CHAPTER THREE

I woke up to the sun just peeking over the horizon. I had a flight for eight-thirty, but I still had to pack all those last minute things that I had to use up until now. I looked at my alarm clock and it said it was five-thirty. I had a total of four hours to get Mark and me ready to go. Then we had to have enough time for us to go to breakfast with mom, let her tell us how much she loves us, cry, and say how much she'll miss her babies.

I made my bed with fresh sheets and blankets. I grabbed my pillows and stuffed them in my suitcase. I had sent all my bed set sent to my dad's house. Looking around my room was like looking at a graveyard. Everything was gone and to somewhere that I had no idea what would be like. I grabbed a towel and got in a steaming shower. I used my shampoo and conditioner to try to calm me down a bit. Slowly massaging my head, making a circular motion, slowly breathing in the coconut, it was soothing.

I got out and dried off, rubbing my head with a towel trying to get it dry. I walked to Mark's room and knocked quietly. "Mark," I whispered as I cracked his door. He was still sleeping, so I walked out, quietly down the hall to my room. I opened my door and walked into the ghost room. I threw on my clothes, blue plaid short-shorts and a white v-neck shirt. I brushed my hair threw on some make-up and ran back out my door.

I burst into mom's room and threw myself on her bed, waking her up if she wasn't already. "Mom I don't know how you expect me to live so far away from you. What happens if like…. I don't know, something girly! I can't tell dad if that happens! And you can't just fly all the way from New York to Nebraska for that! I'm not even legally an adult yet! I mean how am I supposed to raise a ten-year-old all by myself? This is just crazy! We should tell dad, that maybe, I missed my flight and we can't get another cheap one till after my birthday! Then I can say no, and you know he won't make Mark go by himself! I mean he'll just have to send my stuff back and… and… I don't know." I was starting to break down.

Mom was awake, it turns out, before I jumped on her. " Honey, you have a cell phone. I will ALWAYS just be a call away, I swear to God! Doesn't matter what's going on, I'll answer the phone. Also, you're forgetting that your dad IS a responsible adult. Mark won't be tagging along constantly either. Your dad has a ton of plans for them. And I'm not telling your father you missed your flight! This is important to him and your ganna go! I don't care, your going. And that's final." She declared firm but sweetly.

I sat up and looked at her with the most pathetic face. " Don't give me that face Elizabeth. I will not fall for it, it may work on your dad but not me. I'm not a sucker for little girls and pouty faces."

The flight was long and super boring. Mark pretty much slept the whole time on BOTH flights. I had my Ipod in and bobbed my head to the way too loud music. I looked over at the person beside me, he was heavy set and tall. I'd say about 6'2 maybe, but I couldn't really tell because he was sitting down. I had my phone on and was texting my dad, telling him we where going to land in about thirty minutes. The flight attendant walked by "Um when you get a minute." I said politely. I knew how it was to have a rude customer, annoying.

She smiled and said "Sure thing Hon." She took the drink cart to the back, and walked my way. " You okay?" she asked. I guess my tears weren't exactly helping.

"Can you bring me water and some Advil, please?" I asked, sniffling a little.

" Yeah, I'll be right back." She smiled.

"Please buckle your seatbelts, we will be landing in about five minutes." The speaker blurted, making me jump. I reached over and buckled Mark's seatbelt around his sleeping body. The stewardess came back and gave me my water, Advil, and a pack of tissues.

"Come on Lizzy, grab your bag, I see dad!" Mark practically screeched. I sighed, picked my bag up, and walked towards dad. Dad turned around looking in the wrong direction, poking his head up trying to see above the crowd. "DAD!" he yelled trying to get his attention. Dad turned around and his whole face lit up as he saw Mark and I. 'He actually smiled, that was weird.' I thought.

"Gah you're so big!" he said. 'Of course he was big he hadn't seen him in two whole years!' Even though Mom and Dad just got divorced, dad had moved out two years before that. We never saw him once, not even a picture. 'He looks good though, like my old dad, relaxed and happy.'

