A Fore

Chapter 1

Paloma Santos was furious. Her parents had just told her that the family was leaving theirhome in Spain and they were moving to England! Sixteen-years-
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 wh
en she heard the news. Paloma knew Eva would bereally upset too.This wasa bad year for Paloma to move. She was enjoying school, and everything was startingto go well.
“We’ll move to England during the summer holidays. You can finish your ESO 4 year here,” saidher 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 three years! That’sforever, I won’t go! How can you be so
selfish?
What about us? We’ve got to school, friend and a life here in Spain. I don’t want to goto a new school. I don’t want to make new friends. What will we do in England? We can’t evenspeak the language!”
 Mr. and Mrs Santos looked sad and Paloma almost felt sorry for them. It was all because of herdad and his stupid job! Her dad was always having problemswith jobs.
“Come on, Paloma, it’s not the end of the world,” said her father. “David wasn’t
upset whenwe 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 verydifferent, and had very differentfriends.Paloma loved her youn
ger brother but he often irritated her. She couldn’t understand hisobsession 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 toget ouf of the place, to be in the fresh air. Paloma walked around thestreets, without knowingwhere she was going. She walked into the local park and sat down on a green bench. She washappy to be alone.Everything had been going well at school. She was in the same class as Eva, because they hadchosen the same subjects. She was now sitting next to Daniel in class and they talked a lotafter their lessons. Paloma had liked Daniel for years. Now, he had finally asked her toworkwith him on their science project, this meant they had to spend time together and they oftenmet after school. They laughed a lot when they worked together. Eva was sure Daniel wouldask Paloma out soon.Daniel was very handsome and all the girls liked him. He was tall and blond and he had lovelybrown eyes. Eva said he made a lot of jokes because he was probably a little shy with girls.

Martafound 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 wantto leave Eva and things are going really well with Daniel. I like him and I think he’s interested in
me. But nothing will happen between us if I move awayfrom 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 befun!” 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 interestingthings happen there,” continued Marta. As usual, her sister wastrying to look on the positiveside. But it was much easier for her. Marta wasn’t i
nterested in any boys and her friends wereso 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.

ly worried about you and Mum is upset
too. It’s nod Dad’s fault. The problem is his job. You know we...