The New Girl

8

Tears of sadness and Tears of joy

A group of eighth graders had planned a huge eighth grade bonfire on the last Friday night of the school year. They used the baseball/softball field, with a large fire blazing on the pitcher’s mound and lots of lawn chairs set out. Of course, there were also marshmallows and toasting sticks, graham crackers, and chocolate.   

Alexa and her friends sat on one side of the fire. She was sitting between Lissy and Ryan. Someone from the other side of the fire (Alexa thought it was Leah Perris) suggested that the kids play Truth or Dare. Alexa was busy making s’mores for a lot of it, but soon Ryan got called on.

“Truth or dare?” asked Bradley.

“Dare,” Ryan said.

“Okay, I dare you to… kiss Alexa!”

Ryan looked at me and shrugged. “Okay,” he said simply and leaned over to another passionate kiss that gave Alexa chills.

“Wow. Okay,” said Bradley, “Alexa, truth or dare?”

“I’ll take truth.”

“I’ll do this one, Bradley,” said Leah. “Was there tongue in that kiss?”

Alexa looked at Ryan. “No… creeper! Why do you wanna know how Ryan and I kiss?”

“I was just curious,” Leah shrugged.

Just then, somebody dropped their marshmallow stick into the fire and a bunch of sparks flew in every direction.

“Alexa, watch out!” Ryan said. “There’s an ember in your sandal. Here, let me get it.” He brushed his sneakered foot across the base of my left sandal, finally getting it off. “That happened to one of my friends a while back and they got burned; I didn’t want that to happen to you.” He smiled that wonderful Ryan smile, and Alexa couldn’t help but smile back.

There was a loud knocking on the door. “Lizzie! Open up!” Lissy’s voice came from the other side.

“Leave me alone!” she groaned and rolled over onto her stomach as the door opened and light flooded the dark room.

“Come on, Liz, what’s wrong?” Alexa kneeled beside her bed, her voice much gentler than Lissy’s.

Lizzie threw a punk teddy bear at her.

Alexa appealed to Kendall because even though they seemed to be opposites, she was Lizzie’s closest friend.

“Lizzie, what’s up?” came Kendall’s sweet, little-girl voice. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“It’s Ceej.”

“What did CeeJay do?”

“He broke up with me!”

Alexa gasped. “Oh, Lizzie, I’m so sorry.”

“Well Ceej doesn’t know what a huge mistake he just made!” Lissy attempted to assure her.

Lizzie sat up and smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right… Thanks guys.”

“Hey,” Alexa said, “we’re girls!”

“The Girlz!” laughed Lizzie and the four girls giggled and high-fived.

“OMG” Lissy said. “Can you guys believe that it’s the last day of school already?”

“Um, no!” Alexa said. “It seems like just yesterday that I was meeting you guys!”

“Yeah,” Maxi agreed, “my hometown seems pretty boring compared to good ol’ Durmon!”

“Where do you live?” Kendall asked her.

“I told you last year!” Maxi reminded.

“You know I forget things!”

Maxi laughed. “I live in Bath, remember?”

“No way!” spluttered Alexa. “That’s not far from where I live! We have to hang out over the summer!”

Nia, quiet Nia in the corner, spoke up. “I have some paper and pens still. We should write down our addresses and cell numbers and email addresses and stuff!”

“Nia, you are a genius!” Lizzie exclaimed.

“You just noticed?” Kendall teased. “She has the highest scores in the entire grade! Mr. Wolman and Miss Loves both told me that she got 100% on both of those finals!”

Nia blushed as much as a dark-skinned girl possibly can. She pulled out the paper and colored pens, and all the Girlz exchanged info.

The seven Girlz sat with all of their bags and things on the front lawn of Durmon Academy, waiting for their parents to come and pick them up. They had decided that they would leave the beanbag chairs at the school because they would all be coming back the next year.

Nia’s parents and little brother were the first to come. “They have to come really early. It’s a long trip back to India.” She explained. After she left with many hugs, Alexa asked if she comes to Durmon all the way from India.

