Parting Ways

Dennis Hamilton is your regular Maine kid. He lives in the Portland suburbs with his parents and sisters. He loves his family and all, but he spends most of his time with his friend Luke Johnson. They had been friends since they met in kindergarten. Together, they love to play basketball, a lot of basketball. One morning, Dennis woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. Mornings are not his thing. It was a sunny Thursday morning. Dennis' alarm read 8:05 A.M., 40 minutes before school starts. He usually wakes up around 15 minutes before school starts. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and did all that morning stuff. Then he ate a light breakfast of chocolate milk and a granola bar. This was part of his usual routine. After breakfast, he leaves for Luke's house to walk together to school. They arrived at their school, Graham Halleswell Middle School, two minutes early. They were in the 7th-grade. Their school day started off with Math first period Mr. Harrison. Then they had Spanish with Señora Gonzalez. Next was Break. After that, the day went by pretty fast. They had English with Mrs. Smith, Science with Mr. Wilson, and a couple of more. Later, Dennis arrived at the front door. Little did he know that the second he opened the door, his life would change forever. "Surprise!", Dennis heard as he opened the door. It was his dad, Oliver Hamilton. He looked quite happy, but Dennis looked dazed. "Uhhh... what's going on, Dad?" asked Dennis looking puzzled.

"Well, perhaps I should tell you. We're moving to Seattle! I got a job offer there."

Oliver was a telecommunications engineer and had gotten a job offer for an engineering firm in Seattle, Washington. "I-I... I don't know what to say, Dad.", stammered Dennis, "Does Mom know"?

"Well, that's the thing. No, she does not."

"What about Angela and Selena?"

"No, no one knows... yet."

Just as Oliver finished speaking, Dennis' mom Catherine entered the Hamiltons suburban home with his 3rd-grade twin sisters. "Hey boys!" began Catherine, "How are you"?

"Hey honey, great news! We are-"

"We are going to the Maine Red Claws game tonight!" interrupted Dennis. Oliver gave Dennis his famous 'what are you doing?' look.

"That's... cool." said Catherine, not being the biggest fan of basketball.

"No, it's not that. We're moving to Seattle!" said Oliver.

"Sweetie, that's awesome!"

"When are we moving, Daddy?" asked Selena.

"In a week!" answered Oliver. A week, Dennis thought. All of a sudden, he thought about Luke. About everyone he knew, loved here in Portland. Dennis sat down and called Luke to shoot hoops. Luke agreed. They met 15 minutes later in the neighborhood's exclusive playground -- Castleview --, which features a swing set, a slide, a basketball court, a tennis court, and much more. "Hey man. I gotta talk to you about something," began Dennis, "like, really important".

"Yeah, me too man! Coach told me today that I have the potential to become really good at basketball. Maybe even get drafted."

"Bro, that's awesome! But... in about a week, I'll move."

"Move? At least move somewhere that has a good NBA team."

"Well, I'm moving to Seattle. I know, I know, the Seattle SuperSonics haven't played in the NBA since 2008, but apparently, it's official."

Luke was as bummed out as Dennis when he heard. "Well, I'm going to miss you, man."

"Yeah me too. But let's just focus on scoring more half-court shots this time."

After 2 hours of swishing and shoe-squeaking, the two friends left. Everything was pretty much the same for the next six days. All the bags were packed, the plane tickets had been bought. The family even sold their 6-year-old Honda Odyssey LX. "Hey Mom, can I go to Luke's. To see him for the last time?" Dennis asked Catherine.

"I thought you might ask. How about we go there as a family?"

"Uhhh... sure."

As the family headed to the Johnson's, Dennis gave a sigh of worry. "Don't worry D," began Angela, "it'll be fine".

"I guess you're right" responded Dennis. Oliver rang the doorbell and Luke's dad Peter opened the door. The Hamilton family had already thrown a goodbye party, but only for the family, even though Luke is like Dennis' family. The Johnsons had been aware that the Hamiltons had been planning to visit. Luke called Dennis to hang out upstairs, Angela and Selena tried to play with Luke's moody older sister Lauren. Upstairs the boys were playing NBA 2K on Luke's XBOX ONE. It was silent for a pretty long time, considering you'd think two friends would talk it out before one friend leaves.

"So, do you know where in Seattle you're going to live?" asked Luke, breaking the long silence.

"Dad said we're going to move into an apartment downtown for a while."

"Well, I know I said this, a lot in the past couple of weeks, but... I'm really gonna miss you."

"Yep, same here bro" agreed, Dennis. The friends fist-bumped and played a couple more games of NBA 2K. At around 9:50 P.M., the Hamiltons left the Johnsons house. The next day, Catherine woke Dennis up at 5:30 A.M. Downstairs, everyone was rushing around. It reminded Dennis of one of his favorite Christmas movies Home Alone. They arrived at the airport at 6 A.M. Their flight was at 9:10 A.M. Dennis picked up a sub from the airport for breakfast, while Oliver and Catherine had a cup of coffee each. The plane took off and it was exciting for Angela and Selena, as it was their first time on a plane. Before they were born, Dennis and his parents traveled a lot. Dennis has been to 49 out of 50 states, the odd one out being West Virginia. Almost 8 hours and 4 movies later, the Hamiltons arrived at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The family picked up their stuff, called a taxi, and stayed at a Holiday Inn nearby. In the next few days, the Hamiltons went to buy furniture for the new apartment. Everything was finished in about three weeks. "Hey son, we've found a middle school for you!" Oliver told Dennis. As the family spent more time in Seattle, Dennis had been more reluctant about the move but had kept his emotions private, as his family liked it so much there.

"Great, what is it called?" asked Dennis out of curiosity.

"Linda Buck Middle School".

The next Monday, Dennis went to school. Class began. "Class, we've got a new student today." began Ms. Jannah, "Dennis Hamilton, would you like to come up"? Dennis slowly nodded and came up. He sighed and then began talking "Hi. Hi everyone, I-I'm Dennis, Dennis Hamilton. I'm from Maine, I like basketball, and I'm g-glad to be going to Linda Buck Middle School". Everything else had been really boring. He met a couple of nice kids, but mostly everyone was not too nice. At lunch, he sat at a table alone. He kept on thinking, could I go back to Maine by myself? More thoughts came until a kid came. He was skinny. Dark brown hair. Hazel eyes. He began talking. "I've never seen you around? Are you the new student in Ms. Jannah's class"?

"Uhhh, y-yeah."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Jadyn Concierelli," Jadyn said smiling.

Dennis also smiled, "I'm Dennis Hamilton".

Jadyn had turned out to be a really good friend and pretty good at basketball, but Dennis still didn't forget Luke. He had hoped Luke would meet Jadyn one day, so the three can become good friends. That summer, Oliver surprised everyone again by buying tickets for Portland to spend the summer there. Suddenly. Dennis didn't think Seattle was so bad, despite the SuperSonics not being in the NBA since 2008.