairs, trying to keep an open mind.

"Here it is," Grandpa said as he moved out of the way so that I could get a full view. It was much better than I had expected. It had a beautiful, smooth hardwood floor, a full-sized window that opened up to a balcony, and a lot of open space in the middle.

"You're aunt used to live in this room. She loved it. I thought it suited you best."

I nodded. "I like it, Grandpa. Thanks."

"Well, I better go help your mom start unloading things. Take a look around, then you can come and join us." Grandpa left me alone in my new room.

The bed was big and old looking, but I liked that. There was a large bookcase near the window, and a desk on the other side of the window. The closet was opposite the bed and there was also a wardrobe near the bookcase. A large mirror sat on top of the wardrobe.

My first instinct was to go out to the balcony, but the window was nailed shut. I tried to open it with force, but I had no luck.

"I guess I can ask Gramps to fix it later," I said to myself.

I turned to leave and caught a reflection of myself in the mirror. I stopped to look at it for a moment. A short girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes stared back at me. My hair had gotten frizzy because of the weather, and was all out of place. My lips were slightly chapped, and there were circles under my eyes. I was tempted to ask myself, "Why do you look so sad?" but I already knew the answer. I put on some chap stick that I had in my pocket and put my hair up in a bun. Then I left to help the rest of my family unpack.

Pizza is my absolute favorite food in the whole world. Gramps ordered us some after we were done unloading the truck, as a treat for all of our hard work..

"You can take a break to eat the pizza," said Mom, "but there's still a lot of work to be done. We still have to unpack all of the stuff we unloaded."

I figured that wouldn't take so long. All we basically had were our own individual belongings. All of the furniture, kitchenware and electronic devices had been put away in storage. The only thing we had brought with us for the whole family were picture albums.

We watched TV and ate pizza for about an hour, then we were sent to go unpack our stuff in our rooms. I was kind of glad to be left to work alone for awhile. It took me two hours to unpack all of my things. The clothes went in the closet and wardrobe, the books on the bookshelf, and everything else was put in various places.

I heard someone coming up the steps a few minutes after I had finished. I turned as my mom emerged from the stairs.

"Wow, this looks great, Eb. Your sisters have barely even started yet. I just wanted to tell you that I have my own bathroom in my room, and I thought it best if you and I could both use it, and Meg, Rachel, and Nida will share the other one."

"All right," I replied, thankful. I hated sharing a bathroom with my sisters. They were so messy. I took a book from the shelf and climbed into bed, but my mom was still there.

"Was there something else?" I asked her.

"Everything's going to be okay, Ebony."

I sighed. "I know, Mom." I was so tired of people telling me that, especially my family.

"I'm just worried about you. You don't smile like you used to."

"Well, things happened, I changed. Its not a big deal. I'm okay."

"I'm sorry that we had to make this move, but there was nothing else to do."

"I know!" I said, thoroughly annoyed now. "We've had this conversation before. I'm over it. Now can I please just read and go to sleep in peace?"

"Okay. Good night, Eb. I love you."

"Love you too," I said in an irritated voice.

Immediately after my mom left I began to feel bad. I couldn't focus on the book I was reading, and decided to just turn off the light and go to sleep.

Right when I had begun to fall asleep I heard someone coming up the steps. I grunted angrily. Should I just try and pretend that I was sleeping so that whoever it was would go away? I decided against that, and just sat up in bed.

Nida was standing at the steps. She came over to the bed. "Ebie, can I sleep with you tonight?"

"If you're so scared, then how did you find the courage to climb all the way up here?" I asked.

"I'm not scared," said Nida. "I just don't want to be alone."

"Why don't you go and sleep with Meghann or Rachel? That would be more fun. It would be like a slumber party."

"Because Meg and Rachel already have to share a bed."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Mom hasn't set up the other bed yet. So can I sleep with you?"

I sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "Why don't you just sleep in your own bed?"

"I'm lonely. Please?"

"I don't think so. I need to get some sleep tonight I'm tired. And you kick a lot." It was true, Nida kicked like crazy. I had to wake up every thirty minutes to her kicking me whenever she slept in my bed and sometimes it took forever to get back to sleep.

"Please?" Nida tried to put on her puppy-eyed face but that had stopped working when she had hit the age of six.

"No, Nida. Go sleep with Mom or something." I knew that Nida did not like sleeping in Mom's bed nowadays but I was hoping that she would be desperate enough to try if I kept saying no.

"Please, Ebie?"

"I said no, Nida! And stop calling me that!"

Nida frowned. "Why? Dad calls you that all the time."

"Yeah, Dad did, not you! So just go back and sleep in your own bed and leave me alone!"

Nida rushed out of the room and I was left in peace. But after a few minutes I began to feel bad again. Why had I been getting so irritated lately? It probably wasn't very pleasant for my family. I felt like a jerk. I decided that I would apologize to my mom and Nida as soon as I woke up the next morning.