Chris turned over in his bed and moaned. How could he be up this early on a weekend? He had been up late and didn’t want to wake up until at least noon. He pulled the covers over his head and groaned. His mind was telling him to sleep, but his body was not listening. With another groan Chris rolled out of bed. He stumbled a few steps to his door and got an idea. He smiled evilly and reached for his shoes.

~~~~~~

"Morning, girls," Lydia sang to the ragged girls. "Have a nice night?"

"Yes, Ms. Da’ Cord," chorused throughout the kitchen.

"Yeah, mom, we had a great time. Well, until you woke us up so rudely." Roni shot her mom a look of contempt.

Lydia poured each girl a glass of orange juice. "Well, excuse me, but the girls’ parents are coming soon and I just thought I’d give you guys something to eat before they came. Sorry." She shrugged.

"Whatever." Roni shook her head. "Can you pass the syrup, Kat?"

"Sure. Here you go, Mrs. McIntyre."

"Thank you, Mrs. Wahlberg." She rolled her eyes. She got extra syrup on her fingers so she wiped her hand on Amanda’s arm.

"Roni! I’m going to kill you," Amanda screamed as she rubbed at the syrup on her arm.

Roni grinned. "Why? Afraid Chris will see you with syrup on your arm or something?"

"That’s not even funny."

"Ooh, someone’s got a crush. Someone’s got a crush. And on Chris of all people." Disgust filled her features.

"Did I just hear my name?" a male voice called into the kitchen.

Roni’s eyes widened. "Chris?"

"Oh my gosh, it’s Chris." Amanda blushed and wiped furiously at her arm. "I have to go wash this stuff off my arm." She ran from the room.

Outside Chris hid his laughter at the girls’ reactions. He thought his idea was priceless and definitely worth it. Inside Roni tried not to smile as the other girls straightened their pajamas and some bothered with their hair. She would have said something, but there was a more pressing matter at hand. She walked toward the kitchen door.

"What are you doing here, Chris? Isn’t it a little too early for you?"

"I know, but I woke up early and I need to talk to you. I have something I have to tell you and thought now would be a perfect time. I guess I forgot about your little party."

"Uh-huh." She arched an eyebrow. "Well, as you can see I have people over. Their parents are coming in a bit. Wanna come back later?"

Chris shrugged. "I guess. Nice seeing you girls." He waved to the table of speechless girls and turned to go home. He laughed silently at how perfectly his prank worked. He knew some of Roni’s friends had crushes on him, and sometimes he took full advantage of it. Chris thought it was funny on how such young girls looked at him like that. But he knew they just thought they wanted him because he was older and unobtainable. He looked back at the neighboring house and laughed before sobering.

He really did have to talk to Roni and it was important. He had made a big decision and she needed to know about it. This was going to be a hard conversation, one of the hardest in his eighteen years, but it needed to be done. He had made the decision and was going to stick to it, no matter how much he was going to miss everyone.

Meanwhile, back in the house the other girls had finally calmed down. Chris was the last thing they expected at breakfast. Most had hoped to catch a glimpse of him, but didn’t expect it to be while they were in their pajamas. They ate in silence until Amanda came back running in and skidding to a stop when she realized Chris was nowhere in sight.

"Where’s…?"

"Chris?" Amanda nodded silently. Roni raised an eyebrow at her friend’s full outfit. "He went back home. Nice outfit. I bet that was the fastest you’ve ever gotten changed."

"Oh, shut up," Amanda groaned as she sat back at the table.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Later that afternoon Chris sat at his kitchen table, staring at the wall clock. It had been long past when cars had come and left the Da’ Cord house. He knew he had to go over there. He had promised Roni and couldn’t back out now, no matter how much he felt the need to run and hide from his purpose. It took him a few tries before he could fully stand. Everytime he went to the back door Chris thought of something to do to stall leaving the safety of his house.

"What’s up, big brother?"

Chris turned to seed Molly entering the kitchen. "Nothing, Mol. Just thinking."

