The sun is starting to set, signaling an end to her first full day in Solace. It is not as world shattering as Jessie thought. It isn’t even that difficult. Everyone at the school seems to be understanding of her messed up situation. Somehow she feels at home in this small awkward town. The principal even let her have the day off to finish getting settled. At first she thought it was a bad idea, but taking an extra day before starting school had turned out to be a good, and painless, choice.

Now there are only a few boxes left in the living room waiting to be unpacked. It is hard to believe how much stuff her mom has managed to ship out. The kitchen is packed full. There have been a few times she wasn’t sure she was going to get the cabinets shut. She may have more gadgets and plates than her mother. How much does one person need? It’s insane. And then there are all the books and movies. She could run a library and movie rental store out of the house. Did her mom keep anything in the old two-story house? It feels like her entire life, and previous home, is crammed into this tiny house. Like her mother is purging the family home of all things that remind them of her. A bittersweet ending to her previous life.

Jessie stands up and stretches. She counts the remaining boxes trying to decide where to put the rest of the things. Another bookshelf or maybe a storage cabinet is going to be needed. The stacks of boxes make the house seem smaller. But how is she going to get anything to the house? It is still another two months before she turns sixteen. Even then there is no guarantee she can get a car with this new family arrangement. It’s never felt so inconvenient to not be able to drive before. Thankfully someone in the city somewhat patched the main road to her place. It is at least good enough she can get her new bike up the mountain, which is all she cares about.

Her first trip to the town diner was interesting. Talking to some of the people at the diner, it’s clear that no one had lived in this house for a while. There is no form of public transportation up here, which is probably why her uncle bought her the bike. Thankfully they are going to find someone to come get her trash down at the house. Pulling that up the mountain would not have been fun. The other problem is the doctors. They all operate out of the hospital, which is fine, except it’s outside Solace another mile up the mountain. That’s quite the bike ride when she isn’t really used to biking. If she gets sick she is in trouble. Is she really going to be able to survive a winter up here on her own? Being an adult isn’t as fun as she envisioned it being.

Jessie searches around for her backpack. She needs to at least look at what classes she is going to start taking tomorrow. It looks like similar classes to what she has taken before. She just hopes her mother gets the last of the paperwork back to the school tomorrow. How did she forgot to finish the paperwork for her school transfer? Thankfully the principal is willing to let her take classes for a week while they wait for her mother to return the paperwork. The principal wants Jessie focusing on adjusting to the new school environment and not paperwork. It seems surreal that the town is so small that the entire school district fits inside an old factory building. There is still enough space left over at the school that most of the town could probably move into it. The secretary even gave her a map of the school complete with which door to use so she doesn’t have wander empty space inside the school. It is both cool and creepy to have such an odd school.

Jessie finds her backpack and drags it along the floor into her room. She half tosses it onto her bed, planning on doing the homework she was given. No reason to start slacking off before she even starts school. With everyone being so nice to her today she doesn’t want to toss it back in their face by being a slacker. Besides, why give a reason for her parents, more importantly her mother, to show up whining? No way. She is not going prove her family right and become useless. She isn’t able to keep her promise to Sarah about where she graduated but she can still graduate. Jessie flops on the bed pulling out all the books, stifling a yawn.