Chapter Three

The realization of us officially moving hit me when May came around. Mom came home from work and began to pack her things—pictures on the wall that had been there since we were infants, her clothes little by little—mostly stuff she knew she wouldn't wear in the upcoming month. Michael began to bring boxes from his job, and I caught him writing out a month's notice to let them know he was quitting. Sam and I heard him and Mom talking about his moving the other night when they thought we were asleep. Michael sure as hell didn't want to stay in Phoenix if we couldn't—not much held him here except for Carly, and their relationship was rocky on the best of days. They had been together since Michael's junior year of high school, and not one time do I remember them remotely getting along for more than thirty minutes. We heard him tell Mom that he was going to be breaking up with her here soon only because he knew that she wouldn't be able to stay with him in a long-distance relationship. "She's got better things to do, anyway. She won't want to wait for me," he had said.

Sam, Vanessa and I made the most out of the time we had left. We went down to the park near our school, hanging out there until the streetlights came on like we used to before we were in high school.

Just a few days before school let out, that's just what we were doing. The May sun was beating down on us and I could feel the sweat beginning to form on my brow. Sam was making his way to the swing set, going to get on the middle swing as a little kid—no more than ten—sprinted there and got on before him. I saw Sam cross his arms and start talking to the little kid and his body language showed me that he wanted nothing more than to punt him across the playground like a football. I looked over at Vanessa, who was dangling from the monkey bars.

"You see that?"

"What?" Vanessa's voice strained a bit as she reached for the next bar.

"That little asshole just took the swing Sam was going to be on."

Vanessa snorted. "Fucking sucks."

I chuckled. "No, really, it does."

"Yeah," the shorter girl sighed as she grabbed the bar after that one. "What a little asshole."

I looked over towards the swings again, and saw Sam trudging his way to us, a look of annoyance prevalent on his face.

"What a little asshole that kid is." He crossed his arms. "Did you hear what he said to me?"

"Nope." I shook my head. "What?"

"He said I was too old for the swings. Can you believe that?"

"I can." Vanessa snorted and Sam glared at her.

"You're only saying that because I'm taller than you." He retorted.

"Not by much." Vanessa grabbed the next bar.

"I'm five foot seven! You're maybe three feet tall!" Sam's voice cracked as he tried not to laugh at his own joke.

"I'm four eleven, thank you very much." Vanessa huffed. Sam rolled his eyes.

"You're so short that you dangle on the monkey bars like a five-year-old." He began laughing again as Vanessa began to turn on the monkey bars and began swinging her body his direction as if to kick him. "Oh, shit," Sam started to laugh, backing up. Vanessa hopped off the bars and started to chase him around the playground. I could hear Vanessa yelling at him to "get back here!" as Sam just laughed as he climbed the area to the slide. I rolled my eyes, smiling at their childlike demeanors.

I watched as Sam sprinted across the playground and over towards the see-saws. He laughed as he and Vanessa had their little standoff around there—one threatening to go one way if the other tried to go the same way. Sam's baggy shirt began to blow slightly in the hot breeze, and he hopped over the black barrier that held the woodchips in around the playground area. Vanessa's side ponytail bounced as she ran after him, trailing behind her in streaks of chocolate brown to contrast Sam's light brown/dark blonde hair.

The two eventually ran out of steam, Sam being first as he was sprinting everywhere—I never understood why he didn't try to do track, he would have been amazing at it—and Vanessa finally caught up to him, punching him in the arm and making my twin laugh as best he could with the limited breath he had.

"Oliver! Time to go, honey!" a feminine voice called out. Little Asshole on the swings hopped off and went over to his mother after doing so. Sam made sure the kid wasn't looking as he made his way to the swing set and hurried to sit on the middle swing. I heard him do his little shithead laugh, which mostly consisted of some short and raspy "heheheh" s as he started to swing.

"Wanna see how high I can go?" Sam's voice seemed to go in and out of focus somewhat as his body swung back and forth.

"Not really," Vanessa teased.

"Don't hurt yourself, Sam, please." I added, sitting on the swing to the right of him.

"I'll be fine!" Sam reassured me, his voice sounding farther and farther away with each swing he took. When it looked as if he was going to go around the pole above the swings, he jumped off and landed in the woodchips. He landed feet first, and then onto his back before rolling over onto his side. I heard him groan as he landed and Vanessa and I both rushed over to him. I, personally, heard nothing crack or break but that didn't really mean anything.

