was dropped. The killer was a phoenix. Dad with the help of Granddad followed more real leads of their own, but they never led to discovering who had killed Mom either. Eventually, life moved on and so did we.
My family is thankful for no more abductions but they are all pretty pissed that the phoenix responsible seem to be alluding them. I am grateful that the abductions have stopped too, but I am also sad that at no signs of them beginning again Aunt Farrah returns to Europe.
I spend most of my time with Cassie, hanging around her pool and running whatever random girl Derek brings over from time to time off. We think it is hilarious. He does not. He eventually wises up and stops bringing them over.
Since the night he dropped my car off to me he has also wised up to a new way of antagonizing me. He mentions seeing me in my underwear all the time. And when he isn’t mentioning that, he is dropping innuendos at me left and right, some thinly veiled and some completely overt. I am completely mortified and left sputtering every time, which is exactly the reaction he is looking for and the only reason that he does it. I know he doesn’t like me and he knows I don’t like him. It is just his creative way to get under my skin and make me want to stab him without his mom and Cass berating him. When I call him on it he laughs and says his mom and Cass can’t badger him to be nice if he is being charming instead of a jerk now.
Ha! Derek isn’t charming. A toad is more charming than he is. A pain in my ass is what he really is.
******
To my complete and utter horror Becca calls me the week before school starts and tells me she isn’t coming back.
“I love New York too much to leave it. And I met a boy,” She says.
I gape at the phone. She met a boy! Becca has never been serious about anyone before. She calls everybody she dates her boy toys.
“Don’t be mad at me Ash,” she says when I don’t respond. I’m still busy trying to wrap my mind around the ludicrousness of what she just said. “You’re still my BFF and I promise to come visit for Christmas and Spring Break and over the summer. But big city living is so much better than small town living. Are you mad?” She asks hesitantly.
I finally find my voice. “No, Becca I’m not mad. As long as you’re happy. But I do want to hear all about this boy that you’ve obviously been having more than just fun with.”
We stay on the phone for a while longer as she tells me all about Aaron. He sounds nice enough, but I still hate him. He’s the reason my best friend isn’t coming back now that the summer is ending.
******
It feels weird not walking into school alongside Becca on the first day. It is what we have done since we started Pre-K. As I walk through the halls in search of Locker 222, the one that I have been assigned this year, an unfamiliar panic seizes me. I know the faces around me. I have even had casual conversations with a lot of them in passing, but I do not know, know any of the people I go to school with. It was always just me, Becca and Miranda, and then just me and Becca. I never bothered to actually make friends with anybody else. The panic turns into a sinking feeling. The year is going to completely suck without Becca.
“Ash!” Cassie calls out from across the hall.
My mood automatically brightens when I see her.
“Hey! How’s your first day so far?” I ask going to stand beside her.
She frowns. “A little overwhelming. I am looking for Locker 229 and can’t find it and all of the books are heavy.” She switches her book bag from one shoulder to the other.
“I’m looking for 222. They must have assigned them in alphabetical order this year.”
“Oh, yay, we will be right by each other. Come on,” she says hooking her arm in mine, “let’s go find them.”
We find the lockers as well as Derek standing in front of what I assume to be his. There is also a crowd of girls around him introducing
My family is thankful for no more abductions but they are all pretty pissed that the phoenix responsible seem to be alluding them. I am grateful that the abductions have stopped too, but I am also sad that at no signs of them beginning again Aunt Farrah returns to Europe.
I spend most of my time with Cassie, hanging around her pool and running whatever random girl Derek brings over from time to time off. We think it is hilarious. He does not. He eventually wises up and stops bringing them over.
Since the night he dropped my car off to me he has also wised up to a new way of antagonizing me. He mentions seeing me in my underwear all the time. And when he isn’t mentioning that, he is dropping innuendos at me left and right, some thinly veiled and some completely overt. I am completely mortified and left sputtering every time, which is exactly the reaction he is looking for and the only reason that he does it. I know he doesn’t like me and he knows I don’t like him. It is just his creative way to get under my skin and make me want to stab him without his mom and Cass berating him. When I call him on it he laughs and says his mom and Cass can’t badger him to be nice if he is being charming instead of a jerk now.
Ha! Derek isn’t charming. A toad is more charming than he is. A pain in my ass is what he really is.
******
To my complete and utter horror Becca calls me the week before school starts and tells me she isn’t coming back.
“I love New York too much to leave it. And I met a boy,” She says.
I gape at the phone. She met a boy! Becca has never been serious about anyone before. She calls everybody she dates her boy toys.
“Don’t be mad at me Ash,” she says when I don’t respond. I’m still busy trying to wrap my mind around the ludicrousness of what she just said. “You’re still my BFF and I promise to come visit for Christmas and Spring Break and over the summer. But big city living is so much better than small town living. Are you mad?” She asks hesitantly.
I finally find my voice. “No, Becca I’m not mad. As long as you’re happy. But I do want to hear all about this boy that you’ve obviously been having more than just fun with.”
We stay on the phone for a while longer as she tells me all about Aaron. He sounds nice enough, but I still hate him. He’s the reason my best friend isn’t coming back now that the summer is ending.
******
It feels weird not walking into school alongside Becca on the first day. It is what we have done since we started Pre-K. As I walk through the halls in search of Locker 222, the one that I have been assigned this year, an unfamiliar panic seizes me. I know the faces around me. I have even had casual conversations with a lot of them in passing, but I do not know, know any of the people I go to school with. It was always just me, Becca and Miranda, and then just me and Becca. I never bothered to actually make friends with anybody else. The panic turns into a sinking feeling. The year is going to completely suck without Becca.
“Ash!” Cassie calls out from across the hall.
My mood automatically brightens when I see her.
“Hey! How’s your first day so far?” I ask going to stand beside her.
She frowns. “A little overwhelming. I am looking for Locker 229 and can’t find it and all of the books are heavy.” She switches her book bag from one shoulder to the other.
“I’m looking for 222. They must have assigned them in alphabetical order this year.”
“Oh, yay, we will be right by each other. Come on,” she says hooking her arm in mine, “let’s go find them.”
We find the lockers as well as Derek standing in front of what I assume to be his. There is also a crowd of girls around him introducing
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