"Mom, were you crying before you came and got me?" Mom looked at Dad with widened eyes and started to turn to talk to Thea, when Dad took Mom's hand and she stopped.
"Well, hon, she was a little hurt you just left like that, and you were so businesslike in your letter telling us you weren't moving to Hopeton with us. We felt like you thought we were just trying to hurt you and the girls by moving. That hurt both of us."
"I guess I did feel that way. But why didn't you guys tell me the truth about Dad's job? I'm almost thirteen, for crying out loud. Did you think I couldn't handle it? And you should have known that I wasn't trying to hurt you, I just don't want to leave Angela. I'm her best friend, and I didn't want her to lose me too, you know?"
"I know, sweetheart. If we could do it any other way, we would. And you can still keep in touch with the girls, you know?" Thea looked doubtfully at her mother.
"How, by writing letters? Do they even have cell phone service down there? Or the internet?"
Mom and dad both laughed. It sounded a little forced to Thea's ears, who couldn't shake the feeling that there was a lot her parents weren't telling her.
"We're not moving to Egypt, kid! Of course they have the internet. You'll be able to talk to them almost as much as you do now. Trust me!" Thea let it go for the time being because they had arrived at the twins' house, and the girls were waiting outside on the front porch. Thea noticed that her stuff was piled up next to the porch swing, and that Angela was gone.
"Where's Angie?"
"She had to go home, Thea. She told us to tell you that she understands you can't stay here, but thanks for trying. She said she'd try to come see you off when you leave, but not to worry because she'll be fine. She will, you know?" Shelly and Kelly's mom was right, Angie would be fine. She still had friends to support her. But Thea wondered if she would still have these friends once she moved to Hopeton.
"Yeah, I guess so." Thea went to give the girls hugs. With tearful promises to write, e-mail, and call each other, they said goodbye. In only two days, she would leave this town, possibly forever. Tears streamed down her face as she turned and walked to the car without looking back.
***
The final two days in the city were a blur of packing and rushing of which Thea didn't remember much after the move. The morning of the big move, Thea's friends were all there to send her off. She had written Letters of Farewell, and gave them to each girl with a hug and admonition to write back soon. Tearful promises to write or call everyday followed, and then it was time to go.
Thea got into the car with her mom and turned to wave at her best friends. She waved until she couldn't see them anymore, then turned and dried her eyes.
It was a four hour drive from their city to Hopeton, and Thea dozed most of the way there. She'd been exhausted from the stress, and since there wasn't anything else to do except look at fields, she opted for sleep. They only stopped once, for a quick meal and bathroom break at a truck stop in the middle of no where. Once they were back on the road, Thea closed her eyes. She didn't want to have to think about what was happening to her, and the rock and sway of the car were soothing enough to lull her back to sleep.
[Possible dream here. Something ominous.]
"Honey, we're here. Thea, wake up." Thea awoke with a start, and looked around. She had been under the impression that they were moving to a town, but all she saw around the driveway they had pulled into were fields. The nearest neighbor looked to be a half-mile away, which, Thea supposed, wasn't necessarily a bad thing if she wanted to go get the mail in her bath robe, but this was nothing like she'd expected.
"Where is everything? I thought we were gonna live in town. What is this? A farm?"
"No. Uh, well, yeah I guess maybe it is a farm. Kinda. But we won't be farming it, we're only buying the house and a few acres around it. Just think of it as a really big yard," her dad said.
A big yard. Right. "Well, how far is it to town?"
"Um, about five miles that way. Oh come on, Thea, we'll need to go get supplies tomorrow, and then you'll get to see everything. Hopeton is only thirty minutes from several decent sized towns, two of which have hospitals, and one is a tourist town on the lake, so there will be lots of interesting things to keep you busy. School starts in a couple of weeks, and you'll have so much stuff going on there, you won't have time to miss the mall. Okay?" Thea's dad had put his arm around her and was steering her up the front stairs as he gave her his pep talk.
"You wanna pick out your room?" Mom asked.
"Really?" They nodded. "But what if I want the biggest room?" They shrugged.
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