Friend or Fiction

Friend or Fiction — page 5 — 2 The Beginning of Zoe When I started fourth grade my best friend was Joslin We'd just moved from Nevada and she'd introduced herself to me right away and everything was awesome She taught me how to play tetherball without getting hit in the face and we had nine amazing days of not getting hit in the face best friend fun Then she moved away and I never heard from her again I kept sending letters and she kept not writing back So then I hung out with Rosie Rosie liked to write like me 5

Friend or Fiction — page 6 — But not enough I guess After she moved she didn’t write letters or emails or postcards like she promised she would Not even one And no texts either either But I guess I can’t blame her because I was still the only kid in my grade and the world it felt like who didn’t have a cell phone I hadn’t been in Tiveda for that long but I was already sick of people coming and going so much People only lived here so they could feel like they were living in Denver even though they weren’t living living in Denver When they could afford something nicer usually in Denver they left Sometimes if they couldn’t afford something nicer or if they couldn’t even afford it here they’d move further down the road to Bertsburg where everyone everyone lived in trailers It wasn’t far away but far enough where the people who lived there went to another school which may as well have been a whole different universe Dad always compared Tiveda to those rest stops in random places off the highway People pulled over when they needed to stretch their legs to have a bathroom break and a snack and then they took off That’s what we were supposed to do while Mom painted murals in buildings around town and 6

Friend or Fiction — page 7 — Dad consulted with an energy company whatever that meant But instead of a stretch and a snack we stayed in Tiveda for a full night of sleep and a full day of meals Over and over and over again As U-Hauls pulled in and pulled out we stayed right where we were And now we were officially stuck in a town that had a different mailman every other day three stores that were considered the mall and zero flowers because whenever anybody planted some they left when the seeds needed care the most In my opinion you should be able to know the name of the person delivering your mail Three stores did not make a mall And was it really that hard to stay long enough for a flower to bloom Because of all this I was about to give up on ever having a best friend when Vanessa joined my always changing little class toward the end of fourth grade Her smile was warm and friendly Plus she had a giant giant collection of candles that she really wanted to show off and I really wanted to see something besides all my own junk She invited me over right away and soon we had an after-school tradition every day to just hang out Sometimes we’d spend hours lining up the candles from favorite to least favorite Or 7

Friend or Fiction — page 8 — most smelly to least smelly Or tallest to shortest We never ran out of ways Nessa was planning a gigantic birthday party well as gigantic as you could get around here and I helped her get everything ready It was going to be at one of those places where the whole room was a big trampoline I had never been to a place like that before and it sounded totally amazing And it was only fifteen minutes away so maybe we could go back sometime Every day after school we would cross a day off her cute dog calendar Everything was about jumping and candles and best-friend fun Everything was fun at home too Dad was happy Mom was happy My little brother Bo was only three so he was extra cute and hilarious We were supposed supposed to move soon too to a more forever kind of place in Denver Maybe we’d even get a dog So that’s why it was a pretty big surprise when Mom and Bo picked me up from the birthday party five minutes after Nessa’s parents brought us there We have to go to the hospital Mom said in a loud scared voice the kind that made all the trampoline trampoline jumping people stop and stare I hadn’t even finished taking off my shoes Why I asked What’s going on 8

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