I wake up before the sun does this morning and pack my duffel bag as i sing along with my whispering radio, "All my friends say I should move on She's just another girl...". I bob my head and move to the beat as I finish adding my clothes, make up, band posters, (etc.), and just as i zip up my bag a light shines through my black satin blinds. I pick up my binoculars and open the window so i can see something oh-so-familiar: Gerard across the street, holding a note scrawled across his sketchbook in electric blue sharpie. I write my own telling him that i'll meet him by our favorite hide-out spot in fifteen minutes. Then, I pull on my favorite navy blue cami, black skinny jeans and polka dotted hoodie. My red converse shoes get pulled onto my feet and duffel bag onto my shoulder as I tip toe top speed down the stairs, car keys slide off their hook and into my hand, note for my mom is left on the dining room table and I'm out the front door. I drop my bag into the back of my silver Jeep wrangler and slide in. I pull into the park's driveway and walk over to the aging tree-house that we've inhabited since we met in kindergarten, when he moved into the house across from mine. The rope ladder is new, but the old one wouldn't have been able to hold us now. He's sitting cross-legged, head resting, hand under his chin, drawing again, always drawing. "Mornin' Gee", I sing, dragging out the 'e's in his nickname, and watching as he closes his book and tucks his pencil behind his ear. "Hey Alice", he greets me, "you ready for school?" That's a funny question now, isn't it? "actually, I"m not going to school today, or any day soon. I'm leaving town today and I don't know when I'm coming back." When I say this, it's slowly, not like it was obvious and I'm speaking down to him, but almost like I'm trying to comprehend it myself, watch closely and see how he reacts. Gerard takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and cup my face in his hands, "alright", he begins," but i'm coming with you". I smile at this, my best friend and I on the road together, no map or destination, no curfew, just spontaneity. "This is going to be one great adventure". I whisper in his ear and pull him up by his wrist. He had walked to the park , so he rode with me back to his house to pack.

It doesn't take him long to get his things together and say goodbye to his brother, Mikey. I promise him that we'll call and visit him and the rest of their band every so often. We cross the border out of New Jersey and into New York before parking to watch the sun come up. I turn to Gerard and he brushes a strand of my black hair out of my face. "Aren't you going to get homesick? Aren't the memories of that town going to pull you right back into it?" He asks and maybe he's right, maybe it'll come back and haunt me at night when dreams tempt, but i guess we'll just have to find out. "eventually I will get homesick, but it will pass and I'll keep the memories tuck away in my bag for safe keeping." I answer, nodding, then turn on the radio and pull out, back onto the open road.

Notes