Coulda Woulda Shoulda

hey, if anybody read my story A Method To My Madness, this is the same story, with just a few edits. I got to thinking that the old title wasn't going to fit in with the story later, so I changed it, along with just a few other things. Hope you like it.

I stare out the window in the passenger seat of Mom's new car. Still has the new car smell. I don't know why it wouldn't, we just got it today.

Of course, probably everything's going to have that new smell. Even the old stuff. It'll have some sort of smell, at least, seeing as it was trucked across America for two weeks, then left all alone in an empty house. All of my stuff…all alone…

"We're almost there!" Mom says excitedly.

I turn to look at her. She's grinning out at the twisty road in front of us. She's seemed so happy lately. I guess I should let her stay happy…it's the least I can do. Maybe I won't pull the broody teenager…

"Yay." I say warmly. Yeah, I think I'll try to be nice today.

Oak Island. My new home. If it can be a home. Off the coast of California, where Mom got a new job as a writer on an online magazine. I don't really know why we had to move. The writers live all over the country. Apparently, though, the editor lives on the island, so that's where headquarters is, and he wants Mom to be nearby. So I get uprooted…

I could have stayed with Dad. If I wanted to. But I can't just leave Mom…Dad's the one who really left, anyway. He could have stayed with us…moved with us…but no. He wanted to stay in Maryland. So he filed for divorce. Said that he 'just couldn't put up with Ann anymore.' What a dickwad.

So, after the nasty divorce that took up most of the middle of the school year for me, Mom and I packed our bags and moved across the country. Western Maryland to California. 3000 miles….I can deal with it. I'll be fine. I promise. Don't worry…I'll be just fine…

"Here it is!" She says.

I look out the windshield at our new house. It looks like a little bungalow, but up on stilts. Palm trees surrounding it…looks almost picturesque. Kind of like how you'd assume a nice vacation spot to be. Except this isn't a vacation.

The house is light yellow, and two stories, although they're small. Mom parks underneath the house – that's gonna be hard to get used to – and slowly shuts off the engine. I get out of the car and grab my bag from the backseat. We stayed in a hotel last night, after flying in yesterday. All of our stuff was already here.

"Think fast!" I turn and Mom tosses me my keys. Well, new keys, on my old keyring. I reach up and catch them – that'll never happen again – and fumble with them till I'm holding the key to the house. I lead the way up the stairs onto the wraparound porch. I slowly insert the key into the slot, turning it and opening the door to our new house.

We walk in, looking around. This is the first time we've seen the house. Mom's new boss picked it out for us. The front door opens into a spacious room, one of those big rooms that's an adjoining living room and kitchen. The walls are paneled and painted white, with light wood floors under out feet. Our new living room furniture is jumbled in that half of the room, waiting to be grouped to our liking. There's a hallway from the far wall, leading up to the front of the house. It looks like there're maybe three doors down there.

Along one wall is a staircase leading up to a big landing that runs the width across the house, and the second story overshadows the first floor from the start of the hallway forward. I walk up the stairs as Mom walks down the hallway.

"Your bedroom is upstairs." She calls as I reach the landing.

"Ok."

There's a big open space on the landing, like a balcony. Two doors open into the wall up here. I open the one closer to the side of the house, and walk into a bathroom. Just a regular little bathroom….sink, toilet, shower, the works. I open a door in there, expecting to find a closet, and find myself looking into what I assume to be my new bedroom.

The walls are light blue, and there's a big window across one wall. The floor is light wood, and the new furniture Mom let me get is grouped in the middle with all of my boxed belongings. I drop my bag and look around. I suppose I should start moving stuff, now.

I move all of the boxes off of the bed and slowly push it into a corner. Little matching white nightstand goes next to it. I'm glad I got a light dresser. I push it against the wall a little ways past the door onto the landing, and my desk against the other empty wall.

"Emily, what do you think?" I hear Mom say.

I walk out onto the balcony. Mom is standing down in the living room, smiling. I smile back. "It's great, Mom."

Her smile grows, taking over her face. "I'm glad you think so." She really is happy. I haven't seen her look like this in months…

I just have to convince myself of it, is all. This move was a good thing. A new start, for both of us. Not that I need one in the first place…oh well. Needed or not. Wanted or not. I'll just have to cope.

I go back into my room to begin unpacking. I'm halfway through a box of clothes when Mom comes up the stairs and knocks on my doorframe.

"Emily, my new boss just called. He's going to take me out to dinner tonight, with the other island-based writers."

"Oh." I wasn't really planning on being home alone tonight…

"Well, he has a daughter who's around your age. She's apparently going to some party or something tonight, and you can go with her." Mom says. "You'll get to meet local kids your age."

