Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye by Ann M. Martin

the movers haul every last thing out of our house and load it into the van that was parked in our driveway. While beds and tables and boxes and bags went by, we talked and giggled. We promised to write, to phone, to visit. But sometimes, there were long silences. I didn't like them. I felt as if I should be filling them up. During one of them, I retrieved the bag of leftovers and handed it to my friends. "Take whatever you want," I told them. "Mom doesn't want to waste this stuff."
    Finally the van was loaded. After a last tour through our empty, echoing house, my parents climbed into the car. It was packed with suitcases, just in case anything should happen to the van on its way to New York.
    "Come on, Stacey!" called Dad.
    I faced my friends. "How can I say goodbye to you?" I asked them.
    They shook their heads. Then Mary Anne held her arms out and we hugged. After that, I hugged Kristy, Dawn, and finally Claudia. Claudia and I hugged the longest of all. As we pulled apart she handed me a long envelope.
    "Open it in the car/' she whispered.
    I nodded. I couldn't talk. I fled to the car, crawled into the backseat, and nestled between my bed pillows, which Mom had put there for me.
    The van pulled slowly down the driveway, and we followed it. I gazed out the window. Claudia, Kristy, Dawn, and Mary Anne were still standing on the lawn. "Good-bye, Stacey! Good-bye!" they called.
    I waved until we turned a corner and I couldn't see them anymore. Then I opened the envelope from Claudia. Inside was a letter. It was thirteen pages long. "Dear Stacey," it began, "I bet this will keep you amuzed intil you get to NY. City." I smiled. The letter was full of jokes, riddles, gossip, the details on how Dori and Howie had suddenly decided to break up (Dori had returned the ring, so Howie was now stuck with something of mine!), and Claudia's thoughts about our friendship.
    "Maybe I will never have another best friend," she wrote, "but it would be wirth it. I mean it would be wirth it to have had you for my best freind even if it was for just a yer. You will always be my best best freind if you know what I mean. What I mean is I might get another best freind sometime but she wouldnt
    be as good a best freind as you."
    And you, Claudia Kishi, I thought, will always be my best best friend.
    We turned onto the highway. I was ready. Ready for New York and whatever it held for me.
    About the Author
    ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.
    Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks are Bummer Summer, Inside Out, Stage Fright, Me and Katie (the Pest), and all the other books in the Babysitters Club series.
    She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and 7 Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.