FicWad

Chapter II

If my parents think I can just pack up and move to New York with them, they're dead wrong. I zone out mother's voice as she talks about how this will be a big change for me but how she expects me to like New York. Who the hell is she fooling? Hopedale is my home! It means everything to me! My friends live here, Joe lives here, and I like my school and this town. This is my favorite place in the world. New York sounds foreign and horrible. People there won't be friendly like they are here. Nothing will be familiar there.

"Lacey?" my mom's concerned voice cuts through my turmoil of thoughts. "Are you alright?"

No, I am most certainly not alright! How can she expect me to be alright when I'm about to leave behind everything I've ever known? I open my mouth and am about to reply something very rude and sarcastic when I realize this isn't the right way to go about getting something I want. Taking a deep breath, I try to speak calmly and ask, "Couldn't just dad move to New York?"

My parents exchange one of those looks that tells me that my suggestion is no good. Mother tries to look sympathetic as she replies, "Honey, if just dad goes to New York, we'll never get to see him. Besides, he would have to rent an apartment there and then we'd be paying for a house and an apartment."

Mom does have a point there. We can't afford to pay two bills. That's just not going to happen since mom only has a part time job and dad's the only one supporting us. Still though, I can't quite give in to this so easily. Trying to remain calm, which is getting harder and harder to do by the minute, I protest, "But what about all my friends?"

"Honey, you're a very sweet girl. People are going to like you in New York just as much as they like you here. You'll make lots of new friends," mother tries to convince me. "Besides, I thought you didn't like your teachers all that much this year. At least in New York, you'll have a whole new set of teachers."

"I don't care about the teachers that much! I was just complaining for no good reason," I reply quickly, wondering why I had been so stupid to complain about something like one boring teacher before. Now, I have problems a hundred times worse than boring teachers. Still frowning, I add, "I don't want new friends. What about Amanda and Joe?"

"You don't have to end your friendship with either of them," mother tells me, still trying to act all optimistic like this is going to be a great experience for us. "You can still stay friends with them. That's the great thing about this. You can keep your old friends and make some new ones. Isn't that nice?"

I shake my head rather dramatically, causing brown strands of hair to whip in front of my face as I protest, "I don't want new friends. I want the friends I have right now. They're the best friends anyone can ever have. How do you expect me to tell Joe and Amanda that I'm just leaving them here?"

"You're making this into too big of a deal, sweetie. It's not the end of the world," mother attempts to calm me down, but in fact, makes me even more upset instead. "You can talk to Amanda and Joe on the telephone from New York. Besides, you're going to make new friends and you'll definitely have another boyfriend before long."

Unwanted tears push to front of my eyes and I stand up quickly, snapping, "I don't want another boyfriend. I just want to stay here with Joe!"

"Sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do. I'm sorry, honey, but that's just the way things are," mother says, obviously thinking I'm overreacting.

Having had enough of her optimism and not wanting to make a fool of myself in front of my parents, I run out of the living room and pound up the stairs to my bedroom. Once there, I fling the door open and throw myself onto the bed. I dissolve into a mess of tears and pound my fist into the pillow in frustration. Never in my life would I ever have thought that we might leave Hopedale. It was a thought that had never even occurred to me. How could my parents do this to me?

I guess people move all the time, but things are different for me. I'm so attached to this town. My mind is already buzzing with the terrors that await me in New York. There will be a strange new house, unfamiliar streets and shops, an unfriendly school, and people I've never seen before there. This whole thing is starting to make me rather dizzy. My head spins faster and faster and I think I need to lay down for a minute. Of course, a minute turns into the whole night, and before I know it, mother is trying to wake me up for school.

"Lacey? Honey? Are you getting up? I think you slept through your alarm," mother points out from what seems like a very far distance away.

I force my heavy eyelids open and look around me through blurry eyes. I feel sick and I can't even remember where I am. Reaching up, I rub my forehead in confusion with a clammy hand and ask, "Where I am? What's going on?"

"You're just in your bedroom," mother tells me patiently. "Are you sick?"

My health has never been so great. I get faint easily and have mild asthma. It's not an awful problem, but it just sort of complicates things. Suddenly remembering where I am and what's going on, I jerk straight up in bed and stare at mother in alarm as I ask, "When are we leaving for New York?"

"We're leaving on Sunday," mother sighs, seeing why I'm so alarmed. "Is this what has you so worried?"

Well, duh. What else would I be alarmed about? A headache pounds in my forehead and I might actually be sick, but that doesn't matter to me at all right now. Ignoring my mother's question, I ask frantically, "If we're leaving on Sunday, what day is it today?"

"It's only Wednesday," mother replies. "You have plenty of time to pack your things and say goodbye to your friends. Are you sure you're alright? You look sick to me. Maybe you ought to stay home today. It doesn't matter how you do in school this week since you'll be starting fresh on Monday."

Monday? My stomach flip flops uncomfortably within me. Am I really going to be starting at a brand new school not even a week from now? Fuck my life! I think through what mother just said and vigorously shake my head, saying, "No, I need to go to school today! I'm fine!"

"Well, if you say so," mom says, knowing better than to stress me out right now. "I'll leave you alone to get ready then."

