Chapter One

The pain comes and goes. I can feel it coming on like a wave of heat just before an Arizonian monsoon. And as it comes its like someone jabbing a knife in the side of my head. I just scrunched my eyes closed as tight as I can as if it helps but it doesn’t. Sure I am going to miss my home in Gilbert, Arizona but it will be easier to start over again. The doctor said if I want to subdue some of the pain I need a cooler climate. Northern Idaho. Not my first choice but it is frostier than what we are used to. No more 110 degree summers. The doctor better be right. He said until we can figure out what is going on the only thing he can think to do was to move me. All the tests came back negative. Some thought I was just faking it. But why would I need to fake something like this. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy if I ever had one. I desired to turn in early since we had a morning flight. I wanted to get as much sleep as I could so my head could at least try to be clear for me. I didn’t want to leave anything behind. I already told my friends good bye. It was hard to tell Daryn good bye the most. He was my best friend. I had known him since the second grade. We did everything together. We told each other everything. I thought it would be easy, but the look on his face when I had to tell him. The anguish on his face, he held my gaze as long as he could bare and then turned away. I knew he was trying to hide tears. I reassured him that I would call and write every time I got the chance. We would after all be going to college next year and we both applied to the same colleges to improve our odds at getting into the same one. I thought he would have been tough at our farewell. He was always the tough one. For crying out, loud he is a boy. I told Chris and Cameron the Patterson twins, good bye at school on Friday. They were the ones who knew how to party, but the good kind of party. Root bears and rockin’ roll. Who could beat that. They offered to throw me a parting party, but I had to pass. I didn’t know how I would be feeling. Sarah had known a month about this before all the others. I owed it to the sister I never had. Growing up in a family of eight boys and one girl you need a sister. You need a sensitive side somehow. We went to the store on the corner to have our nails done. I let her pick the color to make her mood a little better. She thought it would be awesome to pick a color that was bright and would stand out. I had the problem of picking neutral colors that blend in with everything. I didn’t have the guts to pull it off. So to my dismay the color she picked reminded me of the bloody nose Ernie Boston had last week. She seemed so proud of herself for getting me to do this that I had to fake a huge smile. And to top it off she brought a pair of flip flops so that I couldn’t cover them up ugh! She thinks of everything. I was lost in thought about my new home when she broke the silence. “You know I am going to miss you bunches, and I will love ya forever!” I had to fight back the tears and return the love ya. She gave me that goofy smile she always did where her eyes would squint almost shut because she was smiling so big. Her dimples popped in. Sarah was a gorgeous girl. She had naturally curly golden blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. Her skin was the coloring of a porcelain doll. She never had to worry about her figure. It stinks because I eat one cupcake and you can find it on my thighs the next morning. I don’t think anyone could replace Sarah Conway as a sister. I was dreaming of the day I had to tell Daryn of my going away, when I heard a buzzing sound. It was the alarm clock. I thought I was ready for this so why did I have this horrible tug in my stomach.