Chapter One

"Ashton!" My mother yelled downstairs, I emptied my drawer and hastily arranged the contents in a bag. Two beads of sweat raced down my chin, I wiped them off and started scooping hair products from my table into the bag. I should have packed all these yesterday but I was a serial procrastinator.

"Ashton!" My mother yelled again, this time with a hint of frustration in her voice. I ran to my shoe rack and started putting the shoes in the bag. The problem with not arranging stuff is that they ended up taking up more space than they require, so I had to carefully arrange them despite being in a hurry.

"Ashton I swear to God if you make me come upstairs!" My mother called again, her voice a lot closer now.

"I'm coming ma!" I called back. I ran to the bathroom and started packing my toiletries, I could hear my sister arguing with my dad downstairs, probably about what she could and couldn't carry.

I finished packing the last of my belongings, it was time to leave this room, today, forever. I took one look at the now bare room, I still couldn't process the fact that we were leaving.

I half carried, half dragged my bag out the door and shut it behind me, my heart broke a little at the finality of it all. I pulled my bag down the stairs and into the living room. My mother's stern face greeted me.

"I specifically told you to pack your load last night". She said crossly.

"I know mom." I sighed.

"And what did you tell me?" She asked, folding her arms.

"I told you I had done it." I said. "I'm sorry for lying to you."

"When will you stop this truancy. She asked sadly. "Why do you keep doing this Ashton?"

I didn't have a reply to that so I just dragged my bag out the door to the car. For the past four days the tension in the house had been palpable, you could cut through the atmosphere with a knife. Coming to terms with the fact that our family name was tarnished, that we were in danger of being blacklisted, that we had to move towns, had been shocking, difficult and painful. And it was all my fault.

I heaved my bag into dad's car. Due to our loads being plenty, dad had hired a van from a moving company. The van took the bulk of the load while the rest was split between dad's and mom's cars. Dad was to drive the van, mum would drive her car and Dylan would drive dad's car.

After we finished loading the vehicles, dad pulled me aside. His blond hair was matted to his forehead with the sweat.

"I know you're probably feeling down and blaming yourself for this." He started and wiped of sweat from his brows." I want you to know it's not your fault, son."

I nodded absentmindedly. It was my fault, I knew it, he knew it, everybody knew it. It didn't matter how much we all tried to pretend things were fine, they weren't, and it was all thanks to me. I choked backed the tears that threatened to burst out.

"I'm serious son." Dad said again. "Mistakes happen all the time, we try our hardest to avoid them but they eventually happen to the best of us."

"Okay." I replied. "I didn't know which was worse, mom constantly reminding me I was a disappointment or dad pretending I wasn't."

The conversation was over, I walked to the house to take one last look at what had been my home for seventeen years. I stood in front of the glass door, my reflection stared back at me, the sun made my pale skin look pasty, my blond hair tousled slightly in the wind. This was the last time I'd be seeing this door, this house, this street.

We entered into our various vehicles and just like that, our journey began.

We left for Portentum on a Sunday morning. It was a hurried decision one my parents had taken to protect the family name. The sky was blue, the sun was bright and the humming of cars as they passed was music to my ears.

Yet I was sad, I found it hard to enjoy simple pleasures of travelling I normally would. I was introvert by nature and abhorred going out but travelling was something I particularly loved, watching the beautiful sights and feeling the car breeze while listening to music. But today i felt caged, my spirit was subdued.

We sat in the car silently, Dylan and i. It was impossible to tell we were brothers at first glance, while I was blond like our father, his hair was dark like our mother's. Where I was lean, almost lanky, he was muscular and quite built. He resembled our father in that aspect.

Right now he drove quietly, not saying a word to me or acknowledging my presence. He was mad at me and he had good reason to be, he had lost more than any of us, he would be leaving his girlfriend of two years behind.

He had only been this mad at me once, when we were younger he had this ceramic fork he really liked and treasured. One day out of boredom I took it and played with it. Long story short, it broke, he didn't talk to me for three days. I wondered how long his silent treatment would last now.

I thought to my younger sister, Jocelyn, how badly she had received the message that we were moving.

Jocelyn had cried when dad broke the news to her.  

"I don't want to move dad." She said between sobs, her chest heaving.

"It won't be fine, I don't want to leave my friends." She replied.

"You'll make new friends. Dad said with a finality that signified that was the end of the conversation, she continued to sob silently.

Mom acted like she wasn't bothered but it showed in the way she sluggishly carried the luggage to the car, the way she sighed as she sighed as she sat in the car, the way she reluctantly closed the front door, the way she sighed as she sat in the car, the way sighed as she sat in the car, the way she looked out the window as though she wanted to be anywhere but here.

Dad alone seemed genuinely unfazed by the entire ordeal, I wondered if he was just very good at hiding it.

They were making the biggest sacrifice, losing their friends over an offense they didn't commit. I felt terrible.

We arrived at Portentum in the evening. Portentum is a small town in the ouskirts of Michigan, the trees grew tall, the grasses were green and the sky was light blue with the faintest hint of sun you could see but not feel. All in all it was beautiful.

I hated it.

I hated that I had to leave Grimsby, I hated that we had that we had to spend potentially the rest of our lives in this green clean hell. The sky darkened as soon as we entered the town, the clouds threatened to empty their contents, I took it as an omen.

The more of the town I saw, the more impressed I was by its simple infrastructure, its clean streets, its sparse population. It was a completely different culture to Grimsby. A pair of cyclist rode by us, waving as they did. Ahead, a woman walked with her dog, a border colie. It was hard to hate Portentum but I'd be dammed if I didn't try.

We arrived at the house late in the afternoon. Packing and setting up was a lot more strenuous than expected, by the time we were done, it was night time already. Mom and Dylan cooked dinner and served it.

Midway through dinner, dad cleared his throat, the room fell silent.

"As you know, you kids will be resuming school tomorrow." He said. "I expect you to be on your best behaviour, first impressions matter in small towns like this." His gaze met mine.

I said nothing but my eyes screamed 'sure, kick a man while he's down'.

He sighed. "In towns like this, reputation matters more than anything. Anything you do will be counted against the family."

We promise to be on our best behaviour. Dylan said with faux solemnness.

I lay in bed that night, wondering what to expect from the school tomorrow. It was a relatively small school, the kids were bound tightly. They probably grew up together, as did their parents and their grandparents.

How would they react to a pale skin blond boy being their classmate. Would they accept me or treat me like an oddity or worse, would they despise me for coming in to alter the dynamics?

I wondered if there were any love interests waiting for me. I'd watched so many movies, I was familiar with the new boy in school trope. Was I about to experience it too?

One thing was sure, this town was a very strange one.