The Spunky Life of Piper Moore

Chapter Two~New York, New York

The next day was full of hugs and goodbyes. As soon as I texted Cass that I was leaving in ten minutes, she immediately arrived at my doorstep just as I wheeled my suitcase out the door. Enveloping me in a hug after I loaded my suitcase into the trunk. She squeezed me so tightly that I could barely gasp for air.

"Too... tight. Ow," I choked out. Upon releasing, as we climbed into the car, she immediately started to ramble. Without apologizing for almost squeezing the breath out of me, I might add.

"Okay, so since your plane leaves at noon you should arrive there at six. You just have to give me a call, okay? Okay. Now, you have to call me every week or so and you definitely gotta call me if you ever, let's say get a boyfriend or do something awesome. And when you arrive at your high school-"

"Cass," I said, cutting her off. "Of course I'll call you."

That seemed to satisfy her. Though not by much. "I'm going to miss you loads Pipe."

"Me too," I sighed woefully.

"But that doesn't mean we have to be Debbie Downers right?!" Cass chirped, suddenly cheerful. "We've had loads of good times together, and one measly move to New York won't put a damper on our style!"

I smiled. That was Cass for you. Always trying to look on the bright side of things. As the car bumped along the freeway steadily heading to the airport, we started to recall old times.I laughed as we talked. We've had so many great memories together, which I still remember as clear as if it happened in yesterday.

One was where Jordan smashed a huge piece of chocolate cake into Chris's face for painting her skateboard bright pink with neon yellow swirls and rainbows for her birthday prank (birthday pranks were a big thing in the gang). Chris just licked the frosting around his lips, said "Yum", and then lobbed his piece of unfinished cake at Jordan, who dodged it, which made Matt get hit instead. Soon, an all out chocolate cake war began, and when Mrs. Lee found out the mess, she freaked out and made us clean up. The three hour task became four hours because we all kept cracking up and slipping on patches of chocolate frosting and candles.

Another was at our schools carnival, where Matt saw a dunking booth and ran to it excited. A teacher was in there, but he was just making sure it worked. Matt didn't know this (of course) so he grabbed the three baseballs, despite the dunking guy trying to tell him it wasn't opened yet, took aim, and threw one of them as hard as he could at the target. The expression on the teacher's face was so funny when he got up, soaking, his face livid. I swear he turned purple, and a big vein throbbed at his temple. He looked exactly as Vernon Dudley in Harry Potter when he was mad.

We laughed until our sides hurt, and before I knew it, the car jerked to a stop. We had arrived.

I heaved my suitcase out of the trunk, checked in my suitcase, and walked with Cass all the way to security. I turned to her sadly, shouldering my backpack. "This is where I leave you then, Cass," I said hugging her. Cass's eyes sparkled for some reason.

"Not quite," she told me, then leaned toward the security check out officer and whispered something in his ear while I stared, confused. She showed him her drivers license and he nodded, letting us pass.

"How did you do that?" I asked her as we walked to my gate, gate 76.

"The owner of the airport is my mom's close friend," she replied nonchalantly, as if it wasn't news to me. I stared at her for a while, then shrugged and made a stop and a news stand, stocking up on my favorite candy, Jolly Ranchers. As I ripped open the bag, Cass grabbed a handful, unwrapping a few and popping them into her mouth.

"Caafff," I complained, my mouth full. Cass shrugged and led me to my gate. When I arrived, though, I was in for a shock. Although all of them said they would be there to see me off, I didn't really expect them to actually be here.

I felt my vision getting misty as I went over to them. "Aww, don't cry Pipe. I'm sure at your school, if you're lucky, you'll manage to fine people maybe half as awesome as us," Matt told me, wrapping me in a hug. I smiled, ruffling up his blond hair.

"I want a hug, too," Lance whined, looking up from where he was having a skateboard trick competition with Jordan. As he gave me a hug he looked over my head (I was that short. I only came up to his chin) at Jordan. "I beat you, ya know."

Jordan nailed a kick flip and scoffed. "Yeah right! I nailed that Ollie while your landing was clumsy."

"But I did more tricks than you," Lance countered.

"Yes, but I did mine perfectly, while yours-"

"Guys," Chris interrupted them, "I thought we were saying goodbye to Pipe, not bickering over who's the next Tony Hawk."

"For once, he's not being an idiot!" Cass said with dramatic flourish, while Kayla snickered

"Hey," Chris whined. "I'm not an idiot!" We all hid laughs as we looked at Chris, who's shirt was backward and baseball cap inside out.

"Of course you're not," Emma giggled.

"Whatever," he said, as he hugged me, too. Soon, we were all in a giant group hug. I was going to miss these guys.

"Oh! Gifts!" Kayla said, clapping her hands. I blushed beet red as they each presented me with presents. I got a skateboard from Jordan (even though I didn't know how to skateboard at all, I still loved it), Lance got me wheels, the grip, and my very own skaters helmet. Matt gave me a signed album of the Beatles, which I tried to deny.

"Matt, I can't take this. I know how special it is to you," I tried to hand it back to him, knowing that each one of his albums was precious to him. This one, the signed one, was probably the jewel of his collection.

"Well you're more special than that," he said, his warm chocolate eyes showing kindness. I smiled, giving him a huge hug and a sisterly peck on the cheek. I've known him for as long as I can remember, and we're basically like brother and sister, the way Cass and I are sisters. People think we're a couple sometimes, but the only way we love each other is in a sibling/family kind of way.

"My turn!" Kayla squealed, giving me an expensive, stylish black coat. "For the weather in New York," she added, as I hugged her as well (boy, I was hugging a lot today). Emma gave me a necklace with my name as a pendant, and of course, I hugged her.

A rustling sound made me turn to Chris. Out of this huge bag I hadn't noticed before because he stashed under some seats a few ways off he pulled out this giant stuffed puppy. Beaming, I took it from him and gave him a hug too. "I love it," I said, squeezing it close to my chest.

I noticed Cass kind of hanging back. I went over to her. "I'm going to miss you so much," I told her, as I buried my head into her shoulder, hugging her tightly. When we let go, she brought out a green box with a silver ribbon.

"This is for you," she said, giving me a delicate silver chain with teal jewels.

"Oh my gosh... that's so pretty," I said, beaming. I noticed a matching one on her wrist, except the jewels were light green, Cass's favorite color. She helped me put it on, and as a flight attendant at the counter called for everyone to start boarding, I hugged everyone again.

I managed to lug everything onto the airplane without anything falling, a feat I'd like to congratulate myself on, and sighed, plugging in my ear buds to my iPod and putting it in my ears. I took one last look outside at California, before the plane took off into the clouds.