When My Life Flopped

Chapter one . . . Moving

We were sitting in 6th period calculus class when my best friend, Hanna
passed me a scrap of paper. I glanced at her and she motioned with her hands for
me to open it. I looked up at Mr.Handet to check and see if he were looking in my
direction. He wasn’t. He was lecturing the class about the importance of the pop
quiz that was coming up after break. I read the note to myself quietly. It read:
Are you really moving? Everyone’s been talking about it . . . I don’t want you to leave And I won’t let you!
I’m gunna hide away in your moving boxes That way I can come with you.
I giggled at the last line, turned my head slightly toward her, and nodded
solemnly. Hanna groaned and slapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes grew wide and
she looked scared. Mr.Handet was now looming over Hanna’s desk. The whole class
was looking at Hanna and Mr.Handet. He hit her with his large, and, in all senses
quite heavy, calculus book. “Be quiet! Or you’ll BOTH get two weeks detention.”
I shrank down in the seat, and Hanna just hunched over in pain. Mr.Handet
then spun on his heel and went back to his desk. “Class dismissed.” He bellowed
and glared at all the students as they shuffled out the door. Hanna kept her head
down the rest of the day.
After 7th period PE class, which had gone smoothly, we began stuffing our
backpacks with our books. I slung mine over my shoulder and sighed. Hanna’s head
was hung low until we were about five yards from the buses. “I HATE Mr.Handet!
He’s the worst teacher ever!” Her head snapped up as we climbed onto the bus.
We sat in the last seat, in the back of the bus on the left side. Our usual
spot. Hanna sat quietly. That was a first, I thought. Just then our neighbor and,
coincidentally Hanna’s crush, Henry Tomason, sat in the seat across from us. “Hi
Henry.” Hanna’s head swivled towards him. She blushed. He blushed too. I sat
completely still. They unnerved me. Hanna batted her eyelashes.
I slapped her arm. Her head swivled around to face me. “What?!” She said in
an oddly rude tone.“It’s our stop.” I said patiently. “Hm.” Was all she said. I
stood and got off the bus. I heard the bus driver yell, “Get off my bus!” Hanna
and Henry hopped off the bus. They just stood talking. Ah well, I’ll call her
later. I thought. I walked slowly down the hill to my house.
My older brother, Travis, was already home. “Hey Squirt.” He said mockingly.
“Hey ButtFace.” I retorted. He walked over to me and gave me a noogie. “Knock it
off!” I yelled and punched him in the gut. “Ugh...that hurt! I’m gunna kill you”
He chased me all around the house. When he finally got tired of chasing me, he
plopped down onto the couch.
I snuggled up against him. “Hey, what the...Oh.” He wrapped his arms around
me when I got comfy. “Love you ButtFace.”I said. “Love yah to Squirt.” He
replied. Next thing I know, we’re both asleep on the couch. I awoke to my dads
hands shaking me. “Hm?” I said, rubbing my eyes and looking my dad in the face.
“Oh hey Dad.” I stood and stretched. My father spoke softly. “I need you to pack.”
I nodded and ran down the hall and into my room. I was able to pack my 15 t-
shirts, two pairs of skinny jeans, sweat pants, socks, my black slippers, 2 tank-
tops, my jacket, underwear, my cobalt blue converse, my 25 trophies, my photo
album, my digital camera, my make-up kit, my iPod, earrings, my sketch book, and
my stuffed banana toy.
I was glad that my father was in the military. He was the one who taught me
how to fit a lot of stuff into little spaces. In the end of all my packing, I had
managed to fit all of the stuff I really wanted to take with me to Washington.
Yea...Kenmore, Washington That’s where I’m going to live from here on out. I
would miss Tennessee. I would especially miss our horses, Lucky, Diamond, Rigbee,
Bumble, Honey, Kaytin, and Florence. Luckily, Grandma was more than happy to
watch and care for the small farm. And we would be able to visit over Summer,
Spring, and Mid-Winter breaks.
I walked calmly out of my room and sat on the now awake Travis’s lap.
“Ugh...get off of me.” He said. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me
tight though, which to me meant, sit, sit, enjoy yourself! I snuggled once again
up against him. “Have you started packing yet?” I asked him already knowing the
answer. “Nope.” He replied. “Could you do it for me Squirt?” He asked. He gave me
his horribly pathetic puppy-dog face. “Ok...only if you promise to NEVER give me
another wedgie!” I said. “Ugh...Ok. Thanks Squirt.” He said. I pranced down the
hall to Travis’s room.
Once I had packed all of Travis’s most prized possessions, done the laundry,
cooked dinner, ate dinner, ate dessert, weeded the garden, fed the chickens,
pigs, dogs, horses, goats, and the two llamas, done my homework, thrown out all
of the fridges old contents, vacuumed and steam-cleaned the whole house,
exercised the all the animals, cleaned the chicken coop, mucked-out every single
stall, cleaned the ilama, goat, pig, and dog pens, brushed and bathed all the
animals, taken a long bath, de-tangled my hair, pulled on a pair of jeans, a
green shirt, socks, my black puff jacket, my converse, and shoved all of the
boxes into the back of the pick-up truck, I was exhausted.
“Nice job Squirt.” My father exclaimed when he had seen that I had done.
Even Travis looked pleased with my work. “Nice.” He said. “Your welcome.” I
replied. My father patted me on the back, and ran inside. He turned off all of
the lights and came back out with his keys. We all climbed into the pick-up, me
in the truck bed with the boxes and my dog, Jubilee, Travis and dad in the front.
I sat listening to the soft whistle of the long stalks of Tennessee blue grass as
we zoomed down the road to the small town of Little Rock, Arkansas.
I rubbed Jubilee’s soft neck fur and stared at the fields, grass, the lake.
I sighed and patted Jubilee’s neck once, then maneuvered myself so that I was
facing the left side wall of the truck bed. I hung my legs over the wall. After I
had pulled myself up onto the wall with my legs dangling over the side, I
whistled a bird call. Sure enough a small bird called back and landed on my
shoulder.
The small bird nuzzled up against my neck. “Aw. You’re so cute.” I spoke
softly so as not scare the little bird away. But of course Jubilee got excited
and barked. The bird stiffened. It waddled closer to my neck and hid under a
curtain of my long, curly, brunette hair.
“Jubi, don’t scare the poor thing!” I scolded. Jubilee hunched over and sat
in a far corner of the truck bed. “Oh, sorry boy! I didn’t mean to hurt your
feelings.” I said. Jubilee barked. I sighed. It was no use telling that dog not
to do something.
My father and Travis were in front talking about which college Travis would
attend. Travis kept trying to dismiss the subject entirely, but dad kept trying.
My father was hoping, as he said, for Travis to go to a good college, whatever
that meant. Then Travis began to yell, “What does that mean?!” And my father just
said that he was making some very bad choices, and that he ought to change them.