I grin halfheartedly. "OK, Mom. Sounds like a plan."

She breathes out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I was hoping you wouldn't be mad."

My eyebrows knit together quizzically. "Why would I be mad?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I was just hoping you wouldn't be. Now, the girls' name is Chloe, and she's going to come over around five to help you get ready."

This comes as a surprise. "Oh, well, that's not really necessary, is it?"

She puts on the mom hat. "Yes, it's really necessary. I want you to meet new people. You can get to know this girl a little bit before meeting a bunch of people all at once."

I sigh. "OK, whatever."

She smiles. "Thank you."

She turns and leaves, and I glance at my watch. 3:00. two hours. I'll be able to get a little more work done before then.

I return to my box, pulling out two pairs of jeans and walking over to the closet to hang them up.

I get through another box and a half by the time someone knocks on the front door. I walk out to look down into the living room. Mom opens the door and warmly says "Oh, hello, you must be Chloe."

A skinny blonde walks into the house. She looks kind of tall, and she's very tan. Her clothes practically drip money and designer labels. I don't have anything like that.

She smiles. "Yes, Ms. Bennett, I'm Chloe."

Mom laughs. "You can just call me Ann."

Chloe laughs. "OK, Ann, then." She looks up, noticing me for the first time. Her expression changes slightly. "So, is this Emily?"

Mom looks up, too, and smiles at me. "Yes, this is Emily."

I smile a little smile. "Hi, Chloe."

She walks up the stairs to join me on the little landing. "I'm sure that you and I will be great friends."

Oh, yes, I'm sure. I would roll my eyes, but I don't want to clue her in. Better let her keep up the act. "Oh, I hope so."

We walk into my room, and she looks around at the little I've gotten unpacked so far. "Well, this is…quaint."

I smirk slightly. "Yes, I suppose it is."

She sits down on my bed, crossing one leg over the other. "OK, the party tonight is a bonfire on the beach, about a mile down from here. Jason Dunnings is hosting it, I guess you could say. It's in front of his house, anyway." She looks me up and down, her nose wrinkled slightly. I'm wearing cut-off sweats and an old T-shirt.

Her eyes settle on my face. "I guess you didn't go out in the sun much before you moved here, huh?"

I shrug, glancing into the mirror on the back of the closet door. "Not really a whole lot…" My skin is pale, pale, pale. Dark, wavy brown hair and my blue eyes make it even worse. I'm plain. Very ordinary. Average.

"You'll want to work on a tan if you want to fit in." Chloe says.

Who said I want to fit in? But I just say "OK. When does the party start?"

"It starts at seven." She answers.

"Then why did you come over at five?" I ask, confused.

She smirks. "You obviously didn't go to parties much, either." So? "I'm going to pick out an outfit for you, and then we'll go back to my house to get ready."

She walks over to my closet and opens it, looking through the clothes I've hung up so far. "You'll want to get some new clothes before school starts." She notes. Oh, good. A day and a half to buy a whole new wardrobe. "Here, you'll wear this." Chloe announces, pulling out a small denim skirt.

"Are you sure?" I ask. "I never really wore that very much back in Maryland. It's kind of short."

"And that's kind of the point." She replies in a mocking tone, throwing the skirt on the bed and heading towards my dresser.

I sit awkwardly on my bed, watching Chloe rifle through my drawer full of T-shirts.

"You don't have much." She says, having reached the bottom of the drawer with apparently nothing to choose from.

"I haven't unpacked everything yet." I say, annoyed, getting up and walking over to a box with 'E's clothes' written on the side.

Chloe quickly sorts through the clothes there, pulling out a light blue tank top. "This will have to do. You really will need to get some new stuff if you want any social standing at all." Who says I want any social standing? I sure didn't need one back in Maryland.

I nod though. "Right, I'll be sure to do that." I roll my eyes when she turns her back.

She tosses the shirt on my bed. "Get changed. I'll meet you downstairs." She leaves the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

Well, that was weird. I just had a stranger go through my closet and pick out my clothes like I was five.

I change into the clothes on my bed, then grab my purse. It's a white tote with a big E on it. I throw in a hairbrush, chapstick, my CD player, a book, and my cellphone, slipping on my black flip-flops and hurrying out the door.

Chloe is down on the couch, talking to Mom. "-she could use an update in her wardrobe." I hear the blonde tell Ann as I walk down the stairs.

Mom nods. "Oh, yes, we'll be getting her some new clothes before school starts."

Chloe smiles, then looks up at me. "Emily, come on, we're meeting my friend Marissa at my house." She gets up, saying goodbye to Ann, and walks out the door.

"Bye, Mom." I say. I grab my keys off the top of a box and follow Chloe out the door.