Chasing Charming ✔️

1 - It's Not Greenview

"Dad! A shop! This is so exciting for you! When it opens, could I help? I am so excited! Which mall is it?" The questions spilled out of me. I wanted them to know how happy for them I was. I always took a considerable interest in dad's business. Why else would they think I would come to the market with them month after month?

My parents still didn't say anything, and I faltered. "Don't tell me its Greenview... Dad, that one is so far away!"

"It's not Greenview."

My heart began beating faster. I did not panic often, but my parents were usually very open to me. What was so bad they couldn't tell me?

I backed away from my parents slightly, and I looked at my mom. She was always braver than my dad. Both my parents were extremely kind, but my dad was a huge softie, so he always avoided telling me the bad news. My mom was a nurse, and she was a little bit better at bad news.

"It's actually in New Mexico. We have to move, sweetheart; I'm so sorry." She spoke slowly, but everything felt like it was coming at me at a rapid speed after that moment.

My heart dropped into my stomach, and I felt dizzy. The dreams of the perfect summer before my junior year flew away before I could even grasp on to the first moments. Any ideas of my first kiss, lake days with friends, adventures that we had planned, it all just vanished.

The world suddenly seemed too big, and I had to get to a familiar place, or I was going to break down in the middle of a flea market. It probably wasn't smart for me to run away from my parents, who were calling me back to talk, but it was the only thing I could do.

I wasn't a fighter. In a fight or flight situation, I was the first one to get away. The flea market was close to my school, which meant I had many options, but I knew only one place where I would feel safe, where I could get my wild emotions back in check before I talked to my parents.

So, I ran to Carla's house. I wasn't much of an athlete, but my adrenaline carried me there much faster than I thought possible.

I think my dad had chased after me for a few minutes but stopped when he could no longer overtake me. Or maybe he saw where I was heading.

Carla had been my best friend since diapers, and at this moment, I needed her more than I ever had. She was the one friend that I could always count on, and even though we had grown since then, our friendship had mattered more to us than any changes in our lives.

Carla's mom was at the door when I arrived on their lawn. She must have seen me running from the kitchen window, where she always was. I collapsed into her arms, and she held me tight as a mother would do for her daughter.

They had always treated me like family here, and even now, when my world was suddenly falling apart, I felt like I was home the minute Carla's mom brought me inside.

My mind felt blurry, but it got a bit clearer when I started to help with dinner. Okay, I was used to this; this was normal. Then I stayed for dinner, eating with Carla's mom and little sister, Sadie. Then Sadie and I made their families special homemade pudding that smelt like my childhood.

Carla had still not come home, and I was not sure where she was, but I would sit and wait for her because I could not stand the thought of talking to my parents. Not without talking to Carla first. I was always the emotional one. I thought with my heart and not my head, Carla would tell me. I needed her to ground me before I went and had a discussion about moving.

A little after Sadie had gone to bed, Carla's mom sat me in the living room and took my long blonde hair out of the ponytail that I always had it in. She braided my hair like she had done when I was little, and I told her about how we were moving.