Tammy's POV

"Are we there yet?" Dustin whined in the back seat.

"Yes" Dizzy responded sarcastically.

"Really" he asked as his eyes lit up.

"Of course not. If we were, we wouldn't still be in the car" she answers matter-of-fact like.

"Mom! Dizzy's being mean to me" Dustin pouted.

"Desire, be nice to your brother" she scolded half-awake.

We've been in our mom's blue minivan for the past one and a half hours on our way to our new home in Seattle, against our wills might I add. One might wonder why our parents couldn't have sprung for a house much closer to the airport.

Dizzy and Dustin were already at each others throats, as usual, Monica and Theo dozed off a while back and as for me, I was taking in my new surroundings.

Though there wasn't much to take in. We passed a few houses, some stores and the occasional park. It all looked the same to me and I could tell from Dustin's bored expression I wasn't the only one thinking this. And he's usually the one excited about everything.

Then again we could be giving a biased judgment of the situation given neither of us wanted to be here at all.

'Why are we here if we don't want to be?' you might ask. Well you can thank our ever-caring guardians for that.

Not guardians like actually guards, I mean my parents.

Mom had finally landed the promotion she has been waiting for her whole career, and this should be a good thing and it would have been.

If she hadn't been stationed in a whole other freaking continent!

Part of me wanted to be happy for her, congratulate her even, but after we heard where exactly she would serve...

"Family meeting everyone!" My dad yelled from downstairs.

"Now!" He added when he didn't get a response with was rewarded with a few groans from us kids.

Family meetings meant either one -or sometimes all- of us was in trouble or my parents actually had good news to share. It's probably the former.

We all reluctantly got off the couch, or floor, of the upstairs living room and made our way down the stairs after the complaints of shoving and moving too slowly along the way.

"Okay, now that you all are here we would like to discuss-"

"It was him!" We all chorused in unison as we pointed at Dusty.

"What?" He asked defensively

"Oh come on Dust bunny, just take the fall. We all know your their favourite" Theo urged receiving a glare in response from Dustin.

"Okay, that's enough" Mom said, interrupting the stare down between the two brothers.

"Firstly, we'll talk about that later and secondly we didn't call you guys here to scold you"

"You didn't?" Dustin and Theo ask simultaneously before turning to glare at each other.

"No, we actually have some news we wanted to share" She says, sounding excited.

"Can't it wait until morning?" I ask, rubbing my eyes earning me a pinch from Dizzy who sat to my left.

There are three couches in the living room. One in the middle -being the longest and facing the TV- where Dizzy, Nia and I sat, me being in the middle, one to the left -which is the second longest- where my parents sat, and the shortest one being to the right, where Dustin sat with Theo on the arm rest for being too slow. Parallel to the second longest chair. With the coffee table at the centre.

Got that? Good. If you didn't, sucks to be you

"Okay", Dad started, "You know that job promotion your mom applied for that she's been praying for for the past... ever?"

"Yeah" we answered expecting more.

"She got the promotion!"

What?! No way! That's awesome!!Congrats mom! we're the responses they got but not before they told us everything.

"But if she accepts it we're gonna have to move..."

"We don't mind moving a few states" I said and we all agreed which rarely happens to show how genuinely happy we were for our mom.

Note the past tense.

"... to America"

"Wait, what?!"

There was a long silence until the boys yelled in unison,

"America, here we come!"

That was three months ago. Now here I am in the breezy streets of Seattle wondering why the streets are so spotless.

I know they have street sweepers and all but so did we back in Johannesburg and our streets couldn't brag of being this clean.

The drive took another half an hour but in the end we finally made it. We all got out and began to unpack the load we were able to bring. We didn't bring much due to the fact the house we bought was already furnished so everyone just carries what belonged to them.

I glanced at Nia who had brought multiple -I didn't bother to count- glittery sea green suitcases filled with clothes, make-up and other accessories (even though mom promised to take us shopping for new stuff once we were settled in).

For some it was going to be harder than others.

I had to admit that this house was much bigger than our last, with a huge backyard and a pool. It had five bedrooms: one for the parents, one for Dizzy as she's the oldest (lucky), one for me and Nia to share, one for the boys, Theo and Dustin, and one as a guest room.

The boys were everywhere, ooing and ahing at different sights, while us girls went to go and find the best room. Luckily Nia and I were upstairs first so we called dibs on the only other room -besides my parents' -with a balcony. Much to the dismay of the boys, though everyone else was secretly glad considering they were capable of jumping off the balcony.

We unpacked our things and got things ready for dinner since it was getting late.

Then we went to bed, exhausted from the day. I know I was supposed to be mad at my parents for dragging me all the way to another continent but I couldn't help the smile that crept unto my face as I dreamt of the wonders this new world had in store for me.

A/N

Hello lilly pads and all my magnificent readers new and old (I am just so happy I finally started a book again!). I hope you liked this chapter💝

If you did, please don't forget to leave a vote, a comment or add this book to your library✨

What do you guys think of Tammy and her family so far? Would love to hear your opinions of the book so far❤️

I would love to have your support as I go on this writing journey with you guys. Your support encourages me to update more often. As I am starting this book you will see a lot of updates but with time I will slow down - just a warning- but I will keep to a schedule🕔

Some of you might be wondering why I used that picture at the beginning of the chapter. Honestly, I dunno. The girl just looks hopeful and at peace and I just fell in love with the picture at first sight and wanted to share it with you guys🎀

Lots of love,
~Your fellow lillipad💖

[And yes, I end all my A/N paragraphs with an emoji for those who noticed🥰]