A Doll of Hope

Chapter 21

For the next several days, Christie kept herself as busy as busy could get. With the last week of school coming to a close, she put in as many hours of work as she could. As busy as she was, she wasn't able to spend much time with Matt and his family. Though they talked over the phone every day before she went to bed for the night. Christie pretty much stopped trying to explain things to her father. She knew he wouldn't really care. At the end of the week, the last day of school was coming to a close. Christie and her friends were busy cleaning out their lockers.

"Man! I still can't believe summer vacation is here. It feels like the semester just started." RJ stated as he took out all his books.

"On the contrary, it did just begin. For me that is." Benjiro teased.

"Ha, ha, very funny."

"At least we only have to do this one more time. Just one more year and we'll be able to graduate." Christie stated.

"That's true. Speaking of which, the ceremony for this year's graduates should be getting underway soon. I heard that the classes already got their robs and stuff." RJ added.

"We should hurry up and finish with our business so we too can go congratulate them." Benjiro stated.

"Good idea, a couple buddies of mine from the basketball team are going to be there as well. I haven't had a chance to congratulate them yet." RJ agreed.

"We'll meet up with Beth by the student council room and go together. I'm sure she'd like to go too." Christie added.

"Sounds like a plan." RJ stated. Christie finished pulling some pictures off her door.

"By the way, Benjiro?"

"Yes?"

"Have you heard anything about how Roxanne's doing? She's hardly been to school at all this week. I tried to talk to her today, but she wouldn't even look at me." Benjiro shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid not. I called my mother and informed her about what had happened. She said she would give my uncle a call, but I have not heard from her. I certainly hope things have improved at least a little."

"There are times when no news is good news, but I'm not sure if that's the case with this one." RJ stated. For a minute, the three of them just stayed quiet. Just then, they heard someone call out to them.

"Hey guys!" They looked to see Bethany running towards them form down the hall. As soon as she caught up to them, she stopped for a minute to catch her breath.

"Beth, what's wrong?" Christie asked as she raised her hands towards her.

"Everything okay, babe?" RJ asked. Bethany's took a deep breath and lifted her head.

"You guys aren't going to believe this! I just heard that Roxanne and her folks are moving to Italy!" Christie, RJ, and Benjiro all shoot up.

"What?!" They freaked.

"Why on Earth would they do that?!" RJ asked.

"Well, I guess they decided they needed to take some time away from this place." Bethany guessed.

"I can understand that, but why would they move so far away? Benjiro, do you know why they would do that?" Christie asked. Benjiro thought for a minute.

"Well, I do know that my aunt has some relatives that live out in that area. Perhaps they decided to move in with them." RJ took a deep breath.

"If they're going to make a big move like that, it's possible that they won't be back for some time."