By the time I got home, my mom's car was sitting in the driveway, which was very unusual. She works as a secretary down at the Police station in town and on most days she wasn't home until 5:30/6:00. In the time between me getting home from school and her coming home from work, I usually have all of my homework done and I try to start and cook dinner so it could be ready by the time she gets home. I never want her to feel stressed out, even though working where she does– I'm sure it's hard not to be. She worked at the LAPD station back home with my dad, and I'm sure working in another station without him in it, isn't the easiest thing. Plus, there are all those missing kids and apparently, there are calls into the station every day from parents asking if there's any news or requesting to talk to an officer about their child. So even though I know it's practically impossible for her to come home without needing a few glasses of wine, I try to make it as easy on her as I can. We're a team after all.

I walked up the front porch steps and opened the front door–which of course was unlocked. The idea of it makes me uneasy, but it's really only unlocked when she's home and she knows I'm coming home soon. It was the way they did it back when she was growing up, but let's face it– that was before the Manson murders. Now it's a whole 'nother world. "Mom? You home?"

"Just in the kitchen sweetie!" She called out, as I closed the door behind me. "How was your last day of school?

"Well, I got invited to see a movie and a sleepover and then about five minutes later I got uninvited," I replied, tugging on my backpack straps as I headed towards the living room.

"What happened there?"

"Greta and Heather were picking on this girl in my class– Beverly Marsh. They dumped a trashcan full of water on her mom!" I let go of my backpack straps and I walked over to the dining room table, setting it in a chair. "And I guess Greta didn't like the fact that I stood up for her."

She looked away from the sink and sighed. "Well, what about Heather? That doesn't sound like her, at least not from what you told me. I thought you guys were good friends?"

"I did too, but I guess her and Greta are better friends."

"Oh Dani, I'm so sorry," she replied, walking over to me. "but I'm very proud of you for standing up to them. It's very hard to stand up against your friends."

"Not if they're not really your friends anymore," I mumbled, walking over to the island that stood in the middle of the kitchen. "So what's for dinner tonight?"

"Well, I was actually just going to ask you if you wanted to head to the store with me." She smiled, drying her hands off with a dishtowel and walking over to me.

"What are you up to?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

"Oh nothing, I was just going to make your favorite dinner ever. So what do you say? Wanna head to the store?"

"Since it's resulting in sloppy joe casserole, I guess I'll go." I smiled as she put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to her side. "Come on, I'm hungry."

Our drive through Derry was nothing special. We passed kids on bikes. Adults leaving work. The town was on a schedule of its own and sometimes it felt like there was a routine that went on without a fail. But now that it was summer break, there were really more kids outside than normal. I don't blame them though, because the fact that there's a curfew at 7:00 PM when I'm sure they used to be able to stay out with their friends until at least 9:00 PM– kind of makes you want to spend as much time outside as you really can. The grocery store actually seemed a bit busy, which was a surprise considering it was only 3:30 and most adults didn't really seem to get off of work until 4:00/4:30.

I followed behind my mom as she grabbed a shopping cart and we walked into the store. The inside was just as busy as the parking lot and it seemed as if though I wasn't the only kid grocery shopping with their parents. There were actually quite a few. About six aisles down, I could see Bill Denbrough standing quietly as he read some comic in his hands as his parents seemed to bicker in a low whisper. While their voices didn't give away the bickering, the looks on their faces did. He looked up and saw me and I waved at him, realizing I had been caught staring before running down the aisle to catch up with my mom. "Sweetie, could you go grab me two cans of the biscuit dough? It seems I might have to elbow my way in to get some ground beef." She said, nodding her head towards the crowd over by the meat section.

"Sure thing," I replied, walking away from the cart feeling as if I was leaving her to fend for herself in a crowd full of monsters.

We adjusted pretty well to the town. Most of my mom's high school friends are still here and she reconnected with them quickly. Whenever the ladies come over to our house, I always excuse myself and go up to my room. I'm not going to lie, the fact that my mom had more friends than me was actually pretty embarrassing. But I couldn't let her know that. As I navigated my way through the many shopping carts and adults, I soon found myself standing in front of a refrigerated section where the biscuit dough and cookie dough decorated the shelves. "Biscuit dough...biscuit dough..." I mumbled to myself as my eyes skimmed across the items in front of me. "AH- biscuit dough!"

