The Exchange

Chapter 1

                                                                    Aspyn

Tonight was my last night in New York. As part of the ACE Program (American Coastal Exchange Program), I was going to be spending my last six months of high school in LA because I was going to be attending UCLA in the fall. Basically, what the program does is it exchanges people from the west coast who are planning to attend college in the east coast, with people on the east coast who are planning to attend college in the west coast. It's made so that we can get used to living on the other side of the country and get to know the area. I was paired up with this guy, Elliot Rienks, who currently lives in LA and he's planning on attending NYU in the fall. We have been emailing each other for a while, handing information back and forth about everything the other needed to know. He was going to be staying with my parents and my sixteen year old brother, Sean. I was going to be staying with Elliot's roommate, Oliver. I wasn't completely sure why he was living with a roommate and not with his family, but I hadn't bothered to ask in case it might have been a sensitive topic. I was a little nervous about staying with his roommate, but Elliot described him as really cool and independent. So hopefully, I didn't have to interact with him too much.

'Aspyn, I can't believe we're not graduating together,' my best friend, Taylor, whined as she helped me pack the last of my stuff.

'I know,' I said, 'We have to Skype all the time, though, and you have to tell me everything that's going on.'

'You're not even gonna be here for New Years! What about our New Years tradition?'

'I know! I wanna spend it with you,' I said, 'But school starts on January third and I'm gonna need some time to settle in.'

'Fine,' she said, sternly, 'But when I come to visit you during spring break, you better have a hot surfer dude reserved for me.'

'I definitely will,' I said, laughing at her priorities. 

'That's the last of it,' Taylor said, as we put the last few pieces of clothing in my bag.

My flight was at ten-thirty the next morning. My whole family, plus Taylor, were there for the big send off. The send off was especially emotional for Taylor because since kindergarden, the two of us had always pictured graduating together. I felt a little guilty for breaking that pact, but since this was my first time ever out of New York, everyone thought it was what was best for me. Taylor knew it was best for me, but she still had tears streaming down her face, endlessly.

'Asp, you have to call me as soon as you get there and tell me all about it, okay?' Taylor said, her voice breaking from all the sobbing.

I nodded in reassurance, 'Of course! I'm gonna miss you so much.' I pulled her in for one last, tight hug. I was really gonna miss her so much. The two of us have never been separated this long, since we were five years old. I know six months doesn't seem like a long time, but when you go thirteen years, straight, spending basically every day together, six months was a pretty long time.

I took a step onto the escalator, watching the four of them slowly shrink. There was no escalator going down. There was no going back. I waved one last time before they completely disappeared.

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Five hours passed quickly, when you were exhausted from staying up all night the night before watching late night movies with your best friend. I slept the whole flight, right through the landing and before you knew it, I was looking out a window where there was actually sun and no dots of snow falling. I guess one thing I was really looking forward to on this trip was the heated temperature. It was great to be able to escape the New York snowstorms at this time of the year.