Chapter 1: Aimee
I choked a teary goodbye to my friends as they left, and ran outside to the van. I know I said I was going to be strong but I can't help breaking down now. There was a small knock on the van door, and I saw Carson's head pop in. "Hey, I wanted to say goodbye", he said, and the hugged me. He had never hugged me before and it felt oddly nice. "My parents told me we could, maybe come and visit you sometime". "That would be awesome", I managed to say.
Leaving Carson was heartbreaking. He was an awesome friend, the kind who totally couldn't care less if you were crying in the backseat of your mom's van or not. I have to give him props, I mean being friends with me has got to be hard.
"I think I should go now............" Carson said. I could see the slightest bit of torture pulling at the corner of his mouth as he spoke the words. I wanted to scream, to yell, to over-dramatize the whole situation. But all I could manage to say was "OK, I'll see ya - sometime." Then, as he left I heard a familiar voice, "Wassup, Carson! Hey, is Aimee in there?" Oh Crap, It's Josh. Josh is like, way to obsessed with me. "No, she's not, I was just looking for her," said Carson. Thank you Carson! You saved me! Josh Anderson is the worst! He wants my undivided attention ALL the time. He really gets under my skin.
But Josh didn't listen, he defies all rules like hes a king or something. I hate it. he popped his head in and hit the top of the seat, but of course acted like it was some pebble that a two-year old had hurled at him. "Hey Aim," he said, using the terrible nickname he had given me. "Hello," I said back sounding flat-out irritated. But of course he didn't acknowledge it.
"You sad," he mumbled. No, way, I thought sarcastically, I just break down sobbing every five minutes, and have tear streaks on my face. "Kinda," I said back. "Oh, well if you can come and visit..................." he stuttered. Oh no! He was asking me to the dance at my "old" school, this summer. See, our school is weird because we have our dances in the summer, and winter, while most school's have them during spring and fall. "Sooooooo............" he muttered. "Way to make things awkward," I wanted to say. I knew he wasn't gonna give up so I said "Well my dad wants to stay in town this summer.........". "Oh, OK. I get it," he said, obviously miserable.
"How about this winter.........." he tried, pushing his luck. "I-I" he was so persistent! "umm well, it just-isn't gonna work for me-sorry," I replied. "Oh, ya-ya I get it," Josh sighed. Why does he have to be so cute? Of course, the headstrong personality makes him totally unattractive.
For some reason Carson hates Josh. I mean, ya-he's cocky, but not that bad. Carson is usually friends with everyone. I guess I will never know why Carson thinks he is so terrible. My thoughts were interrupted by a girly voice outside the van. I peeked out the window and saw Megan Bridge twirling her hair and moving her hand by Carson's face. He pushed her away and said something I couldn't hear. Then she shrugged one shoulder , and twirled away concealing her bubbling anger.
Megan has liked Carson since 3rd grade. She has always kept away from him until now. My theory is that she was waiting until I leave to start her evil scheme to get Carson. For some reason I felt a jealous rage going through me. I didn't "like" Carson, we were just friends................. I mean, I think so. I walked outside and wondered what Carson would do if I twirled my hair and strutted around school.
I walked up to him, "Hey, so whats with Megan?" I dared myself to say what came next, " are you taking her to the dance?" "Heck NO!' he practically screamed, " she's so annoying, always up in peoples business, no way." "oh, I was just-" my words were soon interrupted by my mom's cry "We are gonna be late if you don't hurry up!" "Oh no! The plane!" I thought. I rushed to the van and yelled goodbye to Carson. "See ya" he said back. He looked like he was gonna cry. His eyes were bloodshot and squinted. He was trying to hide the pain. So was I.
I loaded my stuff up in the van and hopped in the backseat. I lay my head against the soft seat cover my mom got for me. She was practically buying me our hometown, so that I would go to Virginia without complaining. I wasn't taking bribes. I spotted Terri in the parking lot rushing towards our car screaming "Wait!"My mom stopped our car and rolled down the window. I hustled up to the front seat to say hi. Terri handed me something, it was wrapped in blue construction paper and said "From Terri and Carson" on the front.
I sighed and tore the paper apart, leaving shreds on the floor. It was a picture of me Carson and Terri on our first day of 6th grade. Terri was bubbled over with excitement, her grin was huge, and her perfect brown curls were tousled around her neck. I was sporting a half-smile, and my blondish hair with natural brown highlights was straight and flowing. Carson was giving Terri bunny ears as he gave we a sly smile. We were so happy. Suddenly I burst into tears, tugging the picture into my chest. Life would never be the same.
"Come on, we gotta go, bye Terri" my mom said a little to loud. "Goodbye Mrs. Brown, Goodbye Aimee." She whispered back. I had a feeling she was hiding a little bit of pain too.
When we got to the airport we had to wait for two hours before we could board the plane. I was frustrated. Why couldn't we just GET ON? Our plane was out there just waiting for people to climb aboard. But-no, we had to wait until it was ready. "Ugh." I muttered, not realizing what I had said until after I had said it. "Hey, you okay?" my mom asked. "I-ya, I-I'm okay." I spilled. "Just making sure," she said, then she kissed my forehead.
"Plane to Richmond Virginia, your flight is ready," the flight attendant said. "That's us," my mom said cheerfully. We got in line to board our "finally ready" plane. When we got to the lady at the counter she made us take our shoes off and hand in our tickets. She also made my mom hand over her purse to look through. When we took our seats we waited a minute and then the speaker came on and said "Please stay seated and keep your hands inside at all times."
My nerves tingled, this was it, once we took off there was no turning back. It was not too late to sprint out, protest, beg. But for some reason I didn't want to procrastinate any more. I just didn't want to. I felt us lift off and I knew-this was it.
