Holding On Read Online Free PDF Page A

leaning against my car waiting for me.
     

     
    It went by fast. Before I could really comprehend what was happening, I was walking in Ella and Emma’s front door as their parents were walking out. New Year’s Eve! The end of one thing and the beginning of another. How fitting to my situation. I had spent the last two weeks of break packing up my entire life, and today I spent loading it into a U-Haul truck.   We were leaving bright and early in the morning, and I was expected home at a “decent hour” to make sure that I got plenty of rest for the drive.
    Yes, I was driving across the country. You can only hook up one car to a U-Haul, so when I refused to sell my car, I was told that I would have to drive it out. The only highlight was that I didn’t have to be stuck with my mom for the entire ride. I was still barely on speaking terms with her. The longest conversation I’d had with her since she told me we were moving was at Christmas dinner with my grandparents. I was doing my best to be social and somewhat civil. I realized about halfway through dinner that I should probably just stop talking by the looks I was receiving from my grandparents. Let’s just say that they were less than enthusiastic about some of my comments. Grandpa actually poked me in the elbow with his fork twice.
    As the rest of my friends started to arrive, I got restless. I knew that this was the last time I was going to see most of them, at least for quite a while. I planned on coming back for the summer and staying with my dad for a couple of weeks, but things change.
    People change. Friendships are hard enough when you see each other every day, let alone when you live 1,905.6 miles apart. I wasn’t going to hold it against anyone if our friendship died out—anyone, except Brad, that is, who had yet to show his face at the party.
    I mingled for a few hours and spent some quality time with a few friends that I knew would still be in my life after I crossed state lines. As midnight got closer, I began to get worried about Brad. He was supposed to pick up Claire and meet me at the party. She was not excited about their plans, and I wasn’t excited about her being present, but he knew it meant a lot to me for him to come tonight. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought twice about not celebrating the New Year with him, but this was different.
    We had only spent one New Year’s Eve together since becoming friends. It was eighth grade, and our parents had insisted that we stay in because of a huge snow storm that was supposed to be blowing in. Brad came to my house, and we were going to hang out and watch the ball drop with a few other friends. Their parents had decided that they needed to stay home. It ended up being just the two of us, eating junk food and acting crazy from too much sugar and caffeine. We both passed out before midnight. It’s one of my favorite memories of us.
    We all counted down at midnight, and shortly after, people started to leave with their designated drivers. I found my purse and pulled out my phone to send Brad a nasty text since he never showed up. To my surprise, I found a text from him waiting for me. When he didn’t show up to the party, my only thought was that Claire had kept him away somehow. He should have been here. He should have at least come to say good-bye to me. I was about to explode with anger when I opened his text.
     

Brad: I’m sry. there was no way I could say gdbye with evry1 else around. text me b4 u leave. happy new year! lv Brad
     
    Crap! How is it that I can forgive him in an instant? I should be mad at him for bailing on our last night to be able to hang out together, and I can’t. Damn him! Now I had to see him in the morning, and I was going to cry, and then I was going to have to drive. Well, that was not going to work for me. I needed to be up and gone early, and crying was not part of the plan.
     

Me: Where r u right now?         
     
    I waited until I heard my phone ting