/ / Oregon / /

It was my 207th day at school in Oregon. I could not wait until I was out of here. I needed an escape from here as soon as possible. I hated it in rainy Oregon. I wanted to leave and never come back.

My name is Becca Collins and I hate it here in dreary, dreadful, and depressing Oregon. I absolutely hate it. The teachers pile on homework, waking up early sucks, and so does listening to annoying girls gossiping about who knows what. To top it all off, I have exactly one friend. Basically, I just want to go home.

You see my real home is in Arizona. I had the best friends ever, amazing adoptive parents, and an actual social life (surprise!). I had good grades, and was on the varsity Cross Country and Tennis team. I had the perfect life. But then everything changed.

/ / Flashback to Arizona / /

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and I was hanging out with my best friend, Kalie. We were outside splashing around in my pool, having a blast. Little did I know this would be the last time I would see her.

After Kalie left, my parents called me inside. I sat down, confused; it was only 5:30pm. We usually ate dinner at 7:00pm.

“What’s going on?” I asked. They looked at each other with despair showing in their eyes. I started freaking out and thinking the worst. Were they getting divorced? Did one of them loose their job? The suspense was killing me, but I waited patiently and they said the last words I expected to hear.

“Becca… Your birth parents want you back. You’re moving to Oregon tonight.”

I couldn’t fully comprehend what they said immediately. I waited, letting the words sink in. When they did, tears welled up in my eyes. “They can’t do this!” I screamed. “They’re the ones who put me up for adoption! Wasn’t that for a reason?!” I continued to scream, tears pouring out of my eyes. When I looked at my parents I saw that they too, were crying.

In a small voice I asked, “You’re not going to make me go, are you?” They glanced at each other and that’s when I knew that yes, yes they were making me go. Not even bothering to put up a fight I knew I would lose, I ran up to my room, slammed the door, and let the water works escape.

That night when I was finished packing; my parents came upstairs and silently hugged me. They didn’t need to say anything, because I knew they loved me and didn’t want me to leave. We made our way downstairs where my taxi was waiting, and piled all my bags inside. I hugged them goodbye one last time, exchanged some last words, and then I was off. The last thing I saw from the taxi window was my parent’s faces; the tears weren’t holding them back.

/ / Oregon / /

Fingers snapped in front of my face; I blinked in annoyance. But relaxed when I realized it was just my best friend, Tyler. Had it been anyone else, I would’ve given them my famous death glare.

“What?” I snapped in fake irritation.

He held his hands up in mock innocence, “You just seemed out of it. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…just thinking about…that night…again…” I replied, awkwardly. I wasn’t the least bit worried about Tyler judging me. He knew everything about that night.

“Oh, Becs. I’m sorry. At least your parents don’t treat you horribly.” He said.

“Yeah, I guess…I just really miss home. Arizona. My friends. Adoptive parents. All of it. I miss it so much.” I said, biting my lip and willing myself not to cry.

“Hey, it’ll be alright. You’ll see them soon, okay? Anyways, I have some news. There’s a new girl at school and I invited her to sit with us.” He said excitedly.

“You did WHAT?!.” I replied, yelling at him.

“I invited the new girl to sit with us.” He replied, unaffected by my yelling. “Oh, here she comes!”

“Great.” I sighed in annoyance and glared down at my food. I heard a tray slam down and felt her stare at my head.

“Becs? Becs!!”

My head snapped up and I couldn’t believe it. No way.

“Kalie?”