✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

13. Changing Scenery

Author's Note: Sorry to anyone who's waiting for a chapter on my other stories. As my NaNoWriMo project, this one is the priority at present. But as I've written and edited around 22 chapters of this story and 18 of My Cousin's Keeper, I think I have enough chapters saved up; so in the morning I'll be focusing on adding some new content to The Baby Makers and New Experiences, to make up for what I've missed. Thanks for your patience!

Gabby was talking on the phone when Tess opened the door, but put it down immediately to be ready with her usual enthusiastic greeting. Tess would never understand how someone could be so consistently happy, but she didn't want to say anything. She answered her cousin's questions as best she could, and headed up to her room to finish her homework.

Gabby could tell she was down. Maybe she was psychic, or maybe Tess wasn't doing such a good job of hiding her feelings. But she didn't want to talk about it now, and Gabby didn't press the issue. She did have other things to say, though, either one of which would have brightened Tess's day. If it hadn't been right now, she would have been delighted at the prospect of redecorating the humiliating former nursery where she was staying.

Gabby gave her a bag of gifts, and Tess pulled them out one by one, imagining how much difference they would make to the atmosphere in her room. Three movie posters; all for classic movies that she'd never got around to seeing but practically knew the plot of from the memes. A new shade for the light, if she could work out how to fit it. And new blinds to replace the hideous pink ones. She had a choice of a pastel rainbow, aqua, or pale yellow. She picked the yellow one, and didn't realise until they were half way through installing it that there were cartoon designs engraved on some of the slats, where they would be really obvious when the sun was coming up outside. It was kind of a childish design, but Tess hadn't even realised until after the package was opened, which could have meant that Gabby didn't even realise. It was still a thoughtful gesture.

Even more considerate was the fact that her cousin was happy to help her get everything set up. At first Tess had wanted to point out that she didn't need anyone's help. But while Gabby was downstairs digging a stepladder out of wherever it was stored, she tried to unfold the blinds ready for installation. And that was when she realised that there was no way anyone could do this on her own. She simply didn't have enough hands to hold all the things that needed holding and to pull out a length of cord, measure it, and cut it to the right length all at the same time. This time, she would need to accept a little support, and then she would be able to have a room that looked a little better. At least until Malcolm could come round and paint the walls some colour that wasn't baby girl pink; that was the big goal for Tess. But she could only wait until he had time, and in the mean time she was happy to reduce the amount of pink in the room even by one percent.

Redecorating her room was a lot of work, even if it didn't make a huge difference. But she found that after all the work, the most important thing on her mind was getting dinner. Her earlier worries had almost disintegrated. She still needed to work out how to study alone, and to make some kind of master plan to beat Ashli in the coming test, but those things were no longer all she could think about.

While Gabby went to prepare dinner, Tess dealt with the other call she had mentioned earlier. Tess's parents had apparently got settled into their new home, and wanted her to call when she got a chance. After a little thought, she decided that it would be better to do it now, so that she didn't get carried away talking to them later. She went up to her room, pushed the door almost closed, and copied a number from a little piece of notepaper onto her phone. There were more digits than she was used to, and for a moment she wondered how much this was going to cost. But of course, her parents wouldn't complain about her wasting money when they'd said they wanted her to call.

"Hello?"

"Dad!"

"Is that you, Tess? How's it going?"

"Pretty good thanks," she mumbled, and then she couldn't bring herself to speak any more as a sudden fear gripped her. Would Gabby have told them anything about the last few days? Did she need to tell them about the problems she'd faced, in case they already knew? Or could she keep it all to herself?

"Some teething troubles at the new place?"

"Yeah, I... it's like, too far away for my friends to visit, and even if they had time this room is just..."

"Yeah. I was thinking you might have some problems. But there must be someone from your class on the same bus, maybe you'll be able to make new friends. Nobody's picking on you, I hope?"

Then she could smile a little more. Dad was always protective, and she knew that if there was anything at all he could do to help her from a thousand miles away, he would.

"No. I got one new friend. It's just... I'm still struggling in history, you know? Dropping down to last place on the league tables. And there's another girl who said she sucks, she just started trying really hard and now she's doing so much better than me. Like I know they want to encourage me like anybody can do it but the stuff that worked for them isn't helping me. It feels like nothing makes any difference."

"I'm sure you'll do well enough. And you're not going for a career with history, are you?"

"Guess not. I... I don't know why it matters. Just feels like everybody thinks less of me because I'm failing. But, well... Gabby had some ideas, so maybe that will help. And she cheered me up too, we started redecorating my room. Just little things so far, but it's better. I'm glad she's here. I wish I could show you. Some of it's still a bit childish, but it's kind of cool too, so I think that's okay."

"I'd like to show you our place as well. We can see the beach from our window, you know? If I don't close the blinds we get woken up by a whole sunrise reflecting off the ocean, like rainbows on the ceiling. Oh... when I got my mobile contract set up, we can do a video call, show you what the place is like. That would be good, right?"

"Yeah, and I–"

"Tess? Dinner!" a shout came up the stairs.

"Yeah, that would be great. But I–"

"I heard. Enjoy your lunch, and call back whenever you want to talk. We still care about you, you know? And we'll do whatever we can to make this easier for you."

"Love you, Dad," she answered, and then hung up before she could distract herself any more. She could smell a bouquet of spices rising from the kitchen, and she was impatient to find out what Gabby had to offer. That day, she practically sprinted down the stairs.

"Thank you," she mumbled as Gabby put a couple of plates onto the table. It was some weird thing that seemed to excel in three of the main food groups: cheese, meat, and spiciness. Whatever it was called, Tess knew that she wanted to ask for this again the next time she was feeling under the weather. It was delicious, and she wondered if there were more reasons than she had thought to keep living with family. She could have coped on her own, she was sure, but she wouldn't have had this kind of unexpected delight when a day didn't go so well.

"You don't need to thank me," Gabby answered with a small giggle. "Your dad's paying for your food, after all. I just work here. And you give me an excuse to cook things I really love."

"No, thank you. Not for the food. Well, the food too. This is incredible. But for being there to listen, and helping me find solutions when the problems look impossible. You've really been helping me, and I appreciate that. I want to be self-sufficient, I have to prove that I can. But sometimes it's good that I don't have to."