"Did you have a good day at school honey?" Dad asked as I walked in the door.

He does most of his work from home so he's pretty much always here. He's a chief financial officer of a national company, he's trying to get the business to expand to San Francisco so he can work in an office.

"It was good dad" I said as I headed straight to the kitchen. School take a lot of energy so I need a lot of food.

What? I'm a growing high school girl.

"Do you have any homework?"

"Yeah just a little bit from biology and   History" I shrugged and headed up to my room.

I threw my bag down and let out a big sigh.

"Oh how I hate school" I said before I started on my homework.

I got more than halfway through and I was dead.

I walked down stairs to get a drink and get a break from my homework.

"Are you done with you're homework sweetheart?" Mom smiled as I walked downstairs.

"No I'm almost done though I needed a break" I hugged her.

"Okay but you have to finish it before the Sanders get here for dinner tonight"

"I know mom"

I grabbed a coke from the fridge and went back upstairs to finish the deeded history homework.

It's my worst subject. I care more about my future than I do about the past.

After I finally finished that, I threw it in my bag to turn in tomorrow.

I sighed with relief and turned on Netflix until Del got here.

My phone dinged with a text message. I paused my tv show and looked at my phone.

It was Harry Larry, more commonly known as Larissa.

Hey pine tree! How you doin?

You have got to stop watching friends

but it's going good.

Any cute guys? ;)

Larry!

What!

I could hear her sarcastic innocence from here.

Yes there's a group of brothers that are particularly hot

Oh?

Yeah and the all wear leather jackets and are brothers

Oh.

Yeah. How are you and the girls?

We're all good but we all miss you

I didn't know I was THAT amazing

Haha Sam and My are totally crushing hard on the same guy.

We all know how that's going to turn out.

Yeah I'm prepared

Do you think you'll be able to come back during thanksgiving break?

I hope I miss you guys so much

We miss you too it wouldn't be thanksgiving without my best friend with me

Shut up! You're going to make me cry!

Oh pine tree I have to go! My teachers onto me

Bye Harry Larry!

I laughed at her. She always had an ear for trouble.

These few text make me realize just how much I miss them.

I didn't even think about thanksgiving break until she said something. That's only a month away.

It's amazing how one week can feel so long but so fast at the same time.

It's like every time I have a moment peace and quiet, I get sad and I start to feel alone. But the second I see Del or Alex or Dylan or I focus on school my thoughts just go away until I get another moment of peace.

I know this feeling will eventually go away.

Larry and I knew each other since we were in kindergarten. My five year old self was nervous on the first day and she saved me from sitting next to the icky boys.

I laughed to myself at the memory of my meeting with my best friend. I know that if Del and Lar ever met that they would instantly hit it off.

I could see them being best friends. I could see al of us being best friends together, even with Sam and My.
***
"Are you ready, yellow skittle?" Dad called through the house.

"Yep" I said, coming out of my room.

The doorbell rang and mom answered it. It was the Sanders of course.

"Don't worry I'm here, the party has officially started." Delilah called as she entered the house. We burst into a fit of giggles.

"I'm glad you are" I laughed and hugged her. "I guess you're okay, Dylan" I teased and he rolled his eyes at me.

Delilah and I laughed.

"How was the project yesterday?"

"Let's see, I worked for an hour, Ashton watched Netflix. I threatened him, he did work. So I guess you could say it went pretty well" I said.

She laughed at my explanation. "Did you meet the other boys?"

"Only Flynn and Parker, so cute by the way"

"Which one?"

"Both" I blushed.

Dinner wouldn't be ready for a few minutes and I didn't want to sit with the adults so I asked Del, "Do you wanna go to my room?"

"Sure"

We went up stairs and I showed her my room.

Not much has been done with it. Some of my decorations are still packed in boxes. I was just too lazy to put any of it up.

She walked over to my desk, that was scattered with sketchbooks and loose papers with sketches.

"Aspen these are beautiful" she awed picking up a loose paper.

"They're just sketches, they're not even very good" I blushed and tried to clean up some of the loose sketches.

"I don't care what you call it, that's art" She flipped on my enormous bed and grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her knees.

I blushed at her compliment.

"Tell me more about yesterday."

I told her more details of what happened when I went to the Haywood's.

She was interested in every aspect of the boys. I think it's safe to say she has an obsession.

"Girls come eat!" Mom called from downstairs.

"Coming!" I called as we raced downstairs to the kitchen.

The spaghetti smelled amazing as we walked downstairs.

We sat down at the table with everyone else.

