Before we could continue our conversation, two honks sounded from the driveway. That was my signal Caroline was ready to go. I headed for the kitchen to gather my things.

“Here you go, Evey.” My mother's arm was extended, holding my leather messenger bag. The brown exterior was faded from years of use. It had been my mother's, and like most of my other possessions, it was an antique.  “Do you need money for lunch?”

“No, I have some. Love you!” I called to both of them over my shoulder and rushed out the door. 

I waved to Caroline as I approached her car. She was holding a Chanel compact in her hand as she applied a layer of coral lip-gloss. She flashed me a grin and flung the door open for me.  She drove a beat-up Nissan Sentra, but you couldn’t tell her that. She was one of those people who felt an emotional connection to her car, even if the majority of the white paint was peeling from the hood. Her motto was the car chooses the driver, though she'd inherited this pile of junk when her cousin got a new one for college. I plopped down in the seat, wedging my messenger bag in between my feet.

“Hey, you look so cute!” I told her.

“Thanks, you do too!”

“Can you believe this is our last year at Tulson? I've been freaking out all morning.”

“I couldn't be more excited! We're going to have so much fun in college.”

“I know! I can't wait!”

“This is such a good song. Let’s turn it up!” I reached forward and turned the volume dial on her radio as she backed her car out of my driveway.

“Senior year, here we come!” Caroline shouted. We continued singing along to the radio throughout the drive and ten minutes later found ourselves pulling into an empty space in the Math wing parking lot. When we got out, there was already a multitude of cars around us. It seemed that like us, everyone else was ready to start the new school year.