1 The Blank Page OPPSERVATION You can love something but not really like it very much Questions for further research Why lunchtime why I tucked my oppservation journal into my bag and scanned the cafeteria This was supposed to be the best part of the day At least for most people it was Most people grabbed their lunches as fast as they could and went to their tables with their best friends to laugh and talk and make plans for after school Most people got to forget about anything bad and just relax and hang out and eat Sometimes during the time it took me to get my brown bag out of my locker and sit at my table I got sad 1
But then once I sat down I remembered I was going to have lunch with my best friend too just like everybody else Only my best friend wasn’t like anyone else’s She was better I sat in my usual spot took out my cheese sandwich sandwich and my yellow notebook and waited Sometimes she showed up right away Other times she took a little longer Today must have been one of those other times because it felt like she was taking forever I thought about what we might do when she finally got here After eating maybe we’d share my headphones and listen to music the way Nia and Zara always do Or maybe we’d purposely give ourselves ourselves milk mustaches and take really funny selfies like Molly and Casey do We could even do some things that other people around here couldn’t too like make plans for the weekend And next weekend And next year People in Tiveda Colorado moved away all the time I’ve heard adults call this place a transient town which must mean it’s not good enough to stay or something because you never really knew who would be at school on Monday and who would’ve moved on to a new town But Zoe was always a sure thing Not only did we have today together together we had all our tomorrows too 2
