The echoing of boots on metal, the scraping of furniture being placed down, the yanking of tape off of cardboard, the rustling of newspaper, the tinkling of ceramic hitting each other, and the barking of orders from a stern voice were the noises that had filled up her morning. They were not unfamiliar to her and were practically like an old friend, just giving her the sign of yet another early morning move into yet another new home that she would have to adjust to. It wasn’t all bad, at least it was officially Summer and she would get to see where her Aunt Samantha had been living all these years. It felt like they hadn’t seen her at all, just muffled phone calls or stories about her past from her father which was not an often occurrence. It would be nice to get to know more about her and the town she was daffy about. She had practically sung its praises while pitching the idea to move here but maybe that was just to hook her dad into moving. Jess wouldn’t deny that they needed a fresh start but it was hard to move on, feeling like they were leaving her mother’s memory behind even though that was further from the truth.
She gave a heavy sigh, shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts before it led down the rabbit hole of negative emotions or old memories. Jess carefully plopped down the box she was carrying into what would be her room, though for now resembled more of a storage room since none of her furniture had made it into the house just yet. Honestly, she knew she should work on helping unpack or at least working on her own room but she had all night to unpack and the last thing she wanted to do was be at this all day. The only reason she had been carrying boxes at all is because she hadn’t trusted the movers to do so since the last group had forgotten what the word ‘gentle’ means and had pretty much destroyed any glass items. Her mother had been so furious…’nope, stop those thoughts right there, she told herself, running her fingers through her wavy blonde tresses. Jess spun on her heels, heading back outside to grab her last box from the U-Haul and figure out a way to convince her father to let her go exploring instead of sticking around this circus for the rest of the day.
“That goes into the bedroom at the end of the hall.” Martin ordered. Jess squared her shoulders, making her way over to her father to do the best convincing she could. No time like the present and no one got anywhere by doing nothing. She stepped up next to him, watching as the movers brought down a mattress from the truck and glanced at the man beside her. This had been a rocky time for the two of them, losing a loved one was hard enough but their main communicator and buffer for each other was gone. Just standing here, made her feel like she was on another planet or simply, feeling alone when surrounded by people. He finally seemed to notice her presence, taking his eyes off the truck and locking them onto her for a moment before focusing back on the task at hand.”Is there something you wish to ask me, Jessica?”he questioned. She felt her brow furrow in annoyance that he couldn’t even bother to look at her as he spoke but shrugged it off. She wasn’t going to get anywhere if she didn’t at least try to play nice.
”I was hoping that I could go and check out the town for a bit.”she answered, noticing his glance and quickly added a ‘sir’ on top of that after a moment's pause. He frowned, obviously thinking it over and not really seeming to be agreeing with her request. “No, you have priorities here that need to be handled, besides, you have the rest of the Summer to explore to your heart's content. One day out of your Summer is hardly a lot to ask for.”he stated with conviction, his mind made up which irritates her to no end. What exactly needed to be done that couldn’t be done tonight or god forbid, tomorrow. ”Please! I have already moved everything from the truck to my room that doesn’t include furniture. The movers are already at work to unpack some of the other rooms and I can finish up any unpacking tonight. I really want to get a head start on finding a Summer job. Everyone else has probably lived here forever and has a position locked in somewhere. I need to be on top of it if I have any chance.”
Okay, so the last part wasn’t completely the truth. Sure, she had no doubts that some teens had jobs they went to during the Summers or even continued ones through the year but she could care less about finding her own today. If it got her old man to let her leave though, it was worth it. She could always stop and actually do what she said she would, pick up a few applications but for now, she just wanted to explore what the place had to offer. She could practically see the cogs in his head turning as he debated on what she had said. Jess could only hope he agreed to let her leave at this point, completely at his mercy on this one. He sighed, rubbing his temples with one hand before looking over at her,”Alright, you have my permission to leave but be back before it gets too late. I mean it Jessica, no staying out until late hours in an area we do not know.”
”I promise! Thank you!”, she replies before skipping to the truck. She was a bubble of excitement, the thrill of exploration driving through her veins as she grabbed the last box and dashed to her room. Jess places it down, quickly grabbing her backpack by the door before heading for the porch to pull off her shoe and replace them with a pair of blades. The second they were strapped on, shoes shoved into the backpack, she took off with a wave as a goodbye. She didn’t bother looking back, not giving any chance for his mind to change. The sunlight felt warm against her pale skin, the fluffy white clouds drifting by providing a picture perfect view as well as a bit of shade now and then during her travels. It didn’t take long to make her way into town and it currently wasn’t long before she found areas much different than the street she was on. It seemed there was a clear ‘type’ to each of the roads she had managed to see so far.
She passed many potential places to look for work, noting some of them down in her mind as she went. It wasn’t like she could go home completely empty handed and not have her dad suspect something. The last thing she needed was to be confined to the house for lying. It just wasn’t on the top of her list on things to complete at the moment. She did have to give it to her Aunt though, this place was quite beautiful. It had an old fashioned charm to it and was as if locked in time, stuck in the past but still a part of the future. It was interesting to think about. Jess found herself stopping now and then to pull out her camera, snapping a few shots before placing it away and moving onward. It felt like no time at all before she found herself at the bottom of a hill, too steep for her to continue up and probably would have still been too steep had she been on a bike. She could pass up the opportunity, just continue on without investigating the building at the top but where was the fun in that?
Jess plopped onto the curb, yanking off her skates and replacing them with sneakers. She pulled the bottom of her ripped jeans over the top of her shoe, hating the feel of them trying to tuck into her shoe. She jumped up, brushing off the back of her baggy striped orange shirt and readjusted her denim vest she had on before heading up the hill. Once at the top, she noticed the building was actually the public library which was intriguing enough. The building itself did not really look like any library she had ever seen but it was probably used for different purposes when it had originally been built. She figured while she was here, she might as well check up on some of the town's history, see if there weren't any kind of books on the place she was gonna call home for the time being. She carefully made her way inside, trying to be as quiet as possible. She glanced around but it was hard since it was quite impressive on the inside, the place called to the small part of her that was a book lover.”Amazing.”, she whispered softly in complete awe.