Day by Day

  Nico broke up with me on the 1st. It was April, so I was praying to a God I didn't believe in that it was some sort of cruel joke.

  It wasn't.

  My brother Kailar was the only person that could make light of the situation.

  "Hey, don't cry, little sister." He said, leaning on my door frame. "It'll be okay. I'm actually happy about it."

  I groaned into my pillow. "You can cross 'counselor' off of your list of potential careers because you are seriously not helping."

  Kai ignored me and continued. "I can finally beat the crap out of that guy and you can't stop me."

  I couldn't help the smile that turned up my lips.

  That was only the start of it. The start of the changes.

  On the 5th of April, the coffee shop I'd been working at got shut down.

  My boss Rosalind almost cried as she handed me my last paycheck. I was upset but mostly relieved. The amount of stress I was under from working there was almost unbearable. Not to mention it was embarrassing every time someone from my school walked in and couldn't stop talking about Nico and I's break up.

  My last shift wasn't over just yet, so I slid the envelope into my bag and returned to the table where a few of my classmates were waiting to order.

  "Oh, Remi, hey!" One of the girls exclaimed.

   I smiled as the others greeted me, too.

   I took their orders and turned to leave, but one of the guys’ voices stopped me.

   “By the way, Remi, we’re sorry about what happened. That was so sucky of them.” The guy, Landon, said.

   A girl named Aylia nodded. “Right! I mean, who does that to their best friend?”

   I raised my eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

   “Didn’t you hear?” Marcus questioned.

   Maxine snorted. “Forget about hear, see. It’s not like they were being shy about it.”

   “I wasn’t at school today, I didn’t see anything. Seriously,” I chuckled nervously. “What’s going on?”

   “Nico and Beth? They’re together now. It’s official and everything.” Aylia said.

   The words hit me like a brick. My best friend Beth...and my ex-boyfriend Nico...dating. Not even two weeks after Nico and I split. Bile rose in my throat, but I swallowed hard and choked it down.

   My voice was barely above a whisper when I finally responded. “I’ll have those drinks out for you in a bit.”

   I ran to the break room, breathing heavily as I tried to process the new information.

   That night I deleted both Nico and Beth’s numbers. I tore down all of the pictures and got rid of all the keepsakes.

   Aylia and the others hadn’t been lying. The next day at school, both Beth and Nico ignored me. Actually, I was pretty sure they forgot I existed. They were too wrapped up in each other. I couldn’t tell what bothered me more. Seeing them together, or feeling all the eyes on my back as I moved through the hallways.

   On April 9th, Kailar and his girlfriend finally got all their stuff packed and moved deeper into New York City, over an hour away with traffic.

   On the 12th, Dad got deployed again. He didn’t know just yet when he would return.

   After that, with no boyfriend, no friends, no siblings around, Dad in Afghanistan, and Mom working late nights at the hospital, I was left with an empty house every day.

   I didn’t get a new job until the 14th.

   It was a bookstore, small and cute. It smelled of cinnamon from the insane amount of candles resting on tables throughout the store. Not a space was free on the shelves. The spines stuck out, they were covered in a small layer of dust. The ceilings were high, for a spiral staircase in the center took you to the upper levels.

   It was gorgeous and calming.

   The owner, a man in his mid-thirties to early forties welcomed me with a warm smile.

   “You must be Remi.” He shook my hand firmly. “I’m Silas Grayson. Call me Si, Grayson- whatever you’re comfortable with. I don’t mind.”

   I smiled back. “How about Mr. Gray?”

   Silas Grayson grinned. “I like it.”

   “My wife told me you came in just yesterday looking for a job. She said you were so sweet and smart she hired you on the spot.” He said, leading me through the shelves to the counter.

   “Abbey was extremely kind- I’ll never be able to thank you both enough. I really needed this.” I told him, referring to his wife and how grateful I was.

   Mr. Gray waved a hand. “Oh, nonsense. It was our pleasure. Now, are you ready to start?”

   “Born ready.”

   Working at Grayson Books almost every afternoon was the best thing that had happened to me all month, and, surprisingly, it just got better from there.

   I soon met my co-workers- Luna, Delilah, and Bennett.

   Luna was very quiet and very intelligent. She went to my school, but we hadn’t met before then because she hadn’t had more than four classes a day since freshman year. She had enough credits to graduate when we were juniors.

   Bennett was one of the coolest guys ever, along with his boyfriend Luke. Both were huge nerds, but they were fun to be around and a very cute couple.

   Delilah was a friend you could always count on to cheer you up, which is a huge part of the reason why she quickly became my best friend. She spent a lot of her time hating Nico and Beth, telling dark humor jokes, eating concerning amounts of chocolate, and telling people to screw off.

