A Day's Notice         

By Kristy                        

    "What?" I shouted and we halted to a dead stop as Kacey and I walked to our school, three blocks down the street.

    "I’m moving tomorrow," Kacey replied in a soft, sad tone. "I thought that I already told you weeks ago."

    "Apparently not because I just found out right here, right now," I snapped. I mean, I wasn’t mad at Kacey, I’m just mad that she is leaving me. I can’t believe that my best friend is moving, and I just found out the day before she moves! It made no sense whatsoever.

< <    > >

    As we got out of school, I said, as we were walking to my house, "Why don’t we go to my house to play outside?"

    "Okay, but I have to be home at 4:30," Kacey replied.

    "Why at 4:30?" I questioned.

    "I have to ship off the rest of the boxes in my room," Kacey said, as we walked outside of Kate's  house.

    "Let’s swing," I shouted as we sprinted towards the petite playground. I knew this was going to be the last time I played with Kacey, so I really wanted to make the best of it.

    "I bet I can go much higher than you," Kacey joked.

    "Not ever in a million years," I joked back.

    "I can jump farther than you, Kate."

    "Oh yeah? I can so jump farther than you," I replied.

    Thump!

    Man, can Kacey make a loud ‘thump’ when she hits the ground.

    "Ha! Beat that!" Kacey taunted.

    Thump!

    "Ha! I beat you!" I gleefully responded.

    "That was a lot of fun, but I have to go now," Kacey gloomily reported to Kate.

    Tonight is going to be a rough night, with Kacey moving and all. I hated the thought of Kacey moving, and now I know I will be thinking about it all night. A best friend moving tomorrow and the need for ten hours of sleep doesn’t equal a good night’s rest, but a night full of stress.

    The good smell of mom’s home cooking wafted in and out of my nose. I could smell… hmm… tortellini soup… and bread in the bread maker. It smelled as if you have never smelled good home cooking before. 

    "Kate! Go get ready for bed," mom yelled up the stairs.

    "Humph." I hate getting ready for bed. It’s so boring! My thoughts drizzled around my head as I thought about Kacey moving. Why did she have to move tomorrow? Why did it feel like she was ditching me? I mean, I knew she wasn’t, but why did it feel that way? Was it because she just told me the day before, so I couldn’t get really upset? I really didn’t know the answer to any of these questions, and I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to any of them. Yah...yah...yah...yawn. It was time I actually went to bed for once at this hour.

    "Kate! Wake up! This is the third time that I have had to call you to get up!" Mom shouted up the staircase.

    "Let’s go," Ryan demanded, being the older brother that he is.

    "I’m coming, I’m coming," I replied, and I was annoyed that he would demand such a thing from me. Everyone just likes to tell me what to do, because I’m the youngest.

    We were at the airport, at the gate, in precisely twenty minutes. My dad likes to be exactly on time for anything and everything.

    "Sniff." I hate crying on my own. "Bye. I hope I see you sometime in the future," I said through my tears. I hate saying goodbye in a situation like this.

    "Ditto," was all Kacey could say out of her tears. I could tell that she was feeling the same way as I was and I knew that she would be crying the whole way on the plane to North Carolina.

    "Flight 2987 in gate 17 will now be boarding rows 1-7," the loudspeaker announced.

    "Bye," we whispered at the same time to each other. Wait a second, I thought, as it dawned on me, we are getting a ‘new girl’ in our class. Would there be a friendship there? It was yet another question I didn’t know the answer to.