Things Change

     I'd always imagined this day at Rainbow Pool Elementary School, but whoever was in charge decided that two schools in the greater Neopia Central area needed to close, and the students needed to be sent elsewhere.

     Every day my friends Sybil the Christmas Cybunny and Dandy the red Kau had begged that it would be some other school. Anything but Rainbow Pool Elementary. Everything was so great about that school: the playground was insanely fun with all kinds of things to do for both upper and lower grades, the teachers were fun and nice and cool, the students were always nice, there were rarely any incidents of bullying, the cafeteria food was always edible… the list went on.

     Sadly, our teacher announced a month before the last day of third grade that the two schools the district was shutting down were Rainbow Pool and Art Centre Elementary School. A Neomail came to our house saying that they'd relocated me at Money Tree Elementary. Sybil was going to Soup Faerie Neoschool, Dandy to some fancy school on the outskirts of the central.

     Sybil and Dandy and I rarely talked anymore. I'd hated every aspect of Money Tree on my first day.

     I knew nobody in my class, the teachers were either rude or boring, students were segregating areas of the playgrounds between transfers and non-transfers, and the upper grades playground was boring. The washrooms were filthy, not to mention the sinks were just a button you had to hold down with one hand while you washed the other, and the soap smelled terrible. The cafeteria food was all rotten or disgusting and the lunch lady was such a villain.

     I was walking around the playground, thinking to myself how much I hate, hate, hated this school, when I passed some hollow trees.

     A few students, two from my class, were sitting under one discussing just that. They were Annabel, Juliet, and Lola. And we bonded that day over our hatred for this stupid school.

     Then, the day Annabel invited me to sleepover at her house—of course, I said yes. We'd bonded so well that we became best friends.

     We hung out at her house the most, and if we hung out in the front yard, we'd sometimes be joined by Nina and Terrah since they lived on the same street.

     Shortly after that was when I met Jordan. I knew there was something about him that made him like a best friend, but not quite because that would always be Annabel. We fit together so perfectly, still.

     But then he told me he was moving shortly after. I had so many emotions; the only way to get them out was to write something. So I picked up a pencil and a notebook, and I wrote. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. My parents urged me to send it in to the Times, but I didn't want that, so I settled for the story fair instead.

     I was proud when it won. I got to go to a banquet and everything. It was a little embarrassing, I've never really liked the spotlight, but it was still a proud moment. But then Jordan moved and my spotlight went dark. That summer, we barely saw each other. But I had my friends.

     All until now.

     I decided to step back into the cantine. I couldn't hide in the washrooms forever.

     Rather than face Annabel, I took a sandwich and ate behind the cantine in the rain. The awning covered me. Let them think I was blacked out or something. Let them worry. It was a lot better than continuing to rip up the circle.

     I saw a shadow and looked up worriedly. The teachers had caught me.

     "What're you doing back here?" a sugar-coated syrupy voice asked.

     It was Annabel. Slightly better, but still bad.

     "What do you think?" I held back tears.

     There was only one other time I'd ever cried. It was when I'd gone with Jordan to the Neopia Central harbour to watch his ship depart. He promised me we'd be Neomail and gave me a hug. Then, I watched him leave. It was heartbreaking. One of my closest friends was fading away into the distance. He'd only sent one neomail. It said "bracelet for Sage" with a smiley face.

     This situation is slightly similar, only I'm figuratively watching Annabel fade away, whereas I was literally watching Jordan fade away. Thus, I would not cry. I would not let myself cry over anything else.

     "I didn't mean what I said," the Aisha replied, "I was just upset because Margo acts like she's so cool and sticks it to everyone and I hated myself for letting everyone into the circle, which I'm sorry for, because you're such a great friend and circle member and I'm not."

     Was she serious? After everything else she said… I knew she liked acting and had been involved with every play our school had done, often getting lead roles, but why would she mess with me so… cruelly?

