"I can't believe this is happening..." I say. "Me neither, I'm going to miss you." Ethan replies, and I can kind of see tears forming in his brown eyes. Kind of. I can't see too clearly, given the tears forming in my own eyes.

I already know Clara's crying without even having to look at her; she's been crying for days. "I-I'm going to miss you so..so much, Em. Y-you cannot leave..me here! I need my girl with me at...at all times!" Clara whines, gathering her long blonde hair into a high ponytail.

"You think I want to go? I-I really really don't! Stupid 'we need to go to another country for my job!'  Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I huff.

"Hey, Marie, your bags packed, yet? We'll be going in half an hour." Mason asks walking into my room. "Why are you so eager to leave? Surely you're going to miss your friends." I ask back. "I have a feeling in my gut. Soon, we'll be back." He replies, "So about your bags?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll start packing." I mumble. "You better hurry." He informs. I nod. "We can help, if you'd like?" Ethan suggests.

"Yes, please." I answer, and place my suitcases on my bed. We start throwing all my things in one suitcase at a time, and each time we come across a memorabilia, we tear up as we recall the stories.

After 15 minutes of gloomy, torturous packing, we're finally done. "I hope Mace meant what he said; that you'll be back soon." Clara sighs. "I hope so, too." I agree. Ethan nods his head, "Same."

"I don't want to go, guys, I'll miss you so much!" I say, my voice cracking slightly. "I don't want you to go, either!" Ethan says. "Me neither!" Clara complains.

"Promise...promise you'll never forget me?" I ask. "Promise." Ethan answers. "Cross my heart." Clara frowns. We do a group hug and as we pull away, we break into tears. Sobs. It's like every teardrop is a waterfall.

********

"This is it. I'll be off in Roklatter, and you guys will be here in Giglatus. We'll be so so far away." I whine. "We'll still be on the same planet. At least we're not moving to Earth. We'll still be here on Sanahou." Mom says in hopes of making it easier. "I'll still be on a different continent." I complain.

"I'll see you guys soon, hopefully. Don't forget me while I'm gone." I say turning to Ethan and Clara. "We won't and don't you forget us, Emily." Clara commands. I smile sadly, "Couldn't dream of it."

"You 14 year olds are so dramatic." My dad says. "15." Ethan and Mason correct, simultaneously. "Yes, yes, 14 and 15 year olds." My dad replies, rolling his eyes.

"All those who are with Flight B47," The attendant at the back of the room says into a microphone, "start boarding the plane, now. All those who are with Flight B47, start boarding the plane, now."

I pout, "Huh. That's us." Clara's blue eyes have become a bit red, and very puffy due to all the crying. "You can't go! Please, please, please don't go!" She whines. I'm sure my eyes are red and puffy, also. "I really don't want to. But, they're making me." I reply motioning in my parents' direction.

"We're right here." My mom says. "We know." Clara and I reply in unison. Mom narrows her eyes at us, "Well, sorry, my darlings, but we have to go." "Okay..." We all mumble.

I hug Clara for a long time before she pulls away and I hug Ethan. He's much taller than me at 5'8. He practically towers over me, who's only 5'3. I'm not exactly short but him and Clara—5'4— are both taller than me.

But that's why it's nice hugging them. Well, it's always nice to hug someone tall. Rather too tall than too short, 'cause then you have to break your back bending down.

He tries pulling away but I'm stuck. Oh no, not this again. "E-Ethan...I'm stuck again. My braces hooked on your shirt again." I inform him.

"Oh Lord." He sighs. Here comes Clara, she always helps unhook me. She slowly and carefully detaches the braces from his shirt. In less than a minute, I'm free—and pulling lint out of my braces.

"Bye, guys." I sigh, sadly.

********

"Do you need anything, over here?" The flight attendant asks our row, as I'm looking out the window at the endless supply of clouds. "Clara and Ethan." I mutter under my breath.

"No, thank you, we're fine." My dad tells the confused attendant. "Sweetheart, it'll be okay. You'll make new friends." He says, turning to me.

"None of them could ever beat Clara and Ethan." I disagree. "No, they could never, but, maybe someone can come close, if you give them a chance." My mom replies.

"I guess..." I sigh. Maybe I could meet someone who could become a close friend. Maybe even a best friend. Maybe.

"I-I'm just going to sleep a bit." I tell them and doze off on my seat. Hmph, it's actually quite comfortable.

********
"Wake up, Emily, wake up."

"Huh?" I ask opening my eyes. "We're here!" My mom shouts and I sit upright. "We are?" I ask. "Yeah! Let's get off this plane." She replies.