"So girls, how did you meet?" Chuck, Del's dad, asked.

"She liked my shoes" I chuckled as I remembered the first time I met Del.

Everyone looked at Del as she scooped up her spaghetti.

"What they were Snoopy and Woodstock shoes" she defended herself with her fork in the air.

I scooped my spaghetti and put it on my garlic bread.

"Who eats spaghetti like that?" Dylan spoke as I stuffed the bread in my mouth.

"Like what?" I mumbled with a mouth full of food.

"Like putting it on your bread" Del chimed in with the same curiosity.

"I've never seen anyone eat it like that before" Dylan said.

We all looked at each other before breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Okay then" Abby joked. "How's your new job, Christina?" She asked.

The adults broke into their boring conversations and we started talking about the Haywood's, as always when I have a conversation with Del.

I rolled my eyes as she started talking about how hot they were. Especially Briar.

I've never seen Briar before but if he's anything like the others I would probably agree that he's hot too.

"Del he's twenty years old. That's three years different. Plus your in high school he's in his second year of college"

"I'll be eighteen in August" she pouted with her arms crossed defiantly.

"That's in ten months and by then he'll be twenty-one" I rolled my eyes at her pouty face.

"A girl can dream, can't she"

She really has an obsession with the Haywood boys.

"Why can't you just spend the night? Or I could stay here" Del whined.

The Sanders we're getting ready to go back home. Del wanted me to spend the night both of our parents said no.

"Del, it's Wednesday maybe this weekend if your not too busy" I laughed as I hugged her goodbye.

"If anyones busy it'd be you" she winked at me. I playfully shoved her before saying goodbye as her family and her left.

"Well that's a nice family" dad said as we basically watched them walk home. "Go help your mom clean up" he said.

"Okay" I skipped into the dining room and started picking up plates.

"Delilah's a sweet girl and her family is really nice" mom said handing me a a plate to dry.

"Yeah she is" I smiled.

"And Dylan...he's cute"she tried to be casual about it.

"Mom!" I squealed throwing my towel at her. "Dylan's my best friend's brother"

"Okay okay" she laughed as she handed my towel back with another plate. "Is there at least anyone you think is cute?"

"Mom, I've only been here half a week. I've met a total of five boys and one of them is an eight year old. Can you please stop talking about my nonexistent love life?" I whined.

"Fine I'll stop it" she smiled and we finished cleaning in silence.

Once we were done mom went into the living room with dad and I got a drink and a bag of chips.

I went to go upstairs but as I walked by the living room I saw one of my families favorite movies to watch together playing on the tv.

"Seriously you're watching Just Go With It and you didn't say anything" I sighed as I sat next to my dad on the couch, snuggling into his side.

Who doesn't love Adam Sandler?

"Sorry red m&m" he shrugged and threw his arm around my shoulder.

We laughed at the movie as one of our favorite scenes came up. Of course it was the hula scene. I can't help but smile at this part.

The movie came to and end and it was almost eleven o'clock. I sighed when I looked at the time.

"I have to go to bed" I hugged and kissed my parents before going upstairs.

I hopped in the shower really quick to wash off the grime and stress of the day.

After I got out I threw on my pajamas and washed my face and brushed my teeth. It was nearly eleven thirty by the time I was in bed ready to go to sleep.

I checked all my socials. I wanted to text some of my friends back home but it was around two in the morning over there.

I looked through Instagram and saw all my old friends having fun without me. I never had a ton of friends but I had a few good ones and I was happy with that.

I logged on to Facebook. My old friends and I always laughed at how I had Facebook. I was the only one. I was Facebook friends with all their moms, I like to see what there up to.

I've been gone a week and I miss them so much. I saw that I was tagged in a post by Sam's mom.

It was a picture of us on the first day of school in August. The caption said 'missing our girl like crazy. We love you Aspen.'

I didn't even notice I was tearing up until a tear slid down my face and landed in my phone.

I didn't feel this sad and lonely when I was talking to Larissa awhile ago. I only felt the warm fuzzy feeling I got whenever I talked to her. There's a way you love your best friend like your soulmate and that's how Larissa and I loved each other.

She was more than my best friend, she was my sister, she was my partner in crime, she was my soulmate.

I wiped off my tears and I put my phone away.

I miss them so much, but they're in Kansas. I'm in San Francisco.

Maybe I could fly over for Thanksgiving.

No my parents would never let me. I could never let them do that for me. We've already spent so much money on the move. We don't have a fun trip in budget. Even if it were to see my friends.