Dear Me: How to Love

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Goodbye New Zealand

-

"What? You're leaving?!" My best friend's mouth gaped open and stared at me with her puzzled eyes.

"Yeah"

I set down my lunch tray next to hers and began unwrapping my tuna sandwich.

"When? It's so sudden!"

"I only found out about it last night. My parents mentioned about heading overseas for a fresh start."

Cheryll became speechless, the expression on her face clearly showed that she's still pretty knocked up by the fact of me leaving.

She opened her mouth to speak again and must've noticed that I was pretty shaken up too so she remained silent for the next 5 minutes, trying to process the information and think of what topic we could talk about.

"Hey guys!"

A familiar voice came from behind me, I turned a round and looked up to see 2 blonde figures come into view and walking towards our table.

They set their trays down and immediately began eating. It's funny because one tray is full and the other only occupies a quarter of the tray.

"Damn I'm hungry,"

"Conor slow down, you'll choke again"

"Nah I won't, watch me." he said hastily as he scoffed down his hamburger. Tracy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"This is why being your twin is so hard, people expect us to act the same way."

"That's just cause you eat grass for lunch and flowers for dinner"

"The flowers you are referring to are cauliflowers, dumbnut"

"Guys, guys- chill" Cheryll interrupted.

Yeah, this is what I deal with almost everyday of the school year. Not to blame them though, they're pretty funny. Thus why they're my close friends.

But today wasn't really a good day to joke around.

"So, what's up?" Connor looked up.

The twins eyed each other and then back at me and Cheryll.

"You guys look kinda pale"

I opened my mouth to speak

"Well-"

"Aubrey is leaving."

"What??" Both twins synced so loud, half the cafeteria froze and silenced to see what was going on.

My face burned with embarrassment.

"It's true."

With that, we all resumed to eating without speaking or making eye contact until the bell rang.

We packed up and began heading to class.

-

I swung my bag onto my chair and threw myself at my bed, letting out a huge sigh. Still unsatisfied, I sighed again.

"Honey?"

"Yes, mom?"

"Can we talk?" She sounded concerned. At that moment I knew we were going to talk about moving.

"Of course, come in. What is it?"

She slowly pushed open my bedroom door and revealed her exhausted face, her greying hair forced into a bun and her blouse creased from work. I could tell she didn't sleep well last night from her dark under eyes and can only assume my parents stayed up late talking.

She sat down next to me and gently rested her hand on my knee.

"It's about moving"

I knew it.

"We have finally come to a conclusion and decided to move to America, your father's home country."

"I thought you wanted to go to Canada."

"Sweetie, me and your father talked about it last night and it's for beneficial reasons. We have relatives that live there who can help us"

After talking for a while longer, she left the room to prepare dinner. I picked up my cell phone and texted Cheryll about our conversation.

To: Cheryll
Subject: -
Message:
It's confirmed- I'm going to America!

In less than 20 seconds of putting down my phone, it buzzed.

From: Cheryll
Subject: -
Message:
OMG that's so exciting! Tell me everything. x

Seeing my best friend happy for me really made me to thank the lord for putting such an optimistic and important person into my life.

To: Cheryll
Subject: -
Message:
We've booked tickets for March 21st. Taking the night flight at 8pm.

Ding!

From: Cheryll
Subject: -
Message:
That's so soon! It's less than 2 weeks from now. I'm really going to miss you. Hang out beforehand?

I sucked up my breath and looked at my screen, right before I could respond I received another message from Tracy which made me tear up.

From: Tracy
Subject: -
Message:
Free to Skype tonight? Gotta catch up with you before you leave.. );

Gee guys, I really didn't want to cry tonight.