Sincerely, Yours

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

ERIN

Braxton was tripping over her feet to get to Mr. Evans' class Monday morning. On the way to said class, she filled Erin in on everything she had discovered about her pen pal over the weekend: her name was Vanessa Blacksmith, she was a junior at Enterprise High School, her Instagram handle was @vanessablack (so grown-up), and unless she was hiding them in a basement, she did not have a significant other.

Erin breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the classroom and Brax was forced to stop talking.

"I'm going to pass out the letters sent over from your pen pals this weekend." Mr. Evans began class with that statement, and it was met with just a small squeak from Braxton. The rest of the class seemed like they couldn't care less about their west coast class-assigned friends.

Mr. Evans handed Erin her letter and she examined the envelope before she opened it. Her name was spelled out in neat, all-caps letters, along with the school's address and the return address stamped at the top. She opened the envelope carefully, unsure of why she cared whether she ripped it or not, and pulled out a sheet of notebook paper that looked like it had been crumpled up thirteen times before being laid flat and written on.

Dear Erin,

No need to apologize for getting my school 'roped into' this. It might be the least boring project we've done in a history class.

My name's Patrick Vonswen. I'm a junior at Enterprise High in Redding, CA. I think my teacher is friends with yours, which is how our two schools ended up being partners in this. My teacher mentioned that your class is in Arlington? My friend used to live close to there, I think. It's the only connection I can think of, so there's probably like a 0.1% chance that you ever knew him, but his name is Jonah Rosen. If you know anyone with that last name.

What's your favorite thing about school? And outside of school? How many siblings do you have? Do you go to Washington, D.C. a lot?

I hope you'll eventually enjoy this project. I promise I will try to be as exciting as possible.

Sincerely,

Patrick

Erin found herself pulling out a sheet of paper and beginning to write immediately. Seeing the words written out in front of her by this Patrick, the project didn't seem quite so childish as it had at the beginning of class.

Patrick,

I've actually known Jonah since we were kids. My mom and his mom were like best friends all throughout high school and college. We still go on vacations with them. I call his mom Aunt Jen, and until I was like five years old, I genuinely thought she was my blood-related aunt.

My favorite thing about school. That's a tough one. Probably that it will be done in a year and a half. Outside of school, my favorite thing is dance. Tap dance, specifically. I've been dancing competitively since I was a kid. I have two sisters, one younger and one older, and I think I have been to D.C. every other weekend since I was in middle school and made friends with people who could drive.

How many siblings do you have? Do you go to the beach a lot? Is Redding even near a beach? What's your favorite TV show? What's your favorite movie? What do you like to do after school? Do you like school? Where do you want to go to college, if you even want to go to college?

I might be able to enjoy this project at some point. But only if you find and follow me on Instagram. That's the price.

Sincerely,

Erin Hall

And despite her best efforts, when the bell rang, Erin found herself smiling as she sealed the envelope and tossed it in Mr. Evans' basket. Hopefully they would get their return letters by Friday. She hoped they would.

A/N: I'm sorry that I totally lied about this update being on March 4. Work was still busy, unfortunately, and I've been stressed beyond belief. But now we're back, baby!

Katherine