"Uh-oh. Where’s the fire extinguisher? We might need it if a fire starts in your head." She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk.

"Ha ha. Very funny." He rolled his eyes in fake amusement.

"Chris, what’s wrong?" Molly asked at her brother’s melancholy disposition. "Other than it’s Sunday?"

Chris ran a hand over his forehead. "Nothing really. I’m just trying to go over to Roni’s."

"You’ve never had that problem before," she said, trying to hide the contempt from her voice, and almost succeeding. Almost being the key word.

Chris knew his sisters had something against Roni and the Molly was the worst. He didn’t understand it and he didn’t feel like questioning it. "I know, but this time I’m dreading it. I’m afraid of how she’ll react to what I have to say to her."

"Oh. You’re going to tell her that. Chris, you’re about to graduate and have to get on with your life. You can’t have ten year-olds directing your life’s direction. Please don’t tell me your thinking of not going because of her." Molly laid a hand on her brother’s arm.

Chris roughly freed his arm of her grasp. "I’m still going, but telling her I am is going to be hard. She looks to be as an older brother. The only sibling she’s ever known. How am I supposed to tell her I’m leaving her?"

"Chris, you knew this day was coming. Why should it hit her so hard? Your my brother and I can’t wait until you leave. Then I’ll get your room," she ended simply. She poured milk from the container into a glass.

"But, Molly, you have Katie and Emily. Roni will have no one. Unless…" he drifted off.

Molly sat facing Chris. "I don’t like the sound of that. Unless what, Chris?"

Chris sat back down. "Unless you take her in. Now before you protest, I know you have something against Roni. I’m not even going to ask what that’s about. I just want to know that you’ll be here for her if she needs someone. I’ll feel much better knowing that she has someone to turn to."

"But, Chris, she does have friends."

"Yeah, friends her own age. You know how girls are that age are. She might have questions that they might not be able to answer. Hell, she probably has questions now that I can’t answer and it would be embarrassing for both of us to deal with if she asked. So, please, just be available to her. I’m not asking you to seek her out, but if she comes to you just guide her in the right direction. Please?" his brown eyes pleaded into hers.

Molly’s shoulders dropped as she sighed. "All right. I’ll help her if she seeks me. I know what it’s like not to have an older female to talk to as a confidant. There are just some questions you can’t ask your mother. I can’t promise that all my advice will be right, but I’ll do the best I can. Okay?"

Chris stood up and kissed his sister’s forehead. "Thanks. I feel much better. I still hate what I’m about to do, but I do feel better. I guess it’s time to face doom. I hope she won’t hate me."

"She won’t hate you."

"Let’s just hope." Chris left the comfort of his house and stopped before he got to the stairs of Roni’s back door. Inside Roni was placing her new New Kids buttons on her purse when she heard something at the back door. She put down her purse and silently walked to the door and saw Chris sitting sullenly on the back steps.

"Chris? What’s wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing," he replied with fake cheerfulness in his voice and a fake smile on his lips. "Just thinking about how soon school’s going to be over and all."

"Then where’s your smile?" She ran down the stairs and sat next to him. "I know how much you want to get out of high school."

Chris waved it off. "How about going to lunch and going to our spot?"

"All right. Let me just tell mom and get my purse. I’ll be right out." Roni got up and ran into the house. "Mom?"

"Yeah, hon." Lydia peered around the corner.

"Chris is here. We’re going to have lunch and then go to the park for a bit. Okay?"

"All right. I’ll see you later. Don’t forget you still have homework to do, though."

Roni hung her head. "Yes, mom. Can you give me some money to develop the pictures from last night? I want to see them and take them to school tomorrow."

Lydia waved toward the kitchen. "Take the money out of my purse. Have fun. I’ll see you later."

"Later." Roni took some money out of her mom’s purse and turned to see with the same expression on his face. "Ready?"

He nodded and stood to lead her to his car. "Anywhere special you want to eat?"

