Things Change

     Stitches nodded as he laid out his towel on the warm sand. "Great view in the daylight, I'm sure. But I only hike at night."

     I flipped the page of the magazine Hailey gave me—"for something to read on the beach"—and pretended to be deeply interested in Brucey B's new furcut to avoid talking. I was afraid if I got too comfortable with Stitches or any of his friends, I'd think more about that crazy idea I had last night of staying here and not going back home.

     It was no use, however, because he turned to me and asked, "So, I've told you about me, what about you?"

     "I'm intrigued by how the writers of this magazine cover two centimeters of Bruce fur in five pages," I said.

     He snorted. "Do Bruces even have fur?"

     "You know, I don't really know." I sighed, setting the magazine down.

     "Tell me more about Jordan," he said.

     "We've been best friends for almost two years now," I said. "He's a Shadow Kougra. He used to live in Neopia Central with me, but he moved at the end of fourth grade."

     "Kougras are cool," Stitches replied. "I knew a few in the pound." A pause, and then he smirked at me. "They can't fly, though, like Shoyrus."

     "What blatant Faerie Kougra erasure," I jested.

     He laughed. "Do you have any other friends?"

     I sighed. "I don't know. I sort of… said some things to them that I wish I could take back."

     "Well, there's no going back," he said, dismissing what I said. "Your story was good. Was it ever in the Times?"

     "Just a class story faire," I explained. "I'm not looking to be in the Times. I love reading it, but I'll never write for it."

     "Ah."

     Then, a voice diverted all my attention:

     "Throw it to me, Jordan!"

     "Okay!" a familiar voice shouted back.

     When I looked up, I saw a Shadow Kourga in orange swim shorts throw a frisbee towards a Yellow Blumaroo.

     "That's him!" I stood up from my beach towel.

     "Never give up!" Stitches cheered.

     "Jordan!" I called.

     He turned to look at me. His eyes grew to the size of snowballs.

     "Sage?"

     I pictured us running towards each other in slow motion, reaching with a high-five. Blissful, friendly… anything but us awkwardly trudging towards each other across a short distance.

     "What are you doing here?" he asked.

     "Camping trip," I said. "I meant to Neomail you, but…" My voice trailed off.

     "How're your friends?"

     I wanted to tell him everything, but seeing as there was probably limited time, I settled for "Good." They probably were 'good' without me, anyway.

     "Good," the Kougra replied.

     We just stared at each other, and it was so uncomfortable and awkward.

     He shrugged. "Well… seeya 'round." And he went back to his frisbee game.

     I looked into the distance for a minute or so, trying to make sense of what just happened. Then, feeling almost stupid, I returned to Stitches.

     "How'd it go?" he asked.

     "Good," I replied.

     "Good."

     "Er… actually, I don't know," I said. "It was a little awkward."

     "What do you mean?"

     "Like… it was supposed to feel different," I said. "It wasn't like talking to a best friend, or even a friend at all. He felt like a… stranger."

     "People grow apart," he offered. "You can't force a feeling."

     "I guess not."

     "But things are gonna be okay, right?" he asked.

     "I don't know," I said, feeling a sort of numbness throughout my whole body, like a piece of myself had just been taken from me, or I'd just found out that something I'd known for my entire life was a lie.

     "Maybe things are different now," Stitches said. "And… maybe Jordan just isn't your friend anymore."

     "But he has to be!" I said. "He might be my only friend. We're always supposed to be friends."

     It started adding up: the lack of Neomails over the past year… and how I didn't send many, either. The idea I had of Jordan and our friendship in my head: of a person who I never saw or interacted with, so I never had to face that my idea of him might be different than how he really was.

     "Think of it like… in your favorite Twisted Roses song," Stitches tried. "Sometimes, things change."

     "Can we just go home?" I asked. "Er, to your house?"

     "Okay."

     He didn't fight me that time. He didn't even try. He just led the way.

     -

     One by one, things Jordan had said to me flashed through my mind:

     "You wanna be best friends?"

     "I can't move, I have to stay here with my best friend!"

     "We'll be friends forever, Sage, no matter where we are, don't worry."

     Stitches's voice snapped me back into reality. "Are you okay?"

