Ally places my phone in my hand and I stare at the screen. It's his number. I unlock my phone and hover my finger hesitantly over the Messages icon.
"Just do it, see what the jerk has to say!" Marissa says angrily.
"Why are you getting all worked up, Marissa, calm the heck down," Ally tells her.
"I really don't know why he would text me, it's not even that big of a deal and it's not like I like him or anything," I say to both of them.
I go ahead and tap on the Messages icon. I open up his text and it reads:
Pretty stranger. I can explain :/
"Wait, that's it? That was short."
"What's it? Let me see!" Marissa says, grabbing my phone out of my hand.
Ally laughs at the top of her voice at Marissa's actions.
"You're freaking crazy, Samuels, you really are," Ally says, throwing a pillow at Marissa.
After Marissa scans the text, she looks over at me with furrowed brows.
"What now?" I say curiously.
"Kaia, judging from this text, it clearly means that you mean something to him. Not sure what, but you do, or else he wouldn't bother texting. Now it's up to you. You can pretend you have no idea what he's talking about or you can admit that you saw it and see where it goes," Marissa explains.
"Okay, since I don't really care and I'm really not interested, I'm gonna go with option number two!" I say, grabbing my phone back.
"Suit yourself," Marissa says, getting up off the floor and throwing herself onto my bed.
I tap on reply and send him a nice text:
If this is about the pics, theres no need 2 explain -- I'm still not interested. I dont knw why you had to txt me tho.
Within two minutes after I hit send, I got a reply.
So ur really not interested in me at all? Wow! That breaks my heart, pretty stranger. It really does.
Oh my gosh. What the hell is he thinking? What is he playing at? This is probably just the same routine he uses on the girls he can't get in order to get them. Get out of here! I'm not falling for that bull****.
I send a short reply:
Definitely not interested. Good. Bye!
There. That should do it.
"Kaia, I'm going to go now, okay? Remember, I also have a big day tomorrow," Marissa says, stepping off my bed and standing in front of me.
I get up off the floor and walk her to the front door. "I guess this is goodbye for now, huh?" I say to her with a big smile.
"We won't be apart forever. We're just about two hours apart. Call me anytime. I'll text you everyday," Marissa says, reaching out to give me a big hug.
"You're my best friend, Kaia. You always will be," Marissa says, hugging me tight.
"You're my best friend too," I reply.
Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face, as well as Marissa's.
"Okay, I've got to go," she says one last time as she walks out the front door and to her car.
This was it.
My best friend was leaving.
I was leaving.
Wow, this weekend really has been eventful.
After Marissa drove off, I shut the door and walked into the living room. I took a seat next to Mom, who was watching TV.
"What's tomorrow gonna be like, Mom?" I say to her.
"It's going to be the first day of your college life, you know that. It's just like going to a new school, only a much bigger one," Mom says, pulling me in for a hug.
**
I spend the rest of the afternoon upstairs with Ally and, when dinnertime came around, we all sat together at the dining table.
I didn't do much talking, mainly because I was already nervous about tomorrow. The other part of me was sad, since I was leaving everyone behind.