Before You Say Goodbye

33

Turns out she didn't.

Bright and early Sunday morning, Piper, Terry, and I went to Sophia's house. We had plans. Terry had volunteered to drive us to the Cannon beach and according to her it was also supposed to be a girls-only bonding trip or whatever – so Roman, Ezra, and Noah weren't invited.

We couldn't have chosen a worse day to go to the beach though. It was as expected too cold without the three-layer protection I was using to cover my body. I was also unable to feel my toes inside the knee-high boots I was wearing. I mean, it was December, and what else can we expect? I googled Cannon beach this morning and the water's temperature is said to be at 5°C today. It was excessively cold for a beach day – but what do you know, Terry insisted we go to the beach after buying thermal swimwear – and that's exactly what we did.

"Tell me again, why can't we do this after Winter's gone and the water's not freezing?" Piper grumbled, picking up the one-piece thermal swimwear she bought at the mall yesterday before dumping it back into her bag forcefully.

"Because when December passes so would the Haystack Holidays," Terry explained for what seemed like the tenth time, but Piper probably was only hearing it for the first time and that's why her eyebrows scrunched with confusion.

"And what's that?"

Terry huffed, "I literally told you ten seconds ago what that is."

"Didn't listen," she shrugged, "Tell us again?"

"It's a festival," I volunteered to explain, trying to diffuse the increasing friction between Terry and Piper, "It runs from mid-November through December."

"It's supposed to be very fun. Additionally, it also has the Mimosa Madness – cannon beach's version of a Black Friday."

"And we're supposed to get inside the water, why? We could just go to this Mimosa thingy, hit a fine restaurant, eat our fill, and then call it a day," Piper suggested.

Huffing, I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning back into my seat. With Terry and Piper bickering in the front seat of the car, I regretted forgetting to bring my headphones with me.

"Quit whining, Piper," Terry snapped, turning down the street in the direction of Sophia's house, "It should be illegal for someone to go to the beach and not get inside the water."

Piper had been the one that insisted we invite Sophia along and she also took it upon herself to convince us for no reason, that she was cool with Sophia now. Maybe a part of Piper was trying to seek redemption for her previous harsh words and actions towards Sophia, but another part did really like her. I remember the first day of school when Piper refused even to be in the same vicinity as Sophia – much less at the same cafeteria table. I remember how she never even touched the smores Sophia made during the bonfire night.

Now, things have changed. Just the other day, I was worried about how much Sophia had changed, but it didn't take me long to realize as much as Sophia has changed, Piper had also changed – maybe for the better.

Sophia's fancy car – the one she drives for galas and balls – was in the driveway of the Whittaker mansion. She has many cars, and she usually doesn't leave any of them in the driveway; for some reason, she always preferred to let it sleep in the garage or whatever rich people had to keep their cars in. I remembered she said was going to go to one of those fancy dinners with her dad last night – was that why the car was out here? Terry pulled her car next to it, letting out a low whistle as she took a good look at it. "Damn," she said, envious of the car, "I wish Sophia would let me drive it one day."

"Keep dreaming. That Bugatti is her baby, she wouldn't let anyone drive it," even as I said that I was wishing the same thing. Even though I never wanted to drive a car in my life, I couldn't help but wish wanting to drive this damn fine car one day.