     He stepped onto the back porch with two cups of what looked like borovan. I'd been sitting against the wall for what had to be at least an hour, just feeling the fresh air and being alone with my thoughts.

     "Yeah," I said, accepting one of the cups.

     "Look, maybe I was wrong," he said.

     "No." I shook my head. "You were right. He doesn't feel like my friend anymore. And now I have to go back and tell everyone that all this was for nothing."

     I couldn't face my friends after what I'd said to them before I left, especially now that my mission was a bust.

     Then, Stitches said something that forced me to face head-on the feeling I'd been fighting since the Twisted Roses concert:

     "You don't have to go back."

     "Huh?"

     "You could stay here with us," he offered.

     "Are you crazy?"

     "I want to be your friend, Sage," he said. "We all do."

     Could I really do it? Just give up the life I had and stay here? Forget about my parents and my friends and Fluffy and school and… everyone?

     "I need to think about it," I said, when what I should have said was "Absolutely not."

     But I did think about it. I thought about it all night. Another night here, another night not on the reserve, buying myself more trouble and making everyone worry…

     I thought about it, and I thought some more, and finally, when the sun came up, I knocked on Stitches's bedroom door to tell him my decision.

     He didn't say anything when he answered; he just stood in the doorway and waited for me to speak.

     "If I'm going to stay here," I said, emphasizing the 'if', "there are two things I need to do."

     -

     "This is definitely it," I said, noting Jordan's red bike in the front yard with the same scratch on the handlebars.

     Sure enough, when I knocked on the door, the Shadow Kougra answered.

     This was already the hardest thing I had ever done.

     "Can we talk?" I asked.

     His back porch was old and worn down like at his old house, but it felt less welcoming here as he led me out and motioned to a chair I could sit in.

     "Were you happy to see me yesterday?" I asked.

     "Of course I was, Sage," Jordan said. "You gotta believe me. I was just… busy."

     "Well, something was missing," I said. "Believe me, this is really hard for me to say, but… I just don't think we're friends anymore."

     I felt tears again and I didn't try to stop them.

     I slowly un-clasped the shell bracelet and placed it in his paw. It felt so weird not to have it on but to still be looking at it.

     "I'm sorry," I said, leaving it on the arm of the chair as I saw myself out.

     Stitches met me at the foot of the front porch stairs.

     "How'd it go?" he asked me as we walked towards home.

     But once he noticed the tears streaming down my face, he stopped and offered a hug instead.

     "Let's just go home," I said.

     He nodded.

     Later that night, he approached me as I sat at the kitchen table, writing in the notebook he finally gave back to me.

     "Almost done?" he asked.

     I nodded. "Could you deliver it yourself?" I asked. "I really don't want to face everyone."

     "Of course," the Shoyru replied.

     When I finished my last sentence, I ripped the page from the book and folded it up, then handed it to Stitches.

     "I'm glad you decided to stay," he said.

     "My old life was close to perfect," I replied, "but it never felt quite right." A pause. "This does."

     "You sure you thought it through all the way?"

     I laughed. "Why think too much about the future? From now on, I'm just going to live in the moment, before it goes away."

     He gave me a hug before he set off for the reserve to deliver my letter.

     -

     Hey everyone. I'm okay. I found a nice group of pets here on the island, and I've decided to stay with them. It sounds crazy, I know. It sounds crazy to me, too, still, but it feels right. I won't be coming back.

     Basically, when I got up to get water that night you last saw me, I saw a Slorg just off the reserve. I got a little closer, just to see, but made sure I didn't pass the edge of the reserve. It ended up being a Spyder, and it bit me, and I blacked out and a local who was hiking in the mountains found me and took me to his house to make sure I was okay. I ended up making friends with this group of pets around my age, and they took me in and showed me around the island, and being here, living in the moment, was the best I'd felt in as long as I could remember.

     I just wanted to make sure I let my friends and family know that I'm okay. I still love you all, despite what I said and despite the fact that I'm leaving. To my friends: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said. But, so you know, I did get to see Jordan. Let's just say it didn't go how I thought it would, but that's okay. Things change.

     I'm sorry this all happened so fast, but it's what's right.

     With love,

     Sage

     The End.