Turtle Sara - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As soon as I wake up and get dressed, the chaos begins. None of us even have time for breakfast, because we're all rushing to get the boxes in the moving truck. Murphy keeps getting in the way, whining for attention, but there just isn't enough time. The new family is arriving in two hours, and we still have a heap of cardboard boxes. Throughout the house, you can hear people yelling.
"Did you get the box from the bathroom yet?"
"Diani, get Turtle's PJs from her room please!"
"Where the heck is my freaking toothbrush?!"
"Dad, you forgot the flowers in the kitchen!"
"Not now, Murphy!"
"Oh crap! Where the hell is it?!"
"Mind your language young lady!"
"@#*!$*&@^!" (This was from Dad as he dropped the box full of Diani's swimming trophies onto his foot)

After two hours of frantic running around and last minute packing, we manage to get everything into the two moving trucks that we rented. Mum hugs Diani's and my shoulders and looks around the room that was once our living room. Everything looks faded and washed out, even the walls. We walk from room to room, saying goodbye to the memories that were made here. I even say goodbye to the smelly storage room that's full of cobwebs. Finally, we come to the Japanese room. It's called the Japanese room because Mum dedicated one wall to having just Japanese stuff on it. Before it was packed up, the wall was covered in gorgeous paintings, fans, kimonos, photos and statues. My favourite part of the wall was a little shelf full of tiny little anime figurines that have been there my whole life. My favourite manga characters are there too, from Death Note to Fruits basket to Bleach. Mum gets a bit teary when we come to the wall, now that it's bare, but Diani pats her shoulder. "We'll recreate it at the new house. We'll make it even better!"
Mum nods but here eyes are still moist. We walk out of the house twenty minutes before the new family arrives.

Diani, Dad and I pile into the first moving truck, and Mum and Murphy get into the second one. "Wave goodbye to the house, girls," laughs Dad as we pull out of the driveway. Diani rolls her eyes at him, but I wave anyway, saving the image of the house in my mind. It's time to move on, on to the next house, on to the next phase of life. Then I grab my sketchbook from my miniature backpack and draw the house, its tall brick walls and black tiled roof looking striking on the page. I finish it quickly and look out the window at the last glimpses of Miona. We drive past Miona Collage, and I see the girls who bully me standing outside the front gates. I glance quickly at Diani and Dad sitting next to me, and stick the rude finger up at the girls. The shock on their faces gives me a feeling of pride. Finally, I have a chance to stand up to them and not be in danger of being ridiculed later in the day. You'd think that year nines would be more mature than that. Oh well. They're old news now.

The drive to Wildfire is long and tiring. It takes about an two and a half hours, driving past houses, parks, shopping centres and strange buildings that I've never seen before. We drive past a beautiful botanical garden full of sculptures. I catch a glimpse of a giant chicken eating a banana. Diani sees it too and laughs out loud. We giggle through the whole drive. I think we're just giddy with excitement from the move. Eventually, we come across a big green sign that says "Welcome to Wildfire". I point it out to Dad and he nods. "Only a twenty minute drive from here to the new house!"

Wildfire is a pretty small suburb. Most of the houses are all made out a sleek shiny wood with brown tiled rooves, and some of them are made of bricks. They vary from one story to two story houses, and I see a couple of three story houses too. We cruise down what looks like the main street, looking at all the shops that are on it. There are a couple of cafes and restaurants and a huge library. There is also a shop full of art supplies and paints that I am very pleased to see. Dad sees me smile and his eyes glimmer at me. "Can't wait to get inside that art shop, can you Turtle?"
I nod and keep looking out the window. I can't see many kids on the streets because they'd all probably be in school. It is ten thirty on a Friday morning after all. I see a few teenagers hanging outside one of the cafes. They're all dressed in casual clothes but they all have the same Wildfire high school backpack. They must be wagging school. Wildfire High doesn't have a school uniform, something that I'm pleased to hear about. Finally, a place to express myself through clothes, and not even be criticised by it.

The moving truck slows at a red light at the end of the road. I can see a group of giggling teenage girls on the side. They're all wearing the bitchy-girl uniform; the short shorts and white tees. They all stare at our two enormous trucks. I guess we do look pretty strange. From the size of Wildfire, you'd guess that everyone knows everyone here, and any strangers are big news. They look shocked when they peer through the window of the car. I grin at them and hold up the peace sign with my hand – a very Asian gesture. Their eyes just about boggle out of their head. It's like they've never seen an Asian before. Diani looks quizzically at me and I just shrug at her. I hope there are friendlier people at the school when I start on Monday. We turn down a few streets until we finally reach our street. Bowe Avenue. "What number are we, Dad?" I ask, looking at all of the houses. "We are right here, Turtle. Number sixteen."

