Samantha pulled up in a moving van to her new house. It was quaint, it was a big change. It hadn’t struck her yet how different her life would be now. Today was her first day in Middleton, Maine. A small fishing village on the Northernmost East shore with a population of 153. Her family made it 156. Big whoop.
It was the beginning of August. Samantha was 17. She wasn’t very happy that she had gone to school the same place all her life only to switch schools for her senior year. Plus she would be switching from a school of 3,000 to a school of 200 in the next town over.
It was such a big contrast. She had previously lived in San Francisco. Everything was in walking distance. Here in Middleton there was one four way stop. Three of the four ways went to different towns, the closest was a twenty minute drive. The Road heading north went to the harbor and the lighthouse.
It was a half mile walk to the four way stop, plus all that was there was a gas station with a convenience store/ deli, a church, a town meeting room, the sheriff’s office, and a diner. If you wanted anything else, you had to travel.
The reason why she was here was that her grandma had recently passed away leaving her property to Samantha’s father. Samantha’s dad had saved up a decent amount of money. He couldn’t retire in San Francisco, but he had the money to retire here in Middleton where his sister still lived. After all Samantha would be going off to college soon, she was the youngest of three girls, and Samantha’s dad liked quiet rural life. He had grown up here, in the house he was inheriting.
Samantha brought boxes into the house. They had lived in a small apartment, they didn’t have a ton of things. Her new house was huge. It would have cost millions in San Francisco, but this wasn’t San Francisco, the people here could afford similar houses on fishing wages.
Samantha claimed her room. And put her boxes there. Samantha sat on her bed. She may have dozed off a little she wasn’t sure.
“Samantha, come down here. We’re going to dinner with Auntie May’s family.”
Samantha really just wanted to rest. She wasn’t hungry. But she did want to see her cousin Kaitlin who was the same age she was. They previously only saw each other every few years. Now they would see each other almost daily.
Kaitlin met Samantha with a hug. They last saw each other when they were fourteen. Kaitlin had grown a ton she had light blonde hair that went all the way down to her butt. She had freckles under her blue eyes.
Samantha had grown up too. She was 5’ 7″, about an inch taller than Kaitlin. Samantha’s brown hair only went just past her shoulders. Samantha also had freckles.
They sat at a different booth than their parents. They started up where they left off. “You have a good move?” asked Kaitlin
“I guess, it’s a long drive in the moving van.” Samantha didn’t want to talk a lot about the move, it was boring. “What’s there to do around here?”
“Well you can go to the beaches, they’re nothing compared to California beaches though. Most are more like cliffs. There’s lots of hiking through forests and fishing.”
None of that interested Samantha. “So that is what all the teenagers do for fun?”
“I know, there’s not much” Kaitlin lowered her voice “There are a lot of times where a group of us will sneak out and drink in the woods. They’re going tonight too.”
That was more like it. Still it wasn’t much.
Their food came, the rest of dinner was Samantha telling Kaitlin how San Francisco was. Samantha didn’t like talking much, but Kaitlin really liked hearing about life in a city.
Kaitlin asked their parents if Samantha could spend the night.