Say goodbye

Keep it frozen in December

I leave behind

To get me through the ever after

I tried to remember everything about you today. Your voice, your smile, your eyes… I couldn't do it. Every image I conjured up in my head, didn't seem right somehow. It was like, you erased yourself from my memory, and left fragments in my head. Mom said I need to leave you behind. Leave my memories of you in the back of my head. But I can't do that. I can't pretend it just never happened. I can't live forever, not thinking about you. Memories aren't like clothes. You can't just take your memories off and throw them in the washing basket to get rid of them. And I don't want to get rid of them. Because until you're born in one hundred years, I need the memories to get me through. To get me through the ever after.

Keely looked outside. It was icy, and cold, like always in December. She felt icy and cold. Numb, frozen. It was like it wasn't really her. She didn't feel like Keely Teslow anymore. She was the teenager who was desperately missing her only love of her life.
"Keely!" Mrs. Teslow shouted from downstairs. "Via and Owen are here"
Keely groaned. Via and Owen were the last people she wanted to see. She had said two words to them in the past month. She preferred to be alone. With her thoughts. And memories. "Keely…"Owen said, but Via nudged him. "Owen! What did we agree?" Via hissed. Owen wrinkled his nose. "That you would do all the talking and I would just stand her looking symmetric"
"Sympathetic, you idiot!" Via groaned, and then turned back to Keely, who had been watching the two in amazement. Either they actually felt really sorry for her, or they had gone insane. "Keely"
"Owen said that," Keely whispered. She wasn't used to talking. No one talked to her in school, she had no reason to talk to them. Via nodded. "Keel, we brought you some presents." She pulled a bunch of videotapes out of her bag. "What are they?" Keely asked, looking at them. Via held them out to her. "Put them in the video and see"
Keely took them warily and put them in her video player. She pressed play, and then her eyes filled with tears.

The tape was the videos of the school announcements. All the ones with Phil. Every single one. The one that he made after he fell out with me, Tia and Seth. The one where Tanner and him were watching the video of Phil in the second grade. All of them.

"Oh my god…" Keely whispered. Via came up and saw how upset her friend was. "Keely, the school said you can keep these. To remind you of him. I don't know why he can't see you, or ever talk to you again. Personally I don't believe he's in Kansas"
"Neither do I," Owen said. "You wanna know why"
Via rolled her eyes. "Enlighten us, Owen"
"Because the dude doesn't have a dog called Toto, or red slippers," Owen said, seriously. "And in the Wizard of Oz she goes to Kansas, right"
Via closed her eyes for a second, and Keely could see her mouthing numbers from one to ten. "The point is. We know we can't replace Phil. He was your best friend, and we don't want to try to take his place. We just want to be friends again"
Keely looked at her hands. "Come on Keely, I can't survive with just Owen anymore. You and Phil were what kept me sane all the time before!" Via pleaded, and then looked at Owen who was staring at Keely's eyelash curlers. "Keely, look at him. He scares me"
Keely laughed. "Okay. Just don't expect me to baby-sit him"
Via smiled. "Aaw…I was kinda hoping you would"
"No way!" Keely forced a smile. Then she looked at Owen again, who was now sniffing lip-gloss. She was reminded of Curtis. "Is he okay"
Via shook her head. "I caught him painting his eyelashes yesterday"
"Not a good look for him…" Keely bit her lip. Via smiled. She was glad her friend was back. "No, definitely not!"

Those might not be the exact lyrics at the top, but they're pretty close!