My Life as June

Chapter 1: Change

❝Change is hard at first
Messy in the middle,
But gorgeous at the end.❞
-Robin Sharma

I look outside the window of the worn down minivan my family has had for over four years now and marvel at the view. The sky is a soft orangish-pinkish colour and it looks absolutely stunning over the blue ocean. It is quite different from the view I'm used to: canola fields and a few gas stations and diners here and there.

I could get used to this.

But then I remember, I am going to get used to this. It is early in the morning -nearly 7:00- and we are just a half hour from our destination, Beverly Hills. After a long-very long and agonizing- 23 hour, 17 minute drive from a small town in Canada, we are finally almost there. Yeah, that's right my cheap parents made us drive 23 hours instead of taking a damn plane!

When my parents told me that we were ditching the lame, quiet, old town life and moving to Beverly Hills so they could live out their dreams of opening up an auto-repair shop in one of the big cities, I was ecstatic. But after thinking about what I was about to lose, the friends I've known since kindergarten, I was no longer fond of the idea. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the people who made me who I am today. Sure, my friends told me that they'd keep in touch, but you know what they say, "Long-distance relationships never work out".

My parents and I have a good relationship though, and I wanted to keep it that way, so I didn't complain..well I tried not to complain, but, being a 16, (almost 17) year-old girl, I just couldn't resist. I tried everything I could to convince them to just stay here, in Canada, and start the business- crying, begging, I even offered to do more chores (but we all knew that wasn't going to happen, I had much more important things to do, besides Netflix isn't gonna watch itself), but they still said no!

●●●

We finally arrive in Beverly Hills and I gawk at the amount palm trees there are and count them as we pass.

"You excited, June?" My 6 year old brother, Nathaniel, asks, just waking up from his deep sleep.

No. I'm not. I wish I was back home with my friends watching a movie of some sort and talking about how hot the Teen Wolf cast is (especially Dylan O'Brien). "Yup," I manage to say with a fake smile, "I'm really excited."

"Sure you are.." Jackson, my 15 year-old (turning 16) brother says, sounding as sarcastic as ever, "And I have a pet unicorn."

"Shut up, I was being serious," I lie.

"Yeah, okay, whatever." Jackson wasn't too excited about moving here either. He had to say goodbye to his popularity and girlfriend of 4 months. I honestly don't know why he liked her anyway, she was a pain in the ass, clingy as hell, and so full of herself. Once, she came over for dinner and all she did was criticize my hair and my attempt of contouring, like I said, pain in the ass.

I see my parents staring at me in disbelief through the front mirror. "I'm so glad you're finally okay with moving here, June," my dad says, "Because tomorrow, you two are going to be starting school."

Tomorrow, I will be attending Beverly Hills High as a Junior and Jackson a Sophmore. I'm not excited. At all. I usually have a hard time making friends but I was never bullied. Jackson, on the other hand, is charming and charismatic and easily makes friends. At his old school, almost every single girl was into him and everybody wanted to befriend him.