Together Forever

Chapter 18

Natalie's POV

I came home from Chantal's house to a bunch of boxes stacked up against the walls.

"Um, David? Do you know whats going on?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah. Do you know that Chinese lady that we got into a fight with that one time?"

"Yeah," I said. When we went to go see the house because the workers had finally finished building it, a Chinese lady was there buying houses. Apparently she wanted to buy ours, and my parents got into a big fight with her. Eventually, some of our other neighbors got her to go away.

"Well, dad said that she keeps trying to buy the house. So we have to move earlier so she can finally leave us alone." My eyes widened.

"What? When?"

"Um...next Wednesday." My throat felt dry and my stomach started to hurt.

"N-no," I managed, "I don't believe you!" I ran downstairs and out the door, ignoring the calls from my brother to come back and my mother yelling at me because slamming the door woke up my baby sister Rachel.

I ran up the hill and got all the way to Keyarie's building until I got tired and had to stop running.

'As long as I'm here, I guess I should just tell I should tell her.' I waited for the elevator to reach her floor and walked down the hallway to her door. I knocked on it and a few seconds later I heard her unlock the door.

"Uh oh," she said when she saw me, "What did I do THIS time?" I was about to answer when she looked closer at my face.

"Natalie, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You're crying! Of course there's something wrong!"

"I'm crying?" I asked, wiping my face. Surely enough, there were tears on my hand. Keyarie hurried me inside and into her room. She left the room and came back with tissues, some chocolate, and a tub of ice cream. I gratefully took them.

"Okay, tell me what happened." I told her everything from when I came into my house to when I ran away.

"I stopped outside your building and decided I should tell you first." Keyarie smiled weakly.

"Well, if you ran out the door before you could ask your parents if you actually are."

"Then what would all those boxes be for?" Keyarie shrugged.

"I dunno...shoes? Specially made bowls? Pillows?" We were silent for a while when suddenly Keyarie's phone went off.

"You still don't have a SIM card?"

"Huh? Oh, no." She sighed and answered the phone.

"Hello...yeah, it is...yeah, shes right here...a bit...do you want to talk to her...okay," she handed me the phone, "Its your mom, shes worried sick." I sighed and answered the phone.

"Hi mom...yeah, I'm just at Keyarie's house...I know, I'm sorry...uh, before you go, can I ask you something?" I looked at Keyarie, "Uh, are we actually moving next Wednesday?"

"Of course not," she said over the phone. I smiled, "We're moving on this Friday. Be home by eight." Then she hung up.

---

"I'm seriously going to miss you guys," I told them. We were sitting on top of the hill at the park for the last time in a long time.

"On the bright side," Chantal said, "At least you aren't moving to a different Province, just a different city." I shrugged.

"I guess so." Sali nudged my shoulder.

"Looks like fuckboi is coming to say good-bye."

"Thats impossible, because I didn't tell him."

"Are you GOOD?" Rameena asked me, "You're moving TOMORROW!"

"Procrastination at its FINEST." Keyarie said. Ramiz stepped up to me.

"Hey Natalie," he said, grinning. He was wearing nice clothes and seemed to be holding something behind his back.

"Hi Ramiz," I said weakly.

"Can I talk to you?" He looked at my friends, "Uh...alone?" I nodded and stood up.

"So, did you get the note I gave you?"

"What note?" He sighed and mumbled something.

"I gave a note to Chantal to give to you on Monday. I guess she didn't give it to you."

"Oh...what did it say?" He scratched his neck.

"It was...uh...I was asking you a question. I was asking you would...um...," he handed me a rose, "If you would be my girlfriend?" I smiled. This was probably the happiest moment of my life. And then I remembered.

I was moving.

"Ramiz, I want you to know, I really really REALLY like you. I like you a LOT. But...but I can't date you." His face fell.

"Why not?"

"I'm moving tomorrow..."

----

"Text us every single day!" Rameena said. I was saying good bye to all my friends before moving to Aliston.

"And find some friends who will protect you from those damn birds," Keyarie said.

"And don't do anything stupid!" Sali said.

"Send us food!" They all said in unison. I smiled and hugged them all.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much!" I got into the car and my dad started to drive. They all ran beside the car and waved. We drove past the park when I heard someone shouting at us to stop. It was Ramiz.

"Dad!" I yelled, "Stop!" He stepped on the brake and I hopped out of the car. He ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"I know you're leaving leaving and all, and that you'll never be my girlfriend, but I wanted to do this before you moved." He pulled away from the hug and kissed me. When he pulled away he smiled and said "Good luck in Aliston. I hope you meet a great guy." He turned and ran to go see his friends before turning back around and calling "Not greater than me, but good enough." I smiled at him and got into the car.

"Never," I called back at him. Then we left.

-Written by GrammarQueen