Heartache to Happiness

3 - New people

I woke up early, which does not surprise me considering I went to bed around ten last night and slept most of the flight over here. I see its only 6am. I get up from my bed, head to the bathroom, I have a quick shower and brush my teeth. The weather is still pretty warm to me so I put on some denim shorts, a tank top and grab a thin shirt to go on top in case it gets chilly, I wear my peach coloured vans and fix my hair into a tidier bun. I check the time and its 730am. I grab my phone and head downstairs, it’s a bit quiet so I assume that Uncle Steven and Aunt Caroline are still sleeping. So, I head to the kitchen to grab myself a coffee, but to my surprise everyone is in the kitchen. “Good morning" I say quietly, feeling a little awkward. I know both Uncle Steven and Aunt Caroline have said this is my home now, but I will obviously feel like a visitor for a while, it will take a bit to get use to it. “Morning sweetie. You sleep ok?” Aunt Caroline asks as she ushers me to sit at the counter. Stella hands me a glass of orange juice and a plate of pancakes with fruit. “yeah, surprisingly well. Was pretty warm last night though, Thanks Stella” I say as I start to eat the pancakes. “I’ll show you later how to adjust the air conditioning" Uncle Steven says just as the doorbell goes. Stella goes to answer it and comes back a few minutes later to say the movers are here.

“Its all labelled up for where it is to go, can you just show them Emily’s room and I’ll deal with the rest" Uncle Steven states as he gets up from his chair and goes to the door.

I quickly finish eating and head back up to my room with Aunt Caroline following closely behind. “do you need a hand to unpack?” She asks as we enter my room just as the men are bringing in my vanity table. “sure, thanks Aunt Caroline"

I show the men where I want the table to go, as soon as they leave to bring up more boxes and the last few suitcases, I start to unpack the boxes with my books and place them on the bookcase beside my desk. I leave my photo frames on my bed. I’ll get Uncle Steven or Pedro to hang them later.

A few hours later and there is only 1 box left, the box with all my mums vintage dresses in. Before we packed them back in Scotland, we had put them into an airtight bag Aunt Caroline suggests we leave them in the bag to keep them from getting any damage. I find a space on the top shelf in my closet and put the box up. Once that’s done, Pedro come in with small toolbox “Needing anything done in here Emily?” he asks as he has a look around. “Just the photos to go on the wall if that is ok?” I ask both to make sure it’s ok with Aunt Caroline to put holes in the wall and to make sure Pedro is able to help. “Of course it is sweetie. This is your room. You can have it how you like" Aunt Caroline says as she takes the empty boxes out of my room.

I show Pedro where I want the pictures and he gets to work with them. One of the pictures, the last picture of me with my parents, I place it on my bedside table. Just as Pedro is finishing off Uncle Steven comes in and says it’s time to go get Nick. I jump from my bed, clearly excited to see him.

The school isn't faraway about 15 minutes drive. It’s pretty big, definitely bigger than my last school. As we park up in the parking area. Uncle Steven says he’s going to go in and see if any office staff are available to check if everything is ready for me starting on Monday. As he leaves the car, I get out and lean against the hood of the car waiting for Nick. There are a few other cars parks with people waiting also, I’m assuming they are here for the same reason. Soon a bus pulls up at the other end of the parking area, about 20 people get of the bus all wearing the same colour shirts or jackets, a red and green. Must be the school colours I say to myself.

As I’m looking to see if I can see Nick coming, he sees me and starts running towards me. He drops his bags and I run to him, his arms are stretch out and I jump into his arms for a hug. “oh my God Emily.” He says into my hair. He spins me around in his arms both of us laughing until I tell him to put me down as I am dizzy, as he places me on my feet.

“Who is that?” I hear someone say behind me, I look up to see a very good looking guy. He’s tall at least 6 foot, blond hair, dazzling bright white teeth and clearly has muscle to die for as his shirt is very tight across his chest clearly a football player.

“That’s Emily, his cousin from Scotland" I see Kimberley talking to this absolute stud of a man.

“Kimberley" I let go of Nick and walk up to Kimberley and give her a hug.

“nice to see you in person Emily, how are you?” she says as she takes my hand and we start to walk to Uncle Steven’s car

“I’m alright, my room is amazing, thanks for helping with it" I tell her as Nick heads back to pick up his bag he dropped.

