When I opened my eyes I realized I had dozed off. I was splayed on a white couch in a stuffy living room. Around me was silence and snoring. I looked around and saw my mother laying on the couch to my right. Her feet dangled off the edge and she was wearing a pink robe, her face looked tired and she had massive bags under her eyes. I sat up, choking up a bit. I got off the bed on my bare feet and walked up the stairs. I had been to my aunt's house only a couple of months ago so I was pretty comfortable wandering around the second floor. I didn't know what to do, at this time back at home I would have already been at school. I sat down on the plush carpeted stairs and placed my elbows on my knees and my chin on top of my hands. I sighed deeply.
I would have to transfer schools if we were staying here long. It felt un-real to me that all this happened in one night. I thought of Eric. He would be so disappointed. But would he move on quickly? He had been very popular. Good-looking, smart and sweet. He was my first love even though I never went out with him. We had had a friendship for a while so we were very close. I thought of his gray, blue eyes and his deep dimples. He taught me how to swim in the indoor-school pool, he encouraged me to try out for the basketball team, and helped me run for student body president (though I lost). How could I move on from him that quickly?
And more importantly, I had no life here in Brooklyn! The Calcker High School was going to be new territory for me. My cousin, Libney goes there but I would have no friends to go to there. I had no background in Brooklyn. In Manhattan, I was kind of well-known. The basket-ball team captain, Eric's too-close-friend, the unforgettable pretty girl with tons of friends. Now I had nothing. I wiped my eyes when I felt tears start forming and sniffed loudly.
"Hey," Mary Ann said from behind me. I turned to face her. "Sleep well?" She asked. I shrugged. She sat down next to me on the soft stair. "I'm sorry we had to leave like that yesterday." She patted my arm.
"It's not like it was your fault. You just wanted us to be safe." I sighed deeply. It was hard for me to believe that we could run away that fast. Mary Ann didn't look sad, and Mom was fast asleep. Was I the only one who cared about Dad?
"Yeah. I hope you don't feel so alone. None of us wanted to leave dad," she told me. It was as if she read my mind. I stared at her gray eyes and wondered where my annoying and bratty sister had went. And if she was coming back. Because this new Mary Ann was more mature and reminded me too much of Mom. And now I really felt alone. Like I was the only kid in this house.
"Do you think he'll be okay by himself?" I asked. Mary Ann hesitated for a second and I bit my lower lip.
"Yeah," she said. But the look on her face told me something different. "He's strong, Cassie. He's made it this far, I think he can make it alone for a while." She sounded so sure of herself. Like Dad was going to get better instantly and walk himself over to a new job, get tons of money, beg us to come back and live happily ever after. I wish things were really like that. "And you have to be a strong as him. He'd want you to move on and go to Calcker and do all the great things in life that he could have done," she continued. I smiled and hugged her. It felt nice to know that she cared of how I felt about leaving Dad. And that she was sad about leaving him, too.
"Thanks," I told her.
"No problem," she said back
***
A couple days later, Mom comes home with news that she considers great. "Cassie, you can start school with Libney tomorrow!" She calls from the front door. I look up from the soap opera that Libney's forced me to watch with her.
"That's great Mom!" I call back. But inside, my stomach is churning. Libney grins from her side of the couch.
"This is going to be amazing, we'll be like besties at school. If you stick with me and my friends, you'll totally be cool by the end of the week!" She says as she chews loudly on buttered popcorn. I give her a fake smile. Me and Libney are so alike but so different. Actually, the only real similarities are our birthdays and our looks. Otherwise, she is my total opposite. She is a girly-girl who loves shopping, painting her nails and hanging out at the mall. But I am more of a girl who likes reading, watching TV and just being my boring old self. But we were family, nonetheless. And Libney was a nice girl.
"How do you feel about matching outfits?" Libney asked me, inching closer to me on the couch. I rolled my eyes at her and her glittery pink clothes.
