Chapter 1
“But why does he have to go, mommy?” I said. My mom looked at me and said, “Because, sweetie. Javan’s mommy got a job and she has to move to make money to keep Javan happy. You want him to be happy don’t you?”
I nodded, finally getting it, but not accepting it. Javan couldn’t leave. He was my friend. We had made a promise that we would never leave each other. And now he was breaking that promise.
In the middle of all of my thinking, I was knocked to the ground, my shoulder nearly hitting the pavement of the driveway that I had been standing by. I kind of ninja rolled and landed on my back, looking up into the face of Javan. He had the biggest grin on his face as he pinned me down, my arms beneath his legs.
“I got you, Carli!” He shouted. Javan and I had been having a war on who could tackle the other person last before he had to go. I was in the lead, having gotten him while he was on the phone with his grandma a few minutes ago (I had gotten into big trouble for that) and he had snuck up on me while I was thinking about our deal.
He giggled as I grunted, trying to shift my way out from under him. He was obviously enjoying my struggle.
“Fine!” I chuckled. “I give up! You win!” As soon as the words left my lips, he jumped off of me and bellowed his victory shout. It sounded like a mixture of an Indian war cry and someone dying. He hadn’t quite mastered it yet. He started running around his front yard, beating his fists against his chest.
“If I knew you were going to act like this,” I began, “I wouldn’t have forfeited.” Javan stopped running and slowly walked up to me. He had this crazy look on his face and he said, “Get me.”
“What?” I asked. He just kept staring at me as if what he had just said made the most sense in the world and I was an idiot for not knowing.
“I want you to tackle me. I don’t want to win because you forfeited. I want to win fair and square. So…I’m giving you a free tackle.” He had started smiling and I was still speechless. “Well,” he continued. “You have about five seconds before I start fighting back.”
A grin began to spread across my face and I jumped on top of him, taking him by surprise. I usually didn’t take him up on his offers so it was a shock for me to jump on top of him.
I wrestled with him until I had him in the same position he had me in. We always used this position yet neither of us had come up with a way to escape. He kept struggling and trying to get up before I mentally counted to ten. We were supposed to count to ten and then get off of the other person. I had forfeited because I didn’t want to be the one that won. I wanted Javan to win. I wanted him to leave me knowing that he had won and having our last memory together be a good one for him. If Javan was happy then I was happy, and I knew winning would make him overjoyed. Javan was my best friend and always would be.
I had finally reached ten and jumped off of Javan letting him get on his feet. I was smiling and so was he even though I had just kicked his butt.
“Carli! Javan! Come and say goodbye!” I heard my mom yelling to us. Javan and I ran, communicating without speaking that we would see who could make it to my mom first, who was waiting by Javan’s car. She was putting what looked like the last box in the car when Javan and I came to a stop, him winning by an inch.
I smiled at my mom, panting to catch my breath. She had the saddest look on her face, like she was going to cry. Seeing my mom like that made my heart hurt and I felt my eyes welling up with tears like hers. I turned to see Javan’s mom, Tracie, bawling her eyes out. That did it. That made me break and start crying like Tracie. Seeing Tracie and I crying, made my mom and Javan start to cry, too. We were a big mess of crying and sobbing.
Finally Tracie pulled herself together and grabbed Javan, still weeping, away from our embrace which just made us cry even more. She put Javan into the backseat and she got into the driver’s seat. She looked like she was trying to get out of there as quick as possible. She started the car and backed out of the driveway. She waved to us, but I couldn’t stop looking to see if I could see Javan through the back window. Finally, as she was driving down the street, I saw his head pop up. He was still crying and I could tell that when he popped up in that window it was to see me.
That was the last thought I had as I saw my best friend drive away, leaving me.