“How old is your cousin?” I hear the hot guy ask Nick

“16, stay away" Nick whisper yells at him

“17 in a couple weeks Nick” I remind him

“Don’t care. Stay away" Nick points at the guy again

Kimberley introduces us as Nick clearly doesn’t want to. His name is Blake and he lives 2 houses down from Nick , moved in there a few years ago but has known Nick since kindergarten. Nick puts all their bags in the back of the car just as Uncle Steven comes out of the school with an older guy. Uncle Steven shouts me over and introduces him, he’s the principal of the school and says everything is ready for me to start Monday. He hands me a folder with my timetable and a map of the school to have a look over it during the weekend. We say our goodbyes and head back to Nick and the others.

Turns out Kimberley lives in the same street so Uncle Steven is dropping her and Blake off. We soon arrive back at the house after Nick arranging to meet up with Kimberley and Blake and a few others later on tonight.

Nick and I are chilling outside beside the pool, he’s telling me about his tournament and school. He talks about his friends and the group he hangs with. We are called in for dinner by Aunt Caroline, so we head in and sit and eat. Nick tells his parents that he is taking me out to meet his friends at the beach as a kind of celebration for winning the tournament. I try to decline his offer but both Aunt Caroline and Uncle Steven think it would be a good way to meet people before school starts on Monday, so I reluctantly agree. Not long after we finish dinner Kimberley and Blake arrive, we are all going in Nick’s car to the beach, about half an hours drive from here.

I head upstairs with Kim so she can see my room now all my stuff had been unpacked.

“It’s amazing. I love your vanity table, the colours go well with the walls" she says as she sits on the chair at my desk.

“It’s perfect, much bigger than my old room" I tell her. As I head into my closet to change my clothes. Kim suggest I put on longer trousers as the beach will be a bit cooler at this time of night. So, I change into a pair of black skinny ripped jeans with a white t-shirt that has a Scotland flag on the front with a pale blue denim shirt

“Cute outfit, perfect for tonight" Kim tells me with a smile.

“I’m not really up for this Kim. I’ve heard of these types of parties, even back home I never went to them" I tell her as I worry about what can happen.

“This group of friends are not like that. They don’t really drink because they are all fitness and health crazy. We’ll just be sitting around the campfire chilling and drinking soda" she tells me as she drags me out of my room.

We are soon on our way to the beach. The four off us chatting and laughing in the car. Blake is in the back with me as the “lovebirds" as Blake calls them sit up front.

“So, do you have a boyfriend back home, Emily?” Blake’s asks as Nick glares at him in the rear-view mirror.

“Nope, he dumped me the day my parents died" I tell him as I look out the window at the view.

“What?” Nick shouts making me jump

“It’s a long story, and I’m not talking about it” I tell him as he parks the car. There are not many cars here but you can hear plenty voices and music from the beach in front of us. We climb out the car and Kim comes around to my side takes my hand in hers and pulls me towards the group of people on the beach.

The campfire isn't massive but big enough to keep us warm and light up the surrounding areas. Nick brings out a few camp chairs and a cool box from the boot of his car and brings them over to where Kim and I are standing.

“We will talk about it later" Nick whisper in my ear as he sets up the chairs and places the cooler in the middle.

“Sorry, if I upset you back there" Blake says as he hands me a can of fanta.

“you didn’t. Just don’t like thinking about it, thanks" I say as I take the can of juice and take a seat beside Kim.

Kim introduces me to a few of her friends. Keira and Becca and we sit and chat for a bit. Nick soon joins us and pushes me from my seat so I land on the sand.

“Nick, what the f**k" I yell at him as I get up from where I landed, I brush the sand off and sit on his lap.

“So, you going to tell me about Ben?” Nick asks as he pulls me in for a hug.

“Told you I didn’t want to talk about it" I tell him as I push myself up from his lap and walk away from the group. I sit down in the sand and look out to the horizon, taking in the scene. Its quiet calming, even though not far from where I am there is a group of teenagers singing and shouting, all having fun. I see at the corner of my eye Nick coming over to where I am sitting

“Nick, can you just leave. Uncle Steven is already on my case about Ben. I told him the same thing. I’m not talking about it.” I tell him as I play with the sand between my feet.

“My dad knows something happened. He mentioned it earlier. He told me what happened on your last night in Scotland. We are worried about you Em. We are your family. You can tell us anything. If he hurt you he needs to be taught a lesson" Nick says as he puts his arm on my shoulders.

“I know. Not that you can do anything from this side of the world.” I say as I push him off and he lands in the sand. He soon sits and starts tickling me. He gets me every time. He knows exactly where to get me screaming with laughter. After we calmed down we sit in silence,

“You know I dated Ben for about 6 months. I thought I loved him. He told me he loved me. So, I thought about it and decide to give him my virginity. It wasn’t the best night of my life.” I tell Nick as I sit and stare out to the horizon as the sun is completely gone and the moon is lighting up the sea. I continue telling Nick everything that happened that night. The horrid phone call, Ben up and leaving and Sarah coming over and ending up staying at there house until Uncle Steven came.

