9Hi! Welcome to my first story on fictionpress: My Life Through Rainbow Spectacles. Even if you didn't really like it too much, it would be much apriciated if you could drop a review explaining why :) Anyway, here's chapter one, and I'll put chapter two up if anyone (one person is enough for me!) responds to chapter one :3
Grace Reynolds was content with her happy little life in a small English seaside town. Then, her mother just had to go and cheat on her dad. After much rowing, door slamming and hiding under the covers with iPod-ing, Grace's parents decided to get a divorce.
Her mother went to live with the man she was cheating with, and her father decided to go backpacking. Alone. This left Grace with only one choice: go and live with your aunt in LA. Start a new life there. But its never going to be that simple...
My first though stepping off of the plane was Jesus Christ, its boiling! I grappled in my bag for the sunglasses my father had given me as a 'goodbye' present; he would be on his train to Paris now. Away from my mother, or more importantly, the man she cheated on him with. I felt sickened at the very thought. Realising I was kind of holding everyone up from getting off the plane, I hurried along.
As soon as I had picked up my bag, I turned around and scanned the airport for Auntie Ashiya. She would be my new 'kind of mother', so to say, and her four daughters, my cousins, would be my new 'kind of sisters'. I didn't really want new sisters, I enjoyed being an only child. I wheeled my bag with me through the airport, and it crossed my mind that I had never been in an airport alone, without my parents. We always had three bags, me and my mother once stuck glitter sequins on mine when I was small that spelled out my name, 'G-R-A-C-E' in silver sparkles. I sighed, and then was snapped out of my thoughts by someone screeching my name across the airport.
"Grace! Gracey! Its me! Auntie Ashiya!" I turned around to see a rather large woman grinning and running over to me at a slightly frightening speed, knocking anything that stood in her way (this included a few bags belonging to other people and a small child), her long curls of blond hair bobbing with each step.
"Hi Aunt Ashiii-" I started, but my air supply was cut off as Auntie Ashiya tackled me into a giant bear hug. She smelt like orange chocolate and power, and I was really going to die soon if she didn't let go.
Lucky for me, she stepped back (and I took a huge gasp for air) and held me at arms length. She looked vaguely familiar, I'd only met her once.
"My God, how much you've grown! Last time I saw you, you were this high," She straightened her fingers and pointed towards her hip, "But your all grown up now!" I'm only fifteen, but I smiled back at her. She had a heavy American accent- well, obviously, I thought to myself. Then I worried that I would sound odd compared to everyone else here with my British accent, and then remembered that Auntie Ashiya was talking to me.
"I'm very grateful to stay with you," I smiled, going to pick up my suitcase, but she slapped my hand away.
"No, no, I'll get that for you," She scolded, then ushered me out of the airport and into her car, which, to me, was huge. It was a black seven seater, and it felt like you were in a kind of fortress inside it. I caught my reflection in the side mirror, and realised how washed out I looked, especially in the intense sunshine here. My pale skin looked bleak and pasty, and my caramel brown hair looked thin and scraggly. I sighed, running a hand through it. It was my mothers hair, I wish I'd inherited my fathers thick, dark brown hair instead of just his deep hazel eyes. I looked nothing like him, anyone would be able to tell that me and my mother were related. It bought a pang of disgust; how she cheated on my father. I shuddered, trying to forget the day. I looked out of the tinted windows at the airport, the large sign: 'Los Angeles International Airport'. Los Angeles. LA. My new home.
After what seemed like a long journey though a maze of rows and rows of building and houses, the car turned into a driveway. I peered out the window at the house. It was big, well, bigger than my old home in England, by the dull, grey seaside. The exterior had an off-pink colour that may have once been bright, however there were masses of ivy and other plants climbing the walls it would be difficult to tell what colour they were. The front garden was full of colourful plants that I didn't even know existed, and there was a multitude of rainbow of windchimes hung up outside the front door. Auntie Ashiya had jumped out of the car, and was beckoning for me to get out and come in. I took a deep breath, then opened the car door. This was my home now.
I stepped carefully along the colbblestone path to the door- it was faded grey with bits of grass poking through it. Auntie Ashiya fussed about with the keyes, and hollared 'Girls, we're homee!' towards the second storey of the house. The whole thing looked like it was two storeys with a loft, and semmed to go back quiet far. My aunt finally found the right key, and shoved the door open with a triumphant smile. I took a step in.
My first impression of my new home was that it was...Lived in. As in, there was so much stuff piled up everywhere, stuck on the walls, carefully stacked on shelves...And that was only the entrance. Auntie Ashiya tugged me by the arm through a doorway- on the way in I caught a glimpse of a photo of my parents on their wedding day. I blinked, and quickly followed my Aunt into the door.
"Everyone, this is Grace, you remember her don't you?" Auntie Ashiya announced, putting her arm around me and pulling me to stand next to her.
In front of me were four people, girls. My cousins, I'd only met one of them once, but I wasn't sure which one that was now. They were all pretty expressionless, eying me. It made me feel self conscious, and I fiddled about with my hair. Auntie Ashiya motioned to the girl who was sitting on the edge of the sofa, the most intimidating looking one.
"This is June, she's the oldest," Auntie Ashiya told me. June nodded at me in a kind of aloof way. She had long, very straight, sheer blond hair (which I suspected wasn't natural), piercing blue eyes (which again, I assumed weren't natural), and had on a dark purple sweater dress, which bared a little too much leg. I smiled at her, despite the fact that she looked like one of the girls out of Mean Girls, the really nasty one. My Aunt turned to the next girl, who didn't look like she would claw me to pieces.