The house is almost exactly as I had imagined it. I now understand Dad's shock when I told him what I thought it'd be. It's a very modern looking house, with a front garden bursting with life. There are tropical and native trees and plants filling the flower beds. A big apple tree is standing to the right of the garden. The roof of the house is black tiled and the walls are made of the same sleek wood that many of the other houses are made of. The front door is black and shiny, and has two windows on each side of it. There's a little footpath to the front door, made up of gravel and stones. The house has a little shelter for our car to the left of it, and the car is already in there. Dad must've had someone to drive it here yesterday, ready for us to use. It's a two story house, and you can see a few windows from different rooms in the walls. The house is amazing.

The trucks pull over to the side of the road and we all clamber out. "It's perfect Dad," I say hugging him. "Absolutely perfect."
"Alright then, let's go inside!" says Mum, looking relieved to be out of the truck with Murphy. I imagine he slobbered all over everything in the truck, including Mum. Right now he's running crazily in circles, with this silly grin on his face. We all walk inside the house. All of our furniture is all pushed into one room, thrown carelessly on top of each other. "We'll have to move all that ourselves," Dad frowns and Diani moans. "Oh gawd, that'll take forever!"
"Let's see the rest of the house first" says Mum, trying to smooth out the situation. I'd completely forgotten that she hasn't seen the house yet either; only Dad has. We explore all the downstairs rooms; the kitchen, dining room, living room, toilets and laundry. When we come to the study room Mum pats the far wall with her hand. "This will be the Japanese Wall," she says. We all agree that it's the perfect place to have it. Dad then turns to Diani and I. "Now, upstairs are all of the bedrooms. There are five rooms up there, three bedrooms and two activity rooms. You two will decide who gets which room."

Diani and I nod seriously to Dad, but as soon as he turns to say something to Mum, we rush up the stars, squealing like little kids. As we reach the top of the staircase I immediately claim the room that sits at the front of the house. There are windows that look out to the street and one window that will let the sun shine inside in the morning. It's exactly what I want. Diani chooses are slightly bigger room that's next to mine, and we allocate the big room opposite as Mum and Dad's room. The other two rooms actually join together, to make a big space that could be used for a TV room or something like that. We climb down the stairs again to see Dad struggling with a table. "Come on girls, we have to get this furniture away before we do anything else."

It's a long and laborious process, but after another three hours we have all of the furniture put exactly where we want it. We stop for a late lunch and have an hour break. Then we have to get all of the cardboard boxes out of the trucks and into the house. That takes another two hours, and we're all tired and ready for a break after it. By now it's half past four and we all collapse onto the couches in the living room. Everybody has a little sleep because we're all so exhausted. By the time we're all awake and ready to go again, it's six o'clock at night. Mum is too exhausted to cook anything, and we don't even have any food, so we settle to order takeaway. But then Diani points out that we don't have any numbers to any of the restaurants.

"How about you two go into the main street and pick up some food there?" Mum suggests. She looks really tired and stressed out. She isn't really used to doing so much physical activity. Her usually neat hair is falling out of her bun and her clothes are all crumpled. I know that at any other time, she would offer to do it herself, but right now she's exhausted. I look to Diani and she nods. "We'll just be one sec, we have to get ready. I mean, look at us!" Diani gestures to the wrinkled and sweaty clothes that she's wearing. "We don't want our first impression in Wildfire to be the sloppy sweaty duo! Let's get changed."
We lug the cardboard boxes with our clothes in them up to our rooms. It's pretty tricky walking without seeing where you're going, but I manage it. When I open the boxes filled with my clothes I breathe in the familiar scent they give. Home. I can't really think of what I should wear to make a good impression, so I grab out my sketchbook and start drawing my outfit. I draw my black Japanese style shirt with golden characters written on the sides, my frilly black gothic skirt and my chunky headband. Then I draw my black converse shoes with my diamond patterned purple socks. I frown at the page. Something doesn't look quite right. Then I realise I've forgotten my rainbow elbow-length gloves. I draw them in and my outfit looks complete. I quickly shade the picture in to make it look nice and throw the sketchpad back onto the bed. Then I dig through the boxes until I find all the clothes I need. I pull them on and smooth out the creases that have folded on the sides. Then I find my little makeup kit and smudge on a bit of eyeliner and slip on some lipstick. I look at myself in the mirror and grin. Now this is how you make a first impression. I blow myself a kiss and walk down to Diani's room.

