3.BEVERLY HILLS

ZACK’S POV

We reached the place which was our hometown called Beverly hills...A town which had not a lot of population but had lots of forests in it and it had the biggest beach of the whole area. I have never visited nor heard about my hometown. But yeah, I had once heard mom saying that we had some relatives in the town next to our hometown but I had never seen them nor talked to them in my life. I was a total stranger to the place. 

Mom and I were both equally tense to start afresh in such an alienated place. I didn’t have any friends here. The only thing I had was my mother and she herself was going through a real tough time. She had to find a job then bring everything back to normal. She was not ready to give up and wanted to take up the responsibility of me, my training, education and all. at this point of time, I didn’t want to Indulge in an argument with her so I silently planned to help her in all ways I could. finally, we arrived at our house in which we were going to live In. On the first look, it looked as if it was a haunted mansion with creepy plants all over it walls and all the rusty fence and exteriors. It clearly showed that no one had lived there in a decade. The place needed a high-end cleaning and maintenance to make It worth living.  

Seeing the house made my mom bring out a tiny smile on her delicate lips. What was there to smile seeing this haunted mansion?? Even though her face was looking tired and dull, that tiny curve made It brighter. Thought it was weird, I still felt ease seeing her mood light up and it made me more curious to know what had made her smile after so long? what had fired up Inside her seeing such a place. I didn’t want to be an ant in her heaven, so I let her enjoy her moment and didn’t ask any thing to her. The house was way too old, still It had a unique touch to It. We were to adjust to every kind of situation we were to face in the new town and living in the house was the very first challenge!!!

We entered the house and the furniture inside the house were covered with white dusty sheets. Lee was the first to show his disapproval to live in such a place by not getting out of the car so I had to take him in my arms. I let him down once we got In but he was not Interested in running around and exploring the dirty place, so he stuck himself to mom and she took him in her arms.

"Oh my god! Why is this place in such a condition? I had Informed the caretaker about our arrival and he has still not cleaned the house?" She stood expressionless and looked around the house examining It. The tiny curve on her face had already faded seeing the inside and interiors of our so-called new house.

 She had asked the caretaker to clean the house before our arrival. Guess he hadn’t had enough time to finish It. It wasn’t his fault though. The house was such a mess for him to handle alone. We heard the sound of someone and turned to see who It was. It was our caretaker. He came to us and introduced himself.

"Hello Mrs. Grover, I'm Dalton. Sorry, I couldn’t finish the cleaning. There was a lot to do and I alone couldn’t do It In such a short span. Please give me some more time. I will finish it off quickly” he told us. 

Dalton was a man in his late 50's. But he was a true country man with a strong body for that age. He told us the same things that I had guessed in my mind. 

"Leaving this hall, I have cleaned and made up the other parts of the house Including your bedrooms. you can move to your rooms and I will bring you luggage soon" he Informed us. 

Mom and I went to our rooms to freshen up. My room had a different vintage vibe and a window similar to that of my old house. It had a view of the nearby beach. I then saw a lighthouse on the beach. It was a rare sight I had seen for a long time. All I could remember of my good old days were the time with my friend on track, my cute girlfriend’s clumsiness, my dad coaching me, the delicious food made by mom after our training and the walks I took with Lee In the streets. It was my life which was no more. When you lose the pillar on which you used to balance upon, it makes you balance on your own and this Independence Is what makes you strong. Even if life gives us lemons, we need to stand by ourselves and make lemonade out of it!!!

But It’s not that simple as it is to say it. It takes courage, inward strength, confidence and a trust to bring our life in which we have lost everything, back on track. It takes time. Maybe a lot of time, in fact, a lot of It but at the end of everything that lemonade can freshen us and help us start a new beginning. we had to be on our own and take up responsibilities of each other. we had to adjust with the all sorts of awkward situations. our world had changed in just a snap and to rebuilding it was a tough job.

I set up my room and then went to mom to see her and her room. She was there hanging up a frame of dad. He looked handsome. I really miss that man. His words, motivation and training were what I was made up of. Every boy has someone he admires the most in the world and to me it was his dad. 

