TEN GRADE FIVE

"Guess what!" Maggie exclaims when she sees me coming across the lawn.

"What?"

"I got in! I'm going to university!" She's waving papers from the mail in her hands. It's the day acceptances were sent out, and Maggie's a great student, so it was expected she was going. Or at least I was expecting it, not that I want her to leave.

"That's great, Maggie, congratulations! Which one?"

"All of them, but I'm definitely choosing Mac! I got acceptance into a dorm, too!"

"Wow, so you're moving?"

"Well not until the fall, but yes. I can't wait to get out of here, but I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. Who else is going to explain everything to me?" I grin at her, then consider the change that's coming. "How are the guys taking the news?"

"I haven't told them yet. Want to come in for moral support?"

"Sure."

In the house, Ian and Chris are in the basement playing video games.

"Hey guys, guess what?" I call to them.

"What?" Chris looks up, but Ian is still shooting things on the screen.

"I'm going to university! I got in and I even got a scholarship!" Maggie says excitedly.

"Wow, Maggie, that's great," Chris exclaims.

A scowl appears on Ian's face. "Does that mean you're leaving?"

"Well, not right now, but in the fall, yes. I have to go."

"No, you want to go, you want to leave us!" Ian throws his controller on the floor and runs up the stairs.

"I'll go." I know this is why Maggie asked for my help, so I go to look for Ian, leaving Maggie showing Chris brochures and talking about the campus.

I know Ian is in the treehouse, so when I approach I listen to see if he is kicking or anything, but there's nothing. Hesitantly, I climb up and peek my head in.

"Go away, Grace. You can't make this better." He's sitting against the wall, drawing angry pictures.

"Ian, I know I can't make it better." I sniffle because I'm crying.

"Why are you crying?" he asks, annoyed, but gestures for me to sit next to him, putting the paper and pencils aside.

"Because, you idiot, Maggie is like the coolest person ever and she's the only one who ever tells me things."

"She's my sister," Ian points out, bluster leaving his speech as he considers what I am saying.

"I know, and I know it's going to be different in your house, but you have Chris, and Steve and your dad to explain stuff, like guy stuff, but no one except Maggie explains girl stuff to me."

"You have my mom."

"Yeah, but she's a mom, it's not the same thing."

"I guess."

"At least you and Chris might get your own rooms out of this." I reason.

"Oh Gracie, I'm sorry." he gives me a hug, and although the idea of Maggie leaving isn't great, at least Ian is a bit more understanding.

ELEVEN GRADE SIX

Maggie moves out the weekend of my birthday, and as a special treat, she takes me for a girl's day. She and I get our nails done, then go for lunch. I am going to miss her so much, but she promises me we can keep in touch by email.

Chris and Ian decide that Chris will have Maggie's room when she's away because he likes the view out the front of the house better than the back. I actually think it's just because Ian doesn't want to move his stuff or maybe he's already had enough change for the year.

Sixth grade is just plain awkward. I'm in the same class as the twins again, but it's like a switch has been turned. While it was really just the girls flirting before, now some of the boys are flirting back and there are some people who 'go out' together. As far as I can tell 'going out' just means they might hold hands on the playground or eat lunch together, but mostly it just means they look at each other a lot and pass notes. I can totally understand the idea of people going out and there are some guys I suppose I consider cute, but it's just funny. Our school is small enough that it seems strange to date anyone in our class, to me. The seventh grade boys are a huge target for the sixth grade girls, and Audra is still on her quest to go out with one of the twins. There are boy girl parties, and I get invited to all of them, I guess because people are afraid of the twins not showing up. It's hard though because as much as I'm invited, none of the boys at the parties are ever interested in me. Some of them are nice and all, but generally they ask Melody or Audra or Christy to dance and usually I'm sitting over by the iPod doing music or something.

Things at home have been okay, normal, really. My mom is doing pretty well, she's out of bed and busy with her job at the library. Daddy's not home much, but that's nothing new.