On this Friday, the air was humid. It was going to be 89 degrees today in the big California cities. In one of those cities lived the Peirce family. The family only had one child, Quinn. Quinn has grown up all sixteen years of her life in the city. She didn’t want to leave, she didn’t plan to leave. But being only sixteen, she could only do so much.
“Hey Quinn,” shouted a familiar voice. As I search my voice recognizer(in my brain) a gnat lands on my eyelash, forgetting everything only to swat the bug away. As I do this, I see my best friend, Mason, speaking to his science teacher. I accidently shoot a look of disgust at him instead of the gnat. Hopefully he wasn’t the person wanting to talk to me.
At the end of each day, Mason and I walk to our separate homes together. Today was no different. After saying farewell to his teacher, Mason turned and trotted my way. He looked different. His hair was greasy, he was carrying a football, and you could clearly see a ring of sweat on his big PE shirt. Mason is never usually into football, so for him to take on this new hobby was very strange.  Mason was tall, muscular, handsome, and had brown hair. Like me.
“Let’s meet in the pavilion today. I’m exhausted. I don’t think I can walk half the school to get to your class.” he exasperated.
“Alright, lazy bones.”
I always like it when we hang out together after school.
As I exit my last period, I remember the chat I had with Mason. “Gotta meet Mason in the pavilion today,” I told my friends. Claire, Jillian, and Amber all sit with me in History. All three nod and Amber asks  if we can call each other over the holidays. I give a shrug.
“What?” she questioned. “It’s not like anyone is going anywhere.”
It's true, nobody's going anywhere, but I hate to think about moving at this stage of high school.
Just as Jillian finished her boring lecture about different smells of classrooms, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Mason waving. I say goodbye to the trio, and make my way over to Mason.
About a block away from our street, I feel like mentioning that he looks like he was dunked in a barrel in water, but I decide not to. Instead, I talk about how the holidays are coming up. “I think I’ll stay home for the holidays. What about you?” I ask him. Just as he started to speak, my phone rang. I felt slightly rude, my phone ringing while he was going to speak. It was my  mom and had to excuse myself to answer it.
“Hello Mom,”
“Hello sweetheart, I need to talk to you.”
“What is it Mom? Can’t you just say it now?”
“Why? Who are you with? Mason? Why am I asking you this,” she mumbles, “excuse yourself and come home now. It is important,”
“Fine, I’ll come home.”
“Great, Quinn. I knew I could count on you to listen.”
When she hangs up, I hate myself for not asking to show later.
“Sorry Mason. That was my mom, I gotta head home, it is urgent.”
I don't like to just leave people without a reason, especially him. For now, this is the only excuse I have. If I don’t go, it's happened before, I’ll get a long, pointless lecture over disrespecting my elders.
“I’ll call you, alright,” he asks as I start to jog away.
“OKAY.”
I really hope he isn’t disappointed. I stop to turn around, and hope to see him without his disappointment face. He only wears it when he feels hurt. When I face him, I see he had dropped some papers, so I couldn’t see his face. But, when I turn back around, I can feel his green eyes pierce the back of my head with disappointment.
As I walk up the steps to my home, I consider the reason why Mom wanted me here so urgently. Did someone get hurt? Did they have a surprise waiting? Probably not, she sounded hesitant. Before I knew it, I was already at my dusty front door.
I found a small paper under the mat by the door. When I bent down to pick up what looked like a forgotten receipt, the door abruptly opened. It startled me and almost knocked me down the stairs. My dad hastily apologizes for scaring me and ushers me into my home.
I live in a cozy two story that reminds some people of furniture store commercials. My mom, a popular magazine editor, always has to have the latest home decoration. She waits at our long dinner table with a look of impatience.
“Please sit down,” Mother demands. When I sit, I wait for someone to say something to break the silence. When I hear Dad to start to clear his throat, I know he will straightforwardly say what he needs to say.
