The clock ticked so slow, it seemed to go backwards. Mrs. Reinhart’s class had just gotten back from our trip to the Spy Museum in D.C. Matt, Teddy, John, Marc, and I all messed around with our shock pens and other gadgets we got, while the girls talked about their summer plans and how they would miss each other, even though they would probably see each other the next week. I stared down the clock, just waiting for the bell to ring.
“Do it. Come on, just do it! Ring already! Put us out of our misery!!!” I thought to the clock. I watched as the clock’s hand hit 3:15 and I heard the bell ring. I bolted out of class and met up with James and Muahmong. Together, we ran outside to where Enrique, Mary Ellen, Danny, Jacob, Lindsay and Charlotte were already waiting.
“Where’s Chase?” I questioned when we met up with the group.
“Turn around,” Jacob answered. I turned around to see Chase talking with some other friends that he ditched us for a lot recently. So, I picked up a small pebble and lightly pegged him in the back of the head to get his attention. He turned around and looked at me with a “Dude, What the Actual Heck?” kind of look. Then he realized we were waiting for him and came over to us.
“Are you guys ready to go to the Dairy Godmother?” Chase asked.
“Nah, Chase. Let’s just stand here for a bit more and watch grass grow,” Muahmong answered sarcastically. We all started walking down the hot sidewalk on Mt. Vernon Avenue, as the sun blazed down on us. James, Enrique, Danny, Chase and I were messing around ahead of the others while Mary Ellen, Lindsay, Charlotte, and Jacob talked about summer stuff. Then, I looked back and saw Muahmong all bummed out. So, I went up and talked to him.
“Bro, I know you’re sad about moving to Minnesota, but cheer up. I mean, we had some fun times. Remember them when you’re up in Minnesota”, I said trying to cheer him up.
“Yeah,” James said entering the conversation. ”And, I mean, Minnesota is the land of hockey, so it can’t be that bad.”
“Oh my god!! James, we should have taught him to play hockey!!!” I exclaimed.
“Oh, yes!! “Ah, why didn’t we think of this before?!” he replied.
“No, bro, it’s not that” Muahmong interrupted. He went on to tell us that he did not ask the girl ask he liked to come with us.
“Dude!!! I told you to do that!! That was your one chance to get to spend time with her before you left, bro!!! Why would you wuss out like that?” I yelled at Muahmong.
“Look. Don’t get your underwear in a bunch. She was with a group of friends so what was I supposed to do? Oh, and by the way, Phil, I kinda gave her your number, so I could text her,” he told me. Right on cue, my phone went off with a text message from her. So, I gave my phone to him and he basically kept my phone for the entire time. Even though I kinda wanted to text someone else, he never gave it up.
We finally got to the Dairy Godmother, and we all got in line. James, Muahmong, and I all started talking in line while we waited for our ice cream and sat down to eat at a big table.
“So, what are we doing next?” Mary Ellen asked.
“I have to go,” said Jacob.
“Same here,” said Danny and Enrique as they all left.
“Well,” Chase said.” How about the rest of us go to my dad’s house?”
“No, lets go to my house. It’s closer and bigger than your house and bigger, and
pretty much better,” I replied.
“Are you kidding me?! It’s not even at all!!!” Chase claimed.
“Are YOU kidding me?” I mimicked. “Your dad’s house has nothing! It only has a DINOSAUR OLD TV while my house has 3 flat screens, so boom!!” I made a mini explosion gesture with my hands.
“Just trust me. Plus after that, we can go to the George Mason park and just talk,” Chase assured. But, it made no sense because Chase NEVER says something like “we can just talk” so I was confused, feeling like something wasn’t right. But, I just ignored it.
“Maury park is right by my house, which is closer, if u want to ‘just talk’ at a park,” I muttered under my breath. So we set off on the walk to Chase’s house, which took FOREVER!!
“Oh my god!!!!! Chase, why the HECK did we decide to go to your house?!?!” Lindsay screamed as we trudged up the massively steep stairs at the St. Stephens Lower School, close to Chase’s house.
“I wanted to go to my house, which was EASILY two times closer than his house, BUT NO……. we just HAD to go to Chase’s house so we could JUST TALK!!!!!” I said with a mix of anger, tiredness, and sarcasm. “I mean, we could ‘just talk’ anywhere, but it just HAD to be at the George Mason Playground, three miles from where we were!!!” Chase said nothing while Lindsay kept complaining and I tried to cheer up Muahmong, while he still hogged my phone.
“Bro, seriously? Give me back my phone. I kinda have someone I want to text,” I said with authority.
Muahmong stopped in his tracks. He turned around and looked at me. Why is he looking at me like that? I thought. Was it something I said? It turns out, it was.
“Bro, you can text whoever you want anytime. I can’t. I don’t have a phone. But you do. Not only that, but you can see all of your friends whenever you want after today. But I won’t. I will never see her, talk to her in person, or have the chance to be with her. Do you know what’s that is like?” Muahmong sadly said. After he said that, time seemed to freeze. Everything seemed to stand still. I never thought of it that way. I would be here, with all of my friends and everything, while he was going to be in Minnesota, alone and with no one. Yes, I would be losing one friend, but Muahmong was losing easily 50. So, I looked him dead in the eye and said the deepest thing I had said that year.
