Charlie Rose

one

My phone was ringing like crazy, vibrating and flashing and I was running to answer before it rang out. It was my best friend Gracie. She was my only friend, I don't have any others. With a big smile on my face, I answer the call.

"Hey Gracie, what's up?" I answer, trying to act as cool as possible. I don't think it worked but I tried and that's all that matters.

"Yo, nothing much, I just need to tell to you about something. It's really important." I think she tried to act cool too but it didn't work, did I sound like that?

"Yeah sure what's wrong?" I'm slightly concerned. She's my best friends, I'll be really upset if something bad has happened.

"Um, it's not good news-"

"Come on spill the beans, don't keep me waiting." I try to wiggle the information out of her as quick as possible, like ripping off a bandaid.

I heard her take a few deep breaths, I think she was crying, her voice cracked as she was speaking. I hope it wasn't anything too bad, school starts in three days and I need her by my side.

"I..I'm moving to another country." Gracie studdered.

I don't talk. I am seconds from hanging up. She can't go. She's my only friend.

"Mum got a job, at a big company or something in New York. It's a great opportunity and she said it would be a shame to decline. We leave for the airport tomorrow morning. I am so sorry Charlie, I waited for the last possible moment to tell you." She's crying, I feel her tears over the phone.

I can't listen to this. I hang up then throw my phone at the wall and cry for hours. Just lying there, crying, looking at the cracked screen on the floor, it makes me cry harder. My phone keeps ringing, it's Gracie and I don't answer. She's my best friend, she can't leave. I won't let her.

~

"Coming!"
Mum just called out to me. She was giving me a lift to school instead of me catching the bus. I hate the bus. It goes so slow and everyone is yelling and screaming and I sit by myself reading. Well I guess it isn't too bad, but I usually have a headache before I even get to school.

I go down stairs and Mum is there and she has her phone out looking excited. I didn't tell her about Gracie, she would be concerned about me and send me to talk to someone or to see Gracie and I just wanted to keep it to myself. She's my mother, she doesn't have to know everything, does she?

"Ready for your annual school photo?"

I forgot! Every year, mum takes a new photo of me in my school uniform so she can see how much I have changed. I never change. I don't like change. I always like everything the way it is. I don't get why she takes photos every year, I mean, I wear the same Australian uniform, I never dye my long brown hair or wear make up. I think it's just a way to chew storage up on her phone.

"Say cheese!" Mum tells my with a strong voice. She's always had the same voice. When I was younger, her voice would scare me so much. If I was in trouble, I would cry and I just hated it so much.

My mother has an elegant figure. Very thin, almost fragile, like a pile dust, waiting for a blow of wind to just be drifted away. I don't look like my mother very much. Our figures are the same, but my features are completely different. I have olive like skin, but my face is somewhat more pale than the rest of my body, just enough for me to notice, I don't think anyone else does. My eyes are bright blue and they don't suit me. I've never liked my eyes.

"Year 10, oh I am so proud of you." Mum smiles then I see her eyes watering up.

"My little girl is all grown up." She is sobbing now. It's an annual thing. She'll cry about how much I've grown up, this will last only a few minutes, then she'll be excited for my first day back.

"Oh mum, cut it out, I am still the same person." She nods wiping away the tears. Got to love mothers, don't you.

We walk out the door with mum. I am not looking forward to today. With Gracie gone, I have a bad feeling about what will happen today. I always have to have someone there, otherwise, I don't cope well. I fall apart  and have a melt down.

That is common for me, I have Asperger's Syndrome. I have for awhile. That's why I don't like change and why I don't make friends that easy. I like everything the way it is all the time. I can adjust to change, but it'll take awhile.

Gracie was good with me having Asperger's. We met while I was undertaking treatment due to me smashing a glass table over the top of me in Year 4 all because some took my spot. I went psycho and started throwing things. I flipped a glass table and it smashed over the top of me and I sliced all the way down my arm and I had nearly 200 stitches. I've calmed down since then but still have my moments. They can pop up at anytime, at any place and it sucks.

Gracie was at the hospital too, in the bed next to me. She had snapped her ankle playing soccer for the school and was waiting to undergo surgery. I was surpised to see Gracie there, I noticed her around school she used to hang with the 'sporty' kids. Gracie was good at so many sports but her main ones being soccer, basketball, athletics and cricket. Gracie has a strong built figure and is very fit. She has a pale skin tone and darkish green eyes. She is way taller than me too, almost 5'9, and me, I'm only 5'2.

While she was waiting for surgery, I was getting stitches. Gracie was still waiting and I was getting more tests done so we decided to talk. We talked and talked for almost 5 hours. Our parents were out, I think they got sick of us talking for so long. As soon as we  started talking we clicked. We had so much in common and bonded really well. Over the next couple of weeks at school, Gracie slowly became more and more distant from her other group of friends and started to hang out with me. She said she didn't even like the others and would much rather hang out with me. Since then, we have been inseparable.

Now that has ended, because she has moved to the other side of the world.

We drove to school in silence, well I was silent, Mum was talking and I was just nodding, pretending to listen. I thought about how my day would plan out. Boredom, public embarrassment, death? All these out going ideas came flooding into my mind, I even had to tell myself to not be so stupid. I have a wild imagination sometimes and it gets the better of me all the time.

We arrive at the gates to my school.

"Thanks mum" I quietly mumble under my breath. I hop out of the car.

"Now you have a good day sweetie." She's such a typical mother. I don't reply, I just tip toe to the entrance all embarrassed. Thankfully, Mum finally drives away. As she's drives she yelling "good bye my darling!" Embarrassing me in front of everyone. Thanks Mum.

Here I was at the front gate to my school. All alone. No friends here with me. There is gum all over the ground from last year, dried up and turn a gross colour on the concrete. The gardeners obviously came in over the holidays as the grass is a gorgeous green and has been mown perfectly. The bushes are trimmed and there isn't any rubbish on the ground, well that'll change in a few hours.

As I shuffle inside, I think I'm really.