“No,” replied Lissy, “her home is actually not far from mine, but her family always spends their summers in their India home. Nia was telling me how sick she is of going to India year after year. She wanted to go to France, England, or Italy this year, but her parents insisted on India because her grandparents are there.”

“Oh,” Alexa said.

Lizzie was the next one to leave. A tall teenage boy in an old pickup truck with loud music blaring from it honked at the Girlz. “Well, that’s my ride,” Lizzie said ruefully. “Yeah I’m comin’, Dan!” she shouted at the guy in the truck. “See you guys. Hopefully before the new school year,” she waved as she threw her bags onto the bed of the truck and climbed into the passenger’s seat.

Next was Kendall’s turn to leave. Her parents and older brother helped her with her bags while her little sister followed her around, asking her what Durmon was like. Kendall hugged each of the four remaining girls before she got into the white minivan, and waved out the window until the Girlz were completely out of sight.

A red convertible pulled up to the curb.  A young woman with a fashionable scarf around her neck waved to the Girlz. “Maxine! Kelsey! Come on, we have to get back home!” The woman was very pale, with long, bleach-blonde hair, and looked just like Maxi. Maxi and Kelsey sighed and grabbed their bags as Maxi’s mom popped the trunk. Maxi and Kelsey hugged Alexa and Lissy before climbing into the convertible; Maxi got shotgun.

“They’re neighbors, so they always carpool,” Lissy explained.

It was a while before another car came for the Girlz. When it did, it was an ordinary-looking black car with an ordinary-looking female driver. “Alyssa McManus?” the woman asked. Lissy nodded. “Your mom couldn’t make it, so she sent me. I’m Natasha, her driver. You remember me, right?” Lissy paused, and then nodded. “Good,” Natasha said. “Here, I’ll get those bags for you, honey.”

While Natasha loaded her bags into the trunk, Alexa and Lissy hugged goodbye. “Don’t forget to call, text, or email,” Lissy said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t care what it is; I just don’t wanna be alone in L.A.”

“Don’t worry,” Alexa smiled, “I won’t forget about my best friend.”

Natasha stood off to the side impatiently, waiting for the two to stop hugging. Finally they did and Lissy got into the backseat of the car that Natasha opened for her. She stared, teary-eyed, out of the back window until she couldn’t see Alexa anymore. It wasn't until long after Lissy left that Alexa began wondering about Lissy and her mom.

Alexa got a call on her cell phone. She hadn’t charged it since she left home, but it still had full charge because Durmon students weren’t allowed to use their phones.

“Hello?” she said after answering the number she didn’t recognize.

“Alexa?” it was a male voice.

“Yeah…”

“Okay, good. It’s Ryan.”

“Oh, hey!” said a very happy Alexa.

“I just wanted to apologize for not saying good-bye to you before leaving. When I got out of the school, my dad was already here. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Alexa replied.

“So… we should get together over the summer. If we can, I mean.”

“Oh yeah, definitely… where do you live?” she asked.

“I live in Quinnsville,” he said. “What about you?”

“Quinnsville? I don’t even know where that is! I live in Addison, near Bath.”

“In this state?”

“Yeah…” Alexa replied warily.

“I live in Indiana,” he said, his voice displaying an extreme disappointment.

“Oh. I see.” Alexa could not hide the disappointment in her voice. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Ryan, I have to go. My phone is about to die.” Total lie. “So, talk to you later, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess. Bye.”

“Bye.” Alexa hung up. She wanted to cry. She also wanted to scream at the car that kept honking at her. Wait…

“Alexa!” the woman inside the silver sedan rolled down the window. “Do you wanna go home or not?” The woman had long, gorgeous red hair with a few streaks of gray, and even from this distance, Alexa could tell she had bright blue eyes.

“Mom?” she asked in awe.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” she teased, just like she always used to as she got out of the car and into ‘hug position’. Alexa ran towards her, barely believing it, and hugged her, breathing in the distantly familiar scent of her mom’s favorite perfume. Maybe this -leaving her friends and not seeing her boyfriend for the entire summer- wasn’t the end of the world after all.