CHAPTER 1

It was the first day of the last. The last day of high school that is. It was my senior year and I dreaded it. I arrived to school early that day; there weren't many cars in the parking lot other than teacher's vehicles. There was no way I was going in there by myself. I waited until someone from my senior class pulled into the lot so I wouldn't have to walk in alone.

To my dismay, the person who drove up was my worst enemy. Danielle had always been so pessimistic and had never liked me. I didn't have a choice though. It was either walk in now or be late. I had no idea my best friend, Claire, was already inside—of course, she had to park somewhere different the first day of school. I put on my fakest smile and acted nice as I got out of my Volvo. She too greeted me with a fake smile and a pained, "Hey girl! How are you?!" Thank God I wasn't the first to speak.

"Hey," I said, "I'm good. Definitely not happy to be here though."

"Yea, I know what you mean. My summer was amazing!" Had I asked how her summer was? "My boyfriend, oops did I say boyfriend? I meant fiancé. Well, we went to Miami together…" She's probably pregnant. "He proposed while we were…" blah, blah, blah. I let her drone on as we walked into school. I really didn't care how her summer was or that it was possible, in my mind, she was pregnant. Again, not my favorite person.

As we walked in to school together Claire rushed to my side and quickly pulled me away from Danielle. I knew she was my best friend for some reason. Claire was acting really strange and I couldn't figure out why. She's usually an easy person for me to read.

We finally reached our lockers. We had been lucky enough to have the same lockers every year—most people thought it was because we were in good with the office staff, which we were. I couldn't help but notice how shaky Claire's hands were on the lock. I was always shaky and did good not to smash my fingers just opening the locker. Because I was paying so much attention to Claire's weirdness, I slammed my fingers in the locker. I screamed in pain. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, it was like no one knew how dangerously clumsy I was. My scream had fortunately alerted Claire and she snapped back to reality.

"Oh Schy! It never fails," she said after I had stopped screaming. Claire had gotten used to the fact that I could potentially kill myself just by being clumsy, so me breaking my fingers in the locker didn't come as a surprise. We took our normal path to the nurse's office down the stairs.

I couldn't take it anymore! Why was Claire acting so weird? I stopped halfway down the stairs and turned to face her. In my pain I managed, "What the devil is wrong? Why are you acting so weird?!"

I was surprised when her blank expression turned into the biggest smile I had ever seen. "I have something amazing to tell you!" That much I knew. "It is going to be the best thing that has ever happened!" Okay, now I was worried. Claire had never been this excited over anything but a guy and it wasn't her normal guy excited-ness.

I just looked at my best friend worried and in pain because of my hand. I didn't know what to say to her other than, "What is it? What's so amazing that it's got you acting so weird?"

Claire didn't say anything until we got to the nurses office. "I'm moving!" My heart immediately sank and I felt sick. My best friend was moving. I was going to lose my sister, my confidant, my guardian. What was I going to do? Instead of saying anything, I passed out.

I don't know if I passed out because I was that shocked or if it was from the pain in my hand. But I know I passed out because Claire and the nurse were fanning me and putting ice packs on my head and hand when I woke up. I immediately set up. I no longer cared how bad my hand hurt, I wanted to know why Claire was moving and where to. The nurse interrupted my thought process when she said, "I think Schyler," oh how I hated people calling me that, "needs to go home for the rest of the day."

"Okay," Claire said, "I'll make sure she gets home safe. I better go with her to make sure she's alright."

"That's fine. Just sign out in the front office, dear," the nurse's old voice said.

After we had signed out for the day, Claire and I walked to my car. She had at some point moved her Mercedes so it would be parked beside my Volvo. Before I let Claire say anything I asked the two questions that had been burning in my mind, "Why are you moving, Claire? Where are you going?"

"See that's just it. I'm not the only one who's moving."

"Why," was the only question I could come up with?

"Because I'm graduating early…. And so are you!"

"What? How am I graduating early?"

"Since we have been in the same classes that means we have the same amount of credits. We have more credits than needed to graduate. Which means we get to graduate early! And that also means we get to move early!"

Claire and I had talked about moving after we graduated. I didn't actually think it would be this early.

"So we're graduating in December and then moving to Seattle(?), Washington," I asked.

Claire replied, "No silly! We're actually graduating in a few weeks. The school doesn't see any reason to hold us here that long."

I didn't know whether to jump for joy or cry—the pain in my hand started to kick in. I was so happy! This meant that I didn't have to stay in this horrible place much longer. I was free. I was free to start a new life. I was free to have my dream job, although that might mean I have to move to California instead of Washington. But I didn't care. I was out of this place!

"So do you want to go to my house since it's closer than yours," Claire interrupted my new home plans.

"No, actually I don't," I said.

"Schy, did I say something wrong?"

"No. I want to go shopping for a new wardrobe for Washington."

"Alright girl! Now you're speaking my language." Claire knows I hate shopping and that I really don't care about my appearance. I'm so simple and plain. So I knew shopping would make her happy.

"Wait, what about your hand," Claire asked.

"Well it does kind of hurt. Actually, it hurts a lot! Maybe we need to wait and go shopping until my fingers aren't broken."

"That's perfectly fine. I'll take you to the doctor."

As I got into Claire's car I realized how much my hand hurt and how it was throbbing. I felt like I was going to pass out again. Passing out twice in one day was probably not good. The seats were nice and cool, just perfect for a nap and so hard to resist.