"This is Raine, she 's just a little older than you, but you're in the same grade," Auntie Ashiya continued. I would definitely need to be told how grades represented years. Raine looked pleasant enough. She had almost exactly the same kind of hair as her mother, apart from the curls being a bit shorter and the ash blond colour being a bit duller. She had pale blue eyes; and in my opinion looked nicer than June's piercing contact lenses. She was wearing a pale green shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. Raine smiled at me, and I smiled back. Auntie Ashiya moved on quickly to last two of my cousins.
"These two are Florence and Willa. They're the same age as you," She finished, pointing at the pair respectively. I assumed they were twins, however they looked very different. Florence had striking hair, it was bright cherry red, complete with black streaks and she was wearing a headband of daisies over all the ringlets. Her eyes were a light brown and heavily lined with black, and she had pale skin, not as pale as me, but still pale. Florence grinned at me, and waved a bit, the stacks of bangles on her left hand jingling. Her other hand had just as many, and her neck was also weighed down by the number of necklaces she was wearing, along with a striped black and white top and black skinny jeans. She looked fierce, but nice.
Willa looked like she had the same kind of personality as June, despite being Florence's twin. Her hair was straight, like June's, although it was a lighter blond colour. Her eyes were the same as Florence's, light brown, and her skin was, well, pretty badly fake tanned. I thought it would be rude to tell her that there was a very noticeable patch of weird, streaky colour on her neck, so I stayed quiet and smiled at the twins. There was a bit of an awkward silence.
"Shall I show her to her room then Mom?" Florence spoke up, looking towards Auntie Ashiya, who nodded.
Florence crossed the room and swiftly grabbed me by the arm (I appeared to be getting man-handled a lot today), then we went back outside to pick up my suitcase from the car. She grinned at me.
"How was the plane?" She asked me, though I didn't catch what she said, not being used to the accent.
"Huh?" I mumbled, probably looking a bit stupid.
"The plane, the journey, the way you got here. How was the plane?" She smiled, lifting my bag out of the boot. Trunk, I think you'd call it.
"Oh, it was okay. I didn't sleep much, time difference..." I yawned, proving my point. I was exhausted. Back home now, it must've been at least eleven at night. I'd have to ajust quickly, it was time to start my new school the day after tomorrow.
"Ah, don't worry. As soon as we get you settled you can go to sleep," She assured me, and wheeled the suitcase back into the house, and led me up the stairs. "Tomorrow then, we'll have to take you out to buy some stuff for school, because I doubt you've got much," She was right there. I hadn't got much. "So, what do you think of everyone?"
I thought for a moment as we walked up the wide staircase, wooden, although there was a colourful rug running through the center of it. "They're nice," I said, not really knowing what to say. Florence smiled as though she knew.
"Raine is just shy, but she's really sweet when you get to know her. Willa is alright, she's just a bit boring, wrapped up in all her hair straighteners and Facebook and whatnot," Florence rolled her eyes and giggled, "And June...Well, don't get on her bad side," She warned me, her brown eyes narrowing a bit. We stopped at the end of the corridor, the last room, and Florence opened the door and flicked the light switch on.
My new room was smaller than my old one, but it was cosy. The bedsheets had a pretty green pattern on them, and the wallpaper was a dark purple. The room was bare apart from a wardrobe in the far corner, and a large mirror hanging on the wall. Florence pushed me my bag, then smiled again. The girl smiled a lot.
"Okay, so I'll leave you to it. You can go to sleep now, and I don't know when you'll wake up..."She looked thoughtful for a minute, "But I'll save you what ever we're having for dinner in the fridge," She stood there for a moment, picking at her black nail polish, then smiled. "The bathroom is the door two down from you, and if you need anything just come down. See you later then," She shut the door and left me to my own thoughts.
I took in a long breathe. This was so weird, it felt surreal. I walked over to the window and leaned over the side, trying to get a good view of the garden. From what I could see, there was some kind of deck, a shed, and...The wall obscured the rest. I sighed, and looked at what was the other way...Next door neighbours. There seemed to be two figures in next doors garden, but I knew it was rude to snoop on other people. I pulled back in and shut the window. Jesus...I thought to myself. Then, my mobile-cell phone, it was a cell phone now. Anyway, it started to buzz.
"Hello?"
"Grace!" Someone yelled down the line. It sounded like there were a lot of people in the background.
"Sophie!" I exclaimed, happy to hear a familiar voice. Sophie was my best friend back in England.
"How are you? How's LA? How's your new house? How's your new family?" She asked really quickly, not stopping for breath.
"They're fine, its fine here. Its a bit odd, living with people I hardly know, but its fine," I replied, smiling. "But anyway, how are you? How's everyone?"
"Oh they're great, really, we all miss you. Listen, I'll call you again tomorrow, because its kinda like...Midnight, and I should've gone to bed ages ago because its netball practice tomorrow," Netball. That would be something I'd miss. "It'll be weird without you there, Grace..." She said, sounding sad.
"I know, I wish I could come. I'm dreading my new school," I groaned, remembering how much I hated to stand out. "Please call me tomorrow though!"
"Don't worry, I will. Good night, Grace!"
"'Night, Soph." I put the phone down, pulled my pyjamas out of my suitcase, then brushed my teeth and collapsed onto my new bed, my new home, my new life.
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