Unexpected

On my seventeenth birthday, I went to school as usual. I didn’t have a lot of friends, but I had two really good ones. Mara is one of the smartest people I know, and Vicky is one of the funniest. We were inseparable, relying on each other to get us through long school days with lots of kids who thought they were better than us for ridiculous reasons, like the brand of their jeans or the logo on their shoes. We didn’t go to a ritzy school by any means, but in California, everyone is concerned about things like that--everyone but us, I guess. I couldn’t imagine making it through high school without Mara and Vicky by my side, and I know they felt exactly the same was as me.

So when I stepped off of the school bus that afternoon to see a moving truck parked in front of my house, my mouth dropped open I must’ve stood there in the gravel strip between my house and the road for a good three minutes while four men I didn’t recognize packed box after box into the truck. A glimpse inside told me that the furniture was already there. I could see the dining room table where my sister and mom had been sitting the day before while I stared out the window situated between the boxes, as well as my own bedroom set.

“What’s going on?” my sister, Grayson, asked from behind me. I hadn’t even heard her get off the bus behind me, I’d been so focused on that truck.

“I have no idea,” I managed. It didn’t make any sense. There wasn’t a for sale sign in front of our house. Granted, it was a rental, but my parents hadn’t said anything about Mr. Hightower wanting us to find another place to live. No one had said anything at all about it. It wasn’t even the end of the month! My sister and I exchanged glances and rushed into the house, dodging around more boxes and small items sitting in the entryway. “Mom!”

“In here!” she called from the kitchen. I was in such a rush, I nearly tripped over a rolled up rug protruding from behind another stack of boxes. I caught myself on the corner of a cardboard box, and Grayson’s hand reached out to steady me. I muttered my thanks and then proceeded into the kitchen.

My mom and Max were hurriedly pulling dishes out of the cupboards, wrapping pre-cut pieces of bubble wrap around them, taping it down, and setting them in those especially designed dish boxes. “Hi, girls,” Mom said with only a cursory glance over her shoulder. “I didn’t realize it was so late. I was hoping we’d be all packed before you got home.”

“Why? Were you going to leave without us?” Grayson asked.

Max chuckled in the back of his throat, as if the idea was unheard of. But then… considering what we were looking at at the moment, I didn’t think it was that farfetched. “No, of course not,” he said.

“What is going on?” I demanded. “Why are we moving? Where are we going?”

My mom sighed and stopped packing, dropping her head for a long moment before she turned to face us. “I’m sorry, girls. I know you want answers. You deserve them. But we are not going to be able to tell you much right now. Only that… we’re going to Grandma’s house in Montana.” She went back to packing, as if her words were not world-shattering.

Grayson and I looked at each other, our mouths dropping open as we stared into each other’s eyes. A million thoughts shot through my head, not least of all was how this wasn’t fair. Why in the world?

“No,” my sister said, her head swiveling to look at my mom. “No way! I’m not moving to Montana! My friends are here!”

“Grayson…” my mom began, stopping her frantic bubble wrapping again so she could face my sister.

“No!” Grayson shouted again. “You can’t make me!” Then, my sister pivoted on one heel, turning back the way we came, and took off like a shot toward the front door. 

I watched panic invade my mother’s eyes as she thought of all of the horrible things that could happen to her youngest daughter. She could get hit by a car, get lost, get kidnapped…. But she didn’t move, only stood there with her favorite glass platter in her hands, half-wrapped, her mouth ajar, tears starting to surface in her eyes.

I didn’t want to go either. The last thing in the world I wanted was to leave my only two friends in the world--Mara and Vicky--and move off to the middle of nowhere, where my grandmother lived in the forests of Montana. But there was something about the expression in my mother’s eyes that made me realize, whatever this was, it was necessary. 

Taking a deep breath, I said, “I’ll find her.”

“Thank you, Harlow,” my mom said in a broken, quiet voice.

I nodded and then turned around to follow my sister, knowing exactly where she would’ve gone.