Part 1

"Life sucks," I moaned, flopping backwards onto my bed.

"What now?" Nick flopped beside me, laughing, "Don't you think you're being a little melodramatic?"

"Aren't I always?" I replied, smiling back.

Nickolas Gene Carter. The two of us had pretty much been best friends since we were in training pants. I knew from the moment he shared his prized arrowroot cookie with me, and let me scribble with the best crayons that we were soulmates. Or at least until someone came along with a bigger box of Crayolas. He'd been the boy across the lance for as long as I could remember. our backyards faced each others, and our parents had long since given up on forcing us to go through the gate, tearing down the fence that seperated us, and creating a bond no one quite understood. Through the years I, Maddison Aurelie Clement, had apparently became the envy of all the girls as he had joined a musical group which was steadily gaining popularity. To me he was still just Nick.

"So," Nick began again, "What brought on this insight?"

"Ugh, everything!" I grumbled, "Today just plain sucked. I seriously don't think anything else could have gone wrong."

"Yeah, it could've! you could've gotten run over by a bus or something," he offered.

"Gee, thanks Nicky," I spat, rolling over onto my side, putting my back to him, "That really helps."

"Maddison, don't be like this," he tried.

"Watch me," I retorted.

"Fine. I have to go anyway. Sometimes you're way too sensitive," he jumped to his feet and stormed out of my room. I could hear him say goodbye to my mother and my sister Nichole, and then I heard the back door slam.

"Well, Maddie, looks like you were wrong again," I muttered to myself, tears pricking at my eyes, "This day could get worse."

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And worse it got. Just as we sat down for dinner my mother said she had an announcement to make. I knew this was major or else mom wouldn't have waited until dinner, which was practically the only time during the day when we were together.

"Your father had been offered a huge promotion," she paused, looking around the table at the four of us: My father, Nicole, who, at 17, was a year older than me, and Alexia, or Lexi, my five year old sister.

"That's wonderful, Dadd!" I beamed.

My sisters offered their congratulations as well, the three or us happy as we knew out dad had been waiting for this. nichole and I, however, shared a momentary nervous glance, knowing there had to be a catch.

"Girls, let your mother finish," Dad instructed.

"This is a wonderful opportunity, and would mean more money for the family, and nice things for you girls." she began cautiously, "However, it would mean slightly relocating our family."

"Slightly as in where?" my voice wavered.

"Boston," my mom answered.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, mainly my though process. I considered the process of moving, numbly realizing that Boston was a long way from the cozy home in Ruskin, Florida I had known all my life. We all reacted differently to the news.

"Boston? A slight relocation! That's a freaking long way from here! And in my senior year!" Nichole yelled.

Lexi was quietly sitting at her plate, understandably confused. To a five year old whose concept of a long way away was around the block, the distance between Florida and Massachusetts was something she couldn't quite comprehend. As for me, I jumped up from the table, and forgetting the afternoon's events, ran out the back door for Nick's. As soon as I had escaped, the tears began falling.

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