"You sound a little sad," Cassie said brightly. "What's wrong?"

"If I tell you, you'll just tease me," I replied, "Besides, I want to tell Jerry first."

"Oh my god," she said breathlessly. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"Now I have a question for you," Mom said. "How come you haven't asked anything about the new house and the new town?"

"Um," was all I could say for a moment. It was a good question. I didn't even know where it was on the map.

"I guess I was used to it being up in the air. Aunt Jane said we had to wait for the closing, whatever that is. Is it sure for certain that we're going to get that house? And why does it take so long?"

"Buying a house isn't like buying a pair of shoes, or even like buying a car. There's a lot involved."

"So, could it still fall through?"

"I suppose it could, but it would have to be something catastrophic. Theoretically, either party could pull out, or the title search could get complicated, but at this point..." she trailed off.

"How long after the closing until we move in?"

"We can move in right after the closing. In fact, once we have a closing date, I'm going to schedule the movers to bring all our stuff out of storage into the new house, and we'll go over and start cleaning and painting..."

My face fell. "Cleaning? Isn't the house clean when you buy it?"

"Oh, my goodness," she said. "Face it, young lady. Cleaning is a part of life."

She told me about the town. It's called Flickerbridge, which is about as weird a name as "Blessed Yvette." While she talked, I started daydreaming. I thought about the school's name. The initials would be BYHS. That didn't sound so bad. I could tell people I was going to BYHS. That would be my school, at least for a month. I tried to picture myself in the uniform, and wondered how short the skirt could be.

"Mom, does BYHS have a dress code?"

"What? Oh, I'm sure it does. Why?"

I was still a little lost in thought. "When we get there, can you take a picture of me in the school uniform?"

She didn't answer me. Instead she narrowed her eyes and looked at me as closely as she could.

"Eyes on the road, Mom! Eyes on the road!" I cautioned.

"Who is this picture for?" she asked.

Then she got it. "Oh, no," she said. "No, no, no. You are not sending pictures of yourself to boys."

"Not boys," I protested. "Boy. Just Jerry. He asked for one."

"He asked for a picture of you in the school uniform?" I nodded. "Absolutely not. And that is final. When we leave in a few weeks, you will say your goodbye to Jerry."

"Why don't you like him?" I asked. "What do you have against him?"

"Nothing," she sighed. "He seems perfectly nice. In fact, I have to admit that I like him. He's a good catch; he seems like a keeper. If you were really and truly a girl, I'd be happy. His family is very nice... I like his mother."

"So what's the problem?"

"I'm so afraid of what could happen. Please promise me that you'll be careful — very, very careful, Marcie. Don't lead him on, and don't get carried away. Don't let him get carried away. Especially now that you're leaving."

The first thing I did when we got home was look at the calendar. I only had 18 days of school left, and only 29 days left in Tierson. Not even. What did I have left? Pat's Halloween party, the Veterans Day weekend, and Bye Bye Birdie. Maybe I could do something special with that long Veterans Day weekend. I'd have to think. I wanted to call Carla and Eden, but neither of them were home.

I called Jerry's house. Cassie answered and told me that Jerry was out somewhere with Pat. "They're out doing some dumb boy-thing," she said. "They're probably burping, rolling in mud, and punching each other on the arm. You know, the usual."

"I guess," I said.

"You sound a little sad," she said brightly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm down," I replied, "but if I tell you, you'll just tease me. Besides, I want to tell Jerry first."

"Oh my god," she said breathlessly. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"No," I said scornfully.

"You sound like you're on your period," she said.

I sighed, and figured I might as well go with it. "Yes I am," I said. "So could you not tease me today?"

"Okay," she agreed (which surprised me!).

"I did want to talk to you about something," I said, then hesitated. "If I ask you a question, will you give me a straight answer?"

"Sure, but only today."

"Okay. I want to read, um, a fashion magazine, you know, um, a girls magazine, but I don't know which one to choose."

"Oh, yes," she replied. "Your tomboy past strikes again."

"I guess."

"Right now I read Cosmo. And Allure sometimes — they have good recommendations for makeup and moisturizers and stuff like that. You have to pick that up, at least every now and then, once you start wearing makeup.

"When I was your age, it was Seventeen. It's pretty subjective. One of my friends reads Redbook. She likes the short stories.

"You know what you should do? Try different ones until you find the one you like. You can't really tell from the covers or the contents. You have to live with it a little bit. One of them will click, like it's made for you. Anyway, it's not life-or-death and it's not like you can make a wrong choice. Just grab one and see if you like it.

"Nobody's going to laugh unless you're carrying Cosmo when you're dressed frumpy. But you don't dress frumpy."

"Oh, thanks." Cassie actually gave me a compliment!

"Hey, by the way," she said, "that was pretty cool, what you did — saving that little girl. I don't think I would have had the guts."

"Thanks, Cassie."

"No problem," she said. "Today, no teasing. In a day or two, merciless teasing, okay?"

"Okay," I said, smiling.

Cassie was so nice to me that I almost told her the news. But I held out until Tuesday lunch, when I could tell Carla and Eden at the same time.

"Whatcha got there?" Eden asked, turning her head sideways. "Redbook? My mom reads that."

"Yeah," I admitted. "I borrowed this one from my mother. I think it's too mature for me."

Carla scoffed. "Maybe you're too mature for it."

"I don't think so," I replied. "I just wanted to give it a try. I have to find the magazine that fits me."

"No you don't," Carla countered. "You don't need that stuff."

I shrugged, and then I dropped the bomb.

"Moving?" Eden cried. "Oh, it's not fair!"

"Wow, that's just around the corner," Carla observed. "You're gonna be gone in a flash."

Eden was crestfallen. I wondered whether she and Carla would continue to be friends after I was gone. They didn't really have anything in common except me. Come to think of it, though, I don't really have anything in common with either of them. We're just friends.

"So, are you gonna go to that girls school?" Carla asked.

"Oh, yeah. Listen to what it's called: Blessed Yvette High School for Girls."

"Blessed Yvette?" Eden repeated. "What kind of name is that?"

Carla laughed so hard she nearly choked on her food. "Oh, that is just too precious!" she howled as soon as she was able.

"Jerry wants a picture of me in the school uniform," I told them.

Eden's mouth dropped open in shock.

Carla shook her head. "Boys are pigs," she said. "Are you going to send it to him?"

I nodded, smiling. Eden laughed.

I added, "My mom told me I couldn't, though."

Carla shrugged. "Maybe she's right. Boys think those outfits are sexy. He might do nasty things with that photo."

"I dunno," I said, and took a sip of my water.

Eden asked, "Will you be here for Bye Bye Birdie?"

I nodded.

"At least you won't miss Pat's party this weekend," Carla noted. "So what did Jerry say when you told him?"

"I haven't told him yet," I replied. "I'm telling him after school. Can you guys keep it to yourselves until tomorrow?"