Reunited In Years

Chapter 2

"So want to get some smoothies? We deserve it. You know, after running a marathon." Zac suggested. I could go for one. My throat was still burning like crazy because of running that much. "Sounds good." Cammie said. "Well, I gotta stop by my house first. If you don't mind." I replied. "Why? You gonna email G?" Zac teased. I punched his arm. "As a matter of fact, yes."

We got to the front of my house. "Don't leave us waiting (Name). I really want smoothies." Cammie wined. I shook my head and headed into the house. I kept quiet in case mom was sleeping. But that wasn't the case. They were in the living room talking about something. I crept into the kitchen and eaves dropped over their conversation. "Oh Jeremy (My dad). I can't believe it. She's coming." My mom cried. I tried to sneak a peek at her. She was full of tears. Happy ones. My dad was comforting her. "I know honey. It's been so long and now she's coming back." My mom sobbed. "I can't wait. She's coming tomorrow. (Name) Is going to be so happy. I can't believe I'll finally get to tell her the truth." What? Truth? What has she been keeping from me? "You haven't told her yet?" My mother shook her head. "I didn't want to. It'd probably hurt her. Like you said. It's been too long. I didn't think she could take it. But I'll finally tell her tomorrow. Oh dear do you think she'll be excited?" I raised my head up a but more to get a look at them. But when I did, I hit the cookie jar and it fell. "Ally what was that?" Shoot. I ran towards the backdoor and headed out to the front. "Back guys." The turned to look at me. "Dude, you're panting again. What happened in there?" I sighed. "I'll tell you while we are drinking smoothies."

I ordered a strawberry bananna smoothie and sat down with my friends. I told them what I heard in the kitchen. "What do you think the secret is?" I shrugged. "How should I know? But I guess I'll find out tomorrow...I really want to know though. They really never 'kept' any secrets from me." We sat in silence for a couple minutes. "Oh, I forgot to ask. What did G reply to your email?" Cammie asked. I totally forgot. I took my cell out and checked there instead. He sent me:

"Wow. I hope you survive. Drink a lot of water, and pretend some wild lion is chasing you. That should help...I think. Oh, by the way...I have to stop emailing you for a little while. I'm moving somewhere else...And it's going to take maybe a week or longer to unpack and set everything up. I know I'm upset too. But as soon as everything is done, I'll email you right away. xoxo G"

I groaned. I read the email aloud. "That's just wonderful. My parents are keeping a secret from me, and I can't talk to my best friend." Zac and Cam both cocked and eyebrow. "Eh hem." Zac fake coughed. "Me." "And me." Cam waved. I slumped down in my seat. "You guys know what I mean." I took a sip of my smoothie.

I headed into my house. Zac, Cammie, and I decided to meet tomorrow by our lockers at school. I would tell them the 'secret' my mother would tell me in the morning. "How was your day?" My mom yelled from the kitchen. "Awesome. Tiring." I replied flatly. "Dinner?" I hesitated. It would be too tempting and I might bring up the 'Secret'. "No thanks!" I headed up and decided to sleep early. I thought hard about what the secret. Then I realized something. I forgot about "Her". Mom and dad were talking about "Her" in the living room too. Mom said "Oh Jeremy, she's coming tomorrow." Well, something like that. Who was this "She". And did "She" have to do with the secret? I looked around my room. So many pics of my best friends. There were a bunch of ones with Zac, Cam, and I. We were all happy and having fun in the pics. We've all been friends since preschool. Cammie and I built a castle out of blocks together, and Zac threw a small bouncy ball at it and it collapsed. It was pretty funny. We've been best friends ever since that happened. I know. Weird way to start a friendship. I looked around some more. Then my eyes were on a picture of two babies. One of them was me, and the other was....I don't know. Mom never told me. She said she couldn't remember. That photo was taken when I was two. Mom said the other baby was my best friend. That's it. In that photo, both of us babies were laughing and enjoying ourselves. I held up the heart shaped locket around my neck. When I opened it, the very same picture was in there. On the back of it, my name was engraved. I have a lot of best friends, I thought.