"Sam? You okay?" Vanessa asked.

"Sammy?" I turned him onto his back and Sam nodded.

"I'm fine," he wheezed. "It was the way I landed. I'm out of breath." He took some deep breaths, staring up at the sky. "The landing knocked the air out of my lungs." He started laughing.

"You idiot," I laughed quietly as Vanessa shook her head, smiling.

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I began taking the posters off of my wall in my room, one of the final things I did as I wanted to make it seem as much like my home as I could up until the time came. Gently I folded them, taking extra care to make sure my Michael J. Fox ones didn't get destroyed at all by any creases or anything, giving them their own box. Quietly and in the background, on my CD player I could hear Fleetwood Mac's Dreams play on the Rumours CD I swore one day I was going to break I listened to it so often.

Hadn't happened yet though.

I heard a soft knock on my bedroom door, and I looked up from the current poster on my wall—this time a Johnny Depp poster, as I had easily fallen for him after watching his new show 21 Jump Street—and I looked over towards my bedroom door. "Come in."

The door opened and I saw Mom in the doorway. "Finally taking down those posters, huh?" she held a dish towel in her hands, indicating she had just done dishes from dinner. A soft smile graced her features, though there was an underlying hint of sadness to it.

"Yeah." I nodded, placing the Johnny poster with my Michael ones, making sure it didn't get bent.

"Placing Johnny Depp with Michael J. Fox? What an honor." She joked. I laughed softly.

"Well, I think he deserves it." I sat on my bed, sighing softly. "I don't want to leave, Mom. I also really don't wanna share a room with Sam. We never have done that. Ever. I love him, but he's a little crazy." I half-heartedly joked. Mom nodded her head.

"I actually was coming here to talk to you about that. I called your grandfather to let you know when we would be on our way to Santa Carla tonight, and I told him it would in fact be June first, since you and your brother get out next week."

"Yeah." I sighed, nodding. "This is the one and only time I do not want school to end."

"I know," Mom made her way over to me and sat down on the bed next to me. "I understand, believe me. The only reason why I moved out here was because of college, and as the day got closer and closer for me to move, I really didn't want to. I had to, because I was already accepted, and all the arrangements were made for my dorm room. I even knew the name of my roommate." Mom smiled softly. "But, had I not moved out here to Phoenix, I wouldn't have met your father and I wouldn't have you and your brothers. So, I'm very happy with the way things worked out." As she spoke, Mom put an arm around me and pulled me close to her. "I know things seem horrible right now, Casey, but… everything always has a way of working out. Maybe you'll have a great time in Santa Carla, and if you don't want to stay after high school you can always come back here. Maybe get an apartment with Vanessa or something."

I smiled at the thought. "That would be fun."

"Yeah. It's only until you turn eighteen, honey. After that, you and your brother are free to do as you please. I won't keep you from doing so."

We sat in silence for a moment, just listening to the music. As Go Your Own Way came on, I couldn't help but picture Sam, Vanessa and I in an apartment together and a smile appeared on my face as I couldn't help but picture that things would go back to normal in some way. But until then, it was daunting to think about the change. Santa Carla High School was intimidating to me. I knew no one there, of course, and you always hear the "New Kid" horror stories that come about because of kids moving from one place to another during the summer. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"What if everyone hates me at the new school? What if Sam and I both get made fun of there? What if we can't make friends or anything?"

"Casey, if that does happen then I would do my very best to make sure I got back on my feet and do what's right for you and your brother. If that's home schooling you for a brief moment before I can buy a house back here or whatever the case is, I will do it. I will not make you or Sam deal with something you do not want to deal with."

"Except leaving Phoenix." I muttered.

"Well, there was no way around that one. Believe me, I was looking at apartments all around here, but they were already filled."

I looked down, chewing on my bottom lip. Mom gently made me look up at her, an understanding look on her face.

"I get it, Case. I do. And I'm sorry things just worked out this way. But trust me, I think this is going to be good for us. I think Santa Carla is going to be better than you think it will be."

"Maybe, yeah." I nodded.

"You trust me?"

"I trust you." I nodded again. Mom kissed the side of my head and I hugged her.