Roni shrugged. "I don’t know. How about the diner by the mall? I was wondering if we could stop by the one hour photo place so I can get last night’s pictures developed. Can we?"

"Yup." He shut the passenger door after she sat down. He walked around the car and sat behind the wheel. "So you have fun last night?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "We had cake, opened presents and talked."

"So was that one of the presents you got?" Chris pointed to a huge pin on her purse with a red background and a big heart with a picture of Joe McIntyre in it.

"Yeah, it’s my favorite." She traced the outline of the heart.

"I can tell. And it has a picture of your future husband on it," he teased. "Here we are. You want to go in and drop it off or do you want me to park?"

"Just pull up to the curb." She pointed to the store. "I’ll be right back."

"Okay."

She slammed the door and walked to the store. "Hey, Roni, how are you doing?" the store owner asked.

"I’m doing fine, Mr. Armour. I just wanted to drop off the film from my sleep-over party last night." She pulled the canisters from her purse.

"Sounds like fun." He looked out the front window. "Is that Chris Kirkpatrick out there?"

"Yeah," she said distractedly. Chris was making faces at her from his car. "We’re just going to the diner, then to the park."

"Sounds nice. Here’s your stubs, Roni. Your pictures will be done in about an hour."

"Thanks, Mr. Armour. Do I pay now or later?"

He pushed her hand away. "Think of it as a birthday gift. See you in an hour."

"Thanks again. See ya later." She waved to him

"Was that Roni Da’ Cord?" Mrs. Armour asked her husband as Chris pulled away from the corner.

"Yes it was, and she was with Chris Kirkpatrick." A disgusted tone came though his voice.

"Oh, come on, James, what’s wrong with Chris and Roni being friends? She looks up to him like an older brother." She took the envelopes from the counter.

"It’s just that he’s eighteen and she’s about to turn eleven and he spends so much time with her. It’s more than brotherly I bet. I wonder why he really spends so much time with her."

"Now that’s enough. Chris is a good kid. I won’t take you talking about anybody like that, especially someone we know." She ended the conversation by taking the film to the machines to develop.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

"So whatcha gonna get, Ron?"

Roni open her menu. "I don’t know. Maybe a nice chicken sandwich. What about you?"

He shrugged. "I was thinking about a nice juicy burger, but what to get on it is the question."

He decided on a burger with just cheddar cheese and she got a honey dijon chicken sandwich. They made small talk until the food came and then there was a companionable silence until Roni saw someone walk through the door.

"Hey, Chris, Liz just walked through the door." Before he got to answer she saw something she wasn’t expecting. "And I hate to tell you this but there’s another guy with her. Is he her cousin or something?"

Chris shut his eyes tight before looking at her. "No, it’s not. It’s Brad Morrew."

"Oh, I’m sorry, Chris. Did you have any inkling she was cheating on you?" she whispered.

"She’s not cheating on me. We broke up yesterday." He threw his napkin on the plate and pushed it away. "I can’t finish this."

She stared at him in shock. "I’m sorry, Chris. At least you have time to get another prom date."

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes.

"I am truly sorry, Chris. I thought you two were doing good." She reached out and tapped his hand. He turned his hand around and squeezed hers.

"So did I, but she didn’t want to deal with what I told her."

"What did you tell her?" She saw Liz and Brad approach the table. "Hi, Liz."

"Hello, Roni. Hi, Chris." She threw him a fake smile.

"Hi, Liz, I see you’re having fun already since we’ve broken up. It seems like only yesterday that happened. Oh yeah, it was." He turned his gaze outside.

"I thought maybe we could be friends like you and Roni here, but I was wrong. Then again, you and Roni have a special friendship, don’t you? That relationship is just so special."

A thread of hatred ran through Roni’s body. "Yeah, he is special to me, but then again I don’t think a bitch like you would know anything about that. You obviously know nothing about Chris or you wouldn’t have stopped by our table. Than again you wouldn’t have been stupid enough to let him go." She turned towards Chris’ shocked face. "Are you ready to go, Chris? I’m not really hungry anymore either." She stood and walked to the door.

