Six

The week of days seemed to take a year. Though nothing she did was right when she was still looking for an apartment. She knew she had to get away from her family, and no one seemed to notice her being there or not. She would look at the apartments in the morning and the afternoons were spent going over paperwork for the next year for Gregor’s class in the middle school. She had managed to make things work.

On the day of her birthday, she woke up to an empty house. No cards, presents, or balloons. Just a note asking to make sure the trash was taken out. She hung her head in defeat. She doubted they even remembered what day it was. She went back to her room, where most everything she had was in boxes, and she dug out a shirt and pair of pants. There was one person who seemed to remember, though. He was the one who had been talking about this one day for weeks now.

She wasn’t one for parties. She didn’t like crowds of people. The best way