We get off our seats, open the overhead carrier, and take out our carry on bags. We watch as the other people get off and then, finally, we get off the plane.

"So this is how Roklatter looks." Mason says. I nod a little looking around for myself. "We're going to the cafe for a little, you two can hang around wherever, but stay together." Dad instructs.

"Okay!" We reply in unison and they walk off to the cafe. "Mason, how are you so optimistic?" I ask. "It's in my blood. You know that Granny Beth is very optimistic." He replies.

"Speaking of Granny Beth, there she is right now!" I shout and run up to her. "Granny!"

"Mason! Emily! Ah, it's been too long!" She shouts, "Where's Claire...and Jason?" Mason quickly replies, "They've just gone to the cafe for a bit."

"Oh, alright then, well, we've got some catching up to do, eh?" Granny asks. I nod my head eagerly and we sit down at a table near by.

"Mason, Emily, can you tell me a story as to why you're here?" Granny asks, knowing how we love telling stories.

"You're in for a long one...." Mason says as I begin.

"So, I'm in my room when I hear dad yell, 'Kids, could you come downstairs?' "Sure! I'm coming!" I shout back, type the last few words on my project and shut down my laptop. I stick it back in its case and then run downstairs.

"Yes, dad?" Mason and I ask simultaneously. "Gee, sometimes I swear you two are twins." Dad says. I laugh, "Why'd you call us?"

"Well, sweetheart, your father has something he needs to tell you two." Mom replies. "Yes, it's about my job..." Dad says.

"Oh no! Did you get fired? But you're so good at what you do! I can't believe this! What are we going to do?" I ask. "No, no, no, sweetie, nothing like that. Actually, I got a promotion. But, I have to go to.... Roklatter for it."  He informs.

"Wha-bu-uh-Roklatter?" I ask, shocked. I can't move to another country! I can't! Please please tell me he's kidding! "Ye-yes, Roklatter." He replies. "But that's like half way across the world, Dad!" I whine.

"Honey, it's what's best for this family. We need all the money we can get. You know that..." He says. "But-but all my friends are here! What about school? What about mom's job? Dad! I have friends here!" I shout.

"Mom has already applied to be a cop over there, too. As for you, you'll have to make some new friends, okay?" He asks. "No! No, definitely not okay! Dad, I love it here!" I choke out.

"And you'll love it there, too! Please, honey, for me?" Dad pleads.

"For you, anything. Dad, I love you. You know that I'd do anything for you, always. When...when exactly do we go?" I ask.

"Next week." He answers. "How about you Mason, are you okay with this?" "Yeah, yeah I'm fine with it." Mason answers.

Okay, I can do this. I can always come back in my summer breaks, and winter holidays. I can move back here once I'm 19. This will all be okay. I will be okay. Phew. I will be okay.

"I'm going to go sleep. School tomorrow." I remind them. "I need some rest." Dad nods his head, "Good night, turtle." I narrow my eyes at him, "So not funny, Dad!"

"It's kinda funny..." He replies. So, when I was 7, I saw this duck outside my car window, and I shouted 'Turtle! Daddy, it's a turtle!' Now, they mock me because of it... So not funny. That's also when I finally told them I needed glasses, but I'll save that story for later.

"Night, dad. Night, mom. Night, Mace." I yawn and head up stairs.

********
"Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh!" My alarm sounds. "Eh! Eh! Eh!"

"Shut up!" I shout at it, and turn it off. I roll over in bed and grab my black framed glasses from my bedside table. 'What time is it?'

[7:45 am]

'No! No! No!! I over slept! How could I not hear my alarm at 7? Now I only have 15 minutes to get ready for school! NO!' I jump out of bed and hurriedly change into uniform; cotton pink shirt, black denim knee-length skirt, knee-length white socks and black shoes.

I have to wear uniform to school and I kind of like it because I don't have to worry about wearing the wrong thing or whatever.

[7:50 am]

I run a brush through my chin length brunette hair and put on my lucky bracelet, ring and necklace.

"Which lucky bracelet, necklace and ring are you talking about, dear?" Granny interrupts.

"My bracelet was given to me for my 10th birthday by my parents and brother, Mason; it's a turtle necklace. Although the meaning of the bracelet mocks me, I still love it because it actually did help me get through some really tough times."

"My ring was given to me for my 8th birthday courtesy of Clara. Surprisingly, it still fits.. Thankfully, though. It's a thin ring that looks like a tiara at the front. My birthday party that year was princess-themed, and she was the only one who came—thankfully, may I add? Well, Ethan would've come, too, but it was a princess themed party. So, yeah.  This also means a lot to me."