“We have called you to tell you that you have been relieved of your duties for high school for a short period of time.”
His first sentence leaves me puzzled. I better just listen I think.
“Do you remember the trip I took to the country?” he asks me.
I respond with a gentle nod.
“I received a call from the businessmen I saw on my trip. Well, they are offering me a bigger and better job up there and, well, I have accepted. They want me to start working as soon as possible. They have scheduled the moving company to get our things in three weeks. That leaves no time for dilly-dally. We are to move to the country. You know where that is, right?”
“Yes,” I mutter.
“Well then you know how far it is away. About 8 hours. And if we want to meet the moving deadline we must be packing night and day.”
“Okay Dad. Can I just go up to my room to work all this out please?”
“Sure, darling.”
I lay on my bed with a word echoing in my head. Move? That can’t be right. I can’t move now, I'm almost done with school. This promotion is great for the family, but is it to me?
The next morning, I realise: I can’t just disappear at school, I have to call my friends. Amber and Claire will be together for sure, so I only have to call one and can ask them to tell Jillian. Should I call Mason? I don’t think I can call 2 people saying the same heartbreaking message. Surely Claire will tell Mason. Hopefully they understand and don’t go berserk about the news.
“Hey Claire,” I start. “Is Amber there? I need to speak with both of you.”
Long silence.
“Okay, I am just going to come out and say it,” I hesitate. “My dad got a promotion and I have to move by the end of December.”
“What?” they say. “You can't just leave like that. You told us you weren’t leaving!!!” belowed Amber, blowing out my eardrum.
“I know what I said, if I could stop it I would. But I can't do anything. I am so sorry,” I cry, hoping they can understand my feelings.
“I don't accept your apology,” replied Amber. “I do not want to hear it. You will not get my pity. My pity belongs to honest people.”
“Amber, I can’t help I’m moving! Surely you can understand that I didn’t make this promise just to break it. You know I try to fullfill every promise I make. This one I just can’t keep, Amber. I can’t fix this one. My mom and dad are very happy with this promotion. ” I shout, trying to not hang up.
“So you want to move?” Amber yells.
“Yes. No. I DON’T KNOW! I’m petrified and I called not only to tell you the news but to hear acceptance and comfort. This is great for my parents. They don’t know how to comfort me when all they see is sunshine in the future. I thought friends were always there for each other to support what is going on in their lives. I guess I was wrong.”
I, without thinking, hang up and go downstairs to help my mom.
Moments later, my phone buzzes full of text messages.
I am sorry we made you upset. We weren’t being true friends.We will miss you and always be there for you no matter what. Can we do anything else for you?
I respond with a mellow: Can you tell Jill and Mason?
I’ll see what I can do she answers.
I start to pack and wonder: Will this affect my college choices? I start to doze off and kick a small box, making about 50 pictures airborne. When I start to pick them up, I spot several pictures of my friends and I. I will miss them I say to myself, but quickly shove the memories back into the box and out of my head and continue to pack. With that thought I won’t be able to get anything done.
I finish packing the day before the movers come. They must wrap and seal away everything. While they pack, I decide to sit on the patio and hope to hear from my friends.When I open my inbox on my phone, I see Jillian made a poem about friendship. I scroll through all the messages from Claire and Amber and find a message from Mason.
Mason wrote: So you're moving? I hope you have fun with your new school. Make new friends. Learn something new. Have fun. Anyway, I want to wish a great adjustment to a new school. Your friend-Mason.
I didn’t think Claire actually would tell him, but I am glad she did.
“I really hope the people here are friendly,” I tell my parents as we park in our new driveway.
I walk up the shiny stairs to my room, and think I could get used to this. I take my phone out to call my friends. I sit at the top of the stairs ready to dial the phone when I see it’s 12:00, the middle of a school day.
“I can't call them now.”
“Maybe later.”
Do they miss me? Is my absence obvious? I know the answer to those questions. I am missed, loved, and cared for, even if I’m 500 miles away.