The Fuentes Family

1

Thirteen years ago

"Why don't you go play with Alex, Amelia?" Mommy whispers into my ear.

The boy sitting on the fluffy floor is playing with a toy car. It looks like it can fly. Cool. Mommy gives me an encouraging look, and I walk over to him.

"Hello," I say to the unusual boy with the brown hair.

He looks up at me and stares. "Do you want to play?"

I nod and plop down on the fluffy floor beside him. "I have a car like that. It's pink," I tell him. "Pink is my favourite. Is red your favourite?"

"Sí."

"The sea? You mean your favourite colour is the sea colour?"

He watches me, confused. "No entiendo."

Oh yes, Mummy said they are from Spain. I don't know Spain language. "No entiendo," I copy what he said. The boy smiles. His tooth at the front is missing – he looks funny. I smile too.

We play with his toy cars and race but he wins every time. We don't talk much but the swoosh and zrooom noises we make are enough for us. The boy wins another race and puts his hands up in victory, and I feel my eyes start to sting. Tears fall from my eyes and I cry out. It's not fair. I never win.

Someone pulls my hands away from my face. It was the boy. He's looking at me with a sad face. "No llores."

I don't know what it means, but the way he says it makes me feel better and I stop crying. The boy is still holding my hands but I don't pull them away. If Dana from school saw this she would say it's yucky and everyone would laugh at us. But Dana from school isn't here so I think it's okay.

The boy gives me his car and takes the one I was using. He tells me it's special, and he's right because when we race again I win. We play some more while our Mommies talk and I tell him about Dana from school, but i'm not sure if he can understand me but he listens anyway as if it's the most exciting story he's ever been told.

I never saw the unusual boy from Spain ever again after that day.

+++

Today

Moving day. Again. It's the second time this year we have moved state. Just as I settle in and start enjoying where we are, we always move. It's like my Dad has an alarm that goes off whenever I become happy in our new home and he gets another business offer.

After putting my last box in the trunk of my car, I hop into my silver Volkswagen, or as I call her – Meredith.

"You ready?" Dad shouts out the window of his Jeep.

No. No i'm not ready to move again and be the new girl in school for the 100th time. You just never get used to being put in a foreign place, not knowing anyone and not knowing where to go.

I don't say anything like this to my parents though. "Yeah!" I yell back. He starts to drive and I follow, and we begin our journey to Colorado.

For most of the twelve our journey, I blast music in Meredith and sing along to Blackbear, Machine Gun Kelly, Ariana Grande, and even some old One Direction songs. By the time 'I want', has finished playing, I'm exhausted and my voice is half gone.