Hey guys! I was feeling a bit writers’ block-y, so I decided to write a quick one-shot about Amy before she moved to Richie Richville, haha. So here it is. -ACG

Goodbye, Amy

by alicecullengirl

“I cannot believe you are leaving.” Celine’s foot stomp brought all the bad feelings to the front of my mind again. I knew she meant well, but every comment she made only made me feel worse. About the move. Tomorrow.

“Well, you know…” My default response to most questions since last week when Margaret announced that we were leaving. Just her and I. Not Dad. It hadn’t been too much of a shock, leaving Dad behind, seeing as he’d lived in an apartment across town since I was six. Not exactly part of the family. The shock was the fact that we were leaving at all.

“No,” Celine’s lips turned down. She was sitting on one of the boxes I’d packed earlier this morning, before she came over to “cheer me up”. Not that she was doing any good. “You haven’t explained it to any of us. You can’t just rush out of here without saying anything.”

She was partly right. I hadn’t been divulging too many details on the move since I found out. I didn’t really want to talk about it. By us, I assumed she meant herself, Jess, and Olivia. It may have been childish, but I hated to see Best Friends Forever come to an end. Even if they all assured me it wouldn’t. “If you have to know,” I allowed, sitting upright on my bed, folding up the comforter to put away later. “Margaret’s company thinks she’d be more useful further west. They’re paying for us to live near the new branch. So. We’re going.”

It hurt a little more every time I had to admit that. That we were going.

“Aren’t you going to miss your dad?” Celine asks. As if she could convince me to stay. Like I had a choice..

“Sure I will.” I dropped the comforter into an empty box. That wasn’t quite true. I wouldn’t miss my dad more than I already did. I’d gotten used to the distance, and it wasn’t like we talked a lot.

“What about Sam?” she asked. Grasping at straws. Making me feel worse with every word.

“Sam,” I said, “will be fine.” I didn’t want to hear about Sam. Breaking up with me two hours after hearing about the move had not helped to improve my opinion of wherever we were going. I’d spared him the harassment from my friends by not telling them about it, but that didn’t keep me from ignoring him ever since. It would be a relief if I never had to speak to him again.

Celine heard something in my tone and didn’t press the subject. I liked that about her. She saw boundaries and stayed clear of them, unlike most other people. I also liked that she wore a lot of red and liked the same books as I did and how milk came out of her nose when she laughed at our dumb jokes during lunch. I sighed, writing the word Linens on the side of the box closest to me in black marker.

I was going to miss everyone. Everything.

“It’s not all bad,” Celine quipped, like she’d known what I was thinking. “At least you don’t ever have to turn in your research papers, or sit through another hour of Mr. Clarke’s never-ending SAT prep sessions.”

God, I was even going to miss that.

She saw my face drop. “At least it’ll be sunny there.” Her voice was quieter. She was losing steam. We’d searched the city a million times online since I’d gotten the news. It was a good five hundred miles west of here. Sunny, like Celine said. With a household income three times higher than here. She was the one who came up with the name Richie Richville. And she was right.

We sat quietly for a few moments, before Celine came out with, “They’re throwing you a party, you know.”

“What?”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” admitted Celine. “At Olivia’s house. I’m supposed to drag you over there in ten minutes with some excuse that Livvie needs you right away. And then they’re all going to jump out and yell, ‘Surprise.’” She mimed fanfare with weak jazz hands.

I smiled. Celine knew how much I hated surprises, and she was doing me this one last favor before I left. I was going to miss her. Miss being Amy and Livvie and Jessie and Celine. But even if there was nothing I could do, I could have this one last night with my friends in a real town with real people who lived real lives. Before I was carted off to Richie Richville where people were bound to be as fake as their noses.

“Well,” I grinned. “You can still drag me.”

Sigh. It was kind of fun to write that. Anyhow, back to work on HLA, hopefully there’ll be something new up soon. -ACG