Sofia Anderwood sat slouched into the back seat of her mum’s car trying to concentrate on the world outside the car window as her mum sped past the city boundary. It was one of those moments she dreaded most but knew would always come, quite frequently than it came for normal families actually. They were moving again. Sofia understood they had to move because her mum’s job kept leading her to small cities and town that weren’t significant enough to be on the map yet, but she didn’t get why they had to move.
“Sofia, you alright back there baby?” Sharon, Sofia’s mum looked at her through the mirror, a look of concern spread across her face. Sofia gave a slight nod like she wasn’t so sure herself. “Want me to put on some music?”
“No I’m good” Sofia replied her mum.
“You sure? It’s a long ride to Ever hill.”
“Mum I’d rather take my chances with my cellphone than listen to you play your crappy songs all day”
Sharon’s face lit up with a smile “Hey you know my playlist is dope, you just won’t say it.”
“Mum! Gross. I’ve told you stop using that word. Or any other slang from this century.”
“Why? I want to be the cool mum. Don’t you like when kids your age think your mum’s cool?”
“I’m not listening to you.” Sofia picked up her headset and placed it on.
Sharon gazed on her daughter for a second before fixing her eyes back on the road. Sofia was all she had, no husband, no other children, no siblings, no family. She liked to think it was them against the world. She hated moving around all the time but it wasn’t like she had a choice and she hoped Sofia understood that. On the bright side she felt she was opening Sofia up to different experiences. Each city or little town came with its own little surprise and Sharon felt like that there was a lot her daughter could learn. She only had to deal with being the new kid at school for just one more year and then she was off to college. Now that was a relief.
They had been on the road for over five hours and Sofia was exhausted. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that all she had that morning was a cup of coffee. “Mum how much longer? I’m starving”
“We’re about thirty minutes away baby. Give or take, in an hour you’ll have something to eat. Here” Sharon handed Sofia a snack bar. “That should keep you alive. We won’t be long now.”
“We’re here!” Sharon announced as she unlocked the door to their new house. “Not bad Uhn? Go upstairs and check out which of the bedrooms you’d like. The one with two wardrobe’s mine.”
“Why? You don’t have that many clothes” Sofia said, making her way up the stairs.
“Well I intend to now go…ouch!” Sharon’s scream filled the air.
“What was that?”
“Nothing sweetie, I ran my foot into the wall.”
“You know what they say about running your foot into the wall in the first hour at your new house right?” Sofia smiled.
“No I don’t. What do they say?”
“Bad things tend to happen” Sofia said ominously as she tip toed up the stairs. “Bad things mum” her voice barely above a whisper.
“Get out of here no one says that, right?” Silence. “Sofia!”
“Bad things mum.”
Sharon hummed her favorite song as she went about setting up her kitchen wares and trying to get dinner fixed at the same time. They had stopped at the grocery store when they got into town. Ever Hill seemed peaceful and though she knew it was highly unlikely, she hoped everyone did mind their business around there. Most small towns like Ever Hill had a large population of gossips who loved going about other people’s businesses, especially the new comers which happened to be Sharon and her daughter most of the time. She had just the lid back on her pot when her doorbell rang.
“So much for minding their business” Sharon let out a sigh. She made her way through the living room and to the door. She paused for a second before opening the door, trying her best to wear the biggest smile she had ever worn on her face. “Hi!”
“Oh Hi there! I’m Racheal. Welcome to Ever Hill” the woman at her door smiled back.
“Well thank you. I’m Sharon, come right in” Sharon moved out of the way, allowing the middle aged woman in. “So it’s still quite rough around here, you my first visitor.”
“I understand. Here I brought a casserole.”
“I couldn’t be more grateful, I was just fixing dinner for my daughter and I. Sofia! Come on down we have a visitor. She’d be down in a minute” she smiled at Racheal.
Sofia came down wearing a huge smile just like her mother had. “Good evening ma’am.”
“Hi I’m Racheal. What a striking resemblance.”
“I know right. Sometimes I feel like she’s my sister not daughter” Sharon put in.
“Well don’t we all. We’d think anything not to feel as old as we really are” Racheal winked. “The both of you couldn’t have picked a better time to come into town.”
“Why is that?” Sofia asked.
“It’s founder’s day. More like week actually but we close it off today with celebrations all around town.”
“Founder’s day?” Sofia wore a confused look on her face.
“Yup. That’s one of the things you’d get to learn at Ever Hill high but for now I think you both should join the celebration.”
“Thanks so much for the invitation but we would love to have a quiet dinner tonight. It’s our first night in”.
“Exactly! Make it memorable. Sofia?” Racheal looked at Sofia. “The teenagers have their party far away from adult territory. You know what that means don’t you?”
Sofia shook her head.
“No adult supervision” Racheal whispered. “Plus Ever Hill has a lot of cute boys your age.”
“Mum” Sofia smiled at Sharon. “I’m going.”