Summit sucks.

This town completely sucks, and I hate the fact that we needed to move here. My parents tried to convince me that this move meant I was in for new beginnings, but I don't want any damn new beginnings. I want to be back in our loft in Rockport City.

From the backseat of the car I watched as we drove through the small, pathetic looking town. The size of Summit didn't seem to prevent it from being just as fucked up as anywhere else. I watched as we drove through the poor neighborhoods, with dilapidated houses that the owners couldn't afford to upkeep. I watched the abrupt switch from lower class to middle class as the houses got nicer and better taken care of. Our car stopped in front of these houses, with a sold sign stuck into the well-manicured lawn. I felt a twinge of guilt as I remembered all the rundown houses we passed by earlier.

Through the corner of my eye, I saw my mother motioning for me to take my headphones off. I complied with a sigh.

"So, what do you think?" she asked excitedly as she turned to face me, her 22 inch Malaysian hair swinging the same direction as her head moved. My mother was aging gracefully, her slight smile lines and crow's feet just a pleasant reminder of all the laughs and smiles that she's had over the years.

I sighed. "It's a house. It's nice I guess." I shrugged to punctuate my sentence.

My mother's maroon lips formed into a pout, and I felt slightly bad for a moment. Only slightly.

"Oh come on, keep an open mind Jett! You might like here, but you'll never know if you don't give it a try." Her optimism almost made me gag.

"Yeah, I'm sure living here will be amazing, and everything I've ever dreamed of," my voice dripped with sarcasm.

My mother sighed, and my father chimed in. "This place just might surprise you." His added optimism made me want to bang my head against the window. Am I the only one that wants to go home? Our real home?

Offering a sigh of my own, I pushed the car door open, grabbed my duffel bag with a few of my personal belongings, and headed to the front door of the house, toying with my copy of the keys in my hands. Not waiting for my parents, who were probably admiring the outside of the moderately sized brick home, I took a few tries with the multiple keys to find the one for the front door.

Once I was inside, my mission was to find my room. I had absolutely no desire to explore the house, with its mahogany floors and eggshell colored walls. The moving truck had dropped our things off along with my father yesterday, so the rooms were filled with labeled boxes. I ran upstairs and peeked through the doorways until I located boxes with my name on it. My room was decently sized, and received enough natural light during the day that I didn't need to turn on the light. My bed looked like it was hastily assembled in the middle of the room, so I pushed it against one of the walls, kicked off my shoes, and threw myself on it.

After staring up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity before I finally got bored, I went into my bag and pulled out my laptop, powering it on and loading Netflix. Even though I had watched it several times before, I selected Archer and got ready to be thoroughly entertained.

Before that could happen, however, there was a knock at my opened door.

My mother cleared her throat. "Uh uh, you are not sitting on your computer all day and watching God knows what. Get up." She had her hands on her hips, offering me a look that let me know not to mess with her.

So, instead of making a smart remark about sitting on computers, I paused the show and sat up. "Mom I really don't want to unpack right now. That drive was tiring."

She chuckled. "The drive was less than an hour, and you weren't even the one driving!" she exclaimed in disbelief at my laziness. "But fine, you don't have to unpack right now. I still don't want you on that computer all day. Go out and explore or something." She clapped as she said that last sentence, as if she had just come up with the greatest idea.

I groaned.

Excitedly, she continued. "Come on, I'm sure it'll be fun! Take the car and see what this town has to offer. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Sighing, I pulled my shoes towards me and slowly put them on. By the time I finished tying the laces, my mom had gone and got the car keys, tossing them at me. I caught them and stood up to leave. Before I left, my mom took my face in her hands and kissed my cheek.

"Be safe sweetie, I love you." I cringed internally, mumbling an 'I love you too'.

-

There wasn't much to Summit.

Besides houses, there were only a few stores and hangouts scattered among the town. I had only been driving for about ten minutes when I found the town square, where I decided to stop because it looked the most interesting. Even so, there were only a few stores within it. There was a hardware store, an arts and crafts store, a pharmacy, an electronics store, a small movie theater, and an ice cream shop. The ice cream shop caught my attention, Sweet Tooth, a fitting name.

Parking the car, I got out and made my way inside. A small bell signaled my arrival to the store,the pastel pink walls oddly welcoming and comforting. The one employee inside immediately looked up and offered me a warm smile. Around my age, her skin was the color of burnt caramel, and her hair sat in frizzed ringlets past her shoulders. Her braces gleamed in the light, complementing the glossiness of her plump lips.

Put simply, she was the best thing I've seen in Summit so far.

Seemingly noticing that she's never seen me before, I saw confusion set into her face as she maintained a friendly smile. "Welcome to Sweet Tooth! How may I help you?" she said cheerily

"Ah, um," I cleared my throat, and scratched the back of my neck. She caught me off guard.

She giggled melodically. "I'll give you time to decide."

And I did need time to decide. There were surprisingly at least 20 flavors to choose from, and I can admit that I was a little overwhelmed by the selection. In the end, I copped out and got my regular, mumbling an order for two scoops of cookies and cream.

"So, where are you from?" the girl asked as she expertly scooped out my ice cream.

"I'm uh, from Rockport City," I said softly.

She smiled. "Well, Mr. Rockport City, I'm Dulce." She offered the information happily.

"I'm Jett."

"It's nice to meet you Jett. Are you just passing through?"

"Nah, I actually just moved here." I said with a bit of lingering disbelief. It was almost like I was denial, and admitting it out loud made it feel too real.

Still smiling, she handed me my cup of ice cream. "Well, welcome to Summit, Jett."