     I decided I had to believe she was being serious, because I wanted to erase everything that happened and just be best friends again.

     "Just don't ever do that again," I said, standing up as we exchanged a friendly hug.

     The Aisha laughed. "Don't worry. Come on. I got rid of Margo's group."

     "But now we're odd numbered," I said.

     "I said her group. I said nothing about Margo."

     I laughed, but something didn't seem right. Nothing she said connected to anything else that she said. I shrugged it off, just thankful that we were a circle again and not the entire student population.

     -

     A change of clothes, extra sweatshirt, flashlight, water bottle, basic toiletries, Neopkins, a bag of crisps, my mechanical pencil, lead refills, an eraser, a notebook, a cap, sunglasses, other trail-bag type stuff… my explorer backpack was ready.

     I slipped on a sweatshirt over my pajamas, tied my muddy white sneakers, slung the bag over my back, and walked over to the beds, poking my friends.

     "Ow!" Juliet snapped awake.

     "What?" Lola twitched.

     "Aah!" Annabel shuddered.

     "Get up. We're going on a mini vacation," I said.

     "Please tell me this has nothing to do with Jordan," Lola said to the ceiling.

     "I was kidding!" Juliet said as if I were insane.

     "Go back to sleep," Annabel groaned.

     "Guys, I'm serious," I said. "I need to find him. He's one of my best friends."

     "Sage, this is crazy," Annabel said. "We'll get caught."

     "We'll be back by morning," I said. "Fruity Path isn't far from here."

     "Won't Jordan be asleep?"

     "He'd wake up for me."

     "Sage…"

     "Look," I said, "I know there's been some weird tension since we all got here, but we're all best friends, and this is really important to me. If Annabel moved to the Lost Desert and we went camping there, we'd all be finding her. If Juliet moved to Altador and we were camping there, same story. And so on for Lola. I can only hope you guys would do the same for me."

     Silence.

     "Jordan was your friend, too," I pointed out.

     "Actually…" Juliet began.

     There had better been a good end to that sentence, like, "actually, we'd love to go".

     "…we were never really crazy about him," Lola finished.

     "He was kind of smelly and annoying," Annabel added.

     I couldn't believe this. What on Neopia did they mean? We all got along so well before.

     "Fine!" I said, "I'll go by myself. And I'll be back in the morning! And everything will work out perfectly! So you guys can all just…bite me!"

     The girls flipped over and looked up, gasping. I knew I shouldn't have said it, but they could've shut their mouths a few times.

     "You heard what I said," I said before storming out of the cabin.

     I would've slammed the door if it wasn't a sneak out.

     I couldn't believe them. What on Neopia had happened? Ever since we took different shuttle things, everything that could possibly go wrong had gone beyond wrong.

     "Sage?" a voice asked me from the washrooms.

     It was Catarina. Ugh! Why now?

     "Oh, hey Catarina," I said, trying to think of a way to escape.

     "Whatcha doing?" she asked. "Why do you have all your stuff?"

     "It's not all my stuff," I said. "And I'm sneaking off to find Jordan. I'll be back by morning. I'll…uh… I'm gonna write a story about it."

     Her eyes widened. "Uh, there's no way on Neopia you'll make it there and back by morning."

     "It's only a few blocks away from the beach."

     "All the way down the mountain?" She crossed her arms.

     Ugh. I forgot about the mountain.

     "Don't worry, I'll cover for you," Catarina promised. "Go see your friend. It's fate."

     I wanted to ask her to go with me. I didn't want to be alone. But I knew if my best friends weren't going, the paparazzi sure as Fyora wasn't. So I watched her walk back to her cabin.

     I walked over to the sign that read, "Now Leaving Mystery Island Reserve Campsite 26A', turned to face the cabins and whispered:

     "Forget you, Annabel, Juliet, and Lola. When I get back tomorrow, you'll all see how stupid you were to think I'd never make it."

     And I turned around and left the reserve.

     To be continued…