************************************************************************ Two days later.......

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"Wow, Ren, this place is amazing," Tawny said as she flipped through a four color brochure on the Stevens' living room table. "It's like straight out of a movie -- you know, like that one that Robin Williams played a teacher in, with the lake and old buildings and huge soccer field, and everything."

Ren's eyes brightened as she pointed at the back cover. "It has a stable too, and an indoor riding arena."

"But no boys," Ruby sighed as she waved at the brochure dismissively.

Ren chuckled. "I don't need a school with boys," Ren said as she looked out the living room glass door at Twitty, who was helping Louis pack up his now defunct-business' beach tents and blankets for a yard sale. He caught Ren's glance and waved at her. "I already have the best boyfriend in the world."

"..Who'll be a world away from you once you leave," Monique added. Ren's eyes widened in surprise. "Sorry, Ren," Monique said sheepishly. "We know you're excited about this school and everything, but." She hesitated.

Ruby patted Ren's arm consolingly as she finished Monique's sentiment. "Ren, have you really, really thought about, well, everything you'd leaving behind? Us? Your family? Twitty?" She smirked. "Even Louis?"

Ren sighed. "Well, you know..actually, not really. I've been so busy registering for classes, catching up on the required summer reading, writing my housing essay."

Monique gasped in disbelief. "They made you write another essay? I thought they had already accepted you?"

"It's so they can match up roommates according to goals and interests, as well as academic ability," Ren continued. "Anyway that's beside the point. I've just been so wrapped up in the idea of going that the reality of going just hasn't sunk in."

Ren gazed disconsolately at the floor, while Tawny, Ruby and Monique looked helplessly at each other.

Finally Monique broke the silence. ""I have the perfect solution! A going- away beach party!"

Ruby grinned. "Oooh! And a concert!" Ruby turned to Ren. "With a performance by the Twitty Stevens Connection!"

"You'll have TOO much fun, enough to last you until Thanksgiving when you come back," Monique grinned.

"What do you say Ren?" Ruby beamed at Ren.

Ren tried to smile. "It sounds great, guys."

"Let's go start writing down theme ideas!" Monique grinned as she and Ruby jumped out of their seats and raced towards the kitchen.

"It'll go by really fast," Tawny offered helpfully as she got up and followed Monique and Ruby out of the room. "It'll be like you never left."

As Tawny walked away, Ren dropped her chin into her hands, sighed, and stared out the window. Twitty was sitting under the largest tree on their lawn, his guitar on his lap, looking out towards the horizon.

Ren slowly got up and headed towards the glass door. She had been running around so much the past two days that she had been oblivious to everyone else and what they might be feeling about her going away.

Or maybe it wasn't that she had been too distracted to think about being gone.. maybe it was that she didn't want to think about how everyone would feel, or what they would do, when she WAS gone. Especially Twitty. But she had to face it at some point, and like her mom was so fond of saying, there was no time like the present. She took a deep breath for courage and opened the door.

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"What do you call that?" Ren smiled as she sat down next to Twitty, who was humming as he strummed the guitar.

Twitty nodded towards Louis, who was once again chasing after an errant beach tent as it blew around the yard. "The Louis Stevens Garage Sale Blues." He smiled.

"Catchy," Ren smiled. "Hey, I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh, okay," Twitty said, putting the guitar down as he tried to keep his voice from wavering. He knew that despite his somewhat limited experience with girls and dating, nothing good ever followed the phrase "I need to talk to you."

Ren fidgeted with her hair. How was she going to say this? 'Twitty, would it be possible for you to somehow convince your parents to plunk down tens of thousands of dollars so you can go to the boy's academy the next town over from the school I got accepted to? No? Okay, well then could you maybe sit here and plead with me not to go so that I won't have to make this impossible decision by myself?'

"Well," she stammered, "the thing is that, uhm.."

"Your presence is requested at a private showing at the Sacramento Cinema at 3pm," an unfamiliar female voice declared from above them.

Startled, Twitty and Ren both looked up at the source of the voice. "Excuse me?" Ren asked. "We're kind of in the middle of something.."

A red haired girl about Ren's age, wearing an outfit that looked as if it had come straight off a New York fashion show runway, met their gaze and blithely handed them an ivory envelope. "You are truly fortunate, as T.Grib's invites are THE primo."

"The what?" Ren asked.

"Who is T. Grib?" Twitty asked. "And who are you, exactly?"

The girl gasped in shock. "Hello, I'm only his girlfriend! Where have you been the past few days, under a rock or something?" She narrowed her eyes. "No offense or anything, but you guys seem about ten notches below for a T. Grib invite."

"Do you know what she's talking about?" Twitty questioned as he looked at Ren.

Ren got up and handed the envelope back to the girl. "Look, thanks and all, but we don't know anyone named T. Grib."

"Whatever," the girl said in a bored tone, taking the envelope back from Ren with a condescending look on her face. "If you ask me, you guys are so not worth it anyway." With that she spun on her heel and tossed the envelope on the lawn, striding evenly back towards the sidewalk.

"Okay," Ren said loudly, "What was that all about?"

"HEY!"

Ren jumped in surprise as Louis hollered at them from across the lawn. "Didya get one? Didya didya didya didya?????"

"One WHAT?" Ren demanded.

"An invite for T. Grib's party," Louis said as he rubbed his hands together manically.

"Not you too dude," Twitty groaned.

"Who is T. Grib, Louis?" Ren asked impatiently.

"That's the cool part," he grinned. "No one knows."

"So, how does that make it cool, exactly, Louis?" Ren raised an eyebrow at Louis.

"Well, er, yes, that's an excellent question," Louis stalled, holding up one index finger to emphasize his point, "but unfortunately I don't have the time right now, as I uh, need to coordinate movie party plans with Tawny."

"Tawny is going to this thing too?" Ren exclaimed. Was everyone losing their mind?

"Actually she got the invite right before I did, so, there ya go," Louis said as he started to walk backwards towards the house. "Later, party people!"

Twitty stood up and walked towards the discarded invitation.

"You're not really actually thinking of participating in this madness, are you?" Ren asked.

"Admit it, you're curious too," he grinned as he picked it up and walked back to her. "In fact, I bet you a kiss that you're not only curious, but that you're dying to go."

"And what do I win if you're wrong?" she smiled in spite of herself.

"A kiss. Or, you know, if you'd rather have popcorn, that's fine with me."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, we'll go." She linked her arm though his. "But you'd better pay up."

"No problem there," he smiled as they headed towards the house. "Oh, hey, what did you want to talk about before?"

Ren fidgeted. While bordering on annoying, the whole T. Grib drama had the surprising benefit of causing her to completely forget about her impending departure, leaving her family and friends and Twitty, and the whole drama that was swirling around in her heart because of it. No, no, it could wait until this whole T. Grib mystery was over. True, her mom was a devotee to the 'no time like the present' rule, but she also talked about taking one thing at a time a lot, so it seemed okay - not to mention very convenient - to let it overrule her bigger problem. At least for the time being, anyway.

"Oh," she finally answered, trying to sound as lackadaisical as possible. "It's nothing that can't wait until later."

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