" Hi dad." I said. That was all I was planning on saying, plus I said it first so he couldn't say that I was being hostile. He looked at me somewhat shocked that I would make the first move, but that disappeared quickly as he smiled.

" Hey." 'What a lame answer.' I thought, " I have a surprise for you!" he grinned, "I hope you'll like it!"

"I'm sure I will." I said, trying to be pleasant. 'Remember, you have four whole months with him. Make the best of them, even if that means actually doing things with him.'

"What about me?" Mark asked, as if dad had forgotten about him.

" I have something for you to, but I KNOW you'll like it." He laughed, again! " Oh yeah and I have a job application for you Elizabeth. Your mother told me that you were working at a café in New York so.." He said not bothering to finish the sentence. "I thought we'd order pizza for tonight, so that you guys can get settled in."

" Can we order Chinese instead?" I asked, " We had pizza when we stopped in Chicago."

" Yea of course. Whatever you guys are in the mood for."

" Keep your eyes closed!" He warned. We had drove to the house to the house with Marks none stop chatter. Filling dad in on all the baseball games he won, all the video games he played, what his 'girlfriend' said when he told her he had to move.

" They're closed I swear," I laughed. Dad was showing me his surprise. He made me close my eyes before we even reached the street his house was on. "Mark stop telling him they're not, you turd!" I had grown more comfortable with my dad on the drive there. He was… normal. Back to the way he used to be.

" I'm just making sure." We were out of the car and walking towards something unknown. I heard something that sounded like a garage door opening. I heard Mark gasp, mumbling something I couldn't make out. "Okay open them."

"OH MY GOD! DAD YOU DIDN'T!" Sitting in the garage was a brand spanking new silver Tayota Camery!

"Your mom helped out to." He laughed at me jumping up and down. "Go look in it." I ran to it and threw the door open. In the seat was a letter, and the keys. I grabbed the keys and letter and sat down. I ripped the letter open and saw my moms clean bubbly script,

' Dear Lizzy,

Bet you can't believe I held this in can you? When your dad asked me if he could I said yes, even though you were saving up for a car on your own. But now you can use that money for gas and for your room. If your dad didn't do that already too haha. It's really weird me writing you a letter while your still here, I had to wait for you to head to work so you wouldn't catch me and ruin the whole surprise. I guess that if your reading this that you in Nebraska and I'm probably missing you terribly. So what I mean is, CALL ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

LOTS OF LOVE,

Mom

Cathy '

'God my mom's crazy' I thought. I got out and saw that my dad and Mark had left. So I went in the door to the right, inside was beautiful! I had walked into the kitchen where there were marble counters and light wood cabnets. I looked down and there was a big hound dog with red fur and floppy ears, looking up at me. "Hi baby, what's your name huh?" I said as I was reaching down to rub his ears. I looked at his black coller and his tag said Rusty. "Hey Rusty! How you doing? Were's your daddy?" he turned around a walked out of the room. I followed him into a hallway and up some stairs to a door. He nugged the door with his nose and it swung open. He just walked in, so I decided to follow, peeking around the door. The room was a dark red with black carpet, a huge TV hanging covering one whole wall and theater seats in front of it. I turned my head and saw a my bed set and closet door… 'Oh my god! This is my room!' I thought. My dad did background sets for movies and things when he lived in New York, so I knew he was creative but… wow! Hanging over my bed was movie advertisments in glass cases. To the left was a window but it stuck out making a ledge in front of it. Dad had put pillows on it so I could sit there and look out of it. I opened the blinds and out my window was a green golf course with a tiny little creek running through it. I heard a door open and I whipped around to see dad walking out of my closet, with Mark right behind him. I jumped not knowing who it was.

" I see you found your room… and Rusty. I was lookin' for you bud." He said reaching down to pet the big dog.

"Lizzy guess what dad got me!" Mark jumped in front of me.

haha i know kinda left u hanging didnt i... sorry i will add more tomorrow hopefully