The Story of Us

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Violet

It was no
surprise when my mom told me that my family was moving once again. I was used to it.

My whole life, I grew up moving almost every single year. Whether it was just moving from state to state or to an entirely different country, when we were commanded to leave, we left.

This was the joy of being a military child. When I was younger, moving never really bothered me. I liked traveling all over the world and meeting new people. However, now that I'm a sophomore in high school, I'm sick of it.

My family was now living in the grand old state of Pennsylvania. If you weren't lucky enough to live in the populated cities, then you were exposed to miles and miles of small towns and cornfields.

I met some really great people there and had a lot of friends. I guess you could say I was a somewhat average student. Kept my grades up, participated in extracurricular activities every once in a while, and completed those typical high-schooler experiences with my friends. Who am I kidding? If I wasn't with friends, which was more often than not, I was most likely sitting in bed watching reruns of
Gossip Girl
on Netflix.

However, for once in my life I was content and happy. That is, until the night my mom told me my dad had gotten a promotion and we would not be continuing our simple lives in this peaceful state.

My whole world felt like it was falling apart. Once again, I stood in an empty house that echoed my voice. I heard my mom's car horn, and I walked out the door. As I shut the door behind me, tears started to roll down my face.

I closed my eyes as we pulled out of the driveway, not wanting to see my home in the rearview mirror.

In that exact moment, I was done trying. I no longer wanted to try to make everywhere I moved feel like home. I would rather be miserable instead of trying to make friends only to leave them in two years. I should have known that Pennsylvania was never going to be our forever home.

It took a couple of days to arrive in North Carolina. My family decided to rent a house off base just in case there was a small possibility that my dad could finally retire there.

My family had lived in some amazing houses, but this house was beautiful. The grass was the perfect shade of green, and soft to the touch when you walked on it. We had a cobblestone sidewalk that led up to the front door. Shrubbery and flowers were strategically planted in the gardens around the house and trees.

While smiling at this scene, I thought, How could I be miserable when I lived in this amazing house? I was surprised my parents decided to pick such an enormous home since it was just my mom, my dad, Hayden, and me.

We immediately parked our vehicles in the circular driveway and headed inside. The movers hadn't arrived yet, so without all our furniture and boxes, it seemed like almost every nook and cranny was brightly lit by the numerous windows surrounding us.

Once I headed up the staircase, I instantly started checking out each and every room until I found the one that was perfect for me. It didn't take too long as there weren't a lot of bedrooms to choose from.

Peering out my new bedroom window, I saw a happy family across the street, out on their front lawn. There weren't many of them, but there was one in particular who stood out the most. From the moment I saw him, I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Violet

I didn't want
to seem like a stalker, but how could you not stare at him?

I was guessing he was sweating from being outside, because he pulled his shirt off and proceeded to play basketball with a younger boy. I could see from across the street the definition of his muscles and his abs. He flipped his short brown hair so that it lay perfectly on his head. I was almost positive he was around my age, but it didn't matter. He was just so—

“Violet! What are you doing? Are you going to help bring in the luggage?” I jumped and swung around to see my brother staring at me like I was an idiot.

“Yeah, I'm coming. I was just looking around.” My brother rolled his eyes and ran downstairs, back out to the car. I looked at the handsome boy across the street for one more second before I headed back down.

The hot air was definitely something I would have to get used to. I didn't realize how bad the summers were going to be down here in North Carolina, but I liked it. It was a new and different environment from Pennsylvania.

I ran to grab my suitcase from the back of the car. I was a small girl, and trying to pull a seventy-five-pound suitcase out of the back of a custom-lifted Jeep was not easy.

Someone must have seen that I was struggling because I heard someone running up behind me. “Here, let me help you with that.” I turned around to look into a pair of the most gorgeous blue eyes I had ever seen. It was him. It was the boy I had been staring at across the street.

He was a lot taller than I was and pulled my suitcase out with no problem. “Here you go. I'm Nash, by the way. I live across the street. I was outside and saw you were having a little trouble, so I thought I should help you out.” He smiled and his teeth sparkled like in those Crest 3D White commercials.

“Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I'm Violet, like the flower.”
Like the flower?
What was I thinking? He probably thought I was a total dork.

“Well, it's very nice to meet you, Violet. I have to head back for dinner but I'll see ya around sometime.” He was still smiling even after I made that stupid remark.

“Yeah. See you later.” Then, just like that, he was gone. I slowly walked back to my house and leaned up against the door when I got inside.

He is perfect.

Violet

The last two
weeks of summer flew by. Our new home was almost completely set up and my parents had already enrolled us in the nearby high school. My brother and I got most of the classes we wanted and luckily we had lunch together.

My mother had to practically drag me out of bed so I wouldn't miss the bus. My brother was seventeen and my parents had promised he would get a car after we settled in. For now, though, we had to ride the bus—which I knew was just going to be wonderful.

I quickly ran into the shower, before my brother could get there first. After I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I applied my daily makeup, which was only a little bit of concealer, eyeliner, mascara, and a light, tinted ChapStick. I then waited until my hair was dry to curl it just enough so it had loose waves.

I threw on one of my outfits I created the night before: a pair of dark skinny jeans, a loose-hanging shirt, and my black Toms. I looked in the mirror to adjust my outfit, making sure I wasn't going to leave the house in something embarrassing.

I wasn't ugly, but I wouldn't say I was drop-dead gorgeous either. I was average—the typical teenager look.

My brown wavy hair went just above the middle of my back. I looked into my hazel eyes and wondered if people ever thought I was pretty. Everyone said that I had amazing eyes, but I didn't see what the big deal was. They were just eyes, only mine had specks of brown and green in them.

I was quite short for my age but that was one feature I loved. I liked being teased about my height, because it made me different. I didn't enjoy still being asked if I wanted a kid's menu, though.

I ran downstairs to find something light to eat to calm my nerves. I hated the first day of school. If you were new, especially in a small town like this one, everyone wanted to know who you were. I saw the bus come down the street, so I called my brother and headed out the door.

Nash

I woke up
to the sound of my phone's alarm clock and realized that I had to go back to that dreaded school again. Nothing was the same ever since I became popular on Vine. A lot of people tried to use me to make themselves famous. I got annoyed by the attention and wished people would just see me as a regular human being. My lacrosse team still wanted me to be me and made sure the fame didn't go to my head. The past couple of weeks had been rough for me and I just wanted to stay home and go back to sleep.

I couldn't seem to shake that Violet girl out of my head, though. I hadn't seen her since we met. She was extremely beautiful and I wanted to get to know her before the other guys at school did. I hoped I would see her today.

She was on my mind the entire time I was getting ready. I was about to head out the door but I knew I was forgetting something.

“Nash! Don't forget about me!”

I turned around and picked up my adorable little sister, Skylynn. “How could I forget about the cutest little girl in the world?” I said. She smiled and shook her blond hair in my face. I set her down and gave her a kiss on the head. “Love you, Sky. See you later today!” I ran out the door and drove away in my truck.