"The necklace. The necklace was given to me for my 9th by Ethan. The original chain was renewed last year—at 13—because it started to look like a choker, however, the pendants remained. The pendants are two circles; one has 'dodo' carved on it—'cause he was evil (still is, haha)—and the other has a camera carved on it, on the back of the camera pendant is a carved chef's hat; at 9, I wanted to become a photographer/chef like my dad; I still do, don't get me wrong. This is really special to me as well."

"Alright, continue..." She informs.

[7:55 am]

I quickly make up my bed and grab my phone and my empty cup that had water in it before. After fixing everything and taking everything I need, I run downstairs as fast as possible.

"Did someone oversleep today?" Mason asks and I glare at him. "No..." I lie. "You're lying. You're voice squeaks when you lie." He replies.

"Oh, whatever." I say and then grab a breakfast shake because I won't have time to sit down and have a proper breakfast. Dad walks into the kitchen jingling his keys. "Hey, kiddos, let's flee, let's skidaddel, le—"

"Dad...dad, stop." I interrupt. He asks, "Isn't that what all the cool kids are saying now-a—" "No." I answer shaking my head.

"Fine. Let's bounce....Eh?" Dad suggests. I shake my head, "No Da—" "You get points for that, some kids still say that." Mason corrects. I shrug.

"Yes! Woohoo! Okay, let's bounce." He says and runs to the car. I shake my head, "That man we call Dad is such a weirdo."

"Takes one to know one." Mason says and runs off as well. I glare at his retreating back and make my own way to the car.

********

"Get out, get out, you're already late! Get out! Love you! Be safe! Get out! Faster! Love you, bye!" Dad shouts throwing our bags at us. "Thanks Pops, bye! Drive safe!" I shout.

"Bye, honey. Now run, go, go, go!" He hurries. I run into school, quickly throw my bags into my class and run to The Hall. The Hall is where the entire school goes every morning. We also have all our dances and parties there.

When we get there, specifically at 8:05 am sharp, our headmaster takes attendance. She believes it's much more fun to take the entire school's attendance at once.

Mason and I enter The Hall with a minute to spare, and hurriedly run to our class. "Hi Ethan, hey Clara!" I greet sitting next to them. "Hola Señorita." Clara replies in the worst Spanish accent. "Hey dodo." Ethan smirks.

I lightly punch him and he rubs his arm. "Wuss." I remark, smugly. Then the headmaster starts, "Abigail Kennedy?" A four year old right across the room raises her hand. She's in Pre-K.

Mrs. O'Neal, our headmaster, continues calling attendance. After a while she gets to Clara, "Clara Tucker?" Clara raises her hand. "Destiny Lopez?" Another hand raises.

"Drew Feather?" She calls and Drew raises her hand. "Elaine Groves?" Another raised hand. "Emily Beckets?" I raise my hand. "Ethan Thompson?" Ethan throws his hand up.

She goes through the rest of the E's, she goes through the rest of the alphabet leading up to L. "Laura Santiago?" She calls. Laura raises her hand. "Leah-Marie Flinch?" Leah raises her hand.

"Mariana Guillermo?" She asks and Mariana raises her hand. "Mason Beckets?" She calls. Silence. "Mason Beckets?" Mrs. O'Neal repeats. I look to my side and see him snoring his butt off. I shake him awake, "Mason, Mason..." I say.

"Huh, oh...Here!" He shouts raising his hand, and I laugh. "Aye, Mason. Mason, Mason, Mason..." I scold playfully. She finishes up everything, all the way to 12th Grade.

[9:13 am]

Great, just in time for Geometry.... "All students may be dismissed now. Classes must start at no later than 9: 30." Mrs. O'Neal announces as all students line up and go to our classrooms.

********
"Hello, Class." Ms. Shapiro greets. "Today we will be learning about Pythagorean Theorems. Does anybody here know anything about Pythagorean Theorems?" She asks.

"Pytha-what now?" Drew asks from the back sending everyone into a fit of laughter. "Alright, alright, calm down everyone." Ms. Shapiro says waving her hands, dismissively.

"The Pythagorean Theorem, or the Pythagoras' Theorem, is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle. The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides." She explains.

"Excuse me, I have a question...what did you just say? I'm lost."  Gracie asks.

"Well, to put it in terms you'll all understand, The Pythagorean Theorem is a statement about triangles that hold a right angle. It states that, 'The area of the square built upon the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares upon the remaining sides.'"

