The New Beginning

By Jim Wagner

Shawn and Stephanie are young teens that have it all. They live in a great apartment in New York City that overlooks Central Park, and their mother is very rich. Life could not be better for them until their mother divorces and decides to change their address, not a little, but a lot. She decides to move the family to Cairns, in Australia, half-way around the world.
Stephanie is certainly not impressed with the decision and does everything in her power to make it NOT happen, which does not work. The move is made and the three of them face many disasters and multiple problems as soon as they step out of their apartment door. Shawn tries his best to fix everything while Stephanie over reacts very loudly to every odd situation that occurs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jim Wagner
• Release date: Dec 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781921947568

Jim Wagner

I was born in Cincinnati and grew up in the American Mid-West. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received a Masters in Education from the University of Cincinnati. I became a teacher and found a job teaching English and Film and Television at Trinity Bay State High School in Cairns, Australia. As a teacher I wrote many One Act Plays that students enjoyed performing in. I became the Rugby coach at the school and began writing novels that my students could read, relate to and understand. I decided to publish the novels under the name of Teen Friendly Books. At present I have 24 written and 15 published. My plan is to write many more books for teens to read and enjoy.

Book preview

The New Beginning

by Jim Wagner

This Edition published by Teen Friendly Books at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 by Jim Wagner

This ebook is licensed for you personal enjoyment only. The book may not be re-sold or given to others. The book remains the copyrighted property of the author.

A Teen Friendly Book

A sister can be hard work

Chapter 1

My Sister

I know my sister. I know what she does before she will consider going out in public. Most days she looks at herself in the mirror for at least two hours before she is satisfied with what she sees.

I know on this day, her first in a new situation, she would be looking at herself in the mirror, shaking her head in disbelief and disgust.

She would not be impressed. As she stood there looking at a mouth filled with metal, How long do braces take to do their work? she would be fuming. Two pimples were on the rise and she was wearing the ugliest uniform in the world. She would be thinking about how her life changed and so quickly, how it had gone to the dogs in such a short time.

This day was to be her first day at a new school, in a new town in a new country. She was now living in the slums as she saw it. Gone was the apartment that overlooked the Park. Now she lived in a house that looked like everyone else’s.

Who in their right mind would make 15 year old girls wear black shorts as part of a uniform? They have no form and no style; no style! I heard that comment screamed again and again and again, at least a hundred times in the days before our first day of school.

I know that’s what she saw, a girl with no style frowning back at her. And the shirt is so ugly, grey with a green boat on it. Grey and colorless and mostly ugly! Ugly, ugly, ugly and unattractive. I have never worn a boat on a shirt ever! She told mother time and time again.

What impression would she make? Not a very good one. She was certainly sure about that. She wanted to sparkle. She wanted to look good and feel good. Instead she looked like a dork and felt like one too.

Mother called her name and said it was time to go. I know Stephanie’s pace. She would slowly picked up her bag, take one last look in the mirror for ten minutes to see if anything had changed, but no luck, she would still see the same skinny stick wearing a hugely dull uniform.

She arrived in the kitchen to see me dressed in the same uniform that she was wearing. She shook her head and screamed. Imagine wearing the same outfit as her brother, like they were twins. I said, We look like twins" to make her a little bit more angry, as if she needed that.

This was my first day at the new school too, in the new town and it was also my first day in High School.

I was not looking forward to it. I was not in the least worried about the uniform. I did not remember or even care about the clothes I wore. My mother often told me to put something different on because I had been wearing the same thing for a week. I never noticed. I never thought much about the clothes that I wore.

I had other worries about this day. I was sure my head would be flushed in the toilet and I would get lost on my way to class and be laughed at and tortured by big, monstrous kids. I heard all of the stories and was terrified about what was about to happen.

But this is not the start of the story. The story began a few weeks ago in New York City, the city where I was born, the city I knew for twelve years before my mother decided we needed a change.

Chapter 2

The Loud Shout

Some said it was an unbelievably loud shout, others claim it was more like a horribly high pitched scream. I heard it and I was 10 blocks away and was glad that I was 10 blocks away.

We knew life was going to change. My mother and father had been fighting for months, years really. Finally, enough was enough and their final shouting match ended in him walking out.

She said that she did not want to be anywhere near him. We thought that meant that we were going to go to live in another part of the city, or move out to the country. We got that wrong.

That’s when my lovely, uptight 15 year old sister let it rip. That’s when my mother informed her that we were moving to Australia.

Australia! Australia! Australia! she shouted and shouted and shouted and shouted. After five minutes of uninterrupted screaming she started asking questions very loudly, What is an Australia? Where is Australia? How far away from my real life will I be? And why do I have to go live there? Why oh why oh why me!!!! Why do I have to go!

Then she sobbed wildly, then stomped wildly, then cried and shouted wildly.

She emphasized the ‘I’ when she ranted. She always emphasized the ‘I’. The whole world revolved around that ‘I’. Everything we did was always built around her and how she felt about it.

This news certainly threw her. I am a New York City Girl! she kept screaming to let the whole city know. I am a Park Avenue Girl! This city is me! This apartment is me!

She certainly did not want to change her life at all. She was considered the queen, the centre of her group, the social co-ordinator, the one that everyone looked to for style and fashion and opinions.

Her friends all adored her. They barely had time to let her out of their sights, thoughts and minds. She constantly talked to them on the phone or was texting them when they were not around, and that was a rarity. They were always there.

How were they going to get along without her? Who would tell them what to do and what to wear and what to think? Who would take her place at the lunch table and advise them about who to talk to or who to totally avoid?

Who was going to be the Captain of the fashion police and totally comment on