The story so far: Jenny was at her best friend Mark's birthday party when she overheard her mother s aying that their family ismoving to Philadelphia at the end of the school year.

Sunday morning felt more like Monday. Jenny woke up with kind of a sick feeling inside. At firstshe didn't know why. Then she remembered what she had heard the day before at Mark's party. Herparents were planning to move to Philadelphia at the end of the school year.She knew she probably should have asked them whether what she heard was true. She shouldhave checked to find out whether she had heard correctly. But she was afraid. She was afraid that sh ealready knew the truth – and that it wasn't pretty.The day passed slowly. Usually she hung out with Mark or their other friends on Sunday. On anearly Spring day like this one, they usually rode bikes to the duck pond and fished or fed the birds . If it wascrummy outside, they'd play video games. But they never ever spent Sundays alone. Mark had called abunch of times before he left to meet the others, but Jenny didn't answer, so he figured she was doi ngsomething with her family.He had no idea that her parents were the last people she wanted to see today. That's why shehadn't left her room. She just stayed in there and thought about the ways she could stop the world a nd getoff. She could move in with her aunt, maybe. That way she'd still be in the state. She could move in with Mark. His parents alwayssaid she was like one of their own children.But the truth was that Jenny knew her parents would never let any of that happen.She was going to have to find a way to deal with this. She decided to depend on the people she trust ed the most. She decided to tell her friends and see what theythought. But this news had to be delivered face to face.And so, Monday morning, as soon as they got to school, she gathered her troops in front of her locke r.“Guys, I've got the worst news ever. I'm moving to Philadelphia,” Jenny moaned.Mark was the first to react. He laughed and said, “That's soooo funny. Seriously, where were you yes terday?”“I am serious. I overheard my parents talking about it. This is for real.”“Oh my God,” Anna exclaimed, “You can't.”“Philadelphia? That's, like, really far away. I think it's in New Jersey,” Lindsay offered.“It's in Pennsylvania, stupid,” Mark said, exasperated. Then he added, “Jenny, your parents would ne ver move. You shouldn't count on anything you overhear. I'msure you heard wrong. Why don't you ask them about it?”“I'm scared,” Jenny heard herself say, without even realizing she said it out loud.“Yeah, because once I overheard my parents talking about the car they were getting my sister when sh e went away to school and I told her, and it turned out thatthey were talking about a car they were buying for themselves when she left, and she was mad at me a nd at them, and they were mad at me, and it was really no good,”Sean said. “You should just ask them. If you're wrong, you'll feel so much better, and if you're rig ht, well you already think the worst so you have nothing to lose.”“Okay, you guys are right. I'll find out today when I get home.” Jenny actually felt much better and decided that her friends were pretty smart after all.Later that day, when her mom got home from work, Jenny steeled her courage and called out from upstairs.“Mom, I gotta ask you something important.”“Sure, babe, what is it?” her mother answered.“We're not really moving to Philadelphia, are we?” Jenny put forth timidly.The silence was a killer. Jenny could almost hear the answer before the words even passed through hermother's lips.“Who told you that?” was all her mother could say. But the answer was as clear as if she h ad simplysaid, “Yes.”Dad's company was moving from New York to Pennsylvania. Something about taxes and property values anda lot of other reasons Jenny couldn't care less about. All she knew was that life as she knew it was over.So started the info chain. Jenny started calling and IM'ing everyone, and in probably less than two minutes,the news was out. Jenny was moving away and there was no stopping it. They had only a few months lef t of the funthey'd always had.“TINLIN: OMG, I can't believe this. PHILADELPHIA!?”“ANNIEBANANI: it's not so bad, Jen, we'll come and visit and you'll come back here. All th e time, you know?”“SDOG: Hey, don't turn into a Philadelphia cream cheese.”Turning into cream cheese seemed a better alternative than what Jenny was about to turn in to – the kid whomoves away. She started to cry and then wondered why she hadn't heard back from Mark since she had l eft themessage a little while earlier.

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