Chris silently stood, nodded to the couple and went to the cash register to pay for their lunch. He went through the first set of doors and opened the second door for Roni. They silently walked to his car. Chris unlocked it and held the door open for her. Instead of sitting Roni turned and hugged Chris.

"I’m sorry about Liz."

Chris wrapped his arms around her. "It was bound to happen at some time. Love never lasts." He pulled back. "Now we’re not going anywhere until you tell me where you learned to speak like that, young lady."

"From the best." She smiled up at him.

"Meaning?"

"You."

"Get in." He pointed inside the car. He closed the door behind her and slowly walked behind the car. He took one last look at the diner, and the table his ex-girlfriend was sitting at, before pulling out of the parking lot.

"How much do I owe you for lunch? Mom gave me some money." She pulled out her wallet.

"You’ve never paid when we’ve gone out before so the standard stands, especially with your birthday so close." He pulled in front of the photo place. "It’s only been about forty-five minutes. You think they’re done?’

"I don’t know, but I like all this free stuff I’m getting. My birthday should come more often."

"Don’t rush to grow up too soon. When you get older you wonder why you rushed. Hold on." He parked the car. "Let’s go see these pictures. That is if you don’t mind me seeing them."

"I took some of them for you. The other girls didn’t appreciate that, but it was fun." She flashed him an evil smile.

He laughed and got out and locked the car. "I can’t believe you."

"Hey, people know I love to take candid pictures so they shouldn’t be surprised when I take one of them." She reached for the shop door, but Chris pulled it open for her. "Thanks."

"Anytime. Hey, Mr. Armour, are Roni’s pictures ready yet?"

"Actually, they are. The wife made sure to do them right away." He turned to the back of the store. "Honey, Roni and Chris are here to pick up her pictures." He faced them again. "She’ll be right out with them."

They nodded and looked at the accessories on the shelves as they waited.

"Well, Roni, it looks like you had a fun time last night. I miss when Melissa was home and would have all her friends sleep over," Mrs. Armour reminisced thoughtfully. "Here are your pictures. My husband did give you the birthday special, didn’t he?"

"Yes, ma’am." She nodded. "Thank you very much."

Chris placed a hand on Roni’s shoulder. "You ready."

"Yup. I can’t wait to see how they came out."

The two waved to the couple and walked out the door. Mr. Armour raised his eyebrows, but his wife just shook her head. Outside they watched the car pull away.

"So how did the pictures come out?"

"Great. I’ll look through them later so you can see them and not get into a car accident at the same time. Red light."

Chris looked up and slowed down. "I saw that. Now’s the time to take out any pictures that you don’t want me to see."

"I remember all the pictures. I took most of them. You can see all of them."

They arrived at the park and sat on a bench to look at the pictures and Roni took back her earlier claim.

"I don’t remember that one," she exclaimed. She hugged a picture to her chest.

Chris laughed. "Too late. I already saw it." He gestured for her to hand the picture over and she did, reluctantly. He laughed. "Oh, this one is a classic. Can I keep it?"

"I don’t think so. Plus why would you want it? It’s hideous."

"But it’s of you. And it’s so cute." He pinched her cheek.

"Stop that." She swatted his hand away. "Now here’s one I told Dana I’d make sure you see. She wasn’t too happy with me about that. Here it is." She handed him the picture.

"Why was she- Oh, I see. So she didn’t want me to see this picture, huh?"

Roni laughed. "Actually, the others didn’t want you to see any of them. They all think you’re ‘hot’ or ‘gorgeous’ or something. They’re my friends…even of they don’t have taste."

"Hey!" He tickled her. "So all your friends have crushes on me I see."

"As if you didn’t know. You knew they would be at my house this morning and you purposefully came over. Make up some lame excuse that you needed to talk to me. Thanks for taking me out anyway, though."