    For an introvert, Delilah was pretty bold. If we were around anyone who made her uncomfortable or in a huge crowd of people, she got very anxious and quiet. But the second we were taking a quiet walk in the park and someone looked at me the wrong way, she was all, “Hey, stalker! Stop staring and take a picture, it’ll last longer!”

   Our little group fit together well and we had lots of fun together.

   On April 20th, my mom burst into my room and bluntly announced some shocking news.

   “Start packing, Remi! I’m transferring to a new hospital and we’re selling the house!”

   I stared at the serious expression on her face for several minutes, waiting for her to laugh.

   “Y-you’re not laughing.” I stuttered.

   “No,” Mom frowned. “Why would I be laughing?”

   “You mean you’re serious!?” I jumped up.

   She nodded. “Yeah, I’m serious. You won’t be changing schools until the 30th, but we’re out of here! The new house is closer to your brother, closer to your job, and closer to NYU, and the hospital I’m being transferred to. So start filling those boxes I put in the hallway. Movers are coming on Friday!”

   I followed her out of my room. “Wait- Mom! What school am I going to?”

   “Scarsdale Senior!” She called, continuing downstairs.

   I froze in my doorway. “That’s Delilah’s school.”

   A wide smile spread across my face. “That’s Delilah’s school!”

   I squealed, jumping toward my phone to call her.

   By the 25th, we were moved into our new house. There was only one box left to unpack. It was full of family photos. One was of my parent’s wedding, with my mom in her beautiful white dress, my dad holding two-year-old me, and six-year-old Kailar tugging at his bowtie. There was a collage of Kailar’s high school graduation, his biggest football games, his junior & senior proms, and his college graduation. There was a collage of my baby pictures and my junior prom pictures. Finally, there were pictures of every time dad came home. Always in his green camo, always hugging us tightly. Hopefully, we’d be adding to that collection soon.

   We hung them all throughout the hallway and the living room before tossing that last box out into the trash.

   Five days later, on April 30th, Delilah drove me to my new school.

   We stepped inside together and she pointed out all the stereotypes, as was her nature. She warned me who to stay away from and who to call when I needed help hiding a body.

   I rolled my eyes and laughed at that. (Delilah’s sense of humor was unmatched, really.)

   When lunch finally rolled around, we sat together on one of the picnic tables outside, sharing a tray of fries and crappy chicken nuggets.

   “You know, it’s crazy thinking about how much my life has changed in the past few weeks alone,” I said. “I mean, for real, this month has been insane.”

   Delilah nodded. “I can’t even imagine.”

   “Right? Like, think about it- my boyfriend dumps me, I lose my job, I find out my ex is now dating my best friend, my brother moves out, my dad gets sent to Afghanistan, I get a new job and tons of new friends, and then I move and my mom gets transferred to a new hospital. I don’t even want to think about what will happen when my college letters get in.” I shook my head, stuffing my face with fries. “Right now, I just want to relax and try to enjoy this as much as I can.”

   Delilah snorted. “Don’t get your hopes up. I already see so much excitement in your future.”

   My brows knitted together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

   She nodded her head somewhere behind me. “8’oclock. Dude’s been watching you all day.”

   By the time I turned to look, she said, “Aw, crap, he dipped.”

   “Who is he?” I asked.

   Delilah shrugged. “I don’t know, really. He used to come into the bookstore a lot, though. Super close with the Graysons. Hasn’t been around in a few weeks.”

   Before I could inquire further, the bell rang and we had to return to class.

   That afternoon at the bookstore, I stood at the counter next to Delilah, flipping through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

   The bell on the door rang.

   “Let me know if you need any help!” I called out instinctively.

   The person was out of my view, but as soon as she saw who it was, Delilah started.

   “It’s him!” She whisper-yelled.

   My eyes widened. “8’oclock guy?”

   She nodded furiously.

   I blushed as I heard a guy’s voice call out, “Mr. G? Abbey?”

   I crept from behind the counter and main part of the store, trying to locate the voice in the maze of shelves.

   I pivoted to turn down another aisle but slammed face-first into something.

   Excuse me- someone.

   The guy grabbed my left wrist to keep me from falling, his other hand holding my right shoulder to help me regain my balance. My breath hitched in surprise and my eyes stayed glued to the floor until I heard his voice.

   “I am so, so sorry. I totally didn’t see you coming. Are you okay?”

   I tentatively looked up and my eyes connected with bright blue ones in contrast to his tan skin, face overcast in a shadow from his curly dark hair.

   “Yeah, I- I'm okay.” I smiled shakily as he released me.

   Upon hearing my response, a smirk lifted the corner of his lips and he nodded. “I’m Alec, with a C." He said.

   My grin widened as I shook his hand. “Remi, with an I.”

   That was the last change that April brought to me. The beginning hadn’t been particularly pleasant, but the end...well, let’s just say Delilah was right.

   There was indeed a lot of excitement in my future.