My sweaty leg sticks to the vinyl seat of the car on our fourth hour of the trip. I lift it, trying to get some feeling out of my numb legs. There is none. I sigh, knowing that my sister won’t stop at a rest stop until we get there, another two hours from now. Another two hours, with nothing to do. My backpack is filled with books I already read, games I’ve already played, and magazines I’ve already filled out. I stare out the tinted window. The countryside of California whizzes past my eyes, the greens and the reds of the bushes and flowers overtaking my vision. I hear another old car behind us, its engine puttering miserably, in my head its screaming at its driver to take it in for a repair.

I am brought out of my thoughts by my sister’s tinkling laugh. Her boyfriend is sitting in the passenger seat with her, and I’m squished in the tiny backseat. Her hands on the steering wheel, she accelerates quickly, then stops sharply in the middle of the road. “Cassy!” Justin’s voice now, “You’re gonna get us all killed!” She laughs again, but steps on the gas, and we are propelled forward. Justin whispers something in Cassy’s ear, she laughs again and mutters something back. That feeling is back, that feeling where you are looking in on someone’s perfect life, like you are a stalker or something. I hate that feeling, so I close my eyes, rest my arm on the handle of the car door, and try to fall asleep.

My sister wakes me up. “ANNA!” She screams, and I wake with a start. Justin gives her a scolding glance, but bursts into laughter again.

“Shut up.” I roll my eyes as she mutters something inaudible to me to Justin, probably about how annoying I am, or why Mom made her take me in her car.

“Anna, come on. We’re here.” I look up, and see the looming house over me. It has been repainted since I was last here. It’s now beige while it used to be white. I sigh at the beautiful house, it used to be my favorite place in the world. I would always run through the tall grass, screaming back at my best friend here to try and catch me. He would eventually succeed in doing so, and we would fall back on the grass laughing. But that was six years ago, in third grade. I was actually cute then, with platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but my blonde hair has faded, and my eyes have turned almost black. My old best friend, Max, lived about five hundred yards away, but I didn’t even know if he lived there anymore.

“Anna, come on, I need to lock the car.” I clumsily got out of the car, tripping over my own feet as I did. An arm catches my fall, and I mumble my thanks and rush inside.

This is one of the reasons this house was my favorite place, the feeling of love is almost palpable when you walk in the front door. As I glanced into the dining room, I saw my family gathered around the table laughing at some unknown joke. Once again, the feeling of being an observer of someone’s perfect life. My father calls my name from the head of the table. I smile and walk over, curling my toes over the plushy carpeting.

He puts one hand on my shoulder and turns me to face the table. “Hasn’t she grown up beautifully?” The table nods in unison, and I feel the blood rushing to my head. “Anna, you remember Mrs. and Mr. Flanigan, and their daughter Rosemary?” I nod. “And you remember Max? Well of course you do, you two were best friends. He’s a junior now.” I turn and smile at Max who is sitting at the corner of the table. “Kids, get out, the adults want to talk now.” I laugh at my Dad’s comment and start walking, noticing my suit case right inside the door. I lift it and carry it up the stairwell to my room. I hear Max get out of his chair as well and follow me.

“Hey Anna.” Max still has that calm, smooth, sexy voice he always had. He takes my suitcase from my hand and padded up the staircase. I thank him under my breath. He turns out to be so good looking, and I, well I turned out looking plain. As soon as he had sets the suitcase down in my room, he hugs me, quickly and friendly. I smile at him and he sat in a chair across from my bed. “So, how’s school going freshie?”I smiled.

“Shut up!” he laughed at my reaction. I couldn’t tell because he was humiliated he would hand out with such a loser, or because it was actually funny.

“Just saying it how it is kiddo.” He laughed again, harder this time. Yup, definitely the second one.

“So how has life been?” I smile at him, and hope that that question wasn’t dorky.

“Good. I have an amazing girlfriend, Claire, good grades, so I’m doing pretty well.” I smiled, but it was fake. I was disappointed to hear that he had a girlfriend, it seemed like after all these years I wanted to spend all of my free time with him.

“What about you?”

“Its okay, adjusting to high school. You know.”He nodded and smiled. He checked his watch and grimaced.

“Anna, I actually have to go. But, maybe wanna go on a walk or something tomorrow? To catch up?” I nodded. He walked out, but his head popped back in the room. “Oh and Anna?”

“Yeah?”


“I’m really glad you came back, I missed you.” He smiles and walks out. I lay back on my bed, and fall asleep.