Casey's POV
I place my last items in my suit case and sprawl over on my bed.
I've always dreamed of going to college as a kid by now that I'm actually here, it seems so big and scary. But I can't even believe to imagine how scary this is for Izzy, leaving her siblings for a long period at a time. It was already hard enough on her only seeing them before school and after she gets back from school and track but now, she won't be seeing them at all.
I pull out my phone from my pocket.
One message from Iz
Hey Newton, you all packed??!! I'll be at your house soon!
I smile at my phone and type a response.
Yeah, may or may not have been sitting her debating if I should bring a portable fan or not.
Izzy liked a message
"Casey, you almost packed honey?" I hear Elsa hollar up the stairs.
I quickly throw on a sweatshirt and do a lady minute check on my bags before I and run down the stairs.
I try to avoid eye contact with my mom as I wait for Izzy, afraid I might cry.
"Casey, you know it's okay to cry, right?" My
Mom says softly.
My vision begins to get blurry as I think about how far UCLA is. I'll be with Izzy of corse, but I've never been away from my parents even close to they amount of time. Unless you count the time my dad left me when I was 1.
My Mom walks over to me and hugs me tightly.
"It'll be alright honey, you'll have Izzy there. And you can face time us whenever you want!" My mom asures me.
I hate the feeing of needing my parents. It makes me feel sort of weak. But my mom saying those words makes me less nervous, if that's even possible.
As I'm about to get up, and watch for Izzy, I here a familiar voice. "Casey it's me! Sam"
I stare, astonished that Sam even has Wifi in Antártica.
"Sam!" I scoop the phone out of my moms hand and wave.
"Hows the Hoosh tasing?" I sarcastically ask.
"Not even dad will eat it. It's a good thing we packed the food ourselves or we would starve."
I hear a knock on the door and quickly wrap up my conversation with Sam.
"Where is Dad?" I ask.
"Not sure, I think he's sleeping. We spent the entire day trudging through the snow to find penguins. News flash, no success! He said he'll call you when he wakes up."
"Well just know that even though I'll be at college, you can call me whenever. Just not when I'm with Izzy, or at track, or learning, or-"
"Okay I get it!" Sam yells at the phone.
"You are just as annoying as before I went to Antarctica" Sam mutters.
"I second that." A familiar voice says behind me.
Izzy appears in the picture of the camera, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. She waved to Sam.
"Izzy, why do you even date Casey? She's annoying, mean, and is always smacking me."
Izzy let's out a cute laugh.
"Bye Sam, have a fun time conquering Antártica and eating Hoosh!"
"For the last time, I'm not eating-"
I hang up the phone and hand it back to my mom.
"You exited?" Izzy asks, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
"Very, but also very confused. The information I got about the school makes literally no sense"
"I guess we'll just figure it out when we get there."
We follow my mom, who as now taking on the role of grabbing all of our luggage, out to the car.
"Hm I must say, I'm going to miss people doing everything for me." I says, placing my hands behind my head."
"Stop it!" Izzy playful slaps my shoulder.
——————-
We arrive at the airport 20 minutes later. The nervousness that once filled my body about UCLA has now turned into excitedness as Izzy and I read through the brochure waiting to get out of the car.
Just then, a middle aged man open the doors for us and gives us a tilt of his hat.
"Will you be needing help carrying these bags ladies?"
I look over at the crammed back seat filled with about 30 luggage bags, most of which were Izzy's.
"Yes I think that would be helpful."
"Jesus Izzy why'd you pack so much?"
Izzy giggles and helps the man take some of the bags out, follows by me and my Mom.
As we un pack the last couple bags, I glance over at Izzy, her face filled with fear.
"Hey," I grab her hand. "It's going to be alright."
I give her a kiss on the cheek and hand the man
the last bag.
"Thank you sir, very much." My mom thanks the man. He nods and leaves with our bags.
A single tear slips from my moms face.
"I know I'll see you for Christmas break and everything but I'm going to miss you my big baby." She says, pinching my cheeks
I mentally cringe as she does so.
"Okay mom never say that again." I say laughing but at the same time crying.
She wraps me in a tight hug and I can't help but let's the tears fall.
I notice Izzy standing awkwardly and I take my free arm to pull her in.
"Take care of each other, okay?" Elsa says, whiling a tear away from Izzy's face.
We both nod and try to stop crying.
"I didn't know I would get this emotional until I actually got here." I sniff.
My mom hugs us both one more time before entering the car.
She blows us a kiss and rolls down the window one more time.
"I love you guys."
We both wave bye as her car slowly begins to disappear into the flood of cars.
