As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
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IT WOULD BE A CLICHE to say time went by fast, so let's not say that, especially since it wasn't true: time went by as slowly as it possibly could. Every morning, Darren got up, had breakfast, waited for the clock to reach 7:30 a.m., the exact time he would go over to Aimee's room and wait for her to take him to school. (Or, if she was running really late, he would drive and she would do her make-up in the backseat of the car.) Then, he dragged himself to each class, waiting for the bell to ring to then have to wait another hour for the same signal, a pattern that continued throughout the day up until that final bell. Then, he'd go home, have dinner, call his parents, and sleep, to do the same thing the next day. For weeks, every day followed this predictable pattern.
To say it was becoming repetitive was an understatement, but Darren got used to the predictability of his life, and knowing what would happen next gave him some sense of comfort. He knew Nova would not show up on his doorstep on a Friday night to go to a party or spend the night under the stars, and he didn't mind that. Instead, he got to plan his day however he liked, no surprises.
While some could argue the loss of Dakota in his life had also caused him to lose any spontaneity, he would argue not being spontaneous didn't have to be a bad thing. He'd managed to live an entire life without such spontaneity, and yes, even though he missed it, he was convinced it just took finding a new normal to get rid of that feeling.
A new normal without Dakota.
His life had been so different before she'd been in it, but he hadn't realized it until now. While she'd been there, he hadn't had the time to imagine life without her. He was too busy going on adventures, discovering this new life he'd been looking forward to but had been too afraid to really explore.
Part of the American life was Thanksgiving. He'd never been there to experience it before, and this year was his first. The McCostas explained to him what Americans celebrated on this holiday – to give thanks for everything that had happened since last Thanksgiving – and shared an extensive meal with him, including the classic turkey that Darren had seen so often in American movies and that tasted much better than he'd expected it to.
Still, he couldn't help but think what Thanksgiving would have looked like if Dakota was still in his life and if all that had happened between them could have been resolved. Would she have come by? Would he have celebrated Thanksgiving with her, at her house or at some party?
He had trouble even imagining what they would do, which showed again how unpredictable she was compared to him. He couldn't even get inside her mind and figure her out. The only thing he did understand about her perspective on things was that she was mad at him, and that she never wanted to see him again. She'd gone to great lengths the past few weeks to realize this desire: she'd transferred English classes, sat outside during lunch so she wasn't confronted with him, had instructed her friends to deliver the message to Darren he shouldn't go by Juice anymore, which was where she worked, and sometimes she wouldn't even go to school at all.
