Once Upon A Summer

01

A/N: the italics stand for flashbacks. I hope you like this chapter!

Kaylee could not believe her luck. She had a good life in California. She had good friends, a good job, and the perfect plan for the perfect summer before she moved to New York for college. Now all that is ruined because her mother was relocated to some unknown place in Mississippi. Who gets relocated to Mississippi? At least Milton is close to the beach. She can spend most of her time there.

She could have stayed with her best friend Julian Davis for the summer instead of moving. Her and Julian have been best friends since they were kids. He was new at their school when she met him. They did not click immediately but they soon became best friends and have been ever since. When people meet them they think that they are dating. However, they have no interest in each other. Kaylee always wondered why people assume girls can't have guy best friends without them "secretly" wanting to date each other. Kaylee has always seen Julian as a friend and vise versa. That's why their parents don't mind them sleeping at each other's houses. She was sure it would've been fine that she stayed with her until she was to go to New York. However, her mom begged her to come to Mississippi to spend one last summer as a family.

    "Kaylee, please come to Mississippi with your father and I. It won't be so bad there." Her mom begged as she packed the living room up. Kaylee sighed and set the wrapped up family photos in the box carefully. "Mom, it's not that I don't want to," okay, that was a lie. She really did not want to go. ", I can't just up and leave, Mama. I have a life here, a job, friends. I can't just leave it all behind. This is my last summer with my friends, with Julian." Kaylee told her mom. Her mother gives her a deadpan look. "Oh hush with that nonsense. You and Julian are living together in New York. You'll be around each other more than you are now. This is your last summer with your dad and I. Who knows when we'll see each other again." She said with a sad voice. "Please come with us. You can get a new job and you will have your whole life to see Julian. You'll be roommates for Christ's sake. Please come with us. We'll be living near the beach, you'll be able to go every day." She plead. Kaylee rolled her eyes and sighed once more. "Fine, I'll go with you." She reluctantly agreed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Her mother cheered and hugged Kaylee. "Come on, let's finish packing. We've got a lot to do before we leave."

And that's how Kaylee ended up where she is now, driving to some unknown town in Mississippi to live there with her parents. Kaylee stopped at a red light and picked her phone up. She scrolled through her music, before deciding to listen to the Mean Girls musical soundtrack. She hit shuffle and smiled when World Burn came on. Kaylee turned up the music and began to sing along to the lyrics as she drove. She noticed that she passed the "Welcome to Mississippi" sign and couldn't help but sigh. It may say Welcome to Mississippi but to Kaylee, it might as well have said Welcome to Hell. Luckily, the sign also meant that she was close to her mother's house.

It took Kaylee an half hour before she finally made it to her house. As she got out, she immediately cursed at how hot it was outside. Kaylee tied her platinum blonde hair up in a ponytail hoping it would make her body a little cooler. She lived in California her whole life and it was never as hot as it is in Mississippi. California was more of a dry heat while here in Milton, she could practically drink the air. The humidity made it a lot hotter than what she is used to. With this temperature, she was more and more convinced that she actually arrived in hell.

Kaylee grabbed a couple of her things from the car and began to bring it inside the house. She set her stuff down before walking over to her dad and giving him a hug. "Hey dad. Have any luck finding a job?" She asked him. He was a police officer in their county before the move. She hated that he had to quit his job to move down here, but she understood. Kaylee learned quickly to hug her dad any time she could see him. Being a police officer is a dangerous job when the whole world hates them right now. Kaylee had more sense than to say that they were all good. Some police officers do abuse their powers so she was glad her dad wasn't one of those. She was, however, constantly afraid that she would get a call saying that he died in the line of duty. He snapped Kaylee out of her thoughts when he gave her a sweet smile before saying, "Yeah, I am going to apply to be a campus police officer for the college about 30 minutes away from here. Hopefully I will get it." Kaylee hummed thoughtfully. "Could be interesting to be a glorified security guard." She said teasingly. He gave her a playful pout and poked her. Kaylee laughed before asking, "Where's mama? Better yet, where's my room?" Her dad shrugged, "Not sure about your mother, but your room is the last room down that hallway to the right. Have at it." He said chuckling. Kaylee nodded going to pick up her stuff once again. "By the way, it is hot as hell outside. I'm glad there's a beach to cool off at." She told him as she started to walk towards the hallway. Kaylee rolled her eyes when she heard a "I'm doing just fine, Clark" from her dad. Half of the stuff that came out of her dad's mouth was movie quotes of some sort.

Once she got to her room, she attempted to unpack all of her stuff or at least keep most of it out of her way for the summer. Kaylee saw no point
in unpacking all the way when she was moving away in two months anyway. She unpacked the essentials before putting most of her stuff in her closet or the garage closet. By the time she was done, it was way past midnight. Kaylee was thankful she grabbed dinner before coming to the house. She was too tired to even get out of bed. She was going to FaceTime Julian but she figured that it was too late. Kaylee ultimately decided that she'd FaceTime him tomorrow since she was tired anyway. As she slipped into a heavy sleep, she thought about how she hoped this summer would get a lot better before it ended.