Finding Renny

" Renny Fayin Maganhldi! Get up out of bed this instant We are not letting you mope any longer!"

Even though I was wallowing in self pity underneath my covers I knew the exact look on Laylas face. She had on her determined face on, the one where her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched up as if she had smelt moldy tuna. It was more cute than intimidating like she wanted it to be, but if you told her that she'd punch you as hard as she could which despite her tiny size was pretty hard.

All of a sudden the covers in which I had been hiding myself under for the past week were ripped of me and I was faced with Layla and Penny. I had known Layla since we were born. We had lived next door to each other our whole lives. She was tiny and blonde , like a fairy, but she had the personality the size of a skyscraper and she was one tough chick. She was always the one to stick up for me, she had been doing it for as long as I can remember. I remember one time in the second grade Jimmy Mcarthur had pushed me off the swing and instead of doing anything about it I had just walked away. Even then I wasn't one for confrontation. Layla wasn't having any of it. She ran over to him and punched him straight in the face causing him to fall backward off the swing and into he gravel where she preceded to jump on to of him until someone pulled her away.

We met Penny at freshman orientation last year and she fell right in with us. We sat next to each other as the dean gave some big speech about this being the beginning of our lives and all the opportunities that we were going to have and what he wanted us to get fro our experiences here at Brown. She made a bunch of witty sarcastic remarks that had us all laughing. From then on we'd been the three musketeers. Penny was the intense sarcastic artist, Layla was the loud outgoing fashionista, and I was the theatre geek. We were all so different, but somehow we worked really well together.

And right now both of these girls were looking at me as if we were about to have an intervention. This was not going to end well for me.

" Can't you just let me wallow in my own despair?" I asked reaching for my blankets once again.

All i'd wanted to do for the last week was lay in bed, eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Preferably the chocolate chip cookie dough) , and watch tragic romance movies like Romeo and Juliet and Phantom of the opera.

" You've done that for long enough." Penny protested pulling my covers off me once again this time throwing them across the room so they were out of my reach.

" No I haven't! I have at least another couple of years." I cried pulling a pillow over my face seeing as my blanket was now too far away and there was no way to go and get them.

" Look, we're going to burn all of Zach's stuff, and then w are going to the salon because you look like death."

I couldn't help it, as soon as his name left Laylas mouth my chest heaved and I choked on a sob, trying my very hardest not to let it out. I couldn't believe how pathetic I was acting. I always said I would never act like this over some stupid guy, but here I was being just as pathetic as my mother was every time some guy skipped out on her which happened at least four times a year. I remember seeing her layed up in her bed surrounded by used tissues and boxes of chocolate. She would watch the Phantom of the opera over and over again and cry out asking why they couldn't just be together. I used to wonder why she was so weak and now here I was being just as week. I guess you never really know how it feels until you experience it, and being left really sucks.

" Oh sweetie."

Laylas ' intimidating' face immediately fell a look of pity replacing it, as she fell down next to me hugging me from the side. I broke down crying into Laylas shoulder. I couldn't keep the tears inside any longer. They gushed down my face and onto Laylas shirt.

" If it makes you feel any better I've thought he was a complete idiot since kindergarten."

Despite myself, I giggled.That was the first thing she said about him when he stole Lindy Morrinson's animal crackers and she had said it eve since. I sat up, wiping my eyes trying to get rid of any evidence of my breakdown.

" So where is all his stuff? " Penny asked.

I Threw my head back and laughed for the first time in weeks. This was going to have to be a really big fire.

My suspicions were right. The fire was really big. If you date someone for five and a half years it's a given. I watched the flames grow and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. It was really over. There was no denying it now. When I was laying in my bed I could pretend that he was going to come back . I could pretend that everything was going to go back to the way it was before. I could pretend he was going to walk through the door and we were going to watch a soccer game together. but now I had to take in the reality that none of that was ever going to happen. My fairytale was over.

I reached up to the locket around my neck, moving it between my fingers. Zach had given it to me for our first anniversary. I remember that day clearly. He had a soccer game that morning and I went to support him. He was a defender and he usually wasn't the one to make the goals, but that game he took the ball all the way up and made a goal so beautiful it rivaled some of Beckhams. Then he took his jersey off and underneath he wore a white t-shirt that said I love Renny in big words. He got kicked off the field for that one and his coach made him run all through the next three practices, but he said he didn't mind. He said it was worth it to see that look on my face. After the game we had a picnic out by the lake. He had a big checkered blanket layed out by a big willow tree. I layed in his arms and he told me how much he loved me, how amazing he was, how beautiful. Then all of a sudden he sat up and reached for his soccer bag. He pulled out a little box and handed it to me an apprehensive look on his face. Inside was a silver locket with our initials engraved on the front. Inside was a picture of us. I threw my arms around him and promised to never take it off. I've kept to that promise.

I should have thrown it into the fire, but I couldn't. It was a symbol of our relationship and I couldn't throw it away, not yet. Maybe not ever.

" Feeling better?" Layla asked as the fire started to burn out. I nodded y head even though it wasn't true. If anything I felt worse, but I couldn't tell that to Layla. I didn't want her to have to worry about me. She had been doing that our whole lives.

" Good. Now lets go to the salon and help you look better, because you look like death."

There was no use in arguing with her, so I nodded. I wanted her to think that I was perfectly fine. I wanted her to think that she had helped me, that she had fixed me. I didn't want her to feel like she had failed me.

" Let me just check the mail first."

It had definitely piled up since I had last checked it. Mostly it was just junk mail. There were grocery store catalogs and things of the such. My magazines had came in. Lastly there was a letter from my school. I opened it hesitantly wondering what it was about. was I in violation of my scholarship? were they mad about all the classes I had skipped within the last week?

As soon as my eyes hit the page I realized what it was. I had always wanted to travel, a dream that Zach and I both shared. We thought it would be great to apply to study in London for the semester together. And now here was a piece of paper telling me that I had gotten in. I was going to London. At first a smile stretched out on my face. London! How amazing is that? It was such a beautiful city full of history and I was going to be there for half a year. Then all of a sudden my enthusiasm disappeared into thin air as a realization hit me.

Zach had probably gotten the exact same letter.

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AUTHORS NOTE: So I'm back guys. I hope you like my new story. Any and all feedback would be appreciated. I don't have an exact day to upload because I probably wouldn't stick to it even if I had So all my updates we'll be kind of random, but I promise to try to not take more than a week. Vote, Comment, Fan- Love, Gabby

Question of the day: Where have you always wanted to travel?