The Esners

Um...hi. I'm Penelope Andrews," I say, kind of awkwardly. But then again...I'm the actual definition of awkward. I'm pretty sure if you were to look up awkward in the dictionary, you would find my name in bold print.

Awkward = Penelope Andrews.

"Honey, what's taking you long-" I hear my Mom say, as I turn to meet her gaze. She wasn't staring at me, but now Liam. "Hello!" Mom says, while sticking out her hand to shake his, "I'm Victoria Andrews, mother of this one right here." She points at me while Liam grabs her hand, "I'm Liam Esner, nice to meet you." He then rubs his styled, messy, blonde hair back, while sticking his hand in his pocket. 

Right before any kind of conversation could get started, we all freeze. 

Is that...screaming I hear? Is this place secretly a slaughterhouse? Except for humans?

But luckily, it isn't. Because, a woman comes running out of the house in front of us, and not to mention, towards us, shouting, "Victoria!" Quickly, I move out of her way before she can run me over like a bulldozer. "Linda!" Mom shouts, as the woman runs into her arms, "It's been too long! How are you?" The woman then separates away from my Mom. She was so beautiful, her hair blonde, and eyes green. She seems to be around my mom's age. Mid, to late thirties. "I'm good, how about you?" Linda replies, smiling sweetly. 

I walk over near Liam, "Is that your Mom?" He nods, as he crosses his arms over his chest. "She's pretty..." I mumble. He smiles down at me, "I know. Also, what was that you were doing just a minute ago?" I look up at him, nervously, "You mean...me tip toeing?" He grins, revealing his white teeth. "What the hell else would I be talking about?" He asks, his grin growing even wider. 

I knew this was going to end badly...pray for me...

"Well, you wouldn't have had to see that if you weren't watching me, now would you?" I say, narrowing my eyes. He nods with agreement, "True, true, but if you hadn't been swinging those keys around, you wouldn't have had to do that, now would you?" I freeze, processing what he had just said. 

He's right. If I hadn't been swinging these keys, I wouldn't have had to do that. But, maybe he's jealous of my awesome coolness...

OH! Who am I kidding! He probably thinks I'm a weirdo, with a dash of loser. He probably watched me, aka, the stranger, walk into his yard; actually, tip toe, into his yard, thinking, "What a loser! Thinking she can be cool while tip toeing into my yard. Tsk!"

What was I thinking?!?!

Once I get my room unpacked, I'm going to hide in there forever...with food of course.

Or...am I just overthinking this...

Suddenly, the sound of squealing brings me out of my thoughts. Quickly, I notice that Liam has left. He must've left while I was spacing out. I look over to see my Mom still in a deep conversation with Linda. From what I can gather, they must be friends from school. But not just any friends, but best friends. It seems Linda knows some things about my Mom, I don't. Which isn't really a surprise, but at the same time...it's kind of weird.

"Dawson, and I are married now," Linda says, showing my Mom her huge rock on her finger, disguised as a ring. "Are you serious? I'm so happy for you!" My Mom says, as she hugs her again. At this, I just walk back into the house, and straight into my room.

**************************** 

It's finally the next day! After my Mom was done catching up with her long term best friend, we finally unpacked everything. It was tiring, but so worth it. Once everything was done, it really felt like we were home. Today is Sunday, the day before I would have to go to school for real.

Is it bad that I really don't wanna go?

I usually like school, but I guess it's kind of exciting, but at the same time...terrifying.

Anyway, yesterday was kind of the worst. Only because the place was dirty inside the crevices of the building. Let's not mention, the drawers, and cabinets were pretty bad too. Not to be rude or anything, but the person who had the house before us, were slobs! The place was disgusting. 

It went by pretty quick, luckily. Now, I'm just sitting in my room organizing my book collection. Manga, Dork Diaries, Wings of Fire, Sketch Books, and ya' know...other books. 

"Hey Austin, Penelope, can you guys come down stairs please," I hear my Mom shout from down stairs. Quickly, I run down the staircase, Austin close behind. "Yes ma'am?" Austin, and I say in unison. Austin sits at the table, while I stand near him.

I notice a couple of things when I walk in. My Mom's hair is in a ponytail. She's sweating buckets upon buckets of sweat. She's working super fast. She's wearing her, #1 Mom, apron. Plus, she's making cookies, and I mean a big batch of them. This could only mean one thing. 

Austin, and I look at one another. We both nod, before looking back at Mom.

"Where are we going?" Austin and I ask in unison, scaring Mom half to death. "How did you...nevermind. I need for you both to get dressed in something nice, but casual, okay." She demands, placing peanut butter cookies into a container. 

So...my whole closet?

I nod at her order, as I reach my hand over to grab one of the cookies. "No!" Mom says, smacking my hand away, as she slicks her brown hair behind her ear. "Ow! Sorry," I say, as I walk away holding my poor hand. After about 15 minutes everyone was dressed in casual attire. I just put on my favorite choker; favorite red, white, and black, big, flannel; a white tank top; blue ripped jeans, and styled my long hair in a messy bun. 

With little bangs...so cute!

My Mom knocks on the door, lightly. "One second!" Linda shouts through the door. After a couple of seconds go by, the door finally opens, revealing a man with a small beard. He's very tall, and looks almost too excited to see my Mother. "It's been too long, Vicky!" He says, as he wraps his arms around my mother. "You too, Dawson!" I unexpectedly find myself staring at Dawson. His eyes reminded me too much of Liam's, except their brown. "Why don't you come on in," Dawson says, joyfully, as Austin, my Mother, and I walk in. The place seems very nice. It's clean, it smells like brownies, and there's a kid that lives here who's around my age. 

Now, the question still stands...

Did they make any kind of brownies?

Once we are in, I see Liam sitting on the leather couch, looking annoyed, or angry, while staring at his phone. I wonder what's wrong. I mean, I know I literally just met this kid yesterday, but I want to at least make sure he's okay. Plus, I could try and see if maybe we could be friends. "Hey," I say, as I sit next to him. He looks over at me, but doesn't say anything. "Are you...okay? " I ask, genuinely concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine," He grumbles, as he powers off his phone, and walks up stairs. Leaving me... completely lost.

Was it something I said?

Does my breath stink??

Do my clothes stink??? 

"Welcome to our humble home!" Linda says, smiling. Completely ignoring the fact that her son just left."I brought some peanut butter cookies," Mom says, as she sets them down on the counter in the kitchen. Well, that was kind of rude. But, on the plus side, I get more cookies...YAY!