Chapter 1

Wednesday August 3

I wish tomorrow wasn't moving day. I don't want to move! I don't want to leave my friends. I've known them my entire life! And now I have to leave them just so the Rents can have a promotion. Where am I going to find anyone here who'll accept me for me?

I also don't want to leave my job at the library. I don't want to leave the library period! Grandma says there's one within biking distance to our new house but I know every inch of this one. I feel worse about leaving it than I do home! It's my refuge. It's been the one place I could go that I wouldn't have to put up with Shelly's antics or the Rents. I like it here. I don't want to move to the city. I like the hills and being close to the beach. I'm going to miss hiking in the woods and sitting on the beach reading and listening to the waves come in.

So we'll be close to an amusement park. Big deal! They took out the last of the rides I liked three years ago. Sure there's a few left like the bumper cars, the overhead tram and a merry go round. But all the roller coasters I liked are gone. They replaced them with newer ones I just don't have any interest in going on. I did go on one called Ace's High but it was like I waited for two and a half-hours for this? I could have gone on the Bear as many times as I wanted and had a lot more thrills.

Shelly is of course thrilled to be closer to the amusement park and the newer rides. She's a lot like the rents. If it isn't new it's not worth going on or having. And they hated the hills and the fog and the beach and the woods. It makes me wonder why they chose to live there in the first place.

The only good thing is that we're going to be closer to Grandma and Grandpa. They're the only family members I have who seem to understand me. They're also the only ones who don't believe Shelly's lies. And they don't let her get away with anything there. Shelly of course hates them. I love them.

The Mom just banged on the door and told me if I didn't have boxes outside my door ready for the Movers within an hour I'd be grounded for the rest of summer. Rotten @#$&. Little does she know I've been packing things up for the past week. All that's left are a few things I've been using and I can pack them up real quick. I'm sure as heck not going to put them out for Shelly to steal though. And I know she'd do it. I've caught her stealing from me before. That's why I put a lock on my door and why I changed it when she got a copy of the Rent's key. Not that she ever got in trouble for it. At least not with the Rents. They just lectured her on borrowing without asking.