I grabbed two cans and then stepped away from the refrigerated section, turning around to go back to meat section when I saw them. My Aunt Sonia and my Cousin Eddie. It wasn't the first time that I saw them around town. I actually go to school with Eddie, we're in the same grade. I've seen him hanging out with Bill at lunch and two other boys whose names I can't really remember. But we've never talked. We haven't really even seen each other since we were five-years-old...at my Uncle's funeral. At that point in time, my family and I lived in California and were only back in Derry to be with my Uncle in those final days of his battle with cancer.

My mom and Uncle were really close, practically best friends. There were only two years between them, my Uncle being the oldest. He was supportive of her and my dad when they found out she was pregnant at just 18-years-old with my brother Benny. He was even more supportive of them when they got married at 19– he was my dad's best man. My Aunt Sonia, however, was never really my mom's number one fan. I couldn't really tell you why, because my mom never told me the specifics. But her dislike for my mom put a strain on my mom and Uncle's relationship. My mom knew he loved her, which is why she never let the issue of my Aunt Sonia bother her too much.

They both fell pregnant around the same time, with Eddie and I. Our birthdays are both in the summer, his just three days after mine– June 13th and 16th. So when my family and I would come to Derry and visit, our grandparents would throw us conjoined birthday parties. Even then, being as small and young as I was– I could sense some sort of tension between my Aunt and mom. But I knew that as long as my Uncle Frank was around, everything would be okay. He was the mediator in it all. He kept the peace.

So you can imagine just how fast things spiraled down when he died. Suddenly, there was no one there able to keep the peace between my Aunt and my mom– who were both struggling with the death of someone they both loved dearly. After his funeral, I don't really remember ever seeing Eddie again. Even when we went to visit our grandparents, his mom would never bring him over. According to my grandma though, he'd visit whenever we weren't there. She'd say things about how Aunt Sonia is so protective over him, she's afraid he'd turn out weird or something.

I guess none of it really matters now. I've been in the same school with him for eight months now and I'd like to think that if I've seen him in the halls...then he's definitely seen me around too. I just think it sucks that he's pretty much the only family that I have here in Derry, besides my mom, and we don't talk at all. I saw my Aunt Sonia turn her head in my direction and we made eye contact. My eyes widened and I put my head down, walking in their direction but making a left turn into the bread aisle. I walked down to the end of it and took a right to go back to the meat section, seeing my mom receive the ground beef from the butcher. "Got the dough." I sighed, putting it into the cart. "I also saw Aunt Sonia and Eddie."

She looked at me with raised eyebrows and looked ahead to see if they were in the vicinity. "Did you say hello?"

I stuck my fingers in the small squares of the cart and shook my head. "No. Why would I? I know she doesn't like you and Eddie and I didn't even talk at school."

"He's still your cousin and you're still family, Danielle." She put the ground beef into the cart and turned it around. "You should try and talk to him."

"I haven't seen or talked to the kid in eight years mom! And I'm pretty sure the last time we talked, our sentences weren't even coherent."

"I'm just saying, Dani. It's always nice to have family when it feels like you have nobody. Family sticks together, no matter what." She looked into the cart and nodded. "Let's go home. We've got everything we need."

"We really came to the store for just ground beef and biscuit dough?"

"Do you want sloppy joe casserole for dinner or not?" She asked, her eyebrows raised. I knew I was beginning to push her a little.

I just shut my mouth and followed behind her as we headed towards the check-out line. I probably looked like a brat to some of these other parents right now, with my arms crossed and a not-so-happy look on my face. But I couldn't help but be upset. My mom was suggesting the impossible: become friends with Eddie. As she put the two items onto the conveyer belt, I saw Eddie and my Aunt start loading their stuff onto the belt in the next aisle. "Mom, whatever you do don't-"

"Sonia?"

