The Boy Next Door

The day my mom told me that we were moving, I wasn't actually quite happy with it. Yet here I am, standing in the middle of a bedroom with maroon coloured walls, which is my favourite colour, and is twice as big as my bedroom I used to have in Oakland.

The company my mom works for had offered her a very good job opportunity here in Baltimore, which makes it the reason why I have to spend my last year of high school here. I don't wanna leave my friends, but my mom seems so happy about it. Besides, I can always make new friends here, I hope.

"Cool, isn't it?" My mom sits beside me on the bed
"It's amazing. Thanks." I smile
"I knew you'd love it. You should start unpacking. I'll get dinner ready in a few." She squeezes my knee before leaving

The sun outside the window is beginning to set down, making the sky looks beautifully orange. I take a good look of the view from the window, it gives me a clear sight of the house across ours. We just got here for a few hours, we haven't had the chance to visit and get to know our neighbors. It'd be really cool to have actual neighbors.

We used to live in an apartment back then in Oakland. It was small and old, and our neighbors, weren't very friendly. They were loud and it smelled like cigarettes all the time, the hallway. The water pumping system was a mess, we were lucky if we didn't have to call the technician at least once a month.

Ever since mom and dad got divorced, me and my brother, Harry, got separated too. My dad won the custody to keep him, who was 10 years old that time, 4 years older than me. I was only 6 then. I've lived with my mom afterwards, I get to meet Harry and dad once or twice a year, but I haven't seen them in almost 2 years now. They live in New York, if I'm not mistaken. They move out a lot, so I'm not quite sure where they actually live in right now. My dad is a businessman, and my brother lives a pretty.. Good life with my dad compared to mine. Dad sends us money regularly, but it's not enough to buy or rent a bigger and better apartment. It could only pay for an apartment with shitty facilities and much shittier neighbors.

My mom worked as a waitress for almost 7 years. I also helped, until she finally got offered a job as a sales for a car company. Things got better after that, she worked very hard and until one day she came home and told me to pack our bags cause she just got promoted. That meant moving hundreds of miles away from home, Oakland.

I told her that I don't care how I live or what I wear, as long as I'm with her. I don't care about those fancy phones and laptops they all have, to be with her is all that I need. I remember when I was 9, I begged to her for that pink bicycle everyone at school had. She explained to me with watery eyes, that she'd have to work a whole month extra night shift worth of money to buy that. I was disappointed at first, but then I slowly grew to understand our condition.

I remember it exactly, the way she stroked my hair and slowly whispering words to me until I fell asleep. "I'm gonna make things right. We're gonna live a better life, Gail. I promise you, I love you."

Until this day, she's finally able to buy a house on her own. I can't thank her enough for everything she's done for me. People say I look like her, but I don't see any resemblance, except for our red hair. She's tall and slim, with wavy red hair and green eyes. She's beautiful, the most beautiful person there is. Even though I have her red hair, my eyes are brown like my father's. And me, I'm so pale. I look sick all of the time when I'm actually not.

I'm not aware that when I daze out of my thoughts, the sun has already set down and the moon has replaced it's position. I begin to unpack my things from the boxes the movers had brought upstairs. It doesn't take long even though I literally packed everything from my previous room. But still the room looks empty. And so am I.

I head downstairs to help her, but it looks like she's finished with the cooking already.
"Done? Well that didn't take so long."
"It's super spacious, I like it." I smile
"Help me unpack after dinner, will you?" She asks. I answer with a nod while helping her set the table
"We'll walk around the neighbourhood, saying hi and getting to know each other. They seem nice."
"Yeah, It'd be really cool to have actual neighbours that aren't aliens. Better than Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, hopefully." I say
She laughs a little, "Yup, hopefully. And Gail, I've contacted that school you'll be going to. Next Monday will be the first day of the new term, so you don't have to catch up with anything."
"What school?" I raise an eyebrow
"Dulaney High? Ya, Dulaney High. I think it's not too far from here."

When dinner's ready, we eat in silence it's finished. I help her unpack her belongings and wash the dishes afterwards. My mom is already asleep on the couch by the time I finish taking the boxes out to the trash. Her tired face looks so peaceful, I don't dare to wake her up. But I slightly tap her shoulders and gently lead her to the bedroom. I put a blanket over and kiss her forehead before leaving.

"A better life, Gail. We made it."

Notes

Heyy! Thank you guys for reading the first chapter! I'm sorry if the first chapter's kinda short, but I wanted the first part to tell about Gail's family background and her relationship with her mom. So, bear with me, I promise you there's more to come :)