Over the weekend I received news that would drastically change my life. Monday morning I woke up frightened. What was I supposed to tell my friends? What would they think when I told them, and how would they react? On the way home from school my mom asked me what everyone had thought. I told her everyone had been dumbfounded, but the truth was ... I never told anyone. I had let my feelings take a hold of me. I wasn't ready to face the truth, and I didn't believe in it, so how would I tell my friends something I did not believe?

Well, Tuesday rolled by, so did Wednesday. Thursday night as I tried to get to sleep, I started thinking over my situation. Guilt set in. I should tell them before it was too late and I never had the chance to tell them. I needed more time, but that was something I just didn't have.

I walked into school on Friday and my friends were huddled into a group. When they saw me they stopped talking and went to their lockers. I thought that they had found out. Did my mother mention something to one of my friends? I hoped I was wrong. I was the one who should tell them, but I didn't know how to say it.

In first period, one of my friends asked if I was all right, and she said that I had been acting strange all week. Well, this was as good a time as any to tell someone. I told her. She thought I was joking. I almost started to cry, and she must have seen that because she stopped laughing and stared at me with the same look of disbelief I had given my parents almost a week ago.

Somehow word spread, and by lunch everyone knew. My friends and I talked about it, and they understood how I felt. They were saddened by the news, but they said that we were still going to remain friends even if we were separated. This thought of friendship greatly calmed my fears. Knowing that no matter where I was, I could still count on them as my friends.

I had to write this to let everyone know that you have all been the best friends that anyone could ask for. Good-bye to all my friends at The Academy of Notre Dame, Nashua High and those at Lowell High. You were the people my life revolved around. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. Come and visit me in California, it's a whole different world from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and I would love to see a familiar smiling face. c