Chapter 1: The story of a girl on the move

Daniella

All my life I wanted my mother to have a healthy relationship. I don't mind the moving around; I love seeing all parts of the country. What bothers me is my mother's unhappiness. She's gone through a lot of guys; sometimes I wondered if she could handle all the heartbreak coming her way. It never seems to stop.

She had told me Graham was different. She told me he was a gentleman. I didn't know if I needed to believe this or if she tried to convince herself. He was a handsome man, and he had always been nice to Henry and me. Henry truly believed he could be the one. Me on the other hand, I hoped things would end well. My basic instinct about Graham told me something else. I seem to feel these things, and it isn't that I hate boys. I wouldn't prefer my mother dating a woman. My mother always thought me openness and privacy. So when I was fifteen, she told me it was okay for me to be gay. She told me she was bisexual herself. The strange thing was there had only been four girlfriends in all this time. And they were just as wrong. I wanted things to go well with her and Graham, but if they didn't, we would move again. The relationship had been going on for a well, so somehow I hoped. I hoped we wouldn't have to move.
I knew that moment would come, yet I hoped that it wouldn't. Right now I was standing in front of the mirror. I was wearing a blood red dress. It looked great on me; my dark black hair was going great with it. And my red lips were beautiful with it. I turned to Ruby.
"You look awesome. Turn." Ruby said, taking her phone from her purse. I turned around. I had to admit I looked forward to this prom; I didn't have a date. I simply planned to go with Ruby; we were best friends after all.
"I cannot believe that you talked me into this."
"I thought you said you've been to like a million schools," Ruby replied.
"Schools, a million," I answered. "Dances, zero. It's like that when you move around as much as I do. You don't get attached. I never stayed long enough to go dancing. My mother falls in love with someone and when they break up with her. She gets so heartbroken that she needs to move somewhere else. "
"What about your father?"
"He died when I was 12. That's when everything started."
I heard the door open up, and inside I heard Graham say things. I didn't know what he was saying, so I opened the door to the living room. Ruby followed me inside; there I saw my mother. Her name was Regina; she was the best mother I could ever imagine, there was not one thing she wouldn't do for Henry and me. All I wanted was her happiness. I stared at Graham; I could hear him say that he had been cheating on her. He told her that there was more than one girl. My mother threw the cake she had just made to his face. She turned around, that's when she saw me. There were tears in her eyes. That moment there was an understanding between us. I knew we were going to move. There was a pain in her eyes, and I knew she needed to leave this town. I turned to Ruby and ran towards my room. I threw myself on the bed and looked at the wall.
"So does that mean you're not going to the dance?"
"It means we're moving." I wanted to tell Ruby; she had been my best friend during this month. I wanted to tell her that I would keep in touch. I knew it would be difficult. I had lost all my previous friends, yet Ruby was different. I had never had a friend like Ruby before; she was the best person you would ever meet. She was the coolest girl in school, and she had chosen to be my friend. I could never understand why. I didn't say anything to her. She looked at me. We sat there for an hour and then she went home. She promised me to send me a letter. She promised she wouldn't lose touch. I didn't know if I needed to believe her.

When Ruby was gone, my mother had entered the room. She had told me that we would move to New York. We were going to live in a small house in Brooklyn. I had to admit I always wanted to move to New York. Maybe I would even get tickets to Hamilton. It was the hottest musical on Broadway right now. I asked my mother if she was okay. She nodded softly. She told me any pain she had would go away. I was unsure if I could believe her. I wanted to; I wanted to believe every word my mother said. There was a part of me that didn't believe her.
"Mom, I know you're in pain," I said.
"That doesn't matter." She touched my cheek. "I'm happy when you're happy. Trust me we'll be very happy in New York. I mean you love musicals, don't you? I promise to take you to this Ham something."
"Hamilton."
"Whatever you want, sweetheart."

She stood up, touched my forehead and left the room. I could see a hurt in her eyes; no way was going away in the next few hours. I walked towards my bed, pulled my suitcase from underneath it and started packing. I had bought this suitcase for a trip I had missed. There were so many things I missed by moving around. I was lucky that I kept my high marks, but I missed a normal high school life. Henry and I had gone to more than 20 schools. We had moved around, and I was keeping a list of the states I had not lived in yet. I had already crossed New York from that list. I stared at my blog; there were comments on it. People loved when I wrote about traveling around. Some people wanted my life. They thought it was all fun. Not being able to have normal friends and a normal home was not fun. I went to my closet and took my clothes from it. I placed them in the bag. I stared at the red dress hanging from the closed. I placed it back in its bag. I wouldn't be wearing this anytime soon. I wouldn't don't have a first boyfriend anytime soon. I was 17 years old; I was a girl who loved books. I was planning to become a librarian when I was older. I lay down on the bed, and for a moment I enjoyed the quiet time. I closed my eyes for just a moment, and when I opened them again, my mother was standing in front of me.
"Time to pack, missy." She said as a smile appeared on her face.
"Mom." I cursed as I turned around on the bed.
"Dani, I know this is not fun for you." She said. "You were finally making friends, and now I'm deciding to screw it up. "
"I'm okay, mom." I gave her a soft smile. "Time to move."