Life Without You

Kim's parents are not together. She lives with her father, and she does not know who her mother is. Soon, that might change. Thanks to Thinkaboutthisname for the title and being my editor. Sparrowsong 21:33, June 13, 2010 (UTC)

Chapter One
Lima, Ohio. Quiet town, decent school, decent place to live...and home of the mysterious other half of my DNA.

Annoyed, I tucked my blonde hair behind my ear to stop it from blowing in the wind and getting all over my face. I looked out the window as we drove past yet another sign, and sighed. Signs...those were all I seemed to be seeing. When would the car finally stop?

It wasn't that I didn't like Lima. I just liked where we used to live better.

Before my dad starts yap-yap-yapping about how much I'm going to love Lima, I'd better introduce you to him. Better to have your first impression of him be my half-decent introduction then his boring blabberama about when he used to teach at William McKinley High where I'm going next year.

My dad's name is Will Schuester, and he's fourty-five. As I already told you, you idiot, he used to teach Spanish and glee club at William McKinley. Though, for a former Spanish teacher, his Spanish accent is pretty mediocre.

People say he looks like Matthew Morrison, who's an actor or something. It wasn't often that I had people tell me I look like any celebrity, though in my opinion, Jessalyn Gilsig and me looked quite a bit alike. I definitely did not take after my dad, in looks or personality. Sometimes, I thought we weren't related.

He and my mom got a divorce before I was even, like, born. After she had me, she dumped me on my dad, and I haven't seen or heard from her since (we get $350 every month from her as child support for me, and that's it). She didn't even bother to show up when he took her to court, giving him full custody.

Parental abandonment, much? Thanks a lot, Mom. If I can even call you that.

I turned around to face my dad in the driver's seat. The sun lightened his curly brown hair. His eyes were on the road, but he looked distant, like his mind was elsewhere.

I was tempted to ask what he was thinking about, but I was in the mood to crab about something. Cheerful was not my thing.

"Dad," I groaned, peeling some old nail polish off my thumb. "Why do we have to go here? I wanna go back home, live out in the country again. I miss all the farms and stuff."

He chuckled.

"What, you miss having to drive everywhere? Sitting next to that BO kid on the bus? Not living near other kids your age? And Kim, you didn't like it when we actually lived there. Remember? You complained about being able to smell the manure, and how our neighbors were so rude, always letting their animals loose." Those were all true.

"Plus, you can walk to school now, and when you make friends, you'll be able to hang out with them more. And Emma's house won't be hours away anymore." Emma was Dad's on-and-off girlfriend (currently on), and my surrogate mother. In this case, I meant "mother figure," not "egg-donor."

"Why do I have to switch schools, anyway? My old one was close to where we're gonna live."

"Yes, but it was in a different neighborhood, and most of the kids in this neighborhood we're moving into go to this one. Maybe they'll like you?"

"Or maybe I'm just being a grouch," I muttered, a little mad. I turned around and put my headphones on, jacking the volume up very loud.

Notice I said "headphones on" and not "earbuds in?" I don't have an iPod, you see. I still use CD players. iPods were kind of stupid, and annoyingly popular, in my opinion. I mean, seriously...what is the point of iPod and phone apps when people who want to play video games can just go out and buy a Nintendo DS?

I fell asleep with my head on the armrest, and woke up with the taste of old spit in my mouth. Yuck, I couldn't wait to wash it out, preferably with Coca-Cola Zero. Not Diet Coke; I hated that stuff.

"Honey," Dad whispered, nudging me. "We're here." My eyes fluttered open and I sat up.

There it was, our new house. It was painted a nice red color. I begrudgingly liked it. I'd seen it before, but it seemed different now that it was really my home.