Love Searching

Chapter 1

1 | It's Okay

"Sweetie, are you done packing?" I hear Mom call out.

"Nearly!" I reply from my almost-bare room. I take the few photo albums I have and shove them in my duffle bag. The rest of my things are already waiting for me in my new house. The only things left are trinkets of my past, some old test papers from school, and other stuff.

I zip my bag shut and sigh, looking around the empty room. My lilac walls are slightly faded from its original color, the silly drawings I hid behind the desk is visible, glow-in-the-dark stars that I stuck to the corners of my window, my old creaky bed from a garage sale, and my emptied closet.

My room for ten years. Empty.

Then I remember.

I shuffle to the closet and feel for the farthest corner of the right. I open a compartment I made and pull out a music box and a wooden box with my initials on it. KC is carved in black and there are chips of the wood in several parts.

I carefully place them in the gym bag on my bed and made sure they are secure. I can't believe I forgot about them. With the rush, yeah, maybe a bit. I sit on my bed and thought of my life here.

I would miss so much here. My friends, the playground, and him.

Jerome Caster was my boyfriend. We were together for eleven months when I caught him cheating on me with a close friend of mine. I recall how devastated I was that day like it was yesterday.

"Come on, Keels! This'll be a total bomb!" Abby begged.

She had a knack for parties and as much as I enjoyed them, I needed to study for History.

"You know that I can't go, Bee. I still have to study–"

She held out her index finger to my face and said,"I'm the boss at History, I can teach you, okay?"

"Plus," she added,"Romeo will be there."

I bit my lip and thought about it. She did know her History. Jerome was going and to think about it, I didn't see him at school today. It wasn't the first time but I didn't really worry. Bee had her own disappearances, too. Like earlier.

"Bee, where were you today? I didn't see you in Home Ec. and English," I asked her.

She waved my question off and smiled at me,"So, are you coming with me?"

I shook my head and for a second I saw relief in her eyes before it flashed back to disappointment.

Must be my imagination.

She pouted and kissed my cheek,"The party's at Lewis' if you change your mind."

"Oh, I wouldn't," I laughed.

Abby took her clutch and fixed her blonde hair in the mirror. She saw me looking at her and she winked at me,"Don't worry, honey. I'll just dance my soul out tonight."

She had a thing with drinking. She gets completely drunk after two cups of beer. She, in her life, couldn't hold her alcohol.

"Get going, you lightweight. Wouldn't want Lewis to call you up for being late to his party," I teased.

She rolled her eyes and smirked,"He never had a chance with me."

"Oh shut up and go, you hoe."

"I'm leaving, wench," she replied, opening my bedroom door.

I threw my pillow at her back and she slightly tripped on her feet. She screeched,"Keeley! I'm leaving, I'm leaving!"