Culture Shock

CHAPTER 1: TERRIBLE NEWS

Paloma Santos was furious. Her parents had just told her that the family was leaving their home in Spain and they were moving to England! Sixteen-year-old Paloma couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could her parents do this to her? How could she leave her best friend, Eva? She imagined Eva’s face when she heard the news. Paloma knew Eva would be really upsettoo.


This was a bad year for Paloma to move. She was enjoying school, and everything was starting to go well.


“We’ll move to England during the summer holidays. You can finish your ESO 4 year here,” said her mother, trying to be practical. “You can write to your friends and keep in contact by e-mail. We’ll only be in London for two or three years.”


“What?” shouted Paloma. “Two or threeyears! That’s forever, I won’t go! How can you be so selfish? What about us? We’ve got school, friends and a life here in Spain. I don’t want to go to a new school. I don’t want to make new friends. What will we do in England? We can’t even speak the language!”


Mr and Mrs Santos looked sad and Paloma almost felt sorry for them. It was all because of her dad and his stupid job! Her dad wasalways having problems with jobs.


“Come on, Paloma, it’s not the end of the world,” said her father. “David wasn’t upset when we told him the news. He’s happy to go to England, and Marta too.”


“Marta never complains about anything, she’s such a goody-goody,” thought Paloma. Marta was a year older than Paloma, and she was much more mature than her. The sisters were very different, and hadvery different friends.


Paloma loved her younger brother but he often irritated her. She couldn’t understand his obsession with their dog, Rex. “David’s only nine. He doesn’t care which country he lives in if Rex is with him,” thought Paloma.


Paloma couldn’t stay in the flat. She ran down the stairs of their building crying. She wanted to get out of the place, to be in the fresh air.Paloma walked around the streets, without knowing where she was going. She walked into the local park and sat down on a green bench. She was happy to be alone.


Everything had been going well at school. She was in the same class as Eva, because they had chosen the same subjects. She was now sitting next to Daniel in class and they talked a lot after their lessons. Paloma had liked Daniel foryears. Now, he had finally asked her to work with him on their science project. This meant they had to spend time together and they often met after school. They laughed a lot when they worked together. Eva was sure Daniel would ask Paloma out soon.


Daniel was very handsome and all the girls liked him. He was tall and blond and he had lovely brown eyes. Eva said he made a lot of jokes because hewas probably a little shy with girls.


Marta found Paloma in the park nearly an hour later. “Paloma! I thought I’d find you here,” she said. “Come home, you can’t stay here all night!”


“I’m not going to England, Marta,” said Paloma. “Don’t try to convince me to go. I don’t want to leave Eva and things are going really well with Daniel. I like him and I think he’s interested in me. Butnothing will happen between us if I move away from here! Three years is too long for anyone to wait.”


“Oh come on, Paloma! It isn’t so bad to move to a new country,” said Marta. “It might even be fun!” Marta was always so positive; she was just like Mum! But she wasn’t a bad sister, she never told Mum about the bad things Paloma did. “London will be great because interesting things happen there,”continued Marta. As usual, her sister was trying to look on the positive side. But it was much easier for her. Marta wasn’t interested in any boys and her friends were so boring. It would not be difficult to leave them.


Eva said that Marta was pretty and it was strange she didn’t have a boyfriend. Eva had opinions on everything.


“We should go home now,” said Marta. “Dad is really...