May 2010

“What do you mean, you’re moving?” Lena didn’t want to believe what she had just heard. Ty was a year older, her best friend since she’d started at their daycare. He ran a hand through his short, wavy dark hair, his big brown eyes full of disappointment and annoyance.

“It’s not like I want to,” he said, scratching at his collar before loosening his tie. It was the last month of eighth grade, his last three weeks of strict private school rules and uncomfortable uniforms. “But my parents just can’t live here anymore.”

She didn’t have to ask why, she’d relived his older brother’s death in too many bad dreams. His family had emigrated from Guatemala when Ty was two, his parents taking over management of the city’s most popular skating rink.

“It won’t be until summer,” he added quickly. “So we still have a month to hang out.”

She shook her head.

“That doesn’t help,” she snapped, her voice breaking. “First Miranda leaves, and now you! Everyone I know is abandoning me!”

He cringed. Lena’s life had been hell since her mother died, and that was before their few other friends had pulled away from her. Miranda had been born blind in one eye and had been transferred to a special school across town. The fact her parents had loved calling Lena a bad influence had just made the blow worse.

“I-I could email you,” he suggested desperately. “Or send you postcards or something!”

She just shook her head again.

“I’m barely allowed to use the computers here,” she said. “And Kara reads everything we get in the mail, then shreds anything that’s not for her or my dad.”

“Couldn’t you just use the computer when she’s not home,” he asked. “Or get the mail before she does?”

She sighed.

“She changes the password every day, and this is what I got when I tried to grab Michael’s birthday card from Aunt Ashley,” she showed him the scratches on her cheek and neck, the surrounding skin tainted with a half-healed bruise. She’d told anyone who’d asked it had been an angry cat. “This isn’t even close to the worst thing she’s done.”

He shuffled his feet, then knelt down, tugging off his backpack and unzipping the largest pocket.

“This is where we’re moving,” he pulled out a slightly wrinkled pamphlet and handed it to her. The front was midnight blue and deep purple, ‘The Beauty of Blackwood Cove’ arching in elegant white script across the top, the picture beneath a peaceful lakeside scene at sunset. “Put it where your dad can see it, maybe it’ll give him ideas.”

She stared at it, her fingers tightening on the edge as her eyes filled with tears. She threw it at him, then turned and ran down the hall. He sighed and picked it up, watching until she disappeared around the corner. He smoothed it out and stuck it back in the pocket, his own eyes starting to sting.

“Bye, Lena…”