"And then the..."

Ring! Ring! Ring!

My eighth grade class in Helena, Montana, explodes into a storm of paper and people. Forgotten papers on the floor and chairs roughly kneed back, a frenzy of teenagers bursts out of the room, as Mrs. Nelson quickly shouts reminders to us. I'm thoughtful and gather up my assignment which had been blown two desks forward in the storm.

Holding my supplies close, I walk out of the C R Anderson Middle School classroom, down to the far end of the hall, and open locker 603. I stuff my homework, books, and pencil into my backpack and make my way outside.

Two of my friends, Jason Corlie and Skye Turner, sit at the bus stop on the rusty blue bench, holding hands. The bus stop looks nicer with the flowers the school's garden club planted last year, about this time of early spring. I hurry over to chat. "Hey! How ya doing?" I plop on the bench next to Skye.

"Hi, Ava, I'm great! Busy day at school today! Did you hear about the anniversary dance? It's the school's fiftieth year! Jason and I are already planning on going together!" Skye gushes and then adds her giggle, which often attracts a good number of nearby boys. Jason and Skye's love affair has lasted for a few months now, and it still seems pretty strong.

"Of course I've heard about it! Everyone was so excited back in my homeroom," I reply, excited.

"Avalon? Can I talk to you for a moment? Privately?" A voice comes from behind us. My real name is Avalon, but most friends just called me Ava. Whenever I hear the full name, I know it's more serious. We turn to see my best friend since first grade, Regan Duvell (also known as Reg), hugging her books and glancing between my friends and I.

"Sure," I say slowly. I hurriedly stand up and wave a little goodbye with a smile to Skye and Jason. Jason puts his arm around Skye and waves back with his free hand.

Reg and I live only a few houses away from each other, so we often walk home together. We start on our usual route, walking silently. This lasts for a good half a minute, as I sense her digging around for a good way to start talking about whatever it was she is going to tell me.

Finally, I can't stand it any longer. "What is it?! The suspense is aggravating!" There. I stopped the awkward silence.

Regan sighs. "I'm moving," she states solemnly. I'm surprised she couldn't find any more eloquent words in half a minute.

I stop and face her. "What?!?! Why?! Where?"

Regan just keeps walking while looking straight ahead. "I'm moving to Portland, Oregon because my parents need better work."

Portland. That's two whole states away! Well, one really skinny one, I think. I have to jog to catch up with Regan's unusually fast pace. "Well, then..." Another awkward silence envelopes us, as it is my turn to think of something to say. "Can you at least tell me your address? Maybe I could come visit sometime!" I say with a crooked smile, hoping to brighten the mood.

"6107 Knightsbridge Drive Portland, Oregon 97219," Regan recites, sounding like a bored robot. If robots can even be bored. I scribble the address down on a loose piece of scratch paper residing in my water bottle pocket. We walk in silence for the rest of the way. It's only two minutes, but to me it feels like thirty. We reach her house and she speaks up again. "It's a large neighborhood. Right around the corner is Lancelot Lane and Excalibur Place. You'd fit right in." She smiles melancholically. "Well, I should head inside and help my parents with packing. Bye! See you... sometime?"

I smile sadly. We hug, say good bye, miss you, and all that. I start walking the rest of the way home as Regan enters her house. Summer Plan A can be crossed off the list: playing with Reg on her Wii U the entire day aside from meals. And maybe sleep. We have gone through so much together. Cheering each other on during softball games, riding together on our favorite Disney World attractions, reminding each other of homework we totally forgot to do. We were going to be those two girls in high school prom who sat in the corner by the snack tables and ate everything. Now I'll just be the one random girl who's friends already have dates. How often will I be able to see Reg? My life feels like it's been ruined. I reach my own home, and turn my key in the lock. I glumly toss my backpack towards the bottom of the stairs, and plop on the couch. This is going to be a long rest of the year.

* * * * *

Hello! Well, how do you like it so far? It will be short, maybe three or four parts.

Funny story. So I was looking for a name for Avalon (the original name when I wrote it in middle school was Caroline, but I felt like changing it) by scrolling through a baby names website. When I spotted "Avalon," my Merlin fangirl kicked in so I had to put it in the story. Then I was thinking, wait, what really is Avalon? So I looked it up and Wikipedia said that it was the island where Arthur, well... where you-know-what happened that sent the entire fandom in an uproar. Anyways, to quote Wiki directly, it said "It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudo historical account..." So then I had a total fangirl moment where I realized Geoffery of Monmouth was a real person. It was great.

If you have never seen the TV show Merlin then you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Sorry about that little rant. Thanks for reading! See you later!