Chapter 4

I noticed Josh wasn't in the van as we got in. Mum didn't ask so I knew right away they were all up to something. I was intrigued.

"Where's Josh Dad?" I tried not to sound interested.
"Oh he wasn't feeling good so I took him home." He shot a mum a grin and that confirmed it.
My parents loved surprising us. And secretly I still loved it. Although I would never admit it to them.

We stopped at a supermarket and filled up almost 2 carts with all the food and supplies we needed. I couldn't believe the food available here. I knew I had to watch myself or else I will be filling out in all the wrong places. Luckily mum was pretty good at choosing healthy food so I put all my faith in her. We loaded up the van with all our groceries and headed home.

I took time to take in the scenery on the ride home and noticed one of our neighbours places for the first time. It was very similar to ours, except for the huge red barn behind it. I had always wanted to have a barn and play in hay and do all those silly things I saw in movies.

As we pulled in Josh came out to the van to help us bring everything in.
"You don't look sick" I teased knowing the truth. He just winked at me and grabbed a handful of shopping bags.
"We better get this inside guys, looks like its going to rain." Dad warned us as I looked up at the sky. I hadn't noticed until now that it had gotten very grey and cloudy. As if to answer him a loud clap of thunder boomed over us.
Mum screamed and ran inside. She hated storms. I laughed and followed her.

Once we had everything inside I helped mum put it all away while dad and Josh disappeared upstairs. I was dying to know what they were up to. Finally we got everything put up and the cupboards were so full we could hardly close them. Mum seemed so much happier now with a kitchen full of food.

I headed up to my room to put away all my new stuff and noticed that my "study" door was closed. I turned the handle but it didn't open.
"Hey what's the deal?" I yelled through the door. I heard them both laughing. Damn, what were they doing.
"Hold on." Dad said, still laughing. He opened the door and stepped aside so I could walk in.

They had been busy. I realised that Josh must have done most of it while we were out. They had bought me a desk, bookshelf and an office chair. They had my computer all set up and even put my few books on the bookshelf. I was speechless. Josh walked over to me a threw his arm around my shoulders.
"What do you think?"
"Wow." That was all I could manage. I couldn't believe they had done all of this in such a short time.
"We have some more stuff coming but this should do you for now." Dad explained.
"This is great guys. Thanks so much." I managed to find my words. "What else is coming?"
"Well mum insisted we get you a sofa in here, and we thought a sofa bed would be practical so that's ordered and she also wants to get you a rug and some other stuff, but I think she wants you to choose those kinds of things."

I let them show me all the stuff they did then I finally got to enjoy my study alone. They had hooked up my computer to the internet network that was wired through the house so the first thing I did was log into my email. As I gathered I had a bunch from all my friends back home wanted to know how I was and how awesome America was. My friend Laura was already asking me about the boys here.

Boys. That was a strange subject for me. Technically I had never had a boyfriend. Josh was partly to blame for that. Not that he did anything. But I had heard from friends that most guys didn't ask me out because they were scared of Josh. The others didn't ask me because of my mum. She was the Librarian at our old school. Thank god she has no decided to take time off. So I didn't stand a chance. The only boys I did talk to were Josh's friends but most of them were very popular and were not interested in someone like me.

My friends assured me I was pretty. They always talked about how jealous of my hair they were and my skin was flawless. But I saw myself as too pasty and bony and almost sick looking. I was starting to think I would never fill out and always be this boyish girl that no one would ever want to go out with.

I logged out of my email without even replying. It was too depressing at that moment. I decided to go and put away all the clothes I had gotten today to cheer myself up. I forgot how much stuff mum had insisted on buying and it took me a while to get it all put away. I was already putting outfits together in my head for school, which was starting in a week.

That was not something I was looking forward to.