It's About Time

Try Not To Drool So Much

Chapter 1

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Beep beep beep.

The alarm blasted through the cold morning air, waking Natalie with a start. She fumbled around for a minute before hitting the snooze button with a groan, and rolling back over. She pulled the covers up to her chin, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes again.

When she woke up again, it was to find her mother standing over her bed, hands on her hips in typical mom fashion. Natalie closed her eyes and reached for the blanket again but found nothing on her bed. Confused, she felt around for the soft edge of her comforter.

After deciding her search was useless, she opened one eye. She could see her mom still standing there so she opened her other eye and sat up slowly. Now sitting on her bed, Natalie had a good view of her new room.

There were boxes lined along her faded yellow walls, stacked up and towering above the rest of the room. Her small window had no curtains and her closet was still barren, waiting for her to get her shit together and unpack. Looking back at her mother, she noticed what she had missed the first time: the large green comforter that Natalie had been looking for.

"Mom!", Natalie whined.

Her mom gave her a stern look and threw the blanket back on the bed.

"You need to get up, or you're going to be late", her mom reasoned.

Natalie knew she was right, but she didn't want to get up. She didn't care if she was late. She didn't want to go to school at all! Natalie tried to think of a way to get out of going today. Maybe if she just pretended to be sick-

"Now!" Her mom interrupted.

She watched her mom leave and flopped back down on her bed. "You can do this", she told herself. " All you have to do is be yourself".

She couldn't help but laugh at that. What a load of bull! Natalie sighed again- something she had been doing a lot lately- and climbed out of bed. On the way down the stairs, she caught the scent of pancakes and bacon. She knew her mom was trying to make her feel better, but lately, there was no better.

After her parents' messy divorce, her mom decided it would be good for both of them to get a fresh start. So she packed them up and moved them both the 885 miles from western Michigan, to the small town of Myrtle Grove, North Carolina. Natalie was more than happy to get away from her deadbeat dad, however, leaving meant saying goodbye to her life in Michigan. She would have to leave her family, her school, her best friends.

Natalie thought about the day she had told her friends about the move.

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" You're what?!", Mackenzie cried. "You can't move!"

"Mac's right", Seth pitched in. The rest of the group all let out small sounds of agreement, nodding their heads.

The only person who hadn't said anything yet was Natalie's best friend of twelve years.

"Em, are you okay?", Natalie questioned the silent girl. Emma kept her eyes fixed on the old blue carpet.

"When do you leave?", Mac asked quietly when Emma didn't respond.

"Natalie felt a sharp twinge in her chest. "2 weeks", she responded.

There was a collective murmur of protest from her small group of friends.

"But it's the middle of senior year! Why couldn't you move at the end of the year?", Kira questioned, holding back tears.