Goodbye For Now

She stood on the sidewalk waving goodbye to her best friend who was waving goodbye to her from the car as her parents drove away. She had known her since they were babies and they spent all there time together but now she had to move to another state. They were both devastated but promised to stay in touch.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Rachel. But promise me we'll stay friends." Brooke said teary eyed.

"Of course we will" Rachel said as she began tearing up "we'll call each other all the time and you'll tell me all the great things going on in California"

Brooke slightly smiled "yeah we will" her smile faded "it just sucks that we're going to start high school with out each other. I always thought we'd experience that together"

"Yeah, me too" Rachel said and then heard Brooke's dad honk the horn "well I guess this is it." She said sadly.

Tears slowly streamed down both their faces and walked closer to each other to give an embracing hug. Rachel walked outside with Brooke and they gave each other one more hug and then Brooke slowly walked to the car where her parents waited for her. She got in the backseat and they began to drive off. Brooke turned around to get another look at her best friend.

The car had now disappeared and Rachel walked back into her house. She went up to her room and let herself fall back onto her bed. She stared blankly up at her ceiling having no idea what to do. She and Brooke would probably be at the beach right now tanning but now she was all alone. She was going to start high school at Tree Hill High School in 2 weeks and had to face it by herself.

Rachel being a very outgoing person figured she could make friends quickly but she still knew it wouldn't be the same without Brooke. She knew though that she was going to have to move on with life and just tell Brooke all about her high school experiences over the phone.

Brooke poignantly out the window as her dad drove to California. She already missed Rachel. She knew they would probably be tanning at the beach right now. They had spent almost all summer there. She was terrified that she was going to have to start school not only without her best friend but was starting it at a school almost 3000 miles away. She was scared if she would fit in with the Californian people seeing as she grew up in the small town of Tree Hill and was now going to live in the fast pace city of Los Angeles.

Three Years Later

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" the crowd yelled as she chugged down her fifth shot of Jose Cuervo tequila.

"Done!" she said as she slammed the glass onto the table and began to laugh. "It's our senior year and we have to celebrate!"

"Rachel, you're fucking awesome!" a dirty blonde guy yelled

"Thank You, I know" she smiled and then walked off to go talk to Peyton, one of her friends she made when she started high school.

"Wow Rachel you're hitting it pretty hard tonight" Peyton said smiling.

"Yeah well you know have to enjoy before we start school on Monday. It is our last year and all." She explained "you're not drinking tonight?"

"Wow, you are already so tipsy." Peyton laughed "We decided I was DD remember."

"Wait, what's DD" she asked with a puzzled face.

"You can't even remember what DD means when you came up with the abbreviation yourself." She chuckled "Designated Driver, hun."

Rachel let out a loud laugh, "I knew that! I just wanted to see if you did!"

Peyton laughed with her, "Okay Rachel….. Don't you think it's time we leave it's already almost 2"

"But Peyton… I don't wanna! I haven't had any boy yet" Rachel begged her to stay.

"That's not my fault you're the one who preferred to indulge in booze today instead of boys…. So let's go." Peyton said and linked arms with Rachel and they walked outside to Peyton's car.

They arrived to Peyton's house and Peyton had to help Rachel up the stairs and then laid her on the bed. Peyton got ready for bed and joined her passed out friend and then fell asleep.

Back in California

Brooke taped the last box of stuff and then went and sat at her computer she looked at the time 10 pm. She clicked the write new message and began to compose an email to Rachel.

Hey I know we haven't talked in like a year in half or even more but I wanted to let you know that I'm moving back to Tree Hill. My dad is going back to work over there. I'm real excited that I get to see you again. And it's pretty awesome that we'll get to spend senior year together. I'm not really sure why we stopped talking but once I get there tomorrow things could go back to how they use to be. See You Soon buddy.

xxBrooke

Brooke took the mouse and dragged the arrow to the sent button. She clicked it and a box popped up on her screen that read "Mail Has Been Sent" She half smiled, got up, and went to bed.

Title is a song by A Change of Pace