"Shhhhhhhh!” I say with a finger to my mouth, “It's ringing! It's ringing!”
The boys chuckle softly but hush up a bit. I put the phone on speaker and wait. After a couple of seconds the ringing becomes replaced by a women's voice saying, "Hello?"
I make my voice a little deeper to sound older than the 12 year-old I am. "Hello, ma'am! Is this Ms. Parker?" I'm a great actor.
"Yes, may I ask wh-
"
"Wonderful! I am just calling to confirm your order of Mexican exotic dancers. They will be at your address tomorrow night at-," I pause so it seems I'm checking the time, "eight. Am I correct?”
Adam and Ian are grinning at me. David is shaking his head in disapproval but still has a smile on his face. Carter is muffling his laughter while giving me the thumbs up.
"W-what?" she stutters. "N-no one in this here ordered ex-exotic dancers! I think you've been mistaken!"
"I don't think so, ma'am. In my appointment book, I can see as clear a day that Ms. Shay Parker ordered five Mexican exotic dancers for eight o'clock on June 19th. I do not make mistakes."
"Listen here. Whoever this is, I know you're fooling around with me because I did not order no strippers!"
I gasp loudly into the phone, saying in an offended tone, “Pardon me, ma'am! This business I have here is not of strippers! Noooo, ma’am! My business is EXOTIC DANCERS or ENTERTAINERS even!" I say the last sentence loudly and slowly. "If you cannot respect my business, I suggest you find services of this kind elsewhere." I look at the boys and see that they all trying hard to muffle their laughs. I, myself, am trying to keep from laughing.
On the phone I hear Ms. Parker huffed, "I cannot believe this! I'm going to hang u-"
"WELL THEN, good day, SIR!" Then in my normal voice I say, "Oh by the way, your teaching methods suck and I seriously did not deserve that D you gave me!" With that I end the call and burst into laughter like everyone else.
"That was awesome!" Adam says.
"Exotic dancers? Did you just make that up now or did you plan on saying that?" asks David.
"No, I made it up just now. Be Proud!" I smile brightly.
"Lilliana!" I hear my mom say from downstairs. "We need to go! The plane’s not gonna wait for us!"
The smiles and laughter quickly become replaced with sad faces and silence.
I don't want to leave. I’m leaving behind so many things. The neighborhood and house I grew up in, my grandma, who practically raised me, and my four best friends. Not to be a bad granddaughter but I'm gonna miss my friends more than anything. Adam, Carter, David, and Ian are the best people in the world. We have known each other since birth and we're always there for each other even though we're completely different.
Here's a quick roll call-
Carter: The short one (even shorter than me), with hazel eyes and shyest of us all.
David: The smart genius and funny ginger.
Adam: The confident and Mr. perfect-looking one who shamelessly flirts with everyone including my mom yet excluding me (I know I shouldn't but I find that slightly...offensive?).
Ian: The Athletic one who is always sweet and doesn't say anything bad about anyone.
Last and... um least (I guess).
Me!!!: I'm Lily, the loud, slightly insane one with pretty cool green eyes If I say so myself). Oh yeah... I'm also the only girl.
We are a gang of five and call ourselves the... "Fab-Freakin-Five."
Anyway, I don't want to say goodbye to the Fab-Freakin-Five.
I stand up from the sitting position I am in on Adam’s bedroom floor and find myself crushed into a hug from Ian. When he pulls back I see the tears forming in his eyes. "I... no... we're going to miss you." Ian is crying for me. Now I'm gonna cry.
Sighing, I reach in my pocket, pull a five dollar bill and throw it at Adam.
Adam chuckles and says, "I told you he'd be first to cry."
Ian looks from me to Adam, slowly comprehending. "You made a bet that I would be the first to cry?" He isn't mad, just amused.
"Uh, yeah. I thought I would be first but you beat me to it." I wipe the tears from my eyes.
"Well I won," Adam says while walking towards me.
I roll my eyes and we hug each other. This leads to a big group hug and when we pull apart David says, "Hey that was one good last prank call Lil's."
"Lilliana," Mom says again.
We all go downstairs and I see my mom waiting by the door.
"Finally!" she says in an exasperated voice.
I follow her outside and she gets inside the car. I stand in front of the car door, not really wanting to go inside. I turn to say a final good bye and am surprised to find that all the boys are right there next to me. After another group hug and a "bye" from each boy I get in the car.
Carter steps closer to the car so that he is leaning in the window. "Things won't be the same without you Lily. We'll miss you," He says quietly.
"Turn your frown upside down. This isn't goodbye for forever."
He nods and steps back from the car. When we drive away, I wave out the window.
Oh my gosh. I'm gonna miss them so much.
* * *
Five Years Later
I wonder if the boys really missed me. I'm finally gonna see them after five whole years.
