RING! RING! RING! The bell sounded throughout the school, sending the campus into a tornado of students. I entered the classroom and sat down at my desk as my teacher began to rant about today’s lesson. The last class of the day always seems to drag on longer the rest. I peered around the class, noticing all my friends that I have become close with during my years here. I began to zone out from my teacher’s lecture as I stared out the window. I found myself thinking about how life would have been, if I grew up with different kids in another environment.

The image of the moving trucks sputtering away from my old house will always be seared into my memory. Moving was something that I never would've expected, yet it seems so long ago since the day that I walked out of my old apartment. It's been eight years.


"Kids, get in here! Dinner’s ready!" my mom called from the kitchen.


"Coming!" I hollered back from my room. I had been at my desk, practicing my addition, when my mom's voice pierced my bubble of concentration. The fragrant aromas from the kitchen filled the house. I stumbled out of my room to find my brothers, Brandon and Andrew, already drooling over their food.


"Don't eat yet!" My mom cried, "I have an announcement to make." She sounded uncertain when she spoke. "We'll be moving at the end of the school year." For a moment, the world was still. I could see the doubt in her eyes, but my brothers’ sense of curiosity had forced them to forget about their food. I stared at them in a daze. There was only a week left before the end of the school year. I was picturing only now, my home in Linda Vista, the place I had known my whole life but my parents were already thinking of something far beyond that.
Dinner ended up being an interrogation. My brothers showered my parents with questions about what our new home would be like. I sat there, poking at my food, listening intently to the conversation.


"Where is it?" Brandon asked, "Is it far from here?" My mom chuckled.


"Calm down," she gasped through her laughter, "We'll be checking it out tomorrow." My brothers began wolfing down their food, thinking that somehow time will go faster if they do. I still ended up finishing my food before my little brother Andrew, but it didn’t present much of a challenge since he was only 3. After dinner, everyone called it a night. The thought of tomorrow lingered in all of our heads. Like my brothers, I too was too excited to fall asleep. Suddenly, I was slapped by reality, realizing only now that I may no longer see my childhood friends if we left. Though I didn’t doubt my parents’ judgment to move, I was filled with uncertainty and worry which clouded the future. Eventually, sleep engulfed me into a deep slumber.


BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The annoying racket caused by my brothers awoke me the next morning. They raced across the house in a blur, leaving nothing but a mess. From their alertness and energy, I guessed they must have been awake for hours.


"Alright, kids, let's go; your dad's already waiting in the car." My mom ordered. "Chris, you can eat in the car." The car ride was a rollercoaster. My brothers were bouncing around inside the car, making it a thrilling yet irritating experience. The noise caused by my parent's unstoppable chatter only intensified the mayhem. It seemed like the nightmare would never end, but we finally reached the apartment- complex, somehow, in one piece. The apartment manager was already waiting for us. Wearing different clothes, she could have passed as a college student, but her current attire gave her a very mature vibe.


"You'll be living in this apartment." she told us. The apartment contained three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The walls were painted a blistering white, so bright it could have been mistaken for the sun. The soft carpet floors rolled down the hallway and into all the rooms, flooding the house in a sea of wool. The kitchen had tiles aligning across the floor with wood cabinets racing along the walls. It was bigger than our old apartment, for sure.
"You guys are going to be the first ones in this room. They just built this complex and very few people live here right now." The manager explained to us. My mom told the manager that we'd have to think about it first. That night, everyone was debating over the apartment like it was a presidential campaign.


"How do you kids feel about moving there?" My mom asked.


"We're up for it!" we all answered. Later that week, my life was transformed as I began my new life in that new environment.


RING! RING! RING! The ending school bell made me jump out of my seat, propelling me back into reality. Making my way through the bustling halls of the school, I smiled as I joined the company of my friends realizing how fortunate I really was. I'm a high school student now, living the great life of twenty hours of homework a day and five minutes of sleep. Back then, life was so much easier, learning how to color and tie our shoes. I couldn't help but look back upon my life and think that it could have been different, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I know that time can’t go backwards and it never will. All we can do is go with time the way it has always gone... forward. We all must keep moving forward.