Rey Kanata is a senior in high school, a girl from the city who just moved into the country life surrounding Mishawaka, IN. When she takes a class in Agricultural Science as the only elective needed in order to graduate, her life changes irrevocably...
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Being the new kid in town wasn't exactly new for Rey Kanata. After attending three schools in the last three years, it was starting to become easier for her to not get too attached to anything she'd eventually leave behind.
Of course, that didn't stop her Aunt Maz from trying to convince her that moving to Mishawaka, Indiana was about to be different.
Never despise meager beginnings is what her aunt would always say, though Rey was starting to believe it was simply becoming her aunt's favored choice of words to make the move easier each time.
Rey loved her aunt dearly, but for once it would be nice to stay in the same place rather than having to pack the back half of Maz's classic 1977 Chevy Buick Station Wagon and move, leaving what few friends she had made that year behind. Plus, she was more than certain that the old Buick wasn't always going to be up for making such long-distance trips.
When they finally settled into their apartment in the suburbs outside Orlando, Florida, the opportunity arose for her aunt to accept the position of becoming head nurse for an early day shift at Kindred Hospital of Northern Indiana.
Unfortunately, it was smack dab in the middle of farm country.
Rey begrudgingly traded in the beaches and stifling heat of Florida for the milder temperatures of cornfields and cow pastures in Indiana. If there was one plus side about the exchange, it was that she was more than happy to give up the bus rides and walk the short one-mile distance from their two-bedroom apartment to her new school.
The disadvantage was waking up half an hour early to face the angry red digits reading 6:00 A.M. on the face of her digital alarm clock so that she'd make it there before classes started at 8:00.
After having successfully hit the clock's snooze button in acknowledgment of the resounding, high-pitched beeps, she was left with the steady sound of Bee-Bee's wheel strumming along inside his cage at the far side of her room. As adorable as her little orange teddy bear hamster was, she could admit to being not so fond of him at such early hours in the morning – during weekdays at least – when she was trying to catch some desperately needed sleep.
After the fifth or sixth attempt at slamming her fist on the snooze button, alternating with the squeaks of the annoying rodent's wheel, she grumbled a few choice obscenities through gritted teeth and surrendered to the need of waking up.
She went about her usual morning routine: showering and dressing in attire that was slightly less trendy than those styles favored by the average high school prep. She loved jeans and hoodies and would wear pajamas out if they were appropriate.
It being the first day at a new school, she chose to go with a dark pair of skinny jeans and a loose-fitting white t-shirt with Hawaiian-colored print and a surf board from Ron Jon's Surf Shop along with her favorite navy blue pair of Tom's. She may have also chosen them for the sheer fact that she'd never made the slightest effort to unpack the half-dozen boxes of clothes and accessories that remained stacked in two towers in her room beyond that of her laptop and other daily essentials.