Travis then mumbled something that was barely audible and dad asked him what
he had said. Travis then screamed at my dad, “FUCK YOU I HAVEN’T MADE ONE
MISTAKE! YOU JUST WON’T GET OFF MY BACK WILL YOU?!” My dad’s eyes grew wide and
he stopped the car on the side of the road. I was pretty sure by now that I was
invisible to them.
Dad hopped out of the truck and slammed the door. Travis did the same. They
both walked around the side of the truck, not taking any notice of me. The Blue
Jay was long gone by now. I watched them scream at each other for a good half
hour before I yelled at them. “WILL YOU TWO JUST STOP FIGHTING?! WE’RE GUNNA BE
LATE FOR THE PLANE IF YOU DON’T HURRY YOUR ASSES UP!!!”
My brother and my father looked star struck. They just stood there,
unmoving. “Hurry?” I said in a questioning tone. “Do either of you know what that
means?” I hissed at them. Still, they just stood. “Ugh...” I sighed. Then all of
a sudden my dad walked back and hopped in the car. “Throw his boxes out of the
car.” He said. I just sat. Travis was staring at me. “Ok...” I said plainly. I
flung out all of his small boxes.
My dad started the truck and began to drive away from Travis. “Uh...dad?” I
asked. I felt sorta bad for doing this to Travis. “What?” He asked cheerily.
“What about Travis?” I asked. “What about him?” My dad said. “Why are we leaving
him behind?” I asked him. “‘Cuz he’s not worth shit.” He said in response.
I started to choke up. “Daddy...” My voice cracked and I started to cry.
“Oh, god...Fine.” He stopped the truck. I dried the tears from my cheek. Travis
ran towards us, ripped open the door, plopped down into the seat, and closed the
truck door. “You suck...” He said to dad. We rode in silence the rest of the way.
Once we had reached the small town of Little Rock, Arkansas, dad gave me $40
to go and buy myself some lunch. He told me to get a nice one, ‘cuz we weren’t
going to be able to eat until we reached Topeka, Kansas. I walked into a
McDonald’s and ordered a Chicken Sandwich, a cola, and fries. I walked back to
the truck and waited for dad and Travis to come back after their lunch. Once I
had eaten my food(except for the cola, which I had just started drinking), I
realized that I had $28.65 left.
I walked into an old fashioned candy shop and bought a pack of gum, sour
gummy worms, two jaw breakers, and licorice. Hm...I wonder what else I can get
around here... I thought. I still had $22.98. I walked into a small clothing shop
and bought a pair of huge sunglasses, and a new backpack(my old one was now in
shreds because of Jubilee). Now I had only $12.04 cents left. I then walked over
to a pet store and bought some dog food for Jubilee. I had only $2.03.
I went back to the car and settled back into the truck bed. When dad and
Travis came back and got in the car, I was just feeding Jubilee some of the dog
food. “Hey.” I said. My father nodded and Travis just winked. They got back into
the car and dad started the ignition. Dad and Travis talked in hushed voices, as
if they were talking about something that I wasn’t supposed to hear.
Finally Travis spoke loudly enough for me to hear, “Tell ‘er.” He spoke in
an oddly smug tone and poked dad’s shoulder. Dad sighed and began to speak,
“Honey...” He began and sighed again, “I never told you, but...your
mom...well...she’s not dead. She, uh, lives in Seattle.” He stammered. My heart
thudded loudly in my chest, banging hard on my ribs. I felt sick, dizzy even.
“That’s why we’re moving.”
 I sat there, shocked, looking at my dad. When he noticed I hadn’t said
anything he turned towards me. “Zorina?” He said. He was concerned. I could tell.
I breathed in deeply. “Uh...” Was all I said. I looked away from his face and
sighed deeply. “Dad, I, uh...” I managed to squeeze out of my tight throat.
Travis looked at dad, “You did it now...” And crawled through the cab window
and into the truck bed. “Zorina...?” He asked softly. “You alright?” He quizzed
me. “Um...” Was all I said. Then I sub-consciously turned and cried into Travis’s
shoulder. “Why? Why did you have to lie to me?” I asked dad through Travis’s
plain, white t-shirt. I pounded on his chest and he wrapped his arms around me,
cradling me against his chest.