The Time of My Life [Completed]

Chapter 6: the time when we kissed!

"SURPRISE!"

I was utterly shocked, started tearing up on the spot. "What's this for?" I knew but....was still a bit in denial.

I saw Mr. Oakley come out from behind a tree. "It's for you!" He said it like it wasn't obvious.

I looked around at the 20 or so people who were there. Dustin, Julian, some girls from the tennis team, even a few kids I went to summer camp with! I couldn't believe they did this all for me.

"Come on, come on, c'mon!" Kyla shouted, pulling me over to one of the tables. She pulled out her phone and opened Snapchat. "Smile!" She yelled as she took a selfie of us. "Look. At. This." I glanced at her phone and did a double take. They made me my own geofilter. Across the top read "Farewell Jessie" with "Made by: Kyla and Declan" in a small font at the bottom.

"Contrary to what it says on the filter, we all helped." Dustin said, sitting down across from me with his laptop in hand. He plugged a blue flash drive into the computer before turning it around towards me. "Check this out. Brittany and Julian gathered pictures from everyone we know and I edited." A crowd started to form behind me. The song "Compass" by Forever in Your Mind started to play as well as a slideshow. Pictures that I totally forgot even existed moved across the screen. Everything from Kyla and I in ballet class when we were 4, to teaching Brittany how to ice skate when we were 9, to Julian and me at our orchestra concert just last month. I have the best friends in the entire fucking world.

Later the night, as the party started to wind down, I got a text from...let's just say the person I least expected?

Brayden
No invite?
I'm hurt

Jessie
Oh my mom said she invited you😂

Brayden
No it's fine
I get it

Jessie
Dustin says you should have came

Brayden
LMAO

~•~

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

"We're leaving tomorrow.

We're leaving....TOMORROW!

I'm not ready! I'm just- I'm n- I'm not!"

I am currently having a mental breakdown in the basement of my house because people are now loading the boxes from my room into the moving truck.

Brayden's family is supposed to be coming over soon to say goodbye and it's one thing I never thought I'd have to do. Saying goodbye to Brayden seems impossible. I've known him my entire life.

I can't imagine how school is going to be without Brayden, Kyla, and Declan. Of course I'll have 3 new brothers to go to school with. I get along great with Roan so maybe it'll be the same with these brothers... I hope.

Anyway, back to my panic attack.

"What if I never see my friends again? What if the moving company loses all of our stuff? What if they steal all of our stuff? I bet my brothers won't like me. 1 girl in a house with 14 boys? I'll probably get cut from the tennis team too. What if I forget a pen at school? Then I can't take notes. Which means I can't study. Then I'll fail the tests which leads to failing the class which leads to not graduating! Not graduating means I won't get accepted into college. If I can't get accepted into a college then I obviously can't get a degree which means no job which means no money which means no way to pay the bills and I'll end up living on the streets! But of course I won't want to be sitting on the side of the road all day so I'll wander into the forest, pick some berries and whatever and that's when I'll get attacked by a bear and die!"

Yep. I think I'm spiraling.

"Calm down, Jess." I whipped my head around to see Brayden smiling at the bottom of the stairs.

I tried to calm down. It wasn't much use. "Where's the rest of your family?"

His face turned serious. "They're at home. I wanted to talk to you first."

"Is everything okay?" The way he was talking plus the look on his face, he made it seem like someone just died.

"I broke up with Ella." And....there it is.

I couldn't believe it. They'd been dating for almost a year! That's a pretty long time for middle schoolers. "What......um....what happened?"

"My cousin took us to his friends party. I lost Ella the second we walked in and when I went to look for her....." He stared at something behind me with the most heart broken face I've ever seen. "I saw her kissing another guy." He sat down on the floor against the wall, all of the furniture was already packed in the truck, and I rushed to go sit next to him.

"Oh, my god I'm so sorry Bray." I put my my arm over his shoulder.

"No, no it's okay. Ella and I haven't been close for a while. It was only a matter of time before one of us realized it wasn't going to last." I saw him looking at me out of the corner of my eye. "Besides, sometimes the person you're searching for is right in front of you the whole time. And you never even noticed." I turned my head back to face Brayden and we were nose-to-nose. "I'm really gonna miss you Jess."

"Same here." I said, looking into his green eyes. I watched as he shortened the distance between us. So many thoughts were running through my head. Actually only two; what a bad idea it is, and how much I want it to happen.

Brayden finally closed the distance and I decided to just enjoy the moment while it lasted. I am leaving tomorrow after all.

~•~

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

I'm helping Dad pack the cars to leave. Our suitcases are piled up as high as possible, i doubt anything else would fit.

Dad came late last night to help us. Speaking of last night, I haven't told anyone about Brayden yet. It's not like I can tell Mom, she's been planning our "arranged marriage" for as long as I can remember! She'd totally freak out. I can't tell Dad because, well, he's my dad.

My first instinct was to go to Roan. He's pretty much always the one in the family who I go to talk to. Sadie and Raven are too young to understand, but Roan wouldn't care.

Anyway, it's 8:00 a.m. and we've got a lot of driving to get though. Roan and Raven are riding in Dad's car so for the next 11 hours or so, it's just Mom, me, Sadie, and our dog, Jela.

Eleven hour nap? Sounds great!