To Bethany, goodbyes were never very emotional and difficult to say. At least not anymore. Sure, when she was younger it was hard to say farewell to all your little friends. But being fourteen now and having to move once again, leaving all her friends once again and having to settle in a strange new town with strange new people once again, it just wasn’t all that rough anymore.


“Everyone will miss you, Beth!” Sophie said to her, trying hard not to burst into tears. Sophie had been Bethany’s best friend in this town. She preferred to call Sophie“another temporary victim” when speaking about her to her family. “School will be so boring without you!” Sophie was trying to make light of the subject. Bethany pretended to chuckle at the old joke that she had heard countless times. The red marks around Sophie’s eyes from bawling earlier made her bright, light brown eyes seem to pop right out at you. That was the special thing about this goodbye. Even though she had had many, all of Bethany’s goodbyes had one special quality about them. Every single one had one unique factor to them. This one was how powerful her friends eyes were. Her best friend in Texas from three years ago also had powerful eyes, but hers were a dark blue. Even if it was the same quality, Bethany could find a way to see them differently.


“I’ll email you every single day and I’ll call every single weekend!” Bethany would be touched, if she had not gone through this a million times before and knew that this promise would be broken after a few weeks or so. After more hugs were exchanged and more of Sohpies tears were shed, her family had started packing the car. It was a dark blue Hummer that had two scratches. One scratch was from when Bethany’s parents wedding when some unimportant son of some unimportant friend got bored and wrote a sloppy “J” which was the first initial of his name. The couple did not mind at first, but over the years of being married, they had complained about it almost every time they saw it. The other was from when Bethany was nine and scratched the car with the sharpest rock she could find. She thought it was reasonable. After all, she was being forced to move again, even though her parents knew that it took her the entire six months to get comfortable and now really enjoyed the town they were in.

Bethany gave a long, hard glare at her father. Her little sister, Jenina, described it as despicable. She loved the word despicable, along with the words inexcusable and obstinate. These were the three words that Bethany unknowingly taught her over the course of her life. Whenever she said them she thought she sounded intelligent and knew that all her friends in all her three first grade classes would be stunned. Jenina never really understood her older family members and their reasons as to why they did the things they do. The only things that were ever explained to her weren’t even the whole truth. In her eyes, she saw a mother and father who loved traveling and wanted to live in as many towns as possible before they got too old. She also saw their teenage daughter who played pretend all the time, except she liked to be the wicked witch who everyone thought was cranky, instead of a princess beloved by all. This made perfect sense to her. Why wouldn’t it? Everyone loves to play pretend! Who doesn’t? Also, who doesn’t love traveling and exploring? It’s like an adventure. Bethany never had the heart to tell her they were lying, but she knew she’d be even more hurt when she realized it on her own.

Their father, a serious man who showed almost no emotion, at least not when Bethany was around, hardly even noticed the pierce of eyes that shared the same emerald color of his. He was used to, as Jenina would say, despicable stares, especially from Bethany. He just brushed it off like brushing off soot napping on his camouflage jacket. Sophie was still standing in the driveway, trying to control herself with a hot red face. This would have stunned the family, if they had not seen it a million times before. Her and Bethany’s mother were chatting about things such as meeting up over the summer or trying to both go to the same outdoor camps. Bethany’s mother spoke with such a sweet ring to her voice and an excited look on her face. Every mother she spoke to every time the family moved, she would act as if she would spend months planning a reunion. Bethany had never had a reunion with a friend, and she knew she wouldn’t have one with Sophie, either. Her mother would just say these things to calm down the child and seem kind to the mother. She was always hiding something from someone. Never fully honest.

Bethany glanced at her father over and over again, looking for a sign of guilt or doubt. Nothing. Not even a slight frown. Just a blank, cold, serious face. The same that stayed on his face all day every day. Everything was packed now. The house was completely empty. Bethany gave Sophie one more hug. She knew it’d be their last, no matter what her mother said, so she held it longer than usual. Eventually the always moving, never still family drove off. Out of town. On the highway once again. BBethanyistened to her AC/DC and Sara Bareilles mixed playlist on her lime green iPod. They were her two favorites, and since she could never decide which she liked better, she just made a playlist with all of each performers albums and put it on shuffle.

She wasn’t upset. She showed absolutely no signs of it. No waking up in the middle of the night. No unusually small meals. No tears whatsoever. The feeling of loss and change had almost no effect on her. At least, that’s what she believed until she saw a red minivan pass by. In the car was an elderly couple and a teenage girl. Although they had left earlier than planned, they still weren’t far away due to traffic. It was obviously a new car. Either that, or the foggy Hummer window made it look nicer than it actually was. Bethany’s family had just got out of the county line, while the strangers in the opposite vehicle had just got in. She had never seen someone enter a town she had just left, especially a town this small. At first she just tried to not think anything of it. It’s probably just a coincidence. She took another quick glance out the window hoping to get a better look at the girl. Maybe she was some twenty year old who was mooching off of her grandparents. All she saw though, was a moving van following them. Ideas then raced through her mind. What if she moves into her old house? Goes to her old school? What if she steals Sophie’s attention? Becomes her best friend? Bethany’s eyes filled with water. She wasn’t sure why. “It’s not a big deal!” she kept repeating in her head. “It doesn’t even matter!” but deep down she knew that it did matter. At least to her. All she could think about was how she was being replaced. “Bethany! We’re here!” she looked up and saw that they had arrived at a nice, little white house with a nice little brick roof. The house looked young and happy, as if it had the soul and obliviousness Jenina had. This house, though, probably had never been lied to. Drying her to eyes to make sure no one could tell she had a moment of weakness, Bethany hopped out of the car, got her luggage, and headed into a new life once again.