𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭

fifty-nine

It was eight in the morning when I left for the airport. Since I wasn't sure how long I would be staying in New York for, I decided to still keep my apartment. If things went well, then I would move everything. For now, I had two suitcases packed.

Locking the apartment behind me, I rolled my suitcases behind me, heading downstairs. Pressing the button on the elevator for the last time for who knew how long, I stepped into it, pressing the first floor. Standing in silence while the elevator lowered itself, I stared at the door, waiting for it to open.

The two silver doors slid open, leaving room for me to step out. A girl stepped into the elevator as I left. Looking out the glass doors which led outside, I saw my dad parked along the curb. Walking quickly, I made my way over to where he was.

Opening the trunk of his car, I slid in my two suitcases. Caleb was sitting in the front, so I opened the back door and sat beside Matt. He was supposed to be in school already, but Dad let him skip today so he could say goodbye to me.

We sat in silence, except for the music coming from the stereo. Since we were in Dad's car, we had to listen to whatever music he wanted to listen to. Unfortunately, Dad was a fan of old country music. My brothers and I always argued with him when it came to music, but we were always stuck with whatever he played.

"Could you please turn this garbage off?" Matt complained from beside me, rolling his eyes.

Geez, I didn't know preteens could be so sassy.

"Fine. Only because Callie is leaving," Dad responded.

Matt instantly cheered, clapping a few times in excitement. He pumped his fist in the air while making weird noises.

Caleb reached over, changing it to the station we liked to listen to. Taylor Swift's new song began to play, earning a squeal from both Caleb and myself. Ever since we moved to North America, we've gone to every single one of her concerts. Both of us were huge fans, and I'm pretty sure she was Caleb's celebrity crush.

"This is such a bop!" I exclaimed, singing along.

I may or may not have listened to it on repeat this morning. I couldn't help myself, she was my favourite singer.

Caleb and I danced to the song while Matt stared at us in disgust. Halfway through the song, Matt took out his phone, beginning to record me. I raised my eyebrows at him, hoping for some sort of explanation from the boy.

"What? You're famous. If I upload this to Youtube I'll get views," Matt explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Caleb looked at me, then towards Matt's phone. He shrugged, continuing to sing along. I joined him as the bridge of the song began.

"I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me," I sang off-key.

My windows were rolled down, earning strange looks from other drivers on the road. I ignored them, nodding my head to the beat of the song.

Then the iconic line began to play. I yelled at everyone in the car to be quiet. Caleb turned up the radio to full blast. My dad yelled at the two of us, but we both shushed him.

I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, 'cause she's dead!

The song soon finished, the next song playing. I looked out the window, staring at all the palm trees. Soon they would be replaced with tall buildings. The many Ubers on the road would be replaced with yellow cabs.

Soon we pulled up to the airport. We parked our car in the parking garage. I grabbed my luggage from the back, rolling the suitcases behind me as we made our way to the Departures area. In front of the Delta check-in area, I spotted Meadow and Anthony standing together.