Dear Library Girl

4

Caley

I didn't want to go to school. It was Friday moming and my mom had driven Madeline and I to the office to register at the high school where we'd be spending the next three months adjusting, and just when we'd made friends, school would be out for the summer. Then after a month or two of trying to hold onto those new friends outside of school, Mom would drag us back to Arizona where she would make up with our father and we'd be a family again. I'm not pyschic, but I knew how this would play out. Mom always went back.

The school was brick with a green roof, and it looked like it could have been built a millenium ago. The parking lot was full of cars and the hallways were full of students. Madeline and I would be among them starting Monday. Madeline should have been more concerned than me. This was her senior year. She'd have to go to graduation with no lifelong friends to cry with, no teachers to thank for 'always being there,' and no understanding of the cheesy inside jokes the valedictorian would make in their speech. Madeline's graduation was supposed to be a milestone, and our dad wouldn't be there because our parents were going through another conveniently timed rough patch in their marriage. 

God, I did not want to go to school. If Madeline was angry, she didn't show it. She was texting her boyfriend Caden, who lived in Arizona. If there was anything in Madeline's life that had never changed, it was Caden. They'd been dating since they were middle schoolers, and in my opinion, Caden still acts like he's twelve. They're always talking or texting or skyping, and it drives me crazy but he makes her happy, and that's important to me because Madeline was my only sister and, often, my only friend.

I told her this that night while she helped me unpack my things. 

"Caley, you know I love you, but I'm graduating this year. I'll always be your only sister, but I can't always be your only friend," she said.

"Are you telling me to make friends?" I asked. "Because that's kind of impossible with Mom moving us around the country every time she feels like her and dad need a break!"

"Shh," Madeline reached over the box to punch me in the arm. "She'll hear you."

I lowered my voice. "You guys are always telling me to have a life, but honestly, Madeline. I know the only person you'll be talking to other than Mom and I is Caden." I had meant to be snarky, but smiled. Madeline smirked back at me.

"Whatever, Cal. I always make friends during our moves! But it's true that I'm never giving up on Caden. Besides, I know I'll see him again soon. We'll move back. We always do. Why do you think I haven't unpacked my boxes yet?"