A lot of 'oh's and 'I get it now's are repeatedly filling the room. "Yes. That's what we will be learning today. And I've got a surprise for you on Monday." She exclaims.

"Ooh. I wonder what it is..." Clara says leaning closer to me from her seat at my right. "Me too. I've also....I've got something to tell you. And Ethan."

"Yeah, sure, tell me." Clara replies, eagerly. I can't. I can't tell my best friend that I've known since the womb that I'm leaving. But I have to, I know. "I'll tell you after this class, in our break between 10:00 and 10:15." I tell her. She nods her head, "Okay."

"The first example we'll be doing is...." Ms. Shapiro starts, but I cut her off as I copy down notes from the board.

********

"Clara says you have something to tell us?" Ethan asks standing across from me at my locker. I nod my head as Clara makes her way over here.

"I do, I have something to tell the two of you." I reply. "Okay, tell us." He says. "Um..yesterday, my dad gave me this great/terrible news and I'm half happy for him, half breaking down inside." I start.

"Oh...well, you can tell us anything, we'll always be here for you." Ethan replies. But I won't be here for you, and there's not really anything I can do about it.

"Good news or bad news first?" I ask. "Good," Clara answers. "Okay...you know how my dad works with Clark's?" I ask. "Where he makes all kinds of food and takes pictures of it?" Clara asks.

"Yeah, that one...well, they gave him a promotion." I inform. "Oh, really? That's great!" Ethan exclaims.

"For the promotion," I continue, "here comes the bad news, he has to move to Roklatter." Clara scrunches her eyebrows, "Oh, okay. So?"

"So my family has to go with him." I answer. Simultaneously, Ethan and Clara shout, "What?!" Earning a few looks from the kids surrounding us.

Ethan sighs, "This sucks." "Yeah, I know." I agree. "This is just like when my parents got divorced; I was miserable. Please don't put me through that again!" Clara begs.

"My parents got separated, too." Ethan mumbles. What's with all the divorces? Gah!"I'm really sorry, guys, I do wish I could stay but it's best for my family." I insist.

"When are you leaving?" Ethan asks and I sigh, "Thursday, next week." Clara brightens up, "At least you'll be here for your birthday on Monday." I nod my head sadly...my 14th birthday/the last birthday I'll celebrate with my friends.

[12:03 am Monday 15]

"Hm?" I ask sitting upright and rubbing my tired eyes. "Happy birthday!!" My parents, Mason, Ethan and Clara shout. "Hm?" I ask. "Happy birthday!!" They repeat. I manage a small tired smile.

"Thank you." I mumble. Individually, they hug me and mom plants a kiss on my forehead.

"My turn! I wanna say one part of the story that you don't know..." Mason interrupts.

[Friday 12, 8:20 pm]

"You've got a text. MCB, you've got one unread text." My phone chirps. I type in my passcode; 1684, and open my SnowChat app.

Hello, Mr. Beckets,
As you may know, I mentioned a surprise earlier today and I'm sure you're aware that your sister, Ms. Emily Beckets's birthday is on Monday. To stay on topic, I am planning a surprise party for her and I am wondering if  you would like to help out.
Take care,
Juliana Shapiro.

I quickly type up a reply.

Hey, Ms. Shapiro,
Yes, I would love to help out. Text me back, if you need me to bring anything.

Instantly, there's a reply.

Just bring some chips or soda? Any party food will do. By the way, what does she like? What do I get her?

Ms. Shapiro has always been my favorite teacher. She's just so nice. She's been teaching Emily, Clara, Ethan and I since 1st Grade. We all got lucky when we were put in the same class.

Okay. I'll have a look at party food, tomorrow. As for what you can get her, she likes meaningful jewelry. She's in love with books and she likes music. Right now, she's into books by Jenna Dunn.
Jenna has written three books already. The first book is Lost All Meaning. Second, In His Shoes. The third one Emily wants badly, but she can't find it, is called The Goodbye Daisy. I saw it in Walmart yesterday and asked my aunt, who's also the manager, to hide it, so Emily wouldn't see it. If you go by, tell her I sent you, and you can get Emily that book.

Done, reply formed.

Thank you, Mason. Thank you, so much.

She texts back.

I turn off my phone and head over to my PlayStation. Turning it on, I slide in the Call of Duty disk.

"So, that's how everyone was in on it!" I shout after Mason finishes. He nods and I glance over at my Grandmother who has an amused smile plastered on her face.

Then I continue the story.

