“Coming mom” I shouted. My house is a mess right now. We are moving to a relatively remote place called La Pine in Oregon from the plush suburbs of Manhattan. I didn’t want to leave my friends, my neighborhood and the city. It has all my childhood memories, from the happiest to the most embarrassing ones. My favorite food points, the bookstores, the really quite park behind my house. I have to leave everything behind and go to an entirely anonymous place and find the new me…..

I am Kiara Jung and I prefer Kia. I am an average 17 year old girl with a waist length dark brown hair, striking green eyes that look almost black and a pale complexion. I am practically an unsocial girl who is mostly in the world of books. I just have two best friends Emily Stark and Kaylee Stark. They are twins and opposites of each other. Emi is a social butterfly while Kay is just like me. We have been friends since first grade. They were with me through my every endeavor and now it pains me to leave them behind. But life has to go on. My mom Rachel is a renowned environmental scientist and a very bright, cheerful person. She was mostly away from home so I grew up alone. I lost my dad when I was 11. He was a successful lawyer in New York and a very loving person. I got his eyes, hair, and personality. It took me 2 years to come out of that trauma. Since then my mom has been my everything.

My mom got this very good opportunity to be on the board of scientists working on the national environmental movement, so we had to leave for La pine which is in the heart of nature.

I dodged all the stuff scattered and went downstairs to my mom.

“Oh my gosh Kia, I just got a call and I have to leave for a meeting. Can you please take care of the packing? I’m so sorry to leave you alone with this mess honey” she was flustered about all this so I had to assure her.

“It’s okay mom. Relax. I’ll take care of the stuff here. I’ll ask Emi and Kay to come over, so don’t worry. Just go.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you honey. I’m really sorry and I’ll be back as fast as possible. Bye.” She kissed me bye and scurried away. I shrugged at her childishness dialed Kay’s number.

“Hey Kay, can you come over to my house? I need help with the packing.”

“We’re coming right away Kia” she said and I hung up.

After 4 hours of pulling, pushing and yelling, we finally managed to finish the packing. The movers took away all the stuff. The house felt so empty. The reality started to sink in. I am leaving this place tomorrow. “Guys I ordered some pizzas and cokes” said Emi. Her voice echoed through the house and she started singing getting astonished with her own echo. I chuckled and looked at Kay who had ‘ I cannot believe she is my sister’ look.

The pizza came and we sat down to have it. “So,” said Emi, “Soo” prolonged Kay and “Soooo” I shrugged. We all started laughing. After we calmed down there was this annoying silence. Kay cleared and began “Kia…”, I knew this was going to come and I managed a barely audible “umm”.

“I know this is hard on you Kia but this is life. You can never make out how every second unfolds. Just remember whatever choices you make, just follow your heart. Life is not just happiness but sadness and pain too. So just let the life put its plan into action and enjoy it. You are a strong girl and no matter what we are always with you. We love you baby” tears strolled down her face.

I didn’t realize that I was crying too. In a matter of seconds, we were hugging each other tightly and were crying. I don’t know for how long we were like that. Emi pulled out and gave her very Emilyish smirk. A smile spread on our faces.

“So Miss Kiara Jackson for god sake start putting on some makeup and check out your surroundings. Go flirt and have a wild life. I heard boys there in Oregon are really y. My god! you can have a very good time” she was grinning.

“Uhh please Emi” I and Kay screamed in unison.

We were chattering about all the impossible stuff while my mom came in. Even though she is exhausted from her work she still has this bright smile plastered to her face. “Hello, beautiful ladies... How was your day?” she enquired.

“It was wonderful Mrs. Jung” replied my friends.

She gave them chocolates. It has been the same since my first grade. Every time Emi and Kay came over she gave them chocolates. This made me smile. My friends hung out with me till their curfew and went home. We had a bit of teary farewell. My mom was on phone talking seriously.

“What’s the matter, mom?” I asked.

“It’s nothing much Kia I just came to know that our flight to Portland is rescheduled to tomorrow morning at 9. We have to leave early”.

“oh cool” was all I could manage. My mom gave me a comforting smile. I kissed her goodnight and went to sleep. I couldn’t sleep peacefully. Tomorrow would be a long day I sighed.