I wait for my mom to leave the room and then literally spring out of the bed. The very last thing I need to do is waste one of my last days with Joe and Amanda at home being sick. I rush over to my drawers and find a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue spaghetti strap top to wear. After changing, I run into the bathroom and peer hastily at my reflection in the mirror. Mother is right; I do look sick. My eyes are bloodshot and an annoying zit has appeared on my forehead overnight.

I dig through my makeup anxiously until I find some concealer and smooth that over the zit. At least it's no longer bright red now. Since I'm in a hurry, I do the rest of my makeup in a rush, throw some earrings in, rake the brush through my hair, and then practically fly downstairs.

"Here, eat this on your way to school," mother says, tossing me a granola bar as I shove my feet into my black flip flops. "Have a good day. Remember that if you feel sick, your father or I can always come and pick you up from school."

I try not to roll my eyes at mother while I run out the door and to the bus stop. There's another girl waiting there. I give her a half smile and then start thinking about how the hell I'm going to tell Joe and Amanda my news. I guess it would be best just to get it out right away. I'll just walk right up to them and tell them the truth. That's what I'll do. I'll just-

"Hey," a familiar voice sounds from behind me. I whirl around and look up at Joe as if I'm looking at a ghost. I'm still not prepared to tell him I'm moving. Joe gives me a funny look and asks, "You okay? You look like you're sick or something. Maybe I should walk you back home."

"No!" I protest quickly. "No, I need to go to school today. Come on, let's get on the bus."

Joe follows me silently, but I can tell he's still giving me a weird look. Joe knows me well enough to be able to tell whenever something's wrong. For some reason, I just can't seem to look into his eyes and tell him the truth though. I just can't do it without breaking into tears again.

The two of us sit in the back of the bus together. By now, I've decided that I won't tell Joe my news until the end of the day. That will give me enough time to prepare for what I have to say. Joe tosses his schoolbag on the floor in front of him and props his feet up on it before turning his dark eyes to me and asking, "So how was last night for you?"

"Um...it was fine, I guess," I reply nervously, fingering the hem of my shirt. I look everywhere but right at Joe. If I look him in the eye, he'll see right though me like he always does. Trying to get the subject off of me, I ask him, "How was your night?"

"Fine. I practiced guitar for a bit and decided the history project could wait," Joe replies, cracking me a small smile. Going on, Joe says, "I still can't get anyone to listen to that new piece I learned on the guitar though. Say, what did your mom want to talk to you about last night? You never called me or anything, so I figured it wasn't important."

"Uh...it wasn't important," I reply. Joe waits for me to tell him what mother wanted to tell me. I wrack my brain for some sort of excuse and finally say, "She just...um...wanted to tell me that she's going out with my dad on Saturday night. That's all."

"Oh," Joe says, not looking like he quite believes me. "That seems like a strange reason for you to go straight home after school. Are you busy tonight?"

I don't comment on Joe's first sentence, but quickly shake my head when he asks me if I'm busy or not. Looking hopeful, I ask, "Wanna hang out tonight?"

"Sure," Joe nods, dark hair flopping into his face as he nods. "You can come over to my house so you can hear the guitar piece I've been working on. My mom is having friends over later tonight, but you can stay until mom kicks you out. 'Sides, her friends are always late anyways."

I laugh kind of miserably, knowing that in less than a week from now, I won't ever get to go to visit Joe again. Trying to blink back another onset of tears, I say in a quavering voice, "Let's just hope her friends are late tonight, huh?"

"Yeah," Joe says before taking a closer look at me. We both know something's wrong and Joe clearly wants to know what it is. "You know if there's something bothering you, you could just tell me what it is...even if it's about me or whatever. I won't take offense."

"Oh no, it's not about you!" I reply immediately. Joe is like the only good thing in my life! Deciding to make up an excuse, I mumble, "It's just PMS, that's all."

"Ah," Joe says, getting a too-much-information look on his face.

The bus comes to a screeching halt just a minute later and everyone starts crowding out of the bus. Joe and I shuffle down the narrow isle amongst all our fellow students. Some of them smile and wave to me. I wave back, realizing just how much I am going to end up missing these smiling faces. Suddenly, I feel the need to hold Joe's hand. I grab it kind of tightly, causing Joe to send me another confused look even though he doesn't pull his hand away.

Joe and I make our way into the school and then come to a halt. He has to go left to geography and I have to go right to Spanish. At least I have Spanish with Amanda. Still though, I don't feel like letting go of Joe's hand, so I just procrastinate and say, "So you have geography, right?"

"Yup and you have Spanish," Joe says since he's had our schedules memorized since the beginning of the school year. We stand together in the hallway for a minute before Joe clears his throat and points out, "Uh, Lace, you gotta let go of my hand."

"Right," I say as I reluctantly release Joe's hand and start towards the Spanish classroom. I know I can see Joe at lunch, but it seems like that's ages from now. In a hurry to go find Amanda, I walk quickly down the hallway and accidentally go slamming right into someone. Crap.

"Whoa, Lacey, is that you?" Amanda asks me in concern. I glance up at her and suddenly realize that there are tears spilling down my face. I'm so terrible at trying to keep myself together! Amanda hugs me and murmurs, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Yes," I choke, wishing I could've contained my tears. Too late for that though. At least I'm not crying in front of Joe. Needing to just get the evil news out, I burst out, "I'm moving."