Forever Young

Chapter Four

When I was younger, I hated school. Like, completely loathed everything about it.

Now that I'd finally graduated, I missed the place, the routine. It was a place to escape my life, my distant stepdad and my mom who thought I was stuck at age nine. I mean, who gets grounded at seventeen? What if one of my friends tried to call? It wasn't fair, and she ought to know it. Oh well, at least my laptop hadn't been confiscated. Yet.

I grabbed the computer from my nightstand and opened it. It took a couple of minutes to boot, as usual. I'd been saving up for a new one all year, but working at the local hardware store wasn't exactly conducive to my plan; I think I had maybe two hundred in the bank. Mom said she would help me if I graduated with at least a three-point-six GPA (I'd done her one better, and had a three-point-eight), since I needed a laptop for college anyway, but every time I brought up the subject, she rattled on and on about how we couldn't afford it right now, until I felt guilty and went to my room.

She hadn't said a thing when she bought Mark a new pair of Jordan's (Really? An eight year old with a hundred dollar pair of shoes he's gonna outgrow in three months?) or when Molly screamed for a new Barbie Jeep, which she got the next day.

Lord forbid the Terrible Two do without something they want.

I logged on, and the last webpage I'd visited popped up. Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth. It was for the last paper I'd written in Mrs. Washington's AP English class. Had it really been over a month since graduation? I looked at the Garfield calendar above my desk and counted back the weeks. It had. Jesus, I thought, that means I only have a few weeks to get ready for college!

It wasn't that I wasn't excited to go to college. On the contrary, I was more than ready to get out of this house, of this town. I couldn't wait to roam the grounds of the University of North Carolina, to meet new people, to finally be my own person, for a change.

The problem, then?

My mom and her husband were under the impression that I would be going to our local community college, and I hadn't exactly told them any different. Their plan was for me to live here while I get my associate's degree, so I could help with the twins on days I didn't have class.

Mom told me that. Not in so many words, but still. I didn't have the heart to laugh in her face; somehow I managed to hold it in until I ran upstairs, flopped on my bed, and pressed my pillow to my face.

I knew I'd have to tell them sooner or later. I mean, I couldn't wait til August and walk downstairs with my luggage. Mom. Brian. I'm moving out. I'm moving two states away to go to my dream college, and you can't stop me. That wouldn't go over well. No, there were two major reasons why that wouldn't work.

One, I was still underage, until the last week of July.

And two, I didn't have a car. I'd look awful funny lugging my bags all the way to North Carolina with my thumb out. 

The old Mom wouldn't have given a second thought to letting me go to the college of my dreams. But I wasn't dealing with the old Mom. This morning was proof of that.

★★★★★★★★★★★★

"Laney," my mother called from the foot of the stairs. "Holly's here to see you."

"Coming," I said. I closed my laptop and slid it under the bed. I didn't think Mom would take my laptop, but then again, who knew? I ran down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. Brian was "working" again, and I didn't want to disturb him. Who knew? Today might be the day he actually started writing his novel, and who was I to impede his progress?

Holly was waiting for me on the couch. Her pin straight blonde hair hung in her face hiding her expression. When she saw me, though, she hooked her hair behind her ears. The girl that looked up at me both was and wasn't my best friend. As cheer captain, Holly was rarely without a smile. Today, though, her face was contorted with grief, her blue eyes red-rimmed and tired.

"Laney," she said, and tears poured down her cheeks. She stood, and I walked and put my arms around her.

"What's wrong? Is it Matt?" Matt was her boyfriend of two years. If he'd hurt her in any way...

"It's not Matt," she said over a sob. "It's everything."

"Here, sit down and tell me." We sank onto the pleather sofa.

Holly sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I'm moving, Laney."

"Well, that's not so bad. You always said you wanted a bigger bedroom and a bathroom you didn't have to share with Dave."

"You don't get it. I'm not moving to a new house in town." Fresh tears fell down her face. "Dad got promoted." Sniffle. "To the corporate office." Sniffle. "In Phoenix."

"Phoenix, as in, Phoenix, Arizona?"

"Yeah. "

It took a minute for her words to sink in. "But what about - what about college?"

Holly gave new blank look. "They have colleges in Arizona, Laney." 

"But what about our plan? What about UNC?"

Holly stared at me for a moment, a look of incredulity on her face. "I can't believe you." She shook her head, then stood. "I tell you I'm moving across the country, and only you would make it about yourself." She walked to the door and opened it. "I'll see you around. Or not." I expected her to slam the door. The fact that it shut without more sound than usual hurt worse.

I couldn't help myself; I burst into tears. Racking sobs escaped ripped out of my chest. This is the worst day of my life. Mom rushed in from the kitchen, her apron still tied around her like she was a housewife from the fifties, and her hands dripped dishwater to the wood floor.

"Laney! What's wrong?"

I sobbed harder. Mom wiped her hands on her apron and came over to me. She sat down beside me and pulled me closer until my head was cradled to her chest.

"H - H - Holly's moving," I sobbed. Out of the corner of my eye, saw Mark come out of the bathroom. He stared at me for a second before he threw his head back and laughed.

"What's wrong with Laney?" he asked. "Did her boyfriend dump her?"

"To your room, Mark," Mom commanded.

"But Mom-"

"Now, Mark," she spit in a voice I'd never heard her use with the twins.

"I'm telling Dad," Mark said, but ambled up the stairs, instead of toward the den.

My heart swelled, and I cried even harder. I couldn't remember the last time Mom had stood up for me, but I was pretty sure that it'd been before she'd gotten married.

Too bad it had to take me losing my best friend -my only friend, if I was being honest- to remind Mom she had another daughter.