Diani is sitting in front of her mirror, her makeup kit spread around her. She's wearing her skinny jeans with her cream coloured strapless shirt that's tight at the top and then flows around her hips. Her golden brown hair is tied up loosely and her lips are a deep red. She looks incredible. "Are you ready yet Dolphin?" I ask, leaning on the door. I know that it really annoys her when I call her Dolphin, but I'm not ready for the reaction she gives me when I do. "Just stop it okay?!" she yells angrily. "Don't call me that anymore. My name is Diani and I don't want anyone here to know that it isn't. I'm sick of being teased about it. You of all people should know!"

I'm stunned. Usually at home, the bullying was a subject we all avoided. I'm hurt by Diani's outburst. Diani sees my expression and her face crumples. "Oh Turtle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." She stands up and hugs me gently. "I just want a fresh start here. You want one to don't you?"
I nod silently and hug her back. "Okay, let's just forget it."
"You're right," she says. Then she releases her grip on me and smooths out her top. "Now let's go and show these Wildfire people how awesome the Sara family really is!"
"Yeah! Go team!" I shout in a cheesy cheerleader voice and we giggle.

We walk downstairs and give Murphy a quick pat. "We're leaving!" I call to Mum and Dad as we walk out the door. "Make sure to feed Murphy!" Diani calls over her shoulder. We close the door and walk into the street. By now it's half past six, and the night is getting darker with every house we pass. I make a note to myself to camp out in the backyard one night and draw how incredible Wildfire looks at night. The numerous oak trees throw long, threatening shadows across the pavement. We get lost a few times but eventually make it to the main street. I look at the road sign at the end, and it reads Esler Road. Both sides of the road are alight with streetlights, lights from cafes and restaurants and shop window displays. There are people everywhere; it looks like everyone in the whole suburb has come out for Friday night. Even though it's a very small suburb there are still quite a lot of people. I can see lots of teenagers, adults and little kids. Diani and I walk past so many groups of teenagers, we lose count. Wildfire seems to be a place for young people to live, rather than elderly. "This is my kind of place," I say to Diani. She doesn't notice. She's looking at all the people around her.

Some of the people we walk past ignore us, but most of them notice us. It seems like everyone knows everyone in this Wildfire, and any stranger is very noticeable. I see older guys smile and nod at Diani and I know why. She's really beautiful, with golden brown curly hair, gorgeous cat eyes and a killer body. She's got clothes that really show off her curves, and has great boobs. It's very hard sometimes not to be jealous of her, but she's my sister, and I'm proud of her.

Then, as people's eyes slide from my sister to me, they raise their eyebrows. I guess that my clothes are a little out-there, but I like to make a statement. A few girls whisper as we walk past their groups, and I try to ignore them. The whole street is alive with people now, hanging out at the cafes, playing music, having a good time. In the corner of my eye I can see a bright blue hoodie that seems to be following us down the whole street, but I shake the thought out of my head. I see a street performer on the other side of the road, playing his saxophone. He looks about twenty or so, and he's very good looking. He has a little crowd gathered around him, throwing him coins and notes and enjoying his music. He is very good at the sax, and Diani thinks so too. She looks down at me from up on her high heeled boots and grins. "I'm gonna go and give him ten dollars or so, he's really good!"


She motions for me to wait here, and crosses the street. She drops the ten dollar note in his saxophone case, and I see her lips move as she says something to him. He finishes his song with a long, beautiful note and says something back to her. I see Diani blush, and shake her head. She says something else to him. I can't hear a single thing they're saying over the noise that the small crowd makes as they walk away from the finished performance. I lose sight of my sister for a second, and then when I see her again, the busker is writing something down on a slip of paper. He hands it to her and she laughs and says something back. I stand on tip-toe, trying to see them over the people between us. There are suddenly so many people on the street, and cars are racing past, honking their horns at people that get in the way. The street clears of people and the car horns stop honking. I've lost sight of Diani. I search the crowded streets for her familiar face. I can't see her at all. There are voices all around me and I struggle to stay in the one spot with the people milling around. People are yelling and shouting and I'm feeling very disorientated.

I'm standing on the very edge of the street when something hard pushes me in the back. I gasp as my body is thrown onto the road. I land face first with nothing to cushion my fall. I can taste blood in my mouth. My head is throbbing and my arm hurts. I turn my head to the side to see a car coming straight for me at an extremely fast speed. It is heading right towards me. I can't hear anything at all except the thudding of my heart. I feel something ram into the back of my head, pushing me down and crushing my chest. Then, everything goes black.