I closed my eyes tightly as I realized I was too late and the apocalypse was probably about to take place in about 15 seconds. When I opened my eyes, I saw Aunt Sonia looking at my mom with a blank expression on her face. "Carol. I heard you moved to town."

"Yeah, we moved right there on the corner of West Broadway and Witcham. Do you still live over on Jackson?" My mom asked as she dug through her purse for her wallet.

"Yes, same house." My Aunt replied, seeming very uninterested in the conversation as she turned her back to my mom.

"Well, maybe you'd want to come over for dinner one night? We can catch up and the kids-"

"Sorry, we can't."

I looked at Eddie who was looking at me with curious eyes. Did he seriously not know who I was? Could I even really blame him? "Hey, Eddie.".

He looked taken back before he looked at his mom who looked down at him. He looked back at me and opened his mouth to say something, but turned back to the belt, putting some groceries onto it. "Well, if you're busy Sonia, I'm sure we can find a night where you're free to-"

"We won't be coming over at all Carol." My Aunt turned around to face her again and looked at me before looking back at my mom and chuckling to herself softly before turning her back to us again.

"Here's your change ma'am, have a nice day." Our cashier said, handing my mom her receipt.

My mom stuffed it into her purse and grabbed the handle of the cart, pushing it away from the check-out line. She was quiet as I grabbed the bags out of it and she put the cart away before we headed to the car. I could tell by the look on her face that the interaction with my Aunt Sonia made her frustrated. So my next choice of words should probably be very carefully selected. "Well...that was fun."

She took a deep breath as we got into the car and when she started it, she sat there staring at the steering wheel before looking at me. "I still think you should try and reach out to Eddie. Aunt Sonia may not like me, but I'll be damned if she keeps you away from your cousin."

"Mom it's really okay," I replied as she started to pull out of her parking spot and I played with the radio dial. "I mean, we're going back to California for a few weeks anyway so it doesn't really matter if Eddie and I become best friends."

Her face fell as she looked at me before looking back at the road ahead. "Oh, Dani..."

I looked at her, squinting my eyes. "Oh Dani' what?"

As we pulled up to what probably was (though I am highly exaggerating this) the only stop light in town, she sighed and looked at me. "We're not going back to California."

It felt as if the air was just sucked out of my lungs and my heart sank into my stomach. "W-What? No way! You promised that we could go back for a few weeks during the summer!!"

"I know I promised, but I can't leave work right now. Not with everything going on and-"

"Okay then, you don't have to go! I can fly to Los Angeles, Benny could pick me up and I could stay with him!" I could feel my emotions start to pile up as the tears burned in my eyes.

"You can't stay with Benny sweetie. He's in the Police Academy, you know that. He doesn't have the time to take care of you." She looked at me with sympathetic eyes and I could feel myself become angry at the sight of them.

I sat back into my seat and stared straight ahead. "You promised me we could go back. I've been looking forward to this for seven months mom, seven months! And now I have to stay here in this-this town!" I turned to her as the tears began to run down my cheeks. "What am I supposed to do here when I don't have any friends?"

"Oh Dani, you have-"

"No mom, I really don't. Nobody wants to be friends with the new girl," I crossed my arms. "not when they've grown up together their entire lives."

"I'm sorry Dani...I really am."

"I wish dad were here. I wish we never even moved here." I said, the words seeming to come off of my tongue in a harsh tone, meaning to cause harm...and I guess I wanted to. I wanted to hurt her feelings. I wanted to make her feel how hurt I was. And I knew dad was the way to do it.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye to see her gripping onto the steering wheel and watching the stoplight intensely. The moment it turned green, she moved forward. I expected her to say something–anything...but she didn't. And she wouldn't for the entirety of our ride home.

I looked out the car window, watching the trees and buildings go by. I had been dreaming of going back to Los Angeles for weeks the moment my mom brought the idea up. I'd get to see my brother, my friends...go to the beach. I'd get to be in a place that felt like home. But nope, I'm stuck here in this lame town instead.

Loser, party of one? Me.