AS--Good Bye, and Good Luck.

"You can't be serious!"
    "But I am..."
    Eric could feel his heart drop into his stomach. This couldn't be serious; couldn't be happening. Billee...? Leaving? It couldn't be true. That would take their crew down to seven, and seven was just a horrid number. (Eight, after all, was even.) "Why do you have to leave anyways?" The dark haired boy crossed his arms, bearing a stubborn look. He looked like he was just about ready to kill the person responsible. Billee just couldn't be leaving. No way, no how. It would take a pig-flying, hell freezing over sort of catastrophe  for that to happen.
    "Eleanor got accepted to that community college in Santa Ana." Billee shrugged, sinking down into his spot in the corner. He'd taken it upon himself to tell Eric first, and he'd taken him out of their normal seating area to do so. "And she's already got a job down there, too, so, we're sorta... going with her. Grams said she'd help pay for the apartment until Elle could get a handle on things." Grams wasn't all that upset about her three grandchildren leaving her to run off to Sah-na-tah Ah-nah, California, it had seemed.
    "Did she have to apply for one in Santa Ana?"
    "No. She just wanted to. She likes it down there. She just didn't think she'd get in. And Jack and I just wanna go with her."
    Bearing a bitter face, Eric shot the linoleum floor a rather nasty look. "So you're just leaving, just like that?"
    Billee sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "We'll visit when we can. Holidays, summer break, maybe even spring break, because you know it'll be total hell down there during that season." Getting fed up with the itchy beanie, he tugged it off, offering Eric a crooked smile. "Come on, it's just one person. It isn't the end of the world. There will be six other people, and you'll hardly even notice I'm gone!"

    But, like all good assumptions, it wasn't correct. From eight to seven, and now, to six. Violet, it seemed, was in a foul mood. (More so than any foul mood caused by PMS, a lack of sleep, or not feeling well.) And it was irking the rest of them. Most knew better than to pry, but others... Well, others weren't so keen on sitting back and watching the chaos unfold.
    "Hey, Vi," Genevieve tapped Violet on the shoulder curiously, moving to sit in the chair beside her. She'd strayed away from the others, and that was never a good sign. "You okay?"
    With an angry, gritted expression, Violet shook her head, curls bouncing. "Nope."
    "Why for?"
    "My dad and step mom and their stupid spoiled brat of a child. I'm completely sick of being ignored whenever I'm there." Violet sighed softly, toying with her bangs idly. "So I called my mom the other night..."
    "Yeah, and?" Genevieve bit down on the inside of her lip, ignoring the slight case of shivers and goosebumps she'd suddenly gotten. It was well known that Genevieve had seven senses (the normal five, Spidey Senses, and bad news senses), and her seventh sense was going off like a psychotic man with a Ronald Reagan mask, a vengeance against hippies, and a chainsaw.
    "I talked to her about it, and we decided that I'm gonna move up there. This weekend, actually." And unfortunately, it was already Thursday.
    Genevieve's eyes widened some, mouth agape. "How come you didn't tell us sooner?" It felt like the seconds were pressing down onto her ears with each tick, tock, tick, tock.
    Violet simply shrugged, resuming her aloof mood. "I get tomorrow off, since I'm moving and all, and I kinda didn't want to tell you guys. You'll make some big stupid deal about it and beg me to stay or something. Or throw a huge going away party. Yeah, just what I want, a party to celebrate my leaving. It's like they're glad you're leaving when that happens."
    "Well... Will you at least come down here on weekends? At least sometimes? Or get online, or something?"
    "Maybe."
    "Come on... You'll miss us."
    "I know."
    "If we promise not to beg you to stay, or throw a crappy party, can you come and be merry with us, since it's you're last day?"
    Violet looked up to Genevieve, then to the group of Kasen, Zemene, Quinn, Fresa, and a very gloomy looking Billee and Eric. "Yeah. But what's their deal?"
    And so, Violet stated her case to the group, as did Billee, and as promised, no one begged, no one threw a silly party. As Quinn had said, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Naturally, as everything changed. And maybe the week right before a two week long break was the right time to do it. You hardly ever saw your friends on Christmas break, and that was a well known, widely accepted fact.
    The group of eight had been whittled down to six in such a short amount of time that it seemed hardly possible. No longer was it Kasen and Quinn, Violet and Genevieve, Billee and Eric, and Fresa and Zemene. Nope. Now it was Kasen and Quinn, Eric and Genevieve, and Fresa and Zemene. Things were changing all right. They'd known that from the very beginning of the school year. But, another new beginning come the New Year? No one saw that coming.