“Muahmong, I know what you’re feeling. I’ve had bad days, but this must be 10,000 times worse. You are leaving everything, your friends, your school, your normal life, behind as you leave. And you’re right. You will never see her again. But, maybe that’s a good thing. You are done with the girl who caused all this pain, all this headache. And to be honest, she doesn’t deserve you, if you are going to do all this, just to have her ignore you. Like that song says, sometimes goodbye is a second chance. You have a chance to do whatever. So, get over her. She isn’t worth your time. So like someone who will care for you back. And to quote another song, just live your life. So just forget her.” I went on to add one last thing, smiling. ”Plus she is a bit ugly.” Muahmong stood there, thinking. I wasn’t sure what he would do next.
He didn’t do anything. He looked at me, dead in the eye. And he said, “I guess?” and gave me back the phone. But he added, “She had to do something, but give it back to me when she’s back.” Well, that accomplished nothing, I thought. So I just let it go.
So, after walking what seemed like days, we got to Chase’s house.
“Gee, we are finally here. After only….” Lindsay said sassily looking at the clock on her phone. “…. an hour. Looks like I have to go.”
“Same,’’ Charlotte added, and they left.
“Okay, well now its just us. So now can you explain why you ‘just want to talk’?” I said.
“I will on the way to George Mason,” he replied. So we started walking and we go to the park. Chase didn’t tell us and I was getting a bit annoyed that he wasn’t telling us so I asked again.
“Okay, so the reason I wanted to come here was I have to tell you guys something.” He took a deep breath and continued. “Since I have been getting in trouble a bit at school, I may have to be going to a private school.” The news hit us all like a bombshell. He sat there, quietly. Finally, Chase added, “I had to take a test and if I get a 400 or above, I have to go there.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before? And how come you didn’t tell the others? Why did you wait until now to drop a bombshell like that on us?” I questioned.
“Yeah, Chase. I mean, you probably won’t see the others over the summer, so why’d you wait?” said Mary Ellen. Chase was about to answer, but his phone went off.
“That’s my mom. Let’s hope for the best,” he said as he left.
While he talked on the phone, the rest of us just stood there. So I broke the ice.
“Wow, after what a great year this was, next year is going to STINK!!! I mean, first we lose Muahmong to Minnesota, then we lose our friends in GW1 due to the schools being so separate. I mean, we will have NOTHING with GW1, we won’t see them, we won’t have classes with them, we won’t have lunch with them, nothing. Now, we lose Chase!!!!” I slouched back on the jungle gym piece I sat on, “We have NOTHING!!!!!!” I screamed.
“Well, Chase hasn’t, for sure, passed it yet. And hopefully, it will be just like him in social studies, he will fail badly,” James said jokingly.
“Bro,” I responded, “I’m trying to be all serious here, and all that does is make me want to laugh.”
“Oh, you think YOU GUYS have it bad. You guys are losing 2 friends, I’m losing most of my friends. You know HOW much harder it is to replace probably 50 friends than 2?!?!?!?!” Muahmong went on a 5 minute rant about how dumb school is, how it’s pointless, and how Minnesota is the dumbest state ever. But I didn’t really pay attention. I was too busy thinking. What will school be like without Chase and Muahmong? What will it be like not being with GW1 as much? But more importantly, what will 7th grade be like? Will it be as fun as people say it is? Or will it be torture and super stressful? People say it should be fun, with all the Bar Mitzvahs and stuff, but will it really? And will my friends and I still have time to just hangout and be ourselves like all of this year? All this questions made my future seem unsure, even though it was clear all but a few hours ago. I just wanted this day to end. All this stress to just go, and I could enjoy my summer break, even though it seemed like it wouldn’t be so fun.
Finally, Chase got off the phone with his mom. He walked over and told us the news.
“Okay, as you guys know, I needed a 400 to pass and……” he paused for dramatic effect. “I got a 342!!!!!!!!!” James and I went crazy and started celebrating with him while Mary Ellen kinda just played it cool but she was happy, too. Muahmong just sat there, texting people on my phone, but I could tell he didn’t care, mostly because he wasn’t going to be here anyway, so it didn’t affect him.
James’ dad came and picked him up and Mary Ellen left with him because she lived near him. Muahmong told his mom to pick him up at my house, so he and I went and since Chase had nothing better to do, he came with us. We all walked the 3 mile trip to my house and just chatted like we always did, having conversations about school and life and our summer plans and how Chase and I promised to keep in touch with him while he was in Minnesota and just messed around as always. Then we turned onto my street.
“So where are you moving to in Minnesota?” I asked Muahmong.
“Somewhere around Minneapolis.” He answered.
“Nice, you could see all the sports teams play there,” Chase added.
“And hopefully, you will take up hockey,” I said.
“Well, I’m not a great skater so……” he was cut off by what he saw. It was his mom’s car. She pulled up to the curb and told him to get in.
“We will miss you, bro. I will try to keep in touch with you over the summer. Hopefully someday, you can come back here,” I said, trying not to be emotional. We intensely high-fived and he got in the car as we waved goodbye. As he drove away, I ran into the street and got on my knees and screamed “NO!!!” as a joke, but I wasn’t really happy. I was sad to see a friend go. And that was the last time I ever saw Muahmong in person again.