At this point the tears are steaming down my face and I’m sobbing into his side as he rubs my back to comfort me. “s**t. Em. Dad will go nuts when he finds out" he says as he gets up and brushes the sand off his trousers. “that’s why I didn’t tell him when we were in Scotland. He would have killed Ben" I say standing up too and following Nick back to the group of friends. “He deserves a beating for what he did" Nick states as we reach Blake and Kim and the others. “Who needs a beating? I’ll back you up bro" Blake says as he pats Nick on the back. “Emily’s ex. He’s lucky I didn’t come to help you move “ he says as he gets another can from the cooler. “You told him?" Kim says as she pulls me down into the chair beside her. I nod as I take a drink from my can. Soon the conversation topic is changed. Nick has calmed down now so it’s easier to talk to him now. Blake is being friendly towards me, flirting with me I’m not sure but he seems interested.

A few of Nick’s friends have came along, I was introduced to Chris, Lewis and Ethan. Chris is dating Keira,  Lewis is dating Becca and Ethan is dating a girl called Mandy. Mandy is away on business vacation with her family for a few months so she’s not here. According to Kim she’s a queen b***h and used to be head cheerleader but had to drop it because of traveling with her family, she just seems to tag along with their group. I laughed when she said that. Ethan looks a bit of a lost puppy without his girlfriend but tries to talk to me but Blake keeps cutting him off and making my attention go to him. Which I didn’t  mind, Blake seems nice and the conversation flows so easily with him.

It's soon time to pack up and head home, we girls leave the guys to put out the campfire and we head to the carpark. Keira and Becca explain the reason Ethan and Blake don’t see eye to eye, according to them Blake tried to get with Mandy first but Ethan bet him to it. They are obviously still friends but when it comes to a female it’s like they have to fight for the girls attention.

The guys soon follow behind and we head home. Blake and Nick are in the front this time so me and Kim can have some girly chat in the back.

“Did you have fun?” Kim asks as Nick looks in his rear-view mirror to see my reaction.

“Yeah it was good. Nice group of friends you have" I tell her as I gaze out of the window.

“it’s better when Mandy isn't here" Nick says from the front of the car.

“Is she really that bad?” I ask to no-one in particular

“Yes" all 3 of them say at the same time

“Then, why do you hang around with her?” I ask, makes no sense if they don’t like her.

“Ethan. That’s the only reason we put up with her" Blake says as he looks back at me. I nod as a reply.

Soon we are pulling into the driveway. We all climb out as Blake says good night and heads off to his place. Nick is going to walk Kim home, so I just head inside to find Aunt Caroline in the lounge.

“Have fun?” she asks as she pats the seat beside her

“Yeah, they all seem nice enough” I tell her as I see her painting her toenails.

“They are not a bad bunch. Mandy is a bit different though” he chuckles

“So, I heard” I tell her as I chuckle.  I say good night and head up to my room. I take my shoes and shirt off and adjust the air conditioning, just like Uncle Steven taught me. I head over to my laptop to video call Sarah. She soon answers and screams at the screen when she sees me. We sit and chat and catch up with each other. Seemingly a lot has happened since I left a few days ago. Ben got into a fight with a few older guys as word had spread about what happened with us and his girlfriend dumped him when she found out. I tell her about meeting Nick’s friends at the beach and she was so jealous.

 She commented on my slightly tanning skin saying it looks good on me. We talk for a couple of hours and I head to bed, not before washing my face and brushing my teeth. I just climbed into bed when Uncle Steven knocked my door.

He comes and sits at the end of my bed, not sure what is up but he looks angry.

“Is something the matter, Uncle Steven" I ask him

“Not really. I heard what Sarah said about Ben. Nick also told me what happened between you too" he tells me as he takes my hand in his. I slump my shoulders. Nick can’t keep his mouth shut.

“I’m glad, he got a beating, I know I don’t sound very mature saying that but he hurt you in the worst way. Don’t be angry at Nick. He’s worried and we all care about you” he says as he gets up to sit closer and pulls me in for a side hug.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you. I was embarrassed and stupid. I thought he loved me" I tell him, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“He’s a douche. You’ll find someone who will love you and treat you right. You are young and you have plenty of time to find him" he days as he kisses my forehead and says goodnight and leaves my room.

I let out a deep sigh as I role over to get comfy in my massive bed. I’ve got the beat family here. Makes me miss my parents and Sarah, but I know they all want the best for me.