Mission Impossible//Robin Arellano

Part VII

Caldwell, Idaho

It had been a whole month since Valerie left Denver. She had written Robin a letter about everything that has happened so far. Well, not everything. She made sure to add the return address on the envelope before placing it in the blue mail box.

Dear Robin,
          I can't believe I've been away for a month now. For every month that goes by I'm going to write you a letter of everything that I've experienced. For starters, I've started school. The students are somewhat nice, nothing like the kids back home. My dad's home all the time. One thing I miss the most about Denver is my mom. Even though she wasn't around much, she always made sure we'd watch movies on Saturday nights. I haven't made any friends yet. There's this one girl in my math class who continuously stares at me. Occasionally, she'll throw a note on my desk asking for the answers. She reminds me of you, bad at math. See now, if I said that to your face, you'd punch my shoulder. But since I'm writing it, you'll have to punch Finn instead. Tell that bozo I miss him. And Gwen too. Have her write me a letter about that weird kid with a crush on her. Make sure she eats all the Baskin Robbins mint chip she can for me. And knock some sense into that Julie chick for me will ya? I bet she's up on her high horse now that I'm gone. And promise me you won't fight anyone. I can't have you getting hurt when I can't help you.
           Love, Valerie.

She contemplated writing that last part, erasing it a thousand times before giving in. It was too late now. No going back.

When I told you that she didn't mention everything, I meant it. If she touched on one topic about her new life, it was most likely a lie. The students at her new school were not somewhat nice. They were worse than the kids back home. Constant fights, hair pulling, spitting on each other's shoes, putting gum in your hair, then cutting it out with scissors. Yeah, not exactly nice.

Valerie had engaged in a few fights herself. Never ones she instigated. They were all because she was the new kid. Fresh meat. One of the girls assumed she wouldn't know how to fight, but she was wrong in some way. Valerie didn't win that fight. She got the shit kicked out of her, despite trying her hardest.

She would go home with bruises on her face and arms and her dad wouldn't care. She hated her dad more than anything. He brought her all this way just to ignore her. Once, she came home with a bloody nose. And when I say bloody, I mean gushing blood. And the most he did was give her a tissue and tell her to wash her face. She ended up having to shove three tissues up her nose to stop the bleeding.

That one girl in math class, yeah she didn't need help with math. She would write coordinates and a draw a picture of a leaf with some smoke emitting off of it. Not sketchy at all.

Valerie would sell a kidney to move back to Denver. To live her old life again. To see Robin again. Anything to get away from her dad and Caldwell, Idaho. She rarely slept since she was up thinking about her friends. She wondered if they missed her or if they had forgotten her completely. She couldn't blame them if they had. She never wrote and didn't even say goodbye.

•_•

It had been 3 weeks since she sent the letter to Robin. Valerie had begun to worry that he didn't get it. Or maybe he didn't want to reply. What if she had scared him off with the 'Love, Valerie.?' So many things could've gone wrong with the mailing process. Maybe she wrote the wrong address or she forgot the return address. No, she was sure that was there.

That's when it came. A crisp, white envelope with the name Robin Arellano written on it. Valerie quickly grabbed it off the pile of mail and ran to her room. She didn't hesitate before ripping off the adhesive seal.

Dear Valerie,
I'm glad Idaho is treating you well. We definitely miss you here in Denver though. Gwen said she'll never eat mint chip ice cream even if it's for you. Finn misses you a little too much. He was crying into my shoulder when I told him you mentioned him in your letter. And you're totally right about Julie. She doesn't shut up about how she scared you off. I made a point of telling her that she scared you off because of how psycho she is. She just slapped me and I swear I almost beat her ass. I made sure not to, for you. I'll try my best not to fight anyone, but if they bad mouth you or Finn, consider that promise broken. I spoke to your mom a bit after receiving your letter, giving her your address so she could write you. She was grateful and said she'll be writing you very soon. I miss you a lot. Oh, I did punch Finn instead for that snarky comment about how smart I am. I hope you come back soon.
Yours truly, Robin.

Yours truly. Those two words shouldn't have had such a big impact on Valerie. They hurt a lot more considering she wrote love in her letter. Maybe she took it too far. How could she be so stupid to think he liked her, let alone loved her?

She was going to beat herself up about this for a long time. At least she had one good thing coming. A letter from her mom. She stood up from her bed and walked out to the kitchen where the mail was. She sifted through the bills and magazines, but no letter. She sighed and walked back to her room, closing the door behind her. A tear fell down her cheek as she flopped onto her bed. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

a/n
I haven't had much motivation to write recently but I'm powering through for y'all