Mom and I spent all of Sunday cleaning, unpacking, organizing, arranging furniture, and generally becoming sticky and tired while Dad was up at his new office. Just as we finally got the chance to step back and admire our work, the doorbell rang. Mom quickly patted her face and pulled a light jacket on, while I quickly ran my fingers through my hair in an effort to make it look presentable. The doorbell rang again impatiently, and we both hurried to the door. Mom slowly opened the door to reveal a beaming woman carrying a covered dish and a teenaged boy I assumed to be her son.

“Hello,” the woman said brightly, “My name’s Olivia Campbell, and this is my son Joe. We live right next door there-” she pointed to the house- “And just figured we would come over to introduce ourselves.”

“Nice to meet you both- I’m Grace Novak, and this is my daughter Eleana,” Mom said, smiling politely.

“Nice to meet you,” I added, smiling as well. I snuck a glance at Joe and realized he was staring at me avidly in a rather unnerving fashion. He was a greasy sort of guy, with terrible posture and beady eyes, and his staring was unnerving, so much so that locking eyes with him sent a sort of chill down my spine, and I quickly looked away.

“…We just thought we’d bring over a little housewarming gift,” his mother was saying chirpily, offering the dish out to Mom, who accepted it carefully.

“That was so thoughtful of you, thank you,” she thanked our new neighbors, and Ms. Campbell beamed.

“Well, we don’t want to impose- just wanted to come over an introduce ourselves,” Joe’s mom said finally, after a brief awkward pause. “Nice meeting you both!”

“Nice meeting you both as well,” Mom and I both said, nearly simultaneously; Joe merely muttered a nearly indistinguishable “nice to meet you,” his eyes still on my face, before finally tearing his eyes away and following his mother across out yard back to our house. Mom watched them leave before quietly shutting the front door.

“What did they bring?” I asked, peeling back the aluminum foil on the dish. Store-bought sugar cookies covered with red, white, and blue sprinkles were arranged cheerily on the plate; I looked up at Mom expectantly, and she sighed wearily and motioned that I could have them.

“But don’t make a mess of your bedroom with them,” she called as I took the plate and hurried up the steps. “And don’t let your father see them, either!” she added, raising her voice. “Goodness knows he doesn’t need any more excuses to break away from his diet,” she said to herself, and I grinned as I headed towards my room.

I flopped onto my bed happily, munching on one of the cookies; thank goodness Mom and Dad are both on a diet, I grinned to myself, reaching for the remote earnestly and turning on the tiny television facing my bed from its place on the corner of my desk. Flipping through the channels impatiently, I paused at a family channel- a teen movie was playing, one of those movies featuring the fish-out-of-water new girl who has to adjust to and befriend the girls that reign her new school. Cookies forgotten, I watched the movie absent-mindedly, now fiercely reminded of the fact that I started at my new school tomorrow. Is that going to be me? I wondered anxiously. Am I going to be that girl who doesn’t fit in for months, who gets picked on until she manages to just “be herself” or whatever other television moral? My good mood now ruined, I quickly turned off the television and put the plate of cookies on the floor, curling up on my bed and losing myself in my own thoughts as the sun began to quietly set.

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Joe sat in the middle of his room with all the shades pulled down and the lights off. His hands were still shaking slightly in his lap from just the memory of her face. “Eleana,” he murmured to himself, the sound of it tasting sweet on his lips. Her messy blonde hair, her bright blue eyes, her quick flashing smile, the sound of her voice…he put his head in his hands, trying to get a hold of himself. She was beautiful to him- she was perfect to him.

“I’ve got to have her,” he swore quietly to the darkness. “I’ve got to.”