[7:00 am, Monday 15]

My alarm goes off on time, "Eh! Eh! E—" but I'm already ready, so it doesn't matter.
I've been up since 6:22 because I couldn't sleep any longer. Why? I have no idea.

Maybe, because it's my 14th today, but I don't know. I make up my bed, brush my teeth and grab my things. I already ate; at 6:40.

I run downstairs and sit on the couch, opening my new favorite app on my phone—Snowpad. It's just amazing, it's this online reading and writing app. You can also talk to people but it's mainly for reading and writing.

The writing bit is kind of for either young authors or people who like writing but can't afford to make an actual paper book. That's me, well the young author part. I'm not exactly rich, but I'm not broke.

I have enough money to make a living out of.

I tap on a story I'm currently invested in; Let's Switch. This book is amazing. It's just another cliché about how the mom had twins but then the parents separated and they each kept one but then years later, the mom calls the dad and says, "Let's switch."  This leads Bella, the moms daughter, to feel neglected and unloved also depressed. And then the father declines which makes her feel even worse.

She hides away in her room forever and one day she gets a message from an unknown number and the message says, "Hey sis." And well I don't want to get too much into my description of it.

I see the author hasn't updated it yet which is fine because she writes nice long chapters. I lock my phone and call Buster. "Buster!" I shout and he comes running to me.

"Hey, baby!" I say and pick up my soft, adorable little Teacup Pup. He's not exactly a teacup pup as unlike them, he's said to grow larger, but he's so small now, I consider him to be one. He's actually a Shepherd dog.

I picked him out, because think of this; a fluffy black and white big Shepherd dog. Now minimize him until he's so small he can fit in a cup and make his eyes big. Now you know why I chose him. His eyes are abnormally big, and so heartwarmingly brown.

He has one sister and one brother. They don't live with us though, but they see each other daily. Clara has the sister and Ethan has the brother.

All three pups are identical, and neither one is cuter than the other. The way we tell them apart is because Monkey—Ethan's dog—has a brown stripe on his forehead. And well, Willow doesn't have a certain masculine part.

"Look who's up early today..." Mason notes ruffling my hair. "Mason! You know I hate that!" I frown fixing my hair.

"Happy birthday, Marie." He says handing me a little square box. Marie is my middle name, and he's the only one who calls me by it. 

"Thanks, Mace." I reply shredding the paper off. "Oh...My God." I gush, staring at the picture carefully laid on some comfortable fabric.

"Mason..." I say, speechless. The picture laid out in front of me is a picture holding the best memory of my life. It was last year, for Clara's 13th birthday.

The entire Tucker family joined together with my family and the Thompson's for a big birthday celebration at Drip; a very popular restaurant.

They had to push together five tables to fit us all, but they didn't mind, as we were and still are their favorite customers.

It was the first time all of us had done something together, and it was a heck lot of fun. We had to take eight cabs to get there, and we had to take dad's Land Rover, too.

"Thank you so much. I love you to bits." I say finally looking up at him. I jump up and wrap my arms around him.

"Thank you so much, Mason!" I say once again. "Hello hello." Mom greets walking into the living room.

"Hi mom!" I say, standing up to hug her. "Happy birthday!" She shouts after pulling away.

"Thanks mom." I say after receiving a square orange box. I open it to find a mint colored dress.

"I love it!" I whisper. "I knew you would. Now go to the car, you don't want to be late for school." She replies.

I nod my head and hug her one more time before running off to the car.

I hop in the back seat and Dad hands me a big white box. I smile and open it to find a Polaroid camera and all its accessories and necessities.

"Dad....this is amazing. I love you so much." I say. He smiles and kisses my cheek.

As Mason hops in the front seat, Dad starts the engine and drives off.

"Have a good day at school, Honey." Dad said as we ran to The Hall."

"And then I had a surprise party and then that lead to me and my friends furiously packing my bags. And now we're here." I say, finally done with the story. "What a story." Granny Beth notes.

I nod my head. "I'm going to miss my friends." "You'll see them again. On the bright side, you get to stay with Hillary, Zac and Winter for a while before you find a place to live." She informs.

"Really?!" Mason and I scream, excitedly and Granny nods her head.

Okay. Hey guys. So you finished reading the chapter, thank you. A question asked by PandaVanBamboo  "since they're on a different planet, are their skin colors different?" Well, to answer, "NO! They're normal I just felt like putting them on a different planet.."

Anyhow, thanks for reading this waste of space.

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|Book Of The Day: The Guy Next Door by Percabeth5599 |
|Song Of The Day: Say You Like Me by We The Kings|