Chris cleared his throat. "Actually, I do need to talk to you." He hung his head. "Let’s take these back to the car and then we’ll talk."

"Uh-oh, it sounds like you were serious there. This must be big." She took his keys and put the pictures back in the car. She came back and sat next to him. "So what is it?"

"Well, you know it’s March and all." He fiddled with his fingers, but she didn’t notice.

"Well, duh, my birthday’s in two days, it has to be March."

"And there’s only a few months before I graduate." He looked up to see if she got where he was going. "And then there’s college to deal with."

"Yeah? Aren’t you just going here in Clarion? Aren’t you?" she asked after a minute of silence.

"Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about." He stood up and started to pace.

"Don’t tell me you’re not continuing on."

"No, I am."

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "If it’s not in Clarion then where is it? Close by right?"

"Umm, well, I’ve been talking to my dad and-"

"But your dad’s in Florida," she reminded him. "You’re going to Florida. And leaving me all alone."

"Now, Roni, please calm down. I’ll keep in touch. I’m going to come back and visit. It’ll be okay," he reassured both him and her.

"No it won’t. You’re leaving me. You always said you’d never leave me and now that’s what you’re doing. You’re leaving me. I don’t want to see you anymore. I hate you." She ran off into the woods. Chris watched her stumble and ran to her when she fell.

"Are you all right, Roni?" He leaned down to help her up, but was brushed aside.

"Why do you care? You don’t, do you?" she accused. "You don’t care about me and I want you to leave me alone. I can live without you so you can just leave. Now good-bye." She stalked through the trees, mind raging at his news. She couldn’t believe he was leaving. Who was she going to talk to? Who was going to make her laugh when she couldn’t think of a reason to smile? Who was going to sing her to sleep when she was sick and couldn’t? Who was going to be all that Chris had come to be to her? Who was going to be her rock when her world fell apart? She heard footsteps behind her and whipped around.

"What do you want? I told you to get away from me."

Chris stopped, but didn’t attempt to near her. "I know, but it’s not safe for you to climb through these paths alone. I’m just worried that you’ll get hurt. I’ll stay at a safe distance from you, but I need to keep you in sight because I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s one more thing I don’t need on my conscience. You getting hurt."

"As if you care," she called back to him.

"I do, Roni. Please believe me when I say I do. I know you’re mad at me and I expected this, but please let me just make sure you’re all right. I won’t talk to you, but I’ll just follow you and when you want to go home I’ll take you. I’m not expecting you to talk to me, but there is no way I’m leaving you alone here. Not only can you fall and hurt yourself it’s not safe for a ten year-old female to be alone in these woods. All right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Chris quietly followed her, his own mind flashing thoughts. He knew this would be hard, but it would be nothing compared to the feeling of leaving. Clarion was the world he knew. Orlando, Florida was an unknown territory for him. Sure he’d visit there, but this was his home. He knew everything frontward and backwards. It was his life, but sometimes you had to make changes.

He didn’t have to money to go to a decent school nearby. His father had told him about the affordable schools down where he lived. With his father living there Chris could be declared a Florida resident for tuition and he’d get an education for a lot less money than in Pennsylvania. It was too good to be true.

Chris also thought of the other reasons to leave. He had spent his time here. He needed to grow up and living with his mother and three sisters wasn’t going to help accomplish that. If he stayed home he’d be surrounded by the comfort he’d grown up with and depended on. He was worried that he’d depend on it even more and soon that may be all there was to him. The security blanket of all he’d ever known. Not going out and learning more. Chris knew his life experiences had been a lot, but few at the same time. It was time to start a new chapter in his life and, he realized, that it wasn’t going to be in Clarion. Then there was Roni.