“How’s the house?” mom saw me standing at the door and asked me.

"It's not so bad" though I didn’t feel anything about the house, I didn’t want to disappoint her.

Mr. Dalton Interrupted us unknowingly and informed us about the lunch. Well, I was not at all hungry because I had been trying to digest the whole situation which I never ever wanted to go through.

“I’m going to take a walk in the neighbourhood” I looked at mom and told her in a lost tone. 

"Have food and then go I" mom asked me in a lonely tone but I couldn't stop myself.

I let go of her hands and came outside but felt bad about something. I quickly went back to the house and saw that she was having lunch. Lee had laid himself on a sheet of cloth next to her. I went straight up to her and hugged her tightly. I couldn’t say anything because she was too soft and weak. It had been so long that I had touched her and now she seemed so fragile!!!

I was numb to see her in that condition and I looked into her eyes.

"I love you forever mom" I whispered into her ears and her lips trembled with mixed emotions of happiness and sadness. She really needed those comforting words.

 My words gave somewhat strength to mom and her face brightened up a bit. I was happy about that. It relieved me of the heaviness I had when I stepped out. I started to take a walk through the town and noticed that it was a calm place. There were not many people living in the town. I noticed that the people over here were actually kind and whoever saw me smiled as If they knew who I was. It was not a new thing to be noticed as a newcomer in such a small town. The news would flash upon the town even before we shifted. There was not a chance for people of my age and it really astonished me. I even wondered whether I was the only teenager here.

On my way, I saw an old woman trying to pick up the veggies that had fallen off her bag which was torn. I quickly rushed to her and helped her pick it up.

"Thank you so much son. you are a really kind soul" she thanked me. I gave her an expressionless nod and noticed that she was examining me head to bottom.

 “Are you the newcomer who had shifted to the old mansion” she questioned me. It became obvious for me that she knew most of the people in the town.

But her, referring to our house as the old house made me feel awkward. Still, I nodded yes to her.

“Son, what are you doing in the streets at this time? "She continued her questions. 

I felt weird as why would someone ask such a question on taking a walk on the street during afternoon and to my horror, she saw my confused face and laughed. 

“don't be stunned son. children of the town during this time would either be in the beach or in the high school. They are only found in these two places and it was a rare scene to notice them on the streets” she smiled at me saying this.

Now that was a very good explanation which made me understand why everyone noticed me and why I couldn’t notice anyone of my age in the town. I thanked her for the information and headed my path to the beach. 

When I reached the beach, I was strangely struck with a good feeling. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place to hang out. And to be honest, the place looked as if it was the high school of the town. It was filled with the teens of the place. As it was the weekend, it seemed like there was a party going on. I was not in a circumstance to further explore the beach due to the crowd and so was turning back my path when suddenly someone jumped in front of me and startled me too much. He was of the same age as me. 

“HI, I’m Michael aka Mike as everyone calls me that” Mike Introduced himself.

I was dumbfounded by his open-ended attitude and gave him an unnerving nod because I had no mood to make new friends.

"Are you I, the newcomer?" Mike asked me eagerly and I nodded the same nod I gave the old women I met in the streets.

“Hey guys I Is here”. the next moment of hearing my conformation Mike shouted to everyone.

“You have arrived at the right time. The party was waiting for you” he turned to me and had a wicked smirk.

Mike swung his arms around my shoulder and took me to a shack where everyone was staring at me. I was already blank as everything was happening unexpectedly without me having any idea about it and I began to feel awkward and insecure in such a new environment. I was the star and a bad boy of my old high school as I was known as the champion athlete with a cold charisma. But now in this situation I felt apprehensive to be the star of the crowd. But not to make their efforts waste as the party was thrown only for me, I took a glass of drink and said cheers with a faded smile. Everyone was happy to have me with them but seriously, I was not!!!

 Just then a gang of boys approached me and introduced themselves. Every high school had a gang of boys who consider themselves the heroes while the others, mere waste. They always made themselves shown as the only worthy youth of the place with a high ending attitude and these boys were exactly of those kinds. But now, things were going to be different because the bad boy has arrived!!!