Something There

Chapter 1

I hate my mother. Officially, now. I hate her. Would you like to know why? Of course you do. I hate her because we are moving.

I know, I sound like a bratty little girl. Moving isn't the end of the world, blah, blah, blah. Despite what others may have to say on the matter, it feels very much like the end of the world to me. Allow me to explain.

I have lived in New York City my whole life. I have attended Gallagher Academy for Girls pretty much my whole life. My best friend has been Macey McHenry my whole life. And now, halfway through my junior year, we are moving. Not down the block, not to a nicer apartment on the west side- to Roseville, Virginia.

I know what you're thinking. Where in all of God's grace is Roseville, Virginia. That's exactly what I thought when my mom told me last week that we would be moving there indefinitely. The answer- nowhere. Roseville, Virginia is in the middle of nowhere. It'll defiantly be a huge change, that's for sure. I have lived in the city for as long as I can remember.

"It'll be fine sweetie." My mom's voice interrupts my train of thought from the driver's seat. She's been saying virtually the same thing for the entirety of the six hour drive. "You and Macey will call each other every day, I'm sure. And both of you can visit each other all the time. You'll make so many new friends."

I just sighed and stared out the window. I closed my eyes and thought of my friends back home. They would be at Josh's party right now. Josh was my ex-boyfriend. We broke it off when we found out I was moving last week. We decided it would be best not to try long distance. Well, he decided. I just pretended to agree.

I felt the car stop moving and the ignition stop running. "We're here!" Mom exclaimed. I opened my eyes and went to the back to pull out my suitcase. The rest of our stuff came down a few days ago, so this was the very last bag.

My bright blue convertible came down last week also. It was the best birthday present I have ever gotten. My room was on the third floor. It had a really great view of the field behind our house, but I was much more accustomed to the tall skyscrapers of the city. It was eerily quiet outside.

I threw my bag down and decided that I wanted to clear my head. I unzipped my suitcase and pulled out a neon green sports bra and matching gym shorts. "I'm going for a jog!" I called to my mom as I stretched at the front door.

I put my iPod ear-buds in and turned on a random song from my workout playlist. I took off on a light run down the sidewalk. It was weird, the street was almost deserted, and it was only two pm. Every minute or so, a car would drive down the street. In fact, the only other person there as I walked out the door was a boy across the street.

He was kind-of muscley-looking (but not in a steroids type of way) with shaggy brown hair. He was jogging at almost exactly the same pace as me. I peeked out of the corner of my eye at him, just as he was doing the same thing. His eyes flicked back to the sidewalk in front of him and he smirked.

Okay… weird. I thought and picked up my pace a bit. He matched my pace. I ran faster. So did he. I turned my head and narrowed my eyes at him. He grinned back. I was on the varsity cross country team at Gallagher. If he wants to race, we would race.

I could see the end of the road, so I snuck one last glance at the boy and smiled. I was so going to win. I took off in a full sprint to the corner of the sidewalk. He did a double take and started sprinting after me a few seconds later. I reached the end of the road and skidded to a stop. I beat him.

I couldn't contain my grin as I pulled the ear-buds out of my ears and rested my arm on the stop sign to catch my breath. I smiled triumphantly as he sauntered over to me. "Name's Zach." He said, breathing heavily.

"Nice… to meet you…" I managed to say between gulps of air. It really is significantly hotter in Virginia. Temperature-wise, that is. No, no, the hotness level had nothing to do with the tan, green eyed god that stood in front of me. Absolutely nothing.

"Well?" He said. "Don't you have a name?"

I suddenly felt guilty. I'm not in this town for an hour yet and I've already forgotten about everyone back home. I should still be in mourning.

I slipped my iPod back in my ears. "Nope." I said, then started to jog away. He was unfazed by my attempt to appear uninterested.

"Really? No name? What do I call you then?" He asked, jogging beside me and tugging one of my ear-buds out.

"You don't have to call me anything." I said, smiling slightly at his inability to take a hint. Upon seeing my almost-smile, he smirked.

"I bet I can guess… is it Sarah? You kind of look like a Sarah."

"It's not Sarah, and you're not going to be able to guess it." This was going to be a very short run; we were already back at my house. "This is my stop." I declared, backing up into my driveway.

"Oh, you live here?" Zach asked. His tone suggested that he knew something I did not. "Huh. Well, see you around… Jessica?"

I laughed. "Not even close!" I yelled, closing the door behind me. I went to go take a shower. Tomorrow was my first official day at Roseville high. Sigh. Guess I better get used to life in the suburbs.