He never expected that a hospital visit almost eleven years before could change his world completely. There was something in her brown eyes that captured him and made him care deeply for her. Yes, she was much younger than he was, but there was something in her laugh that he fed off of. Most people say that he treated her like a sister, but others knew the way he treated Roni compared to how he treated his sisters were two different worlds. He would do anything she asked him to. He found comfort in singing her to sleep. Sometimes he did it out of his need, rather than hers. Needing her to be at peace. After she’d fall asleep he watch her dream peacefully and would fall asleep thinking of how she would be okay. And when she’d tremble with nightmares he’d hug her and tell her it’ll okay. Nothing could harm her as long as he was there. But yet he was leaving her. And what was worse was that she was one of the reasons.

Sure, he might spend more time with her than he should, but she was like a family member to him. He needed to make sure she was always all right, like he did with his blood relatives. But in spending so much time with her people began to wonder what his motives were. They would interrogate him to the point of unreasonableness. He was asked questions that he would never dare to ask anyone and was shocked that people would think of him of doing anything like they suggested. It hit its crescendo when a teacher commented about it. Sometimes it just got out of hand and he needed release from the accusations and lies.

Chris looked up and realized Roni had stopped walking. He sat on a rock a few yards away from her. She was looking out at the water, motionless. Tears threatened to fall at any moment, but she was too stubborn to let them fall. They did involuntarily flow when she called to him. "Chris?"

He looked up expectantly. "Yes?"

"Can you please come over here?" She moved over and patted the rock next to her.

Chris sat down and silence flowed between them. "Roni, look, I know you’re upset with me, but let me explain." He stopped until he saw her eyes urge him on. "Well, as you know with three sisters and me to take care of money is scarce to say the least. I have saved up some, but not enough to go to a school around here. Not one with any merit anyway. I was talking to my dad and he said there were decent schools in Orlando that I could much more easily afford."

"But won’t you be paying the amount for someone who doesn’t live in Florida?"

"Not exactly." He shifted so they were looking at each other. "See, since my dad has lived there for more than a year I can declare Florida residency through him, making school much cheaper."

"So you’re going to Florida because it’s cheaper? I guess I can see that. I guess I’m just afraid that I’ll never see you again."

"Well don’t be. I’ll call and you live next door to my mother and sisters. I think I’ll be seeing them again. Plus, you’re like part of my family. Why wouldn’t I want to see you? And if you’re afraid of not having anyone to talk to Molly said she’d be happy to listen and give you the best advice she could for whatever. Are you cold?" He pulled at her unbuttoned jacket. "Why don’t you stop being stubborn and button up your damn jacket?"

"Because I’m not that cold. Plus, I’m holding it closed with my hands. See?" She showed him and rolled her eyes at his stare. "You are not my father, nor are you my mother so stop trying to boss me around."

"As your honorary big brother I find it my job to boss you around. So there." He stuck out his tongue.

"Chris?" she asked again.

"Yes, Roni?"

"Is that why Liz broke up with you? She didn’t want to try a relationship with you so far away?" Roni leaned against him.

"Yeah." Chris leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Oh well. It happened. Now it’s just time to go on."

"And go on to Orlando," Roni finished sadly.

"Yeah. Don’t even think of forgetting me, young lady."

She looked up into his eyes. "I don’t think I can. And, Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"If it comes to the wire and you need a prom date just tell me and I’ll be there. I’ll be your date."

Chris laughed into her hair. "Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. Same goes to you. If you find yourself dateless for your senior prom I’ll be your date."

"Only my senior prom?"

"Yup. If it’s your junior one, all bets are off. Okay?"

She nodded into his chest. "Just remember my offer."

"How can I forget? It’s the best one I’ve received." He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her close in a brotherly hug. "How about some ice cream?"

She shrugged. "Sure. I don’t have anything better to do."

"What, Joey Joe hasn’t called you yet today?"

"Hey," she abruptly pulled away from him, "don’t you go talking about him like that. If I ever do get to meet him I’m not taking you with me."

"Oh my poor heart. I don’t get to meet the youngest member of New Kids on the Block."

"Whatever